Celebrating the persistence of Turtle Power Raise Some Shell critically and cleverly examines the origins, evolution, and impact of the Ninja Turtles phenomenon — from its beginning as a self-published black-and-white comic book in 1984, through its transformation into a worldwide transmedia phenomenon by the middle of the 1990s, and up to the sale of the property to Nickelodeon in 2009 and relaunch of the Turtles with new comics, cartoons, and a big-budget Hollywood film. With the eye of contemporary cultural studies and the voice of a true lifelong Turtles fan, Rosenbaum argues that the Turtles’ continuing success isn’t mere nostalgia, but rather the result of characters, and a franchise, that mutated in a way that allowed the to survive and thrive in a post-modern world. About the Pop Classics Series Short books that pack a big punch, Pop Classics offer intelligent, fun, and accessible arguments about why a particular pop phenomenon matters. “The second instalment in ECW’s new Pop Classics series does an excellent job contextualizing the origins of Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael, following the trajectory of the various incarnations and permutations of their stories, and intelligently speculates upon their future … His analysis is intense yet refreshing, and always delivered with humour.” — National Post “By successfully drawing comparisons to Kafka, Rushdie, and Marvel’s X-Men, Rosenbaum, like Nayman with Showgirls , is able to state his case for the continued social relevance of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles unapologetically and without a shred of irony.” — Quill & Quire “The highest praise I can give to Richard Rosenbaum is that while his book is quite educational and smartly written he does so in an enormously humorous style, during my first read through I just kept imagining the author and I sitting at a restaurant just chatting about characters that we loved very much.” — The Retroist “Raise Some Shell is a breath of fresh air as a substantial, accessible discussion of a major trend in pop culture.” — BleedingCool.com “It wasn’t okay, it was AWESOME! And that’s saying something for a book about the world of comics, cartoons and movies that contains zero pictures…Without a doubt my favourite part of this book is the non-stop ride of Nostalgia as well as the countless times I learned facts that completely blew my mind.” — The Nostalgia Blog “Casual TMNT fans and die-hards alike will find something to like in Rosenbaum’s book, as will anyone interested in the world of animation and licensed properties, as the author looks at the Turtles phenomenon from all angles, using various parts of the franchise as opportunities to explore more academic, yet still interesting tangents. That Rosenbaum gets all of this across cleanly and with a sense of humour (exemplified by his great use of footnotes) makes it all the easier to recommend Raise Some Shell .” — DVD Talk “An engaging, entertaining, and highly stimulating read that is sure to satisfy die-hard fans, but also intrigue those who did not grow up yelling ‘Cowabunga!’.” — Libri & Liberi: A Journal of Research on Children’s Literature and Culture Richard Rosenbaum is a fiction editor at Broken Pencil (Canada’s magazine of the underground arts and independent culture) and a regular contributor to overthinkingit.com. He received his Master’s degree in communication and culture from Ryerson University, and this is what he’s doing with it. He lives in Toronto, Ontario. His favourite Turtle is Donatello. Raise Some Shell. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles By Richard Rosenbaum ECW PRESS Copyright © 2014 Richard Rosenbaum All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-77041-179-1 CHAPTER 1 ORIGINS AND EVOLUTIONS The early 1980s saw a radical transformation in the medium of comics. The mainstream was growing darker: writer and artist Frank Miller was drawing Marvel Comics toward the shadows with his run on Daredevil (May 1979–February 1983) — blind lawyer by day and superpowered crimefighter by night. Particularly with his creation of the ninja assassin Elektra and his greater focus on issues of corruption, drugs, and organized crime, Miller was at the forefront of the wave of "gritty" titles that surged in popularity over the next decade. At the same time, he published his groundbreaking miniseries Ronin (1983–1984), in which an ancient Japanese warrior is reborn in a futuristic New York City and attempts to bring a destructive gang war to an end. Ronin heralded a deepening interest in Japanese culture and tradition within American art — actually influenced by the art coming out of Japan itself. Ronin 's largest debt was to the manga series Lone Wolf and Cub, and Miller later created original covers for the series when it was eventually published in North America. Meanwhile, Miller's colleague at Marvel Chris Claremont was carrying the other side of the banner for the avant-garde of mainstream superhero c