1985
It's tough to nail down which image of the TMNT first appeared in color in a published piece. There's certainly the back cover to this Fantagraphic's published one-shot, but without the month listed, we can't know for sure. There's also TMNT #1, 4th printing, which also appeared sometime in 1985, and TMNT #2, 3rd printing, from February 1985. The RPG TMNT & Other Strangeness (1st printing) was printed later in the year, in September. So was there a color image published prior to February 1985? The answer is yes. Stay tuned!
