Lucca Comics & Games is notorious for bringing some of our favourite childhood artists to Italy for its yearly festival. CGMagazine was lucky to sit in on a Q&A with one of the creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kevin Eastman. In 2024, we were able to chat with R.L. Stine and the creators of Tetris. In 2023, it was Frank Miller and Naoki Urasawa. And now, in 2025, sitting in the stunning Auditorium San Romano in Lucca, Italy, we were able to gain insight into how TMNT came to be, some of Eastman’s inspirations, and we were even treated to a special live drawing in between translations.
Kevin Eastman took the stage to speak with a moderator, through a translator, in front of a packed audience. Of course, they started at the beginning, “The Ninja Turtles were inspired by my love and passion for American comics and wanting to tell my own stories. My hero was Jeff Kirby growing up, and the fact that I found my co-creator, Peter Laird—we both write and draw together—we came up with this crazy idea named after Renaissance artists. We made one issue thinking that there would never be another one, so here we are 41 years later, and I’m in Lucca.”
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sparked from nothing more than a joke, though, according to Eastman, “The first turtle was Michael Angelo. I have the drawing here on my hat. The Turtles came from…I was a big fan of Bruce Lee, and I thought if Bruce Lee was an animal, what would be the silliest? A fast-moving martial arts, slow-moving turtle, and that was the joke I made, and I put the drawing on Pete’s desk, and I said, ‘This is going to be the next big thing,’ you know, ‘Ha ha ha,’ and that was the spark that started the evolution.”
TMNT has an underdog story written all over it. Eastman explained that they never expected to succeed and were just happy to put out one issue, but we now know that one issue sparked years of content across various mediums. TMNT spans generations of comic fans now, but Eastman told us about the early days,
“It was very surprising when we did put out the first issue because we wrote it, drew it, borrowed some money from my uncle to make 3000 copies, and we weren’t sure we were going to even be able to sell those. It sold out in 2 weeks, we were like ‘Oh wow!’ and fans kept writing and asking for a second issue. So we did the second issue when it came out in January of 1985. We sold enough copies that we could pay our rent, eat all the pizza we wanted, and draw comics, and that to us was the dream had come true, you know, we could not be more happy.”
As a viewer in the audience of Lucca Comics & Games, I could see the passion behind Kevin Eastman, even after 41 years. And it isn’t lost on him either. Several times, he motioned to the room around him, shocked that he was doing this here in Lucca. He spoke about his experience of sharing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all over the world,
“We did a signing in Russia, St. Petersburg, years ago and never thought I’d experience that. They couldn’t communicate their love for the Turtles, so it was grown people, lots of crying and hugging. And so that is so emotionally overwhelming and satisfying that you’ve had an effect on people. That’s you; if you weren’t there, I couldn’t be up here, so thank you.”
Though Eastman talked about being inspired by Jack Kirby in the early days, he also talked about influences like Frank Miller, even later in TMNT’s success, “I’m thankful to Frank Miller, with his project Ronin, he really introduced a lot of Americans like myself to manga with being inspired by Lone Wolf and Cub and those kinds of things that sort of opened the door to those comics. We’ve seen US comics and European comics, but I fell in love with manga and anime so much. So, I think it’s great that the Turtles can collaborate with Ghostbusters and Naruto and so many things and work. A huge family.”
During the Q&A at Lucca Comics & Games, Kevin Eastman wasn’t only looking at the history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he also talked about future TMNT movies, and most notably, to me, a future collaboration he is hoping for: “One of my dream collaborations for the Ninja Turtles is Daredevil. My favourite comic when I was growing up, the Turtle’s origin is intertwined with Daredevil’s, so that would be a dream.”
The big takeaway from Eastman’s time at Lucca Comics & Games was just how humble and grateful he seems to be, even after all this time. He touched on what it is like bringing joy to generations of people, “It’s humbling in that thinking where we started, and then we now have become this generational idea that we have the original fans that gave us this success, and then when it’s introduced to this new group of fans…The fact that we’re finding new generations of fans coming on board to all things Turtles, with the original fans.”
To end on a positive note, Kevin Eastman doesn’t take for granted that he is getting to follow his dreams, “I get to fulfil my childhood dream of drawing comic books, and for 41 years, and as long as you guys let me, I’ll keep doing it.”
Lucca Comics & Games runs from October 29 to November 2, 2025, in Lucca, Italy.
