Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) are a group of four anthropomorphic turtle brothers, who, as one might infer from the name, are also teenagers, mutants and ninja. The Turtles are each named after a famous Renaissance artist: Leonardo (Leonardo da Vinci), Raphael (Raffaello Santi), Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonarroti), and Donatello (Donatello). The TMNT live in the sewers of New York City.

Comic books

The Turtles originated in a small-run black and white comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird entitled Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Published by Mirage Studios, it was released in 1984 and became an overnight sensation for independent comics. Over the years TMNT comics have spanned four separate volumes and several side stories, culminating in TMNT: Volume 4, which began publication in 2001 and continues as of 2005.

Related Topics:
Kevin Eastman - Peter Laird - Mirage Studios - 1984 - Independent comics - 2001

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Archie Comics owned the rights to publish comics based on the 1987 cartoon series. This comic, TMNT Adventures, stopped following the cartoon story after issue 5 and developed its own storylines. While the 1987 TV series had much more humor, the Archie Comics incarnation was more violent and explored darker themes such as death, religious conflict and environmental issues. The Archie Comics series was published between 1988 and 1995.

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Image Comics also released an action-packed TMNT series, known as Volume 3, after the ceasation of Volume 2 and before the release of Volume 4.

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A daily comic strip, drawn and written by Dan Berger, was published until its cancellation in December 1996. At its highest point in popularity, it was published in over 250 newspapers.

Related Topics:
Dan Berger - December - 1996

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A monthly comic, inspired by the 2003 animated series, was published by Dreamwave Productions from June to December 2003 before it was cancelled due to low sales. It was written by Peter David and illustrated by LeSean, and in the first three issues, which were the only ones based on the TV series, it showed the perspective of April O'Neil, Baxter Stockman and Casey Jones instead of the Turtles.

Related Topics:
2003 animated series - Dreamwave Productions - June - December - 2003 - Peter David - LeSean - April O'Neil - Baxter Stockman - Casey Jones

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