Mirage Studios
From TMNTPedia
Mirage Studios is a comic book company started in 1983 by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. They are located in Northampton, Massachusetts. They are best known for publishing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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.
In 1985, Eastman and Laird hired Cleveland artist Ryan Brown to assist them in inking 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 Studio spin-off titles, as well as a companion comic book entitled Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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 designs and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures title from Archie Comics, until Tundra Publishing took over the building.
Eastman and Laird along with Brown, Dooney, Lavigne and Lawson 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 TMNT Adventure title from Archie Comics. With the exception of Kevin Eastman, all the original artists are still with Mirage today and contribute to the TMNT.
In 1988, Mirage Studios was one of the studios to participate in the drafting of the Creator's Bill of Rights, a document meant to protect the rights of comic book creators and keep them from being exploited by the industry.
October 2009 marked Peter Laird's complete sale of the TMNT franchise to Viacom (specifically, their Nickelodeon brand). This sale is planned to herald a new CGI animated series as well as a feature film, both due in 2012. Mirage Studios will cease normal production of the comic book, although Laird retains the rights to self-publish 18 issues a year for an indefinite period of time, as long as the issues are under 48 pages each.
[edit] Members of Mirage Studios
- Dan Berger
- Ryan Brown
- Michael Dooney
- Kevin Eastman
- Peter Laird
- Steve Lavigne
- Jim Lawson
- Stephen Murphy
- Eric Talbot
[edit] Comics Published
- Bade Biker & Orson by Jim Lawson
- Bioneers by A.C. Farley
- Commandosaurs by Peter Laird
- Dino Island by Jim Lawson
- Gizmo by Michael Dooney
- Gobbledygook by various artists
- Grunts by Peter Laird
- Gutwallow by Dan Berger
- Hallowieners by Ryan Brown
- Melting Pot by Kevin Eastman and Eric Talbot
- Mirage Mini-Comics
- Paleo by Jim Lawson
- Planet Racers by Peter Laird and Jim Lawson
- Plastron Cafe by various artists
- Prime Slime Tails
- The Puma Blues by Stephen Murphy and Michael Zulli
- Rockola by Ryan Brown
- Stupid Heroes by Peter Laird
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and related titles by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
- Usagi Yojimbo and related titles
- Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa by Ryan Brown
- Xenotech by Michael Dooney
