A while ago, I couldn't find any information about the real teenage mutant ninja turtles on the web, so I thought I'd just put up a little of my own. Since then I have been informed of an official T.M.N.T. site at www.ninjaturtles.com. Here are my thoughts, though, for what they're worth:

The real teenage mutant ninja turtles comic book was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird as a spoof on the comic trends in the mid-eighties. Any comic book, it seemed, could be popular if it included teenagers, mutants, or ninjas. The original comic was black and white, and had pretty cool art. It was moderately successful, and eventually Eastman and Laird made a movie deal*, followed by licensing to Archie comics and a cartoon producer. I hate the new turtles. Archie comics made the turtles more appealing to kids by giving them different color headbands and giving them stupid personalities, and drew them in a more Archie cartoony style. This, in my mind, totally wrecked the great seriousness of the original turtles (which made the original spoof even more funny).

Part of the reason I put this page up originally was to give some background for a couple of the drawings in my portfolio:

If anyone else wants to see more information about the original turtles or wants to correct some of my rather sketchy information, please email me at nathan at enteuxis dot org

More accurately, the Playmates toy deal came first, then the animated TV show, then the Archie Comics version, and then the first movie. Also, as part of their attempt to visually differentiate the turtles, Playmates Toys started the different-colored headband thing, which was carried forward in the animation, Archie comics, and movies.