If you were a kid in the 1980s or 90s, you probably spent some time reading, watching, or playing with four adolescent reptilian martial arts experts with irregular DNA.
To make sure I got the scoop on everyone’s favorite heroes in a half-shell, I went straight to the source—co-creator Peter Laird—who was kind enough to answer our burning questions about the franchise. If you’re looking for a thorough history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this is a pretty good place to start.
Check out the complete history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles >
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Artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created TMNT in 1983.
Struggling artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were living in Northampton, Massachusetts, when they came up with the Turtles in November 1983.
As a joke, Eastman drew a turtle standing on its hind legs, wearing a mask, with nunchucks strapped to its arms. Eastman wrote “Ninja Turtle” on the top of the page. Laird laughed and then drew a more refined version of the turtle.
Not to be outdone, Eastman drew four turtles, each armed with a ninja-style weapon. Laird outlined the group shot in ink and added “Teenage Mutant” to the “Ninja Turtles” title.
As Eastman and Laird began fleshing out the Turtles to create a comic book, they had to give the Turtles names. At first they tried Japanese names, but it just wasn’t working. So they tried great Renaissance artists instead – Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. Laird told me, “It felt just quirky enough to fit the concept.”
In May 2012, that original drawing of the Turtles sold at auction for $71,700.
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The first comic book sold 3,000 copies within a few weeks, making it an instant success.
In March 1984, Eastman and Laird created a new company, Mirage Studios, so named because there was no actual studio other than Laird’s living room. Then, Eastman used his $500 tax return, Laird emptied his bank account of $200, and they borrowed $1300 from Eastman’s uncle to print 3,000 copies of their first comic book, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After printing costs, they had just enough money left to run an ad in Comics Buyer’s Guide Magazine, an industry publication.
Thanks to that one ad, comic distributors across the country started calling, and Mirage sold all 3,000 copies within a few weeks. With more orders coming in, they printed another 6,000 copies and easily sold through those, too. By May, they’d made enough money to pay back Eastman’s uncle and split a roughly $200 profit.
Although the comic was meant to be a “one-shot,” a single issue, self-contained story, they realized they might be on to something. So, in January 1985, they completed issue #2 and quickly received orders for 15,000 copies, which was so successful that distributors demanded 30,000 reprints of #1, and even more of a second print of #2. #3 fetched orders totaling 50,000 copies, and sales continued to climb, peaking at issue #8, which sold 135,000 copies thanks to a guest appearance by Dave Sim’s character Cerebus, a barbarian aardvark.
The first issue of the comic originally sold for $1.50. But if you’re looking for a first-print copy of TMNT #1 today, it’ll cost you in the neighborhood of $2,500—$4,000.
The Teenage Mutuant Ninja Turtle brand started to expand in the late '80s.
- TMNT ran under the Mirage Studios banner from 1984-1995 for 75 regular issues, as well as dozens of mini-series, one-shots, and limited series spin-off titles.
- Archie Comics used the cartoon Turtles for 72 issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, which ran from 1988—1995.
- The Mirage Turtles moved to Image Comics in 1996 for 13 issues and a mini-series, before being canceled in 1999. While at Image, the series took some odd turns: Splinter became a bat, Donatello changed into a cyborg, Leonardo lost a hand, and Raph became the new Shredder.
- When Peter Laird brought the Turtles back to Mirage in 2001, he completely ignored the Image years and they are no longer considered part of the TMNT canon. His new series ran until 2010 with 30 issues in print, and #31 available only online. Although the series was not officially concluded, Laird has no immediate plans to publish more.
- Since August 2011, publisher IDW has been running a new TMNTcomic, featuring artwork from co-creator Kevin Eastman.
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