Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started as a single independent comic book turned mass-media franchise and was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The developed concept focuses on four anthropomorphic lead characters who become trained in the art of ninjutsu and fight crime and evil in the city streets. The mutated human-like turtles were discovered and instructed by their rat-like sensei and adoptive father, Splinter. He named them Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael, after his favorite historical art legends. The vigilante turtle team took on the city’s most powerful enemies through the years, including the evil Shredder and his antagonist faction, the Foot Clan. The four lead charters often collaborated with several human friends like street vigilante Casey Jones and news reporter April O’Neil, who always looked for trouble, and usually found it.

Creators Eastman and Laird developed the concept as a humorous parody, mocking traditional superhero personas by mixing popular elements of the time that generally do not relate to one another. Teenagers, sewers, mutating reptiles, urban vigilantes, superheroes, pizza, and the highly popular ninja craze of the early 80s. All these examples may have sounded quite fitting as standalone concepts on their own in the 1980s; however, they put them all together, and the rest is pop culture history. If you could overlook the absurd genius Eastman and Laird jokingly created in 1984 and found a way to open your mind to something new, you would soon be in for a groundbreaking multi-media treat, as they were. 

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird first met in 1981 after being referred to each other by a local newspaper associate when Eastman was looking for work as an artist. The two quickly found that they shared similar artistic drawing styles and a love for comic books, especially the work of the great comic legend Jack Kirby. After a short time of collaborating remotely and a series of long weekend commutes from Main, Peter invited Kevin to move into his house in New Hampshire so they could expand their creative productivity. Along with Peter’s girlfriend, the three lived in the New Hampshire residence and took random jobs to make ends meet while they set up their art studio in the living room.

In 1983 Kevin Eastman showed Peter one of his recent concept sketches of an upright standing turtle in a Kung fu pose, wearing a ninja-style mask and holding nunchucks. Kevin thought his concept was hysterical; however, Peter liked the idea enough to attempt his own version of the character. Peter then shared his updated sketch of the ninja-like upright turtle with Kevin, who inspiredly took Peter’s updated sketch to the next level. Kevin added three more turtles, gave them unique weapons, then added the name “Ninja Turtles” to the top of the page. Equally inspired by each other, Peter took Kevin’s version and added “Teenage Mutant” to the title’s beginning, establishing the official birth of the now beloved franchise.

The duo began sketching a series of sequenced comic-style pages, eventually leading to a completed professional-looking comic book. This first comic issue was black and white with only minimal color on the cover. It was titled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Interestingly, the original nemesis was killed off in the debut comic issue as the uncertainty of a follow-up issue was uncertain at the time.

Eastman and Laird created an official company called Mirage Studios and decided to fund and distribute the printed copies independently. The first print run of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” comic issue was completed, printed, and delivered to the housemate’s living room sometime around May 1984. 

The newly formed Mirage Studios printed approximately 3000 comic books of this first run, scraping together what little funds they had and obtaining a small loan from a family member of Kevin’s. Surprisingly, they quickly sold all 3000 copies in a few short weeks. Mirage Studios used the proceeds to purchase 6000 more copies of a second printing, which also had no problem selling out.

A few months later, issue number two was now ready for print. This time around, Mirage Studios printed 15,000 copies which saw a much more significant achievement in sales, confirming that the creative duo had something unique to offer to the comic book world. With the success of the first two independently released issues, Kevin and Peter were able to turn Mirage Studios into a full-time opportunity and ordered a third printing of issue number one, this time for 30,000 copies. Over the next three years, Mirage Studios added a small staff, including artists Steve Lavigne, Ryan Brown, Jim Lawson, and Michael Dooney to help speed up production. The team produced a total of 9 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book issues and would set groundbreaking records for independently produced comic book sales.

In the early days of Mirage Studios’ independent success, Eastman and Laird licensed the Turtle characters to a role-playing game as the very first licensed opportunity of the franchise. The game was titled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness” and was published by Palladium Books in September 1985. The game’s primary rulebook featured original illustrations and comic strips from the Mirage Studios comic book series.

After turning down several mediocre licensing offers in fear of losing creative control, the two finally teamed up with entertainment agent Mark Freedman. Freedman would become instrumental in the franchise’s future and began shopping for the perfect licensing opportunity. Mirage’s new agent then shopped the concept to many of the major toy companies of the decade, including LJN, Mattel, and Hasbro, who all turned down the opportunity. After a few weeks of no success, Freedman contacted his friend Richard Sallis who had just started working for Playmates Toys. Playmates, over any other, seemed to show great interest in producing the line and thus began the negotiation process.

Playmates Toys, however, did have some concerns regarding adapting a few less edgy creative adjustments to the Turtles character format. Following the proven 1980’s commercial-driven roadmap to toy sale success, Playmates Toys felt that producing toys on the strength of comic sales alone may be less successful without an animated cartoon to help promote it. The toy manufacturer also felt this necessary to achieve the slightly younger target audience the toys would be promoted towards. Eastman and Laird ultimately understood Playmates’ directional concerns, and while still retaining complete creative control, a successful deal was eventually closed in 1986.