The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are getting a new comic book series Wednesday, from IDW Publishing, to commemorate their 40th anniversary. Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo have come a long way from their early comics days as turtles who, after being exposed to a mysterious green ooze, turned into sewer-dwelling heroes. They made the leap to animation, video games and merchandise. Here’s a look at some significant moments in Turtle history — and a glimpse at what lies ahead.
WHERE IT BEGAN
The Turtles were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, two die-hard comic book fans in New Hampshire whose influences included ninjas by Frank Miller, the X-Men and the work of the comic book artist Jack Kirby. In imagining the Turtles, “we took our favorite things and kind of put it into a blender,” Eastman said in a phone interview, adding that they never thought the Turtles would be such a huge success. There is no “To Be Continued” at the end of the first issue, which was published in 1984, because “we never thought there’d be a second,” Eastman said. (They were wrong, of course. They both eventually quit their day jobs to focus on the Turtles.)
THE FIRST ANIMATED SERIES
The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” animated TV series came out in December 1987, and it aired until 1996. It took a lighter tone than the comic, making it more suitable for younger audiences. In another instance of how far-fetched the success seemed at the time, Eastman recalled proudly telling his mother about the series, which would premiere around Christmas. But, he said in the interview, she didn’t believe him until she read it in TV Guide. The cartoon helped cement Turtles as a cultural and commercial phenomenon — and added pizza to their routine. And “by 1990, if you wanted to have a complete Ninja Turtles day, you could wake up in Turtles bedsheets wearing your Turtles pajamas, have your Turtles toothbrush and eat your cereal out of a Turtles bowl,” said Andrew Farago, the curator of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco and the author of a Turtles visual history.
FEMALE TURTLES
In 1997, “Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation” became the first live-action television series for the heroes, and it introduced the first female turtle, Venus de Milo. It ran one season. Neither Venus nor the show were embraced by fans. Another female character, Jennika, was introduced in a Turtles’ comic book series in 2015. She was initially a human enemy but slowly turned toward justice. Thanks to a blood transfusion — comic book science! — she became a turtle, this one cherished by fans.
A FLASH FORWARD
Since most comics with characters typically don’t age, reading a hero’s final adventure can be tantalizing. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin” (2020-2022) goes there, with a story set in a bleak future, centering on Michelangelo. The five-part story, written by Eastman and Tom Waltz, based on a story by Eastman and Laird, was a critical success. The artwork is by the brothers Esau and Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop and Eastman (who drew the flashbacks).
The Turtles are on a different path in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, written by Jason Aaron (who has worked for Marvel on “The Avengers” and for DC on gritty stories like “Scalped,” about life and crime on a reservation). The first four issues of the comic will focus on one of the four main characters, each by a different artist who picked their favorite turtle to draw. In Issue No. 1, with artwork by Joëlle Jones, Raphael is in prison and the inmates are no fans. Michelangelo stars in Issue No. 2, drawn by Rafael Albuquerque; Leonardo in Issue No. 3, drawn by Cliff Chiang; and Donatello in Issue No. 4, drawn by Chris Burnham.
