Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage Studios) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
TMNT #4, 2nd print. Cover art by Michael Dooney
Publication information
Publisher	Mirage Studios
Publication date	May 1984–2015
Main character(s)	Leonardo Donatello Michelangelo Raphael
Creative team
Creator(s)	Kevin Eastman Peter Laird

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American comic book series published by Mirage Studios, featuring the characters of the same name, with a 30-year run from 1984 to 2014. Conceived by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, it was initially intended as a one-shot, but due to its popularity it became an ongoing series. The comic inspired a franchise of five television series, six feature films, numerous video games, and a wide range of toys and merchandise.

Over the years, the Turtles have appeared in numerous cross-overs with other independent comics characters such as Dave Sim's Cerebus, Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot, Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo and Frank Miller's run on Daredevil

In October 2009 Peter Laird sold the Turtles to Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon. On December 31, 2009, Mirage Studios closed. In 2011, IDW Publishing secured the rights to publish a new series and reprint the older comics.

Origin of the concept

The concept originated from a comical drawing sketched out by Kevin Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming with his friend Peter Laird. The drawing of a short, squat turtle wearing a mask with nunchaku strapped to its arms was humorous to the young artists, as it played upon the inherent contradiction of a slow, cold-blooded reptile with the speed and agility of Japanese martial arts. Laird suggested that they create a team of four such turtles, each specializing in a different weapon. Eastman and Laird often cited the work of Frank Miller and Jack Kirby as their major artistic influences.

Using money from a tax refund together with a loan from Eastman's uncle, they formed Mirage Studios and self-published a single-issue comic book that would pastiche four popular comics of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics' The New Mutants, which featured teenage mutants; Cerebus, which featured anthropomorphic animals; Ronin; and Daredevil, which featured ninja clans dueling for control of the New York City underworld.

The Turtles' origin contained direct allusions to Daredevil: the traffic accident between a blind man and a truck carrying radioactive ooze is a direct reference to Daredevil's own story (indeed in the version told in the first issue, Splinter sees the canister strike a boy's face). The name "Splinter" also parodied Daredevil's mentor, a man known as "Stick". The Foot, a clan of evil ninjas who became the Turtles' arch-enemies, satirizes the Hand, who were a mysterious and deadly ninja clan in the pages of Daredevil.

After conceiving the Turtles' mentor as a rat who had come from Japan and was a ninja master, Eastman and Laird thought of giving the turtles Japanese names, but as Laird explained, "we couldn't think of authentic-sounding Japanese names". Instead they went with Renaissance artists, and picked the four they were most familiar with, with the help of Laird's copy of Janson's History of Art.

Related comics

During the early days of the franchise, each of the four turtles received their own one-shot (or "micro-series"), plus a one-shot featuring the Fugitoid. There was also a one-shot anthology, Turtle Soup, released in 1987, which led to a four-part series of the same name in 1991–92. The Turtles had a four-issue mini-series co-starring Flaming Carrot (the Turtles previously guest-starred in issues #25–27 of the Carrot's own Dark Horse-published series), and the Fugitoid teamed up with Mirage regular Michael Dooney's creator-owned character Gizmo for a two-issue limited series. Kevin Eastman and Rick Veitch created a story starring Casey Jones, which was initially serialized in the four issue anthology series Plastron Cafe, and later colorized and released with a previously unseen conclusion in the two-part Casey Jones mini-series. Eastman then collaborated with Simon Bisley on a mini-series that was supposed to be released by Mirage under the title Casey Jones & Raphael, but after one issue, it was released by Image under the title Bodycount as four-part mini-series which began with an expanded version of the sole Mirage-published issue.

Collected books

There are a few trade paperback collections of the series in the past. The first ever collected volumes was from First Publishing, who published four volumes from 1986–1988, collecting issues #1–11, plus the one-shot Leonardo #1 (the other three micro series one shots were not included). These books presented the stories in full color for the first time.

In 1988, there was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Collected Book Volume One, both available as a trade paperback at US $20 (with cover art by Peter Laird; 5,000 copies printed) and as a limited edition hardcover at US $100 (with cover art by Kevin Eastman), the latter being limited to 1,000 copies only, all signed by Eastman and Laird. These books were offered only as mail away orders directly from Mirage, only collecting issues #1–11, plus the four micro series one-shots.

Between 1990–1991, Mirage Studios published seven volumes of The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trade paperbacks, reprinting mostly consecutive issues #1-#29 and the four micro series one-shots, with all books featuring new cover art from artist A.C. Farley. Cover price for Volume 1 was US $16.95 due to this book containing the most issues reprinted, with volumes 2–7 at US $6.95 each, containing an average of three issues reprinted.

As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations in 2009, with no new reprint collected books released in many years and long out of print, Mirage published a new trade paperback Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Collected Book Volume 1 which was released in July 2009 with a cover price of US $29.95, unlike previous editions collecting issues #1–11, plus the four micro series one-shots, this new edition included reprinting Fugitoid issue #1, and some bonus material.

A new hardcover deluxe reprint collection was published by IDW Publishing, who had been given the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rights from Viacom in 2011, including reprinting the older comics.

