Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/371911
6 cgw j u ly . a u g u s t 2 0 1 4 he phenom- enon started, so the story goes, as a self-pub- lished parody of Marvel Comics' mutant teenagers and samurai- style superheroes, a manga- style Frank Miller superhero, and Dave Sim's anthropomor- phized aardvark. Young Artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird whirred those comic-book heroes into a potent mash-up that became the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That was 1984. Since then, the Ninja Turtles or TMNT, as they're o en called, have appeared as action fi gures, animated characters in cartoon and anime-style TV series, comic strips, comic books, video games, a theme park ride, a live-action television series, and four feature fi lms. Here's the Ninja Turtle backstory: A canister fi lled with toxic ooze spilled onto four baby turtles in New York City. A Ninjitsu's pet rat, forced into homelessness when his owner died, rescued the baby turtles and carried them into a sewer. A bit of ooze got on him, as well. It gave all fi ve intelligence, greater size, speech, and the ability to walk upright. Splinter, the rat, trained the turtles in martial arts, and when he found a Renaissance art book in the sewer, named them Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. From thenceforth, they battled all manners of evil, while trying to remain unknown. Actors wearing costumes and animatronic turtle heads Turtle Talk ARTISTS AT INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC GIVE CG CHARACTERS A LIVE-ACTION PRESENCE IN A COMEDIC ACTION/ADVENTURE BY BARBARA ROBERTSON T Images ©2014 Paramount Pictures