Kevin Eastman

Kevin Eastman is an American comics artist and writer from Portland, Maine. His main claim to fame is co-creating the hit series "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" with his then-partner Peter Laird. He has also served as the editor and publisher of the science fiction and fantasy comics magazine "Heavy Metal". In 1962, Eastman was born in Portland, Maine. He received his secondary education from Westbrook High School, located in Westbrook, Maine. During his early life, Eastman was a comic book fan. His favorite comic book creator was Jack Kirby (1917-1994). His favorite comic book was Kirby's "Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth" (1972-1978), set in a a post-apocalyptic world dominated by sentient animals. In the early 1980s, Eastman was an aspiring comics artist, but his work was mostly unpublished. He financially supported himself by working in restaurants. In 1983, Eastman started a romantic relationship with a female college student. His lover attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, located in Amherst, Massachusetts . Eastman decided to move to Northampton, Massachusetts, to further pursue this relationship. While living in Massachusetts, Eastman tried to have his work published by local underground newspapers. Through his search for a publisher, Eastman met newspaper illustrator Peter Laird. At the time, Laird lived in Dover, New Hampshire, not far from Eastman's residence. The two men decided to collaborate on a number of comic book projects. In 1984, Eastman and Laird had a brainstorming session in an effort to find ideas for their own comic book series. They decided to parody elements from four popular comics series of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics' "Daredevil" (about a super-powered mutate with ninja training) and "New Mutants" (about a team of teenage mutants), Dave Sim's "Cerebus the Aardvark" (about an anthropomorphic aardvark who has sword- and-sorcery style adventures), and Frank Miller's Ronin (about a long-dead Japanese ronin who is reincarnated in a dystopian version of New York City). They combined elements from all four series into the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (TMNT for short). Eastman and Laird decided to self-publish the first issue of TMNT, founding the publishing company Mirage Studios to do so. The company was funded through a loan from Eastman's uncle Quentin. They chose the name "mirage", because their company was more an illusion than a reality. The company mostly consisted of its creative duo, and lacked actual offices. The first issue of TMNT was published in May, 1984. It was a black-and-white publication, only 40 pages long, The duo had the idea to advertise their product by sending a four-page press kit to 180 television and radio stations, to the Associated Press and to the United Press International. The result was that the comic book received much publicity, unusually so for a product by a fledgling publisher. The initial print run for the first issue was 3,275 copies, and they were quickly sold out. Due to high demand from market, three additional printings were published the Summer of 1984 and September, 1985. Eastman and Laird had a sales success in their hands. There were advance orders of 15,000 copies for the second issue. Eastman and Laird earned a profit of 2,000 dollars each. They decided to quit their day jobs and to become full-time comic book creators. Due to their newfound fame, Eastman and Laird were invited to the annual Atlanta Fantasy Fair in 1984. There they were introduced to several experienced professionals of both comic books and literature , such as Forrest James Ackerman (1916-2018), Fred Hembeck (1953-), and Larry Niven (1938-). In 1985, Mirage Studios had a deal with Solson Publications, which was allowed to publish a number of TMNT tie-in books. This deal was followed by licensing deals with various other companies, leading to the creation of the first TMNT merchandise. Dark Horse Miniatures created lead figurines based on the comics, and marketed them to role-playing gamers and collectors. Palladium Books created a role-playing game based on the Turtles. First Comics was granted the right to publish color reprints of TMNT in trade paperback collections. Up until 1987, Eastman and Laird personally handled Mirage Studios' merchandise deals. Then they acquired the services of professional licensing agent Mark Freedman. Through deals handled by Freedman, the Turtles started appearing on T-shirts, Halloween masks, and mugs. In 1987, Mirage Studios closed a deal for the adaptation of TMNT into a five-part animated mini-series. The animation team responsible for these episodes was headed by Japanese animation director Yoshikatsu Kasai, with the animation mostly produced by the animation studio Toei Animation. Scripts were primarily handled by the experienced television writer David