Posted in: Comics, IDW | Tagged: comicspro, kevin eastman, mcm
Kevin Eastman Spent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Royalties On A Tank
Kevin Eastman on the origins of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, more Last Ronin to come, and buying a tank with his royalties
Article Summary
- Kevin Eastman reveals how Daredevil, Frank Miller and Jack Kirby helped inspire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Kevin Eastman explains how TMNT stayed creator-controlled, from the first comic to Playmates toys and the 1987 cartoon.
- Kevin Eastman shares Last Ronin updates, including a real movie script, revived video game plans and new spin-off stories.
- Kevin Eastman also recalls spending Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles royalties on a military tank he drove in Massachusetts.
@thatrichjohnston Kevin Eastman talks Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin at ComicsPRO and MCM London Comic Con May 2026 part 22 #mcm#london#mcmlondon♬ original sound – Rich Johnston
David Baillie may be best known as a comic book writer and artist, best known for creating the Vertigo comic series Red Thorn, and for writing stories for 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine, but he was also sitting next to me at the ComicsPRO event at London MCM recently, as we were regaled by Kevin Eastman. And he was taking notes. And as ComicsPRO is about to kick off another event at San Diego Comic-Con, he shared his notes with me…
One of the most exciting international comics guests at MCM London this year was undoubtedly Kevin Eastman, co-creator of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His signing sessions on the convention floor were insanely busy, but a lucky few got to hear him talk up-close and personal at an industry event organised by ComicsPRO.
The chat covered a wide range of topics, from the early days of the Turtles to recent projects like The Last Ronin and its upcoming spin-offs, and was hosted by Matt Live, of Bat City Comics in Florida. Eastman started by telling us he was delighted to finally be back in the UK after many years. He recently thought he was headed to an English convention, only to discover it was actually happening in London, Ontario. Eastman shared with us the various influences behind the creation of the Turtles, which Matt pointed out is the largest superhero franchise in the world outside of Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. Eastman spoke fondly about how much early Marvel and DC comics shaped his work, especially the writing and art of Jack Kirby, and early Daredevil. “I remember reading Daredevil and then suddenly seeing this new penciller come in, Frank Miller, and just watching him completely change comics. His storytelling, the darker tone, the cinematic style, it really opened my eyes to what comics could do outside of standard superhero books.”
Eastman recounted the well-known origin of the Turtles and how he and co-creator Peter Laird were joking about the radioactive accident in Daredevil. “In Daredevil, Matt Murdock jumps out to save a blind man from a truck carrying radioactive waste, and the canister hits him in the eyes. Peter said, ‘They never explain what happened to the canister afterwards.’ So we decided the canister kept rolling down the street, fell into the sewer, broke open on some turtles, and that became our origin story! “We stole from everything we loved, Frank Miller, Jack Kirby, samurai comics, superheroes, and mashed it all together.”
Eastman told us how the first TMNT comic was self-published with a print run of just 3,000 copies. They borrowed money to get it printed and never expected it to become a success, but it was when they were contacted by toy company Playmates that things really started to take off. “Very early on, Peter and I decided we wanted full control. We wanted approval over everything: the toys, the animation, the designs, the stories. If we didn’t have final say, we weren’t interested. A lot of companies weren’t happy with that, but Playmates Toys was willing to work with us. That was huge. Things like giving the Turtles different colored masks, that came later during the adaptation process because it helped kids tell them apart more easily. We worked closely on all of those changes.”
Playmates funded the first few episodes of a new cartoon series, intended to help sell the new line of Turtles toys. “We were involved in the first five episodes of the animated series. We worked on the toy line. We were very hands-on with everything. The first five episodes aired around Christmas 1987, and the ratings were huge, so they ordered a full season for 1988. The toy line exploded after that.” Eastman also dropped a fun fact for the audience, something I’d never heard before: the original cartoon theme song was written by Chuck Lorre, creator of Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. (Apparently, they were given a 48-hour deadline and a strict $2,000 budget!
