A couple days ago I read that Nickelodeon had bought 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' from co-creator and full owner Peter Laird. I didn't put much thought into this, being that we live in an age where big companies seem to be constantly buying up smaller companies (like Disney has with Pixar, the Muppets and Marvel). I figured that all it would mean was Nickelodeon would now be producing new cartoons and toys featuring the kid friendly multi-coloured headband wearing versions of the characters.

What I didn't realize, was that it was going to put into motion a chain of events that would lead to the demise in total of Mirage Studios itself. I just read a blog posting from Peter Laird in which he lays this out, and sounds very much like he has no interest in the characters anymore. Sometime in the near future there will be no more Mirage comics it seems. Leaves me kind of shocked and saddened.

I'm pretty sure that I own every comic Mirage has ever produced (not all first printings mind you...but I got 'em in some form). The turtle part in Batturtle comes from my love of TMNT. And at the moment even my favorite goalie on the Senators has Mirage character Casey Jones on his helmet.

I've had the pleasure of meeting pretty much all of the Mirage Studio artists who worked under Peter Laird. All are great guys who have a love of these characters, their books and their fans. Some of my prize possessions are a couple of original TMNT pages by long-time turtle writer and artist Jim Lawson. I look forward to reading all of their future non-TMNT related work.

I'm not sure when the last 'real' TMNT story will come out...sometime mid 2010 it sounds like. It will be a sad new comic day for me indeed when that date rolls around. And never say never I guess. This is not the first time Mirage has gone away. The traditional all red headband original characters could be back someday.

All good things must come to an end.