Mirage Studios was an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

company founded in 1983 by

Kevin Eastman Kevin Brooks Eastman (born May 30, 1962) is an American comic book artist and writer 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 Meta ...

and

Peter Laird Peter Alan Laird (born January 27, 1954) is an American comic book writer and artist best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with writer and artist Kevin Eastman. Early life and career Laird was born on January 27, 1954, in ...

Dover, New Hampshire Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,741 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in the New Hampshire Seacoast region and the fifth largest municipality in the state. It is the county se ...

. The company was best known for the ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (named after It ...

'' (''TMNT'') comic book series and the subsequent

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

it has spawned.

History

Mirage Studios was started back in 1983, in Dover, New Hampshire. The company was named "Mirage" because there was no actual company. Less than a year before TMNT #1 was published in May 1984, Eastman and Laird began experimenting with numerous series. Mirage then moved to

Sharon, Connecticut Sharon is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, in the northwest corner of the state. At the time of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 2,680. The ZIP code for Sharon is 06069. The urban center of the town is ...

, and stayed there for two years before ending up in Northampton. 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 Steve Lavigne (born September 22, 1962) is an People of the United States, 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 C ...

, brought on in 1984 as a

letterer A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the com ...

. In 1985, Eastman and Laird hired artist Ryan Brown to assist them as an

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...

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 Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

and New Jersey's

Michael Dooney Michael Dooney is an American comic book writer and artist and toy designer best known for his works on the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' series. Dooney also created the comic book series ''Gizmo A gizmo is a gadget, especially one whose real ...

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 Studio spin-off titles, as well as a companion comic book entitled ''

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', called ''Tales of the TMNT'' in its later Volume 2 incarnation, is an anthology comic book series published by Mirage Studios, starting in May 1987, presenting additional stories featuring the Teenag ...

''. 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. In 1991, Mirage Studios secured an interlocutory injunction against Counter-Feat Clothing for similar designs of drawings. The Mirage artists operated out of a renovated factory space in

Florence, Massachusetts Florence is a village in the northwestern portion of the city of Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. During the 19th century, Florence was a thriving manufacturing village shaped by progressive ideas on religion, abolitionism, and educa ...

. 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 Tundra Publishing was a Northampton, Massachusetts-based comic book publisher founded by Kevin Eastman in 1990. The company was founded to provide a venue for adventurous, creator-owned work by talented cartoonists and illustrators. Its publicat ...

took over the building. 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 Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, and

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsm ...

among many others. As the TMNT went mainstream, later additions to the studio would include

Eric Talbot Eric Talbot is an American comic book writer and artist known for his work on the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' series under Mirage Studios. He was hired by long-time classmate and friend Kevin Eastman. Talbot co-wrote the graphic novel ''Th ...

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 Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.drafting of the

Creator's Bill of Rights The Creator's Bill of Rights (officially, A Bill of Rights for Comics Creators) 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 publish ...

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. Mirage Studios went dormant on December 31, 2009. Since August 2011, IDW has held publishing rights to TMNT comics under license from Viacom. On September 9, 2021, an announcement was published on the Mirage Group official website that four Mirage corporations (Mirage Studios, Inc., Mirage Licensing, Inc., Mirage Publishing, Inc., Mirage Management, Inc.) were officially going into indefinite dormancy and, as of September 19, 2021, they will have stopped conducting all merchandise sales. The website will no longer be updated but will remain active as an archival resource related to the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' comics published by Mirage between the years 1984 and 2010.

Titles

Mirage Studios produced many titles, although most did not remain in publication for more than a few issues. Comics published include: *''Bade Biker & Orson'' by Jim Lawson *''Barabbas'' by

Dan Vado Dan Vado (born September 9, 1959) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" , ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', June 10, 2005. Accessed February 1, 2011. is an American comic book publisher and writer, and a fixture of the independent comics communit ...

and Gino Atanasio *''Bioneers'' by A.C. Farley *''Commandosaurs'' by

*''Dino Island'' by Jim Lawson *''

Fugitoid The following is a list of characters in the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' franchise. Overview * This table shows the recurring characters and the actors who have portrayed them throughout the franchise. * A dark grey cell indicates the c ...

'' by

and

*''

Gizmo A gizmo is a gadget, especially one whose real name is unknown or forgotten. Gizmo may also refer to: Technology * The Gizmo or "Gizmotron", an effects device for electric guitars * Gizmo key, found on certain flutes * Gizmos, interactive on ...

'' by

*''Gobbledygook'' by various artists *''Grunts'' by various artists *''Gutwallow'' by Dan Berger *''Hallowieners: Invasion of the Halloween Hot Dogs'' by Ryan Brown *''Hero Sandwich'' *''Melting Pot'' by

and

*''Mirage Mini-Comics'' *''Paleo'' by Jim Lawson *''Planet Racers'' by

and Jim Lawson *''Plastron Cafe'' by various artists *''Prime Slime Tails'' *''Justice Force'' *'' The Puma Blues'' by Stephen Murphy and

Michael Zulli Michael Zulli is an American artist known for his work as an animal and wildlife illustrator and as a comic book illustrator. Career Michael Zulli's career in the comics industry began in October 1986 with ''The Puma Blues'', on which he collabo ...

*'' Rockola'' by Ryan Brown *''Stupid Heroes'' by

*''

'' and related titles by

and

*''

Usagi Yojimbo is a comic book series created by Stan Sakai. It is set primarily at the beginning of the Edo period of Japanese history and features anthropomorphic animals replacing humans. The main character is a rabbit ''rōnin'', Miyamoto Usagi, whom Saka ...

(volume 2)'' and related titles by

Stan Sakai is a Japanese-born American cartoonist and comic book creator. He is best known as the creator of the comic series '' Usagi Yojimbo''. Career He began his career by lettering comic books (notably ''Groo the Wanderer'' by Sergio Aragonés and Ma ...

*''

Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa ''Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa'' is a 1992–1993 American animated television series created by comic book artist Ryan Brown, known for his work on ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''. It aired as part of ABC's Saturday morning lineup. ...

'' by Ryan Brown *''Xenotech'' by

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Publishing companies established in 1983 1983 establishments in New Hampshire Publishing companies disestablished in 2021 2021 disestablishments in Massachusetts Northampton, Massachusetts Privately held companies based in Massachusetts