I know that in the original comics (at least the first few issues I've read), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all wore the same colored masks, and that it was only in the 80's animated series did they get the individually colored masks.
Apart from the new IDW series, did the Turtles ever wear colored masks in the comics?
Originally, in the Mirage comics (1984-2009) the turtles were printed in black and white, and later in 1993 the were treated to colour they only featured red masks.
Later in the Archie Comics (1988-1995) they were given coloured masks, and form then on it stuck.
Prior to the 80's cartoon, the masks in the comics were uniform.
The comic was largely published in black & white, especially before it became radically popular, so it would have been hard to distinguish anyway.
All of the TMNTs had red masks in the color comics. The only exception was in the Archie Comics 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures' — in that one the ninja turtles have 4 colors different for their masks.
When the rights of the Ninja turtles were sold to Nickelodeon, Nick had IDW start working on the new comics; and in the IDW comics, they continued the 4-color theme.
