Mirage Studios

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Mirage Studios
Industry Comics
Founded1983, in Dover, New Hampshire
Founder Kevin Eastman
Peter Laird
DefunctSeptember 9, 2021, 3 years ago
FateDormancy, Dissolved
Headquarters Dover, New Hampshire (1983–1984)
Sharon, Connecticut (1984–1986)
Northampton, Massachusetts,
United States
Products Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Divisions Mirage Licensing, Inc.
Mirage Publishing, Inc.
Mirage Management, Inc.

Mirage Studios was an American comic book company founded in 1983 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in Dover, New Hampshire. The company was best known for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) comic book series and the subsequent franchise it has spawned. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

Faux manhole at the site of the original studio in Dover TMNT manhole Cover.jpg
Faux manhole at the site of the original studio in Dover

Mirage Studios was started in 1983, in Dover, New Hampshire. The company was named "Mirage" because there was no actual company. Less than a year before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 was published in May 1984, Eastman and Laird began experimenting with numerous series. Mirage then moved to Sharon, Connecticut, and stayed there for two years before ending up in Northampton, Massachusetts.

With the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Eastman and Laird hired a core group of artists to help with the increasing workload. The first addition to the studio roster was Eastman's high school friend Steve Lavigne, brought on in 1984 as a letterer. [4] [5]

In 1985, Eastman and Laird hired artist Ryan Brown to assist them as an inker for the Turtles. Brown would be the first in a long line of artists, other than Eastman and Laird, that would work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. In the following year, two new members were added, penciler Jim Lawson from Connecticut and New Jersey's Michael Dooney who would paint a number of covers. With the addition of these four core artists along with Peter and Kevin, Mirage's Ninja Turtles output would expand over the next couple of years to include numerous Mirage spin-off titles, as well as a companion comic book entitled Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . In 1989, Kevin Eastman invited freelance illustrator A.C. Farley to do cover paintings for the TMNT collected books. Peter Laird also invited Farley to do issue #29 of the TMNT comic. Farley was eventually invited to be part of the studio and crafted many paintings and comic artwork for the TMNT until his departure from the studio to resume his freelance business in 2004. [4]

In 1991, Mirage secured an interlocutory injunction against Counter-Feat Clothing for similar designs of drawings. [6]

The Mirage artists operated out of a renovated factory space in Florence, Massachusetts. This is where the bulk of the creative output was done, such as the Playmates Toys toy designs and the Archie TMNT comic series, until Tundra Publishing took over the building. [7]

Eastman and Laird along with Brown, Dooney, Lavigne, Lawson and Farley toured extensively over the years, making personal appearances and attending many comic book conventions in Detroit, Chicago, Hawaii, San Diego, Ohio, Boston, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire among many others. As the TMNT went mainstream, later additions to the studio would include Eric Talbot from Eastman's and Lavigne's old high school, writer Stephen Murphy, and Brown's friend, Dan Berger, who was brought in from Ohio to ink the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventure title from Archie Comics. In 1988, Mirage participated in the drafting of the Creator's Bill of Rights for comic book creators.

On October 21, 2009, it was announced that Viacom had purchased most of Mirage's rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property. Mirage retained the rights to publish 18 issues a year, though the future involvement of Mirage with the Turtles, and the future of Mirage itself, was unclear at the time of the announcement. [8] Mirage went dormant on December 31, 2009. Already completed projects released into 2010, with the rest being canceled. The final project released by the studio was TMNT volume 4, issue 32, released in May 2014.

Since August 2011, IDW has held publishing rights to TMNT comics under license from Viacom.

On September 9, 2021, the company's website announced that its divisions had been completely dissolved, and all e-commerce sales would wind up on September 19, 2021. The website has remained active in archive form to document the comics published before IDW took over its rights, and is no longer actively updated. [9]

Staff

Here is the list of writers and artists who were part of Mirage Studios. List in alphabetical order:

Titles

Mirage produced many titles, although most did not remain in publication for more than a few issues. Comics published include:

Related Research Articles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, commonly abbreviated as TMNT, is a media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers trained in ninjutsu who fight evil in New York City. The franchise encompasses printed media, television series, feature films, video games, and merchandise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Eastman</span> American comic book artist and writer

Kevin Brooks Eastman is an American comic book writer and artist best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine Heavy Metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Laird</span> American comic book artist (born 1954)

Peter Alan Laird is an American comic book writer and artist. He is best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with writer and artist Kevin Eastman.

Rat King (<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i>) Fictional character

The Rat King is a fictional character in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles multimedia franchise. The character was created by Jim Lawson and first appeared in the comic Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 written by Jim Lawson and has made various appearances since, in the comic books and other media, such as animated series and video games.

Karai (<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i>) Comics character

Karai is a fictional supporting character appearing in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics and related media. She is usually a high-rank member of the Foot Clan outlaw ninja organization. She was introduced in Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's comic book series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1992. Since then, she has appeared in several different Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, television series, films, and video games. She is depicted as Shredder's second-in-command or adopted daughter in most versions and shares a rivalry with Leonardo and is at times considered his love interest. In one version of the comics, she is the granddaughter of the immortal Shredder, while in the 2012 series, she is Hamato Miwa, the only child of Hamato "Splinter" Yoshi and the late Tang Shen.

