A Brief History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Joshua Ballard

November 11, 2018

A Brief History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

In light of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) from Nickelodeon, I thought I’d take this time to put the magnifying glass to this pop culture powerhouse. If you grew up with the Turtles, you might be surprised to know that this powerhouse is only 33 years old. (Conceived the same year I was: 1984.) I grew up alongside this phenomenon. I would watch the cartoon. I would try to get all the action figures in the set. The main problem was that Michelangelo was the most popular, I always ended up getting Raphael. I don’t know what your experience with the turtles has been, but mine has always been a fairly good experience. So, How did it all begin?

Well, it all started with a conversation at a kitchen table between Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. They were just brainstorming about the popular books at the time; Daredevil, New Mutants, Cerberus, And Frank Miller’s Ronin. They managed to pick out their favorite parts and decided to make a SATIRICAL comic about it. Which I imagine is one of the greatest aspects of this. Throw all the awesome stuff in a blender see what happens! I dare say this is a feat that could rarely be accomplished today. So, from the kitchen table to a comic; it went from a comic to a hit cartoon plus a toy line in 1987!

Then in 1990, they had an even bigger break with a live action movie partnering with the Jim Henson company. You could say that this was the peak “Turtle Power” time in history. As all things have hits and miss things started falling by the wayside in 1997 with the live action TV show that wasn’t received well. I don’t want to talk too much about the Michael Bay TMNT movies. Fans are a little divisive about that subject.I also don’t want to judge the new cartoon prematurely. Time will tell.

Now, even though the turtles in other forms of media have had their ups and downs, the comics have usually been consistent and the new things they have tried have usually been well-received. I am a huge fan of what IDW has done with them. My personal advice to any TMNT fans out there that aren’t too thrilled by the new cartoon or movies go and pick up IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.