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Publishers & history

Mirage Studios: the publisher of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Published Sep 14, 2026 · Updated Sep 14, 2026 · 1 min read

Short answerMirage Studios was the name Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird gave the company they formed to self-publish Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 in May 1984 from Dover, New Hampshire — a mirage because there was no studio. The black-and-white comic's success made it the model for the 1980s independent boom, and the licensing that followed built a global franchise. Laird bought out Eastman in 2000 and sold the property to Viacom (Nickelodeon) in 2009.

The beginning

Eastman and Laird, two young artists sharing a house, drew the Turtles as a joke on Frank Miller's ninja-heavy Daredevil and Ronin, then wrote a 40-page one-shot. They printed about 3,000 copies with a tax refund and a loan from Eastman's uncle, took an ad in the Comic Buyer's Guide, and sold out. The reprints, the issues that followed, and the licensing deal with Playmates Toys (1987) and the animated series (1987) turned a self-published comic into one of the biggest franchises of the decade.

Mirage as a publisher

Mirage moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, and published the Turtles' main series (volume 1, 1984–1993; volume 2, 1993–1995; volume 4, 2001–2014), spin-offs such as Tales of the TMNT, and creator-owned books by studio members including Stephen Murphy, Jim Lawson and Michael Dooney. The 1990s colour series was published by Archie Comics; IDW has published the Turtles since 2011.

The black-and-white boom and bust

TMNT #1's success triggered a wave of self-published black-and-white comics in 1985–1987, most of them worthless within a year. The lesson collectors took: a first printing of the real thing (TMNT #1) is scarce and valuable; the imitators printed to meet speculator demand are not.

Collecting Mirage

See First appearance of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and TMNT #1 printings explained. Beyond #1, early first printings of #2–#4 and Raphael #1 (first Casey Jones) are the keys. Browse Mirage Studios in the store and the Copper Age collection.

Written by the Rare Comics Collectors grading team. Spotted an error or have a question this guide does not answer? Tell us.

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Mirage Studios · Copper Age

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

CGC 9.6 · Signature Series

Origin and first appearance of the Turtles (third printing), signed and sketched by Kevin Eastman

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$437

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