<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures</i> American comic book series

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures is an American comic book series that was published from August 1988 to October 1995 by Archie Comics. The series, which was aimed at a younger audience than other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics at the time, ran for 72 issues. In addition, there were numerous annuals, specials, and miniseries.

<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i> (Mirage Studios) American comic book series

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a comic book series that was published by Mirage Studios between 1984 and 2014. Conceived by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, it was intended as a one-shot, but due to its popularity it became an ongoing series. The comic created the Turtles franchise of five television series, seven feature films, numerous video games, and a range of toys and merchandise.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic strip was started on December 10, 1990, by Creator's Syndicate as a daily. The comic strip ceased publication in January 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Lawson (comics)</span> American comic book writer and artist (born 1960)

Jim Lawson is an American comic book writer and artist best known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Lawson created the Rat King and also co-created the series Planet Racers with Peter Laird. He is also the writer/artist of the black-and white-comic series Paleo: Tales of the Late Cretaceous. For more than 20 years he was a writer and artist of TMNT comics, but in 2009 he announced that he would depart from TMNT following Peter Laird's sale of the property to Viacom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Brown (comics)</span> American comic book artist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Lavigne</span> American comic book illustrator (born 1962)

Steve Lavigne is an American comic book illustrator best known for his lettering and coloring on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title for Mirage Studios. He is the creator of Cudley the Cowlick, Sgt. Bananas, and Stump and Sling.

Stephen Murphy is an American comic book writer and editor known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. With Michael Zulli, he was co-creator of the critically acclaimed 1980s independent comic The Puma Blues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gizmo (Mirage Studios)</span> Black and white comic book series

Gizmo is a black and white comic book series created, written, and illustrated by Michael Dooney first published by Chance Enterprises, and later published by Mirage Studios in May 1986. It tells about the story of two space adventurers: Gizmo Sprocket, a robot with a cool attitude, and Fluffy Brockleton, an anthropomorphic dog. They are accompanied by Soto, a sentient, pan-dimensional space vehicle that resembles a trailer truck. Gizmo has crossed over with the character Fugitoid from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

<i>Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i> US comic book series

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an anthology comic book series that was published by Mirage Studios starting in May 1987. It acted as a companion book to the main Turtles comic series, presenting additional stories featuring the Turtles and their supporting cast and filling in the gaps in the continuity of the Mirage Turtles universe. It was published in two distinct volumes.

The Creator's Bill of Rights is a document drafted in November 1988 by a number of independent comic book artists, writers, and publishers, designed to protect their rights as creators and publishers and oppose exploitation by corporate work for hire practices and the power of distributors to dictate the means of distribution. Issues covered by the Bill included giving creators proper credit for their characters and stories, profit-sharing, distribution, fair contracts, licensing, and return of original artwork. The signing of the Bill spurred Cerebus creator and self-publisher Dave Sim and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators/self-publishers Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird to sell or continue selling collected volumes of their comics directly to readers via their periodic issues, rather than through direct market distributors selling the collections at comic book specialty shops. Comic book professionals that have commented on the Bill conclude that it had little or no impact on the comic book industry.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a superhero team created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, have appeared in seven theatrical feature-length films since their debut. The first film was released in 1990, at the height of the franchise's popularity. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a commercial success that garnered two direct sequels, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in 1991 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III in 1993, both of which were modest successes. An animated film titled TMNT was released in 2007.

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<i>Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i> 2014 American film

Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 2014 documentary about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise directed by Randall Lobb.

<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin</i> 2020s comic book

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin is a five-issue comic book miniseries published by IDW Publishing. The series is written by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz, based on a story by Eastman and Peter Laird, and drawn by Esau and Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, and Eastman. The story follows characters from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in an alternative future, wherein the last remaining turtle seeks to avenge the death of his brothers by killing the grandson of one of the Turtles' arch-enemies, the Shredder. Despite being published by IDW, it is unconnected to the IDW series' continuity and is set in its own universe, dubbed the "Roninverse".

References

  1. Douglas C. McGill (December 25, 1988). "DYNAMIC DUO: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird; Turning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Into a Monster". The New York Times . Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  2. Gustines, George Gene (July 14, 2012). "Image Comics Is Having a Creative Renaissance". The New York Times . Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  3. "Tv & Video". Los Angeles Times. June 25, 1990. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Jason Heller (August 7, 2014). "30 years later, the first 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' comics still pop". Entertainment Weekly's. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  5. Andrew Farago (June 10, 2014). "The fascinating origin story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". The Week. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  6. Catherine Colston; Kirsty Middleton (2005). Modern Intellectual Property Law. Psychology Press. pp. 637–. ISBN   978-1-85941-816-1.
  7. Gary Groth (January 3, 2012). "The Kevin Eastman Interview Part 2". TCJ. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  8. Rodney (October 21, 2009). "Viacom Acquires Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". The Movie Blog. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  9. Mirage Studios (September 9, 2021). "The Mirage Group Website".