Mirage Publishing

• TMNT Collected Book Volume One (Limited Edition Hard Cover, 1988), collecting Vol. 1 #1–11, plus Raphael #1, Michelangelo #1, Donatello #1, and Leonardo #1 (1,000 copies only all signed by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird)
• TMNT Collected Book Volume One (trade paperback, 1988; 5,000 copies printed), collecting Vol. 1 #1–11, plus Raphael #1, Michelangelo #1, Donatello #1, and Leonardo #1
• The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1, collecting Vol. 1 #1–11, plus Raphael #1, Michaelangelo #1, Donatello #1, and Leonardo #1 (trade paperback, March 1990)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Collected Book Volume 1, collects Vol. 1 #1–11, plus Raphael #1, Michaelangelo #1, Donatello #1, Leonardo #1, and Fugitoid #1, and bonus material. (July 2009; 606 Pages, )
• The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 2, collecting Vol. 1 #12–14 (May 1990)
• The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 3, collecting Vol. 1 #15, 17–18 (June 1990)
• The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 4, collecting Vol. 1 #19–21 (October 1990)
• The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 5, collecting Vol. 1 #16, 22–23 (November 1990)
• The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 6, collecting Vol. 1 #24–26 (July 1991)
• The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 7, collecting Vol. 1 #27–29 (November 1991)
• TMNT: Soul's Winter, collecting Vol. 1 #31, 35–36 (February 2007)
• Shell Shock, collecting short stories by various authors and artists (December 1989)
• Challenges, by Michael Dooney (1991)
• TMNT – The Collected Movie Books, Collects the movie comics: TMNT Movie Prequel #1 – Raphael, TMNT Movie Prequel #2 – Michaelangelo, TMNT Movie Prequel #3 – Donatello, TMNT Movie Prequel #4 – April, TMNT Movie Prequel #5 – Leonardo, TMNT Movie Adaptation (June 2007)

First Publishing

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Book I collecting Vol. 1 #1–3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Book II collecting Vol. 1 #4–6
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Book III collecting Vol. 1 #7–9
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Book IV collecting Leonardo #1 and Vol. 1 #10–11

Image Comics

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TPB-collecting Vol. 3 #1–5
• Bodycount TPB -collecting Bodycount #1–4 miniseries by Kevin Eastman and Simon Bisley

Heavy Metal

• Bodycount TPB (2008 rerelease) – collecting Bodycount #1–4 miniseries by Kevin Eastman and Simon Bisley (This reprint edition is in magazine sized dimension not comics sized)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 25th Anniversary: A Quarter Century Celebration (Selected reprints with some stories colored)

IDW Comics

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1, collecting Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #1–7, and Raphael #1 (December 2011)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 2, collecting Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #8–11, along with the Michaelangelo, Leonardo, and Donatello "micro-series" one-shots (April 2012)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 3, collecting Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #12, 14, 15, 17, and 19–21 (August 2012)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 4, collecting Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #48–55 (April 2013)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 5, collecting Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #56–62 (October 2013)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Vol. 6, collecting various short stories/one-shots published between 1985 and 1989 (January 2016)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 1, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issue #13 along with a collection of stories from the Shell Shock TP; "Bottoming Out", "New York Ninja", "Word Warriors", "49th Street Stompers", "Junkman", "O Deed", "Road Trip", "Don't Judge a Book", "A Splinter in the Eye of God?", "Night Life", and "Meanwhile... 1,000,000 B.C.". (June 2012)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 2, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #16, 22, and 23 (August 2012)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 3, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #27–29 (December 2012)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 4, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #32, 33, and 37 along with “The Ring” (from Turtle Soup Vol. 2 Book One) (March 2013)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 5, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #34 and #38–40 (May 2013)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 6, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #42–44 (August 2013)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 7, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #45–47 and six short stories from Shell Shock: "Ghouls Night Out," "Crazy Man," "The Survival Game," "The Howl," "Technofear," and "It's A Gas" (November 2013)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 8, collecting Mirage Studios' Vol. 2 issues #1–5 (May 2014)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 9, collecting Mirage Studios' Vol. 2 issues #6–9 (December 2014)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 10, collecting Mirage Studios' Vol. 2 issues #10–13 (April 2015)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Works, Vol. 1, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #1–7, and Raphael #1 (May 2013)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Works, Vol. 2, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #8–11, Michaelangelo #1, Donatello #1, and Leonardo #1 (October 2013)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Works, Vol. 3, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #12, #14–15, #17, and #19–21 (September 2014)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Works, Vol. 4, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #48–55 (December 2015)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Works, Vol. 5, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #56–62 (August 2016)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Classics, Vol.1, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #1–7, Raphael #1 and Michaelangelo #1 (April 2018)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Classics, Vol.2, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #8-13, Donatello #1 and Leonardo #1 (May 2019)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Classics, Vol.3, collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #14-21 (May 2020)

Appearance in other media

Comics

• The ongoing IDW continuity features two minor cross-references with the Mirage comics in Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything! #1, where its intro sequence connects to the story from the Tales of the TMNT issue Vol.1 #7: "The Return of Savanti Romero", and in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo, where the previous encounters between Miyamoto Usagi and the Mirage-Turtles are mentioned in one scene.

Animation

• The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series that debuted in 2003 ended with Turtles Forever, a crossover movie with two other Turtles properties: the 1987 cartoon and the universe of the original Mirage comics. A similar idea was used for the 2012 cartoon's episode "Transdimensional Turtles" with the 2012 cartoon iterations replacing their 2003 counterparts. In both specials, an interdimensional plot-launched by the 2003 Utrom Shredder in Forever and 1987 Krang and the 2012 Kraang in Transdimensional-involved the Mirage Comics world. This reality is referred to as Turtle Prime or the Primary Turtle Dimension, the destruction of which would set off a chain reaction wiping out all other Turtles and potentially their realities.

• Eastman, Kevin (2002). Kevin Eastman's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Artobiography. Los Angeles: Heavy Metal. .
• Wiater, Stanley (1991). The Official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Treasury. New York: Villard. .