Characters

Principal Characters

Non-Principal Characters

The Foot Clan
Karai & The Shredder's Elite Guard -- Karai is the leader of the Japanese faction of the Foot Clan. She and the best of the best travel to New York to clean up the mess that the New York faction left -- but not without a war, including the turtles. This is from the City at War story arc.

Hamato Yoshi
Tang Shen & Oroku Nagi

Chet -- the young boy who dropped the Turtles into the sewer. Throughout the span of the series, we never see Chet but know he is still around due to his tagging of alley walls and other graffiti. In a special called "Fifteen Years Later" by A.C. Farley in the compilation book Turtle Soup #4, we see Chet all grown up, finally getting the peace he deserves after a decade and a half of wondering.

TCRI / Utroms -- The alien species who invented the mutagen and Techno Cosmic Research Institute (TCRI). Disguised as humans most of the time, but the Utroms' true form is a brain-like being which sits in the belly of a cybernetic humanoid body. They inadvertently created the ooze that transformed the four turtles and Splinter, and the mutant alligator Leatherhead. These beings are mostly benevolent.

The Fugitoid / Prof. Honeycutt
Triceraton Empire & Federation

(Mistress) Renet - The Mistress of Time. Early in the series, we meet Renet - a ditzy Valley-girl type apprentice to Father Time. She manages to bungle up her assignments and ends up treating the Turtles to an adventure featuring Savanti Romero and Cerebus the Aardvark (Dave Sims). Later in the series, she has matured, and helps destroy Savanti Juliet out for revenge for her husband's death. She appears in other issues as well, and is considered a friend of the TMNT.

Lord Simultaneous, Savanti Romero & Juliet

Leatherhead

Rat King

Nobody

Gabrielle & Shadow

Robyn, Trevor & Colin

History of the TMNT

Mirage Continuum

In the late 1970s, an alien race known as the Utroms crash landed on Earth. Unable to repair their ship, they lived for years in New York City, undetected due to their human-like android bodies. The brain-like creatures used their biomechanical exoskeletons to perform tasks only humanoids could.

Using the moniker Techno Cosmic Research Institute as a front, the aliens developed a number of devices and tests that resulted in toxic byproducts. Unable to house the waste at the institute, they were forced to dispose of it outside of the city.

It was on one of these waste dump excursions that the driver lost control of the truck when attempting to avoid hitting a blind man crossing the street.

The jolt shook free a glass canister containing the toxic chemicals, which held mutagenic properties. The jar bounced a good distance until it struck a glass aquarium in the hands of a small boy named Chet.

The bowl shattered, dropping all four of his baby turtles into an open manhole, along with the canister. As it hit the sewer floor, the container oozed a sticky liquid that covered the unharmed turtles.

Splinter, a common rat, saw the whole ordeal and was concerned for the welfare of the little ones. When he reached the shattered aquarium, he picked up the turtles and attempted to clean them off.

The next few days brought Splinter some astonishment; they had all begun to grow in size and intellect.

Within a year, the turtles and Splinter had reached maturity. By 1984, the Turtles were at the intelligence of a 13-year-old and Splinter, much older at the time of mutation, had a fatherly, sage intellect.

He began training the Turtles in the art of Ninja, with one goal in mind: avenging his master's slaying.

Splinter found a discarded Renaissance book in the sewer and decided to name the turtles after his four favorite artists -- Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo.

Leonardo was trained in the swordsmanship of double katana, Donatello mastered the Bo-staff, Raphael's weapons are the three pronged sai daggers, and Michaelangelo whirls the deadly nunchacku.

Unofficially, Leonardo is the leader, as well as the most spiritual, agile and in-tune with his abilities. Donatello is the "gadget guy" and curious shy type, while Michaelangelo is the wisecracking, fun-lover. Raphael is the loner, a guy who harbors anger and rage, loves to hate, but is nonetheless devout and loving toward his family.

Splinter's character is based on a character of Marvel's Daredevil series -- Stick. He was meant to be a parody, but the character grew rapidly as the Turtle phenomena took off.

It began in Japan

Splinter was an ordinary pet rat with extraordinary capabilities. His master Hamato Yoshi was one of Japan's finest shadow warriors, and Splinter would often mimic the skills he witnessed from his cage.

Yoshi's only rival was a ninja by the name of Oroku Nagi. They competed in all things, but none more fiercely than for the love a woman --Tang Shen.

Shen's love was only for Yoshi, and when Nagi tried to force himself on her, Yoshi killed him. By honor, he was to commit seppuku, or suicide, to keep from dishonoring his family, but Shen forced him to flee with her to New York.

Yoshi and Shen together with Splinter lived in the States for some time, but one day Nagi's younger brother Saki appeared. He murdered Shen while Yoshi was away. When Yoshi returned home, Saki was waiting. He made short work of Yoshi, and in the end Splinter was alone.

Forced to live on the streets and scavenge for food, Splinter found dwelling in the tunnels of the Manhattan sewer system.

Upon witnessing a truck accident involving a blind man, a young boy with a bowl of turtles, and a mysterious flying projectile, Splinter went down the storm drain to investigate.