Eastman talked passionately about creator rights and ownership, explaining how he and Laird were very careful about keeping control of the Turtles from early on. Around the time of the Turtles cartoon he was frequently asked why he would allow his characters to be ‘bastardised’, and had to explain that he and Laird were actually active participants in the various translations, and that aiming the franchise toward younger fans didn’t in any way feel like selling out to him. “Peter and I were really lucky. One thing we learned from creators like Jack Kirby was how important ownership was. Kirby created so many amazing characters and didn’t really benefit from them financially or creatively the way he should have.”
Eastman also discussed his new series, Drawing Blood, created with co-writer David Avallone and artists Ben Bishop and Troy Little. It sees an indie comics creator come up with a suspiciously familiar idea – The Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls. “The idea behind Drawing Blood came from years of hearing stories from comic creators. Whenever you go to conventions, all the artists and writers end up in the bar afterward telling stories, about fans, publishers, editors, Hollywood, disasters, successes… And the stories get bigger and crazier every time they’re told! I thought it would be fascinating to take all these bits and pieces from different creators’ experiences and roll them into one fictional character. So the main character, Shane Bookman, people see similarities to my life, and there are definitely autobiographical elements, but probably only about 20 or 25 per cent is actually based on me. The rest comes from stories I’ve heard from other creators over the years.” The series is planned for 12 issues, and Eastman told us he absolutely can’t wait to have the completed work in his hands.
It’s at this point in the chat that Kevin Eastman casually mentioned that he once bought a tank. “I grew up loving old war comics like The Haunted Tank, and I met a guy who supplied military vehicles to movie productions. He had this old military tank that had been used in films, including a movie called Red Dawn. I think it cost around $35,000. I lived out in the woods in Massachusetts at the time, so I’d drive it around my property. The neighbours were a little nervous. It was ridiculously fun!”
Matt made sure to thank Eastman, on behalf of himself and other retailers for ‘all the money’ that Last Ronin had brought in. Eastman said the idea for the post-apocalyptic story dates back to the late 1980s, when he and Laird first discussed a possible ‘final’ TMNT story set in the future. “Years later, while working on the IDW series, Tom Waltz and I started talking about a milestone issue #100 and where things could go from there. I dug out the old outline and expanded it into something much bigger. At the same time, there were management changes happening at IDW and Nickelodeon, so suddenly, anyone who was left was basically saying, ‘Go ahead. Do whatever you want. I designed the characters, worked on layouts, broke down the story, and Tom and I worked together on the scripts. I wanted it to feel closer to the original Mirage books, darker, oversized issues, longer action scenes, and more cinematic storytelling. The response completely shocked us. We thought maybe it would sell around what the regular Turtles comic was selling at the time. Instead, it exploded!” Eastman also confirmed that there are ongoing expansions of the storyline, including the miniseries Lost Years, Re-Evolution, and a one-shot called Training Day, partially inspired by the 90s film Leon.
Matt told us how fans will often come into his store, claiming to have insider knowledge of Last Ronin film or video game projects, of which he’s usually quite sceptical. “Well, the movie project is real,” Eastman confirmed. “Paramount had a writer working on it, and the script was completed. Then there were studio shake-ups and strikes and all kinds of industry complications. But the script exists, and it’s really good. Hopefully it moves forward.” He also said an in-development Last Ronin video game had hit some corporate trouble, but that work had recently restarted, and it looks great. So perhaps Matt’s customers really do have the inside scoop?
After the chat, I got to shake the hand that drew the Turtles and thank Kevin for giving me my start in comics. Among my first-ever professional gigs, I wrote various incarnations of the Turtles for numerous publishers in the UK and Europe. I told him that I was writing TMNT comics when Nickelodeon bought the rights and distributed extensive new brand guidelines. I had to suddenly change a script that had panels cut up like pizza slices, because apparently, the turtles were no longer going to be fans of just one type of food! He was surprised by this. “No pizza? I didn’t know they tried that. What did you do?” I told him they suggested changing the panels to be bordered by noodles spilling out of a takeaway box. I wish I could have taken a photo of the face Kevin Eastman made then, and travel back in time to show it to the Nickelodeon lawyer who briefly banned pizza.
David Baillie is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan and comic book writer. Based in London, not Ontario, his website can be found at: www.davidbaillie.net
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