On January 27, 1954, Peter Alan Laird was born, co-founder of the group of the most famous turtles in the world.
By 1983, Peter Laird was making an average of $ 10 a drawing for a local newspaper in Dover. However, in May 1984, Laird and Kevin Eastman decided to independently release their comic book, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . The first issue was black and white with an initial print run of 3,000 copies. This was possible thanks to the financial support received from Eastman’s uncle, Quentin, which contributed directly to the creation of Mirage Studios.
Turtles immediately became popular – just three months after their first publication, Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman were invited to attend their first comic convention, the Atlanta Fantasy Fair. A year later, the fifth book of the adventures of four warriors was published. Thanks to their popularity, Leonardo, Michael Angelo, Donatello and Raphael have also become the heroes of several movies and TV series and many video games. However, the success of the project also turned out to have a darker side – the pressure related to the expectations of the recipients caused an art block in the author, which lasted for about a year.
Peter Laird is also the founder of The Xeric Foundation. Remembering that he once needed money to publish his first comic book, Laird decided to create a non-profit organization offering grants to self-publishers.
For the co-founder of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the success of this project came as a surprise. Something that was supposed to be an adventure changed the lives of him, his associates, and probably also many other people who grew up on these comics and their adaptations. The story of Peter Laird proves that it is worth taking on the realization of dreams and ideas, because you never know where this path will lead.