A guy in a green suit and rented car shows up with a wild idea: let’s turn these violent, black-and-white ninja comics into action figures for kids. What could possibly go wrong? Spoiler: everything. This is the moment the Turtles stop being a comic and start becoming a brand. 

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Issue #1 was a hit. Issue #2? Uh… they killed the main villain in the first book. Whoops. As Kevin and Peter scramble to keep the momentum alive, they invent April O’Neil, killer robots, and a whole new rogues’ gallery - while slowly realizing they’re accidentally building an empire. 

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Before the cartoons, the toys, and the catchphrases, it started with a single sketch—just one dumb joke to make a friend laugh. Kevin Eastman drew a turtle with nunchucks. Peter Laird added a mask and attitude. Back and forth they went, one-upping each other until a bizarre, brilliant idea took shape. This is the story of that night, that drawing, and how two broke artists turned nothing into something legendary.

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Before the billion-dollar empire, before the Saturday morning cartoons and pizza-shouting action figures, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were just a joke. A dumb sketch made by two broke artists with zero expectations. This is the wild, funny, and unexpectedly emotional true story of how a scrappy indie comic became a global phenomenon - and how it nearly destroyed the friendship that created it. Hosted by Ben De Almeida, this eight-part series follows the rise, reinvention, and ripple effects of a franchise that mutated far beyond anyone’s control. New episodes every Thursday starting October 9.

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