Wise (1955-2020), who had previously served as a writer for several science fiction and science fantasy television series. Due to the success of the initial animated mini-series, a full-length animated series went into production. The animated series lasted from December 1987 to November 1996, a total of 10 seasons and 193 episodes. The series was generally a light-hearted version of the Turtles, in contrast to the "grim and gritty" comic book it was based on. It was one of the most popular animated series produced during the 1980s and 1990s, and introduced the TMNT to a wider audience. In 1988, Mirage Studios closed a deal with Playmates Toys. The toy company was granted the right to produce the first TMNT action figures, based on both the original comic book and the ongoing animated series. In 1988, Eastman helped draft the Creator's Bill of Rights. Through this document, independent comic book artists, writers, and publishers demanded creative rights over their work, and protested against exploitative "work for hire" practices in the comic book industry. While it was considered a landmark in the campaign for creative rights, it had little to no impact on the industry. In 1990, TMNT received its first live-action film adaptation. The film earned 202 million dollars at the worldwide box office, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 1990. Several sequels followed, establishing the Turtles as a popular film franchise. By 1990, Eastman had grown tired on working exclusively on TMNT and wanted to expand to other projects. Laird was not interested in either helping him or in financing these projects. Eastman decided to form his own company to handle these projects, forming the publishing company Tundra Publishing. Tundra financed the "dream projects" of several veteran comics creators, who felt disgruntled by the policies of DC Comics and Marvel Comics (at the time the two dominant companies of the American comic book industry). From 1990 to 1993, Tundra published many series and one-shots aimed at adult readers. Among them was the Jack the Ripper-themed "From Hell", the erotic-themed "Lost Girls" (featuring older versions of Alice, Dorothy Gale, and Wendy Darling), and the revenge-themed "The Crow". Eastman believed there existed a potentially large market of adult readers, who had grown tired of youth-oriented comics such as the "X-Men". While often critically acclaimed and award-winning, Tundra's comics projects suffered from limited distribution, and poor sales. The company was never profitable. By 1993, Tundra was facing bankruptcy. It sold the rights to its comics titles to Kitchen Sink Press, and shut down. Tundra's failure cost Eastman to lose part of his own fortune, as he was its sole owner. His personal losses are estimated to 9-14 million dollars. Eastman had long been a fan of the science fiction and fantasy comics magazine "Heavy Metal", the American-licensed version of French magazine "Métal Hurlant". It was aimed at older comics readers, and reprinted European comics that were otherwise unavailable in the United States. In January 1992 he became the new owner of the magazine. He also became its new editor, and tried to tried to renew interest in the publication. He served as its main owner until 2014. Since the 1980s, Eastman had collected original artwork by leading comics professionals. In 1992, he established the art museum Words & Pictures Museum in Northampton, Massachusetts, and donated his art collection to it. The museum was devoted to the history of narrative art, cartoons, comic books, and graphic novels. Its ever-expanding collection included up to 20,000 original works from hundreds of artists. The museum shut down in 1999, due to financial problems. The fate of its collection is unclear. In 1995, Eastman married actress Julie Strain (1962-2021). As Eastman helped develop several adaptations of "Heavy Metal" to films and video games, Strain was often cast as an actress in them. She was the protagonist of the animated film "Heavy Metal 2000" (2000), which was based on Eastman's graphic novel "The Melting Pot". In 2000, Eastman sold part of his ownership rights on Mirage Studios and the TMNT, in part because he wanted to finance other projects. In 2006, he and Julie Strain received a divorce. Eastman gained custody over their only son. In 2008, he sold the rest of his ownership rights on Mirage Studios and the TMNT. He maintains some involvement in the TMNT franchise as an on-and-off writer and artist, and has served as an adviser for some of its adaptations. In 2014, Eastman sold his ownership rights on "Heavy Metal" to music industry veteran David Boxenbaum and film producer Jeff Krelitz . By the terms of the agreement, he maintained his position as the magazine's publisher, and also serves as a minority investor. By 2021, Eastman was 58-years-old. His work output has diminished in recent years, but he has never fully retired.