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Ninja Trivia: - A spoof itself, TMNT inspired numerous spoofs of its own, including such classics as Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters and Power Pachyderms. - In the movies and cartoon series, the four Turtles received different-coloured headbands and personalities to help viewers tell them apart. - Adding to the absurdity were their names - the Turtles were named Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo in honor of four prominent Renaissance artists. More of the Greatest Comics Ever Made: - Amazing Fantasy #15 - Fantastic Four #1 - Fantastic Four #48 - Incredible Hulk #181 - Mad #1 - Sandman #1 - Star Wars #1 - Superman #75 - Superman Vs. Spider-Man - Swamp Thing #21 - Tales Of Suspense #39 - Watchmen #1 - X-Men #1 - Zap Comix #0 |
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If you think sticking a comic about a bunch of martial-artist turtles and their humanoid rat mentor on a list of the century's greatest comics sounds weird, try to imagine how creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird would feel about it.  After all, their book was only supposed to be a joke, just a silly parody of all the dark, moody, 'grim-and-gritty' comics that dominated the early 1980s. Originally designed as a spoof of such comics as Daredevil and The X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was, not surprisingly, rejected by Marvel - and every other publisher. With only a $500 loan from their uncle to help get 3,000 copies published, the two guys weren't out to change history - they just wanted to have some fun. How were they supposed to know they would end up creating one of the most commercially successful independent comic series ever made?The story itself is pretty, um, standard. The four turtles were once just normal reptiles living in the sewers when a mysterious canister of 'ooze' mutated them into humanoid form. After receiving their ninja skills from a humanoid rat named Splinter, the four heroes fight Shredder and his evil Foot clan, occasionally getting a little help from a sports-obsessed vigilante and an intrepid young TV reporter. It sounds silly because it is. But for whatever reason, thousands of fans bought the self-published series, sending its back-issue prices into the hundreds of dollars. But that was peanuts compared to the money made in the licensing - once the 'dark and brooding' heroes were lightened up for kids, it seemed for a time in the early 1990s that every North American child under 10 was wearing TMNT pajamas, eating TMNT pasta, watching TMNT movies and cartoons, and coloring in TMNT colouring books. Eastman and Laird became multi-millionaires by creating the most commercially successful creator-owned comic ever, and their rise to fame and fortune served as an inspiration to those who never thought self-publishing their own books was possible. |