The shattered canister and bowl lay in a puddle of radioactive gel on the sewer floor. After Splinter cleaned the Turtles off, he noticed that the material had begun to give each of them human qualities. When he and the Turtles had evolved both mentally and physically, Splinter began teaching the turtles in the way of the Ninja. He named the turtles, and told them of their mission to avenge his master's death.

The arch-villain

The idea of the Shredder was brought to life when Kevin Eastman found some cheese graters that could slip onto your arms like sleeves. The idea was to turn the cheese graters into something more lethal, like the razor sharp blades that we are all too familiar with.

The younger brother of Yoshi's mortal enemy, Oroku Saki trained heavily in the Foot Clan to seek vengeance. Yoshi had killed his brother in the fight for Tang Shen, and Saki spent his adolescence training for revenge.

Saki was assigned to lead the American branch of the Foot in New York City. Seizing the opportunity to seek out and destroy Yoshi, Saki quickly corrupted the clan into a dishonorable gang of thieves, bio-terrorists and drug smugglers.

He eventually tracked down Yoshi and Shen and killed them both. But unknown to Saki, the chain of vengeance still had another link, and it lay with Yoshi's pet rat Splinter.

Saki began calling himself Shredder and fashioned a dogi decked with blades.

Once the Turtles were smart enough, and physically capable, Splinter assigned the Turtles to avenge his master. It took two tries, but the Shredder was destroyed. Honor and duty were fulfilled.

The human link

April O'Neil, named after Kevin Eastman's ex-wife, began the series as lab assistant to the deranged scientist Baxter Stockman.

The character of April O'Neil was introduced in issue #2, and would often change "looks" throughout the series. She's been a red head with fair skin and straight hair, and sometimes almost Latina in appearance. Peter Laird originally explored the thought of her being Asian, and at times, she also resembled her African-American namesake.

When April discovered Baxter Stockman's plan to loot the city with his Mouser robots and bring the human race to its knees, she became his prime target.

With the sewer tunnels as her only escape, April ran as fast and as far as she could from the deadly robots.

Nearby, the Turtles were searching for traces of the robots that had destroyed much of the their sewer lair. Afraid that Splinter would be targeted, the Turtles sought out Stockman's laboratory. They heard her scream and arrived just in time to help.

After the rescue, they told her their story. She befriended the Turtles and became their link to the outside world.

Soon her character evolved enough to incorporate a family: A father who resided at a nursing home until his death and a younger sister named Robyn who lived in California with her son Trevor.

Computer programming, running the family junk shop, waiting tables in North Hampton and renting out apartments seems to cover April's work history. Although sometimes portrayed as a television news reporter by guest writers, officially, April has never held that job in the Mirage universe.

Her social life consisted of an archaeologist friend who invited her to Egypt, a few deadbeat dates (including Robyn's ex) and, of course, her future husband and partner in crime Casey Jones.

When asked who the inspiration for masked vigilante Casey Jones was, Kevin Eastman replied, "Ever see Big Trouble in Little China?"

The early '80s Kurt Russell action flick featured the actor playing a character named Jack Burton.

"Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big old storm right in the eye and says, 'Give me your best shot. I can take it.'"

Casey's had his share of ups and downs. Before he met the Turtles, CJ was a vigilante who didn't hold back when beating up bad guys for the sake of "justice." It wasn't until he accidentally killed a teenage gang member that Casey seriously turned himself around and abandoned his signature hockey mask.

Soon after, he attempted to pursue a relationship with April, but at the time, she wasn't interested. After she moved to the West Coast with her sister, Casey decided to follow suit and move to California.

Half way there, in Colorado, he became smitten with a diner waitress named Gabrielle, who helped him after his car was stolen. When he found out that she was pregnant, he promised to raise the child as his own.

They got married and prepared for the baby's arrival. But when Gabrielle died in childbirth, he took baby Shadow and returned to New York City and moved into his mother's apartment building.

Casey is the heir to the old farmhouse his family owns in North Hampton, Massachusetts, which served as TMNT HQ for a long time. After April's father died and she moved back to New York, Casey's mother sold her the apartment building that she tended.

The attraction between the two rekindled and they eventually married and settled down, raising Shadow as their daughter.

Kevin and Peter only worked on a dozen or so issues of TMNT together before the "business" end of it all totally consumed them. In addition, both creators were expanding their horizons... finding new and wonderful things to create.

Reinventing a franchise

In 1996, Eastman and Laird once again teamed up for a sort of TMNT renaissance. They'd struck a deal with Fox Kids for a live action series, and went to work collaborating on ideas. As popular as the series was, the network canceled it in the first season, and the TMNT once again faded for a few years.

In 2001, after Kevin Eastman sold his share of the TMNT to Peter Laird, who was insistent on reviving an interest in the heroes, a new comic book was drawn up for Mirage Publishing. Plans immediately went underway for a new CGI movie. Unfortunately, those plans fell through. Undaunted, Peter got the media interested in the property once again. 2002 saw Playmates faithfully sign on as the exclusive toy manufacturer, a television series deal for Fox was signed by 4Kids Entertainment, and Konami returned to create cross-platform video games for 2003. Once again the Turtles are a hot commodity.