One of the first TMNT comics I ever purchased, and I'm happy to say it's still in my collection almost 34 years later. Interestingly it was published and released before #31 and 32 because the team on those issues didn't finish until after #33 was published, and the cover dates reflect that.
At the time it came out, I was dating a girl from France who was working as a nanny/Au Pair, and I gave a second copy of that issue to the boy of the 2 children she took care of (he was 8, his sister was 4, too young to read). He approached me a month later and told me how much he loved it, that he would re-read that issue every day. So it turned out I made a good selection, a fantastic issue for readers of all ages, I guess. That was 1990, so that kid would now be, what, 41 ?
I wasn't aware that TNMT 33 was published out of order, and before the other issues. Two other series I can think of that had issues published out of sequence were many Marvel Graphic novel issues, and Dixon's AIRBOY series (around issues 40-49), for the reasons you described, that the artist on the earlier issues took much longer to draw the issues, and the other artist finished his assigned issues much sooner.
Another link to the full issue at :
https://viewcomiconline.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-v1-033/Beyond being a great story, I like that it's a stand-alone story, complete by itself. In this case, making it far accessible to the new reader I gave it to.
