So this is the-- I think the first print "Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles" comic. CHUMLEE: Ninja Turtles? So you're talking the
very first "Ninja Turtles"? I'm pretty sure this is the
one I had when I was a kid. My mom kept it, so this
is the very first one. RICK: '84 is when it came out. Who was your favorite
Ninja Turtle? There was Rafael,
Michelangelo-- You know who you remind me of? Master Splinter. Because he was like the
rat ninja boss teacher. Yeah, just like you, the
rat ninja boss teacher. [LAUGHS] OK, so tell me,
how much you want for it? Well, I saw somewhere that
one of these went for $50,000. [WHISTLES] OK. So how much do you want for it? $60,000? So more than they went for. This is signed. OK. I know there's big money
here if it's a first edition and it's in great shape. You know what, I don't know
what his signature looks like. I mean, looks
like a Ninja Turtle. RICK: I know someone who will
definitely know about this. OK. I am going to go call him and
see if I can get a hold of him to come down here and
take a look at it. - OK.
- All right? I'm going to go look for
some pizza while you're gone. Help customers. You know what? Pizza does sound kind of good. Like I said, I've met
this guy a couple times. He was gracious
enough to come down. Kevin Eastman. Hey, Chumlee. KEVIN: Pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry you're
friends with Rick. [LAUGHS] Let me get around there. Hey, nice to meet-- I love your work.
- Thanks. Is this yours?
- Yes, yes. Oh, fantastic. Wow. CHUMLEE: So I've
heard the stories, but I might as well hear
it from the horse's mouth. How did this comic
actually come about? It really came out
of a complete joke. Both Peter Laird and
myself wanted to be Jack Kirby when we grew up. We wanted to write and draw
comic books for a living. I was a huge fan
of Bruce Lee, and I figured, if Bruce Lee
was an animal, what would be the stupidest animal? I had this idea,
did this sketch, turtle in a Kung
Fu pose, mask on, nunchucks strapped to his arm. And I put it on Pete's
desk, and I said, this is going to be
the next big thing. He got a laugh. He drew four turtles, each with
different weapons, and we said, this is the dumbest
thing we've ever seen. [LAUGHTER] So the big question is,
is this a first printing? KEVIN: Yes, it's definitely
a first printing. So what's the difference
between the first printing and the second printing? The second printing was a
little bit lighter and more of a pinkish tone to
it, so I definitely know this is a first printing
just because of the deep rich redness of it, so. My signature is
undeniable, because ever since the very, very
beginning, I always wanted to make it different
than anybody else, the way they were signing the comics. So I added a turtle
head on each one. So this is definitely
my signature. All right. Do you know what
these things go for? KEVIN: [SIGHS] I've
seen them range, you know, all over
the map price-wise. You have no idea
what it's worth. No idea what it's worth, so. KEVIN: All right. [LAUGHS] But it's legit. That's your signature. Yes, 100%. OK, at least we know that, and
we'll figure out a price later. We'll have lunch soon, dude. I'll call somebody up, and
we'll get this figured out. Look forward to it.
Thanks, guys. See you. All right, sorry to do this
to you, but when we're talking a lot of money, I sometimes have
a lot of people look at things. Let me call one more guy and
have him take a look at it. All right. I'm sure this guy can
figure out a price on it, so give me, like, 15 minutes. OK. I'm really excited to
see what the experts say. Knowing that Kevin said
it was a first edition and that was his
signature, I'm hoping maybe I can make
a little bit more than what I was coming in for. So what do we got here? A first edition,
first printing "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"
signed by Kevin Eastman. You had this when
you were a kid? When I was a kid, yeah. It's my original comic book. I was there when
this book came out. I laughed at this book. I didn't care about this book. I didn't buy it. Became the biggest
thing in the world. There was only 3,000 of
these things printed. Just for some context,
"X-Men," 300,000 print run. Spidey, 250,000 print run. So it's super rare, then. It is, but what we're
going to have to do is we're going to take
a look at it first. Let's have a look at the
condition of this book. You got one little tiny
ding there, and then, oop, what do we have here? Couple little-- what's that? Like stain. Now if you're aware
of grading, it's usually like an
8.0, which is called a VF, which is a Very Fine. From what I can
see, this is a 9.4. So this is a special book. [LAUGHS] I don't know how
you kept it in this condition for so long. I don't know if you had
it in some weird room floating in the air. But you did a great job. Now, you want the good news? Hm? They can press
that little flaw out. Oh, wow. There's a possibility that
you can get this book to a 9.6. - Oh, wow.
- OK? OK. So we need to take
that into consideration. So what's it worth? A 9.4 straight
right now, $11,000. Ah. And that's including
his signature? Yes. That's including the signature. OK. So how much more would
this bring if it was a 9.6? We're talking,
minimum, $20,000. OK. But in current condition,
retail value at $11,000. Yes. OK.
Thanks, man. Appreciate it. All right, thank
you very much. All right, guys. See you. OK, it will
retail for $11,000. I mean, I'll give
you $8,000 for it. Agh. I mean, obviously I
wanted to go $60,000. I mean, would you
go, like, $30,000? The chance that it can-- No. --still go to $20,000. Well, I guess-- Yeah, but that makes
zero economic sense. [SIGHS] All right,
what about $15,000? There's a chance you could
make $20,000 off of it. Yeah, no, no, no. I'm a businessman,
not a gambler. You know, I think I'll
just try to get it pressed and see what it comes back and
then kind of go from there. OK. But if you change
your mind, $8,000. All right, thanks. I'm really shocked that
it came down so low, so what I'll probably
do is get it pressed and then just hold onto it. Then hopefully it'll go up to
what it's really valued at.
