Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the original comic book that spawned the later television shows, movies, and video games. They were first published in 1984 by Mirage Studios.

The concept originated from an evening of casual brainstorming. Kevin Eastman drew a picture of a turtle with nunchuks strapped to his arms. Peter Laird thought a slow turtle as ninja was very funny. Eventually, they created a team of four turtles, each specializing in a different weapon.

Using a tax refund and a loan from Eastman's uncle, they formed Mirage Studios and published a single-issue comic book that would parody Daredevil and The New Mutants. The traffic accident and truck carrying radioactive waste that caused the turtles mutation was an illusion to Daredevil's origin. The name "Splinter" is a parody of Daredevil's master, "Stick". Also, The Foot is a parody of a ninja clan in Daredevil called "The Hand".

Over the years, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would cross over with other successful independent comic books, including Dave Sim's Cerebus, Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot, and Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo.

Volume 1: 1983 - 1993
The first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was advertised in issues #1 and #2 of Eastman and Laird's comic book, Gobbledygook, as well as in the Comic Buyers' Guide. The book premiered in May of 1984 at a comic book convetion in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The comic book was in an oversized magazine format with black-and-white art. It was printed on cheap newsprint and only 3,000 copies were produced. It was extremely popular and soon it sold for 50 times it's original price.

Others, wanting a piece of the action, produced parodies of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These included the Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, the Cold-Blooded Chameleon Commandos, and the Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos. None of them caught on.

By 1989, the series had found it's way to other media. Eastman and Laird were busy with licensing and fending of lawsuits, so they weren't very involved with the actually writing and illustration of the comic. Guest artists were invited to work on it. Because of this, the comic had a disjointed, anthology-like feeling. Some guest artists continued to draw for Mirage Studios. These include Michael Dooney, Eric Talbot, A.C. Farley, Ryan Brown, Steve Lavigne, Steve Murphy, and Jim Lawson.

Issue #45 was a major turning point because Mirage attempted to return to a continuity. Issue #50 began the City at War story arc and was the first issue completely written and illustrated by Eastman and Laird since issue #11. The story arc ran for 13 issues and ended Volume 1. The last issue, issue #62, was published in August 1993.

Volume 2: 1993 - 1995
Volume 2 started in October 1993, was fully colored, and maintained the continuity established in Volume 1. Written and illustrated by Jim Lawson, the series lasted 13 issues and ceased publication in October 1995. The ended production was due to waning popularity and lagging sales.

Volume 3: 1996 - 1999
In June of 1996, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 3 was published under the Image Comics label, thanks to Erik Larsen. A total of 23 monthly issues were written by Gary Carlson and illustrated by Frank Fosco. The comics returned to their black-and-white format, but had a faster pace, more intense action, and a surprising plot twist. Because the comic was being published by Image Comics, the turtles crossed over to Savage Dragon a few times. The series ceased production in 1999 and is no longer considered "canon."

Volume 4
Peter Laird and Jim Lawson brought the turtles back to their roots with Volume 4. First published in December of 2001, the series is published bi-monthly and contains carefully-woven story threads as well as social commentary. The authors took this opportunity to correct the spelling of Michelangelo's name (it had sometimes been misspelled Michaelangelo).

TMNT is currently on an 8-month hiatus as Peter Laird works on the new TMNT movie. Tales of TMNT remains unaffected.