The studio's logo.
Mirage Studios was a comic book company started in 1983 by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. They were located in Northampton, Massachusetts. They were best known for publishing the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series.
History[]
With the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Eastman and Laird hired a core group of artists to help with the increasing workload. The first addition to the studio roster was Eastman's high school friend Steve Lavigne, brought on in 1984 as a letterer.
In 1985, Eastman and Laird hired Cleveland artist Ryan Brown to assist them in inking the Turtles. Brown would be the first in a long line of artists, other than Eastman and Laird, that would work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. In the following year, two new members were added, penciler Jim Lawson from Connecticut and New Jersey's Michael Dooney who would paint a number of covers. With the addition of these four core artists along with Peter and Kevin, Mirage's Ninja Turtles output would expand over the next couple of years to include numerous Mirage spin-off titles, as well as a companion comic book entitled Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 1989 Kevin Eastman invited freelance illustrator A.C. Farley to do cover paintings for the TMNT collected books. Peter Laird also invited Farley to do issue #29 of the TMNT comic. Farley was eventually invited to be part of the studio and crafted many paintings and comic artwork for the TMNT until his departure from the studio to resume his freelance business in 2004.
The Mirage artists operated out of a renovated factory space in Florence, Massachusetts. This is where the bulk of the creative output was done, such as the Playmates Toys designs and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures title from Archie Comics, until Tundra Publishing took over the building.
Eastman and Laird along with Brown, Dooney, Lavigne, Lawson, and Farley toured extensively over the years, making personal appearances and attending many comic book conventions in Detroit, Chicago, Hawaii, San Diego, Ohio, Boston, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire among many others. As the TMNT went mainstream, later additions to the studio would include Eric Talbot from Eastman's and Lavigne's old high school, writer Stephen Murphy, and Brown's friend, Dan Berger, who was brought in from Ohio to ink the TMNT Adventure title from Archie.
In 1988, Mirage was one of the studios to participate in the drafting of the Creator's Bill of Rights, a document meant to protect the rights of comic book creators and keep them from being exploited by the industry.
On October 21, 2009 it was announced that cable channel Nickelodeon (a subsidiary of Viacom) had purchased all of Mirage's rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property. Mirage retained the rights to publish 18 issues a year, though the future involvement of Mirage with the Turtles, and the future of Mirage itself, was unknown at this point.
As of November 2011, Laird began selling comics released by Mirage on eBay claiming they were "winding down operations." IDW also began publishing TMNT comics in August of that same year.
On September 9, 2021, The Mirage Group officially shut down all operations.
Members[]
- Dan Berger
- Jake Black
- Ryan Brown
- Michael Dooney
- Kevin Eastman
- A.C. Farley
- Tristan Huw Jones
- Mary Kelleher
- Peter Laird
- Steve Lavigne
- Jim Lawson
- Ross May
- Stephen Murphy
- Stan Sakai
- Eric Talbot
Comics Published[]
- Bade Biker & Orson by Jim Lawson
- Bioneers by A.C. Farley
- Commandosaurs by Peter Laird
- Dino Island by Jim Lawson
- Gizmo by Michael Dooney
- Gobbledygook by various artists
- Grunts by Peter Laird
- Gutwallow by Dan Berger
- Hallowieners by Ryan Brown
- Melting Pot by Kevin Eastman and Eric Talbot
- Mirage Mini-Comics
- Paleo by Jim Lawson
- Planet Racers by Peter Laird and Jim Lawson
- Plastron Cafe by various artists
- Prime Slime Tails
- The Puma Blues by Stephen Murphy and Michael Zulli
- Rockola by Ryan Brown
- Stupid Heroes by Peter Laird
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and related titles by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
- Usagi Yojimbo and related titles
- Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa by Ryan Brown
- Xenotech by Michael Dooney
NOTE: Mirage Studios had produced a lot of titles, although most were not successful enough to remain in publication for more than a few issues.