Heroes in a half shell
April 12, 2007

By Brendan Kachel
Online editor

Born in 1984 as an underground comics parody of various martial arts and mutant comic books, the reptilian superhero team known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be 23 years old in May, making them a bit old to still be considered teenagers.

The story goes that four turtles were mutated by a strange ooze, as well as a rat. The rat, Splinter, a former pet of a martial arts master, becomes the turtles’ leader and surrogate father, teaching them ninja skills he learned from his master and naming them Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello. The turtles then fight crime from their base under the sewers of New York City, as well as the evil Foot Clan and its leader, the Shredder.

The turtles were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who originally self-published what was supposed to be a one shot comic issue, debuting at a comic book convention being held in New Hampshire. The book was published by Mirage Studios, so named because of the fact that Eastman and Laird didn’t have a real studio. Soon, the superhero team became a hit, and and the one off parody became a series that has lasted until the present, including four volumes of the series, albeit with a few hiatuses in between.

In 1987, the turtles were given there very own animated series, which is still the “definitive” version for a lot of fans. Some comic book fans disagree, saying that the show took the dark underground comics and turned them into a lighter, children’s oriented show, while also changing certain key plot points, including the fact that Splinter is now a rat like human, instead of a man like rat. Most of these points are fairly valid, but fans of the show didn’t really mind, and were mostly unaware of the comics as well. The series did introduce the idea of the color coordinated turtles; before, only weaponry told them apart.

A separate comic book series, by Archie Comics, based on the show was released in 1988 and lasted until 1995. This series was originally based on the cartoon, but eventually became its own thing.

The show lasted for 9 years, and sold an untold wealth of various toys and other related paraphernalia. Most important were probably the series of action figures, which included many characters that didn’t appear in the cartoon until they became popular, and many that didn’t appear at all, as common in many such ‘80s cartoon toy lines.

In 1990, the first turtle movie came out with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” The movie stayed closer to the comics than the cartoon series. It spawned two sequels almost immediately, starting first with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze,” in 1991 and then with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III” in 1993. This early trilogy featured puppetry from the Jim Henson Creature Shop to bring the turtles to life.

These spawned a live action series for the turtles, the “Next Mutation.” This show has been mostly forgotten, but was developed as a continuation of the movies. Most controversially, the show introduced a new turtle, the female Venus. The show started in 1997, but only lasted 27 episodes before being cancelled.

In 2003, when many such ‘80s cartoons were coming back in vogue, the turtles started a brand new cartoon series, this time following the comics, rather than the original cartoon series. This series has been ongoing since then, though in 2006 the show started a “Fast Forward” concept, depositing the turtles in the future.

Now, the movie “TMNT” has come out, a more or less direct sequel to the 1993 movie, continuing on the movie storyline. It seems Turtle Power is still alive and well. As Michelangelo would say, “Cowabunga!”