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Shop TMNT Costume Accessories The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, known by their Italian Renaissance artist names Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, live in the sewers of NYC where they do battle with alien invaders, criminals, and megalomaniacs, along with their archnemesis, Shredder. These four turtles started out in life by crawling around in the mud and ooze of the sewers. They became mutated and received some special abilities. Splinter, the rat, rescued them from the ooze but mutated with them. He was thus able to train the turtles in the art of ninjitsu. Despite their notoriety, they are still an isolated bunch, being talking turtles and all. About the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The TMNT first appeared in comics. Mirage Studios brought the characters to life with their 1984 comic book. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird thought up the concept and sketched out some designs. They self-published a comic which was a parody of New Mutants and Daredevil, by Marvel, along with Cerebrus from Dave Sim and Ronin by Frank Miller. It’s popularity led to a television show, which ran from 1987 until 2009. During this time, they were the subject of four movies and numerous video games, toys, and other merchandise. Although they reached their peak in popularity in the early 1990s, they are still well recognized today. There are plans for another movie about the turtles to be produced by Michael Bay and released in 2012. Who would have thought that four mutant turtles with Renaissance period names would become so popular?