<P> The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in an American comic book published by Mirage Studios in 1984 in Dover , New Hampshire . The concept arose from a humorous drawing sketched out by Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming and bad television with Laird . Using money from a tax refund , together with a loan from Eastman 's uncle , the young artists self - published a single - issue comic intended to parody four of the most popular comics of the early 1980s : Marvel Comics ' Daredevil and New Mutants , Dave Sim 's Cerebus , and Frank Miller 's Ronin . The TMNT comic book series has been published in various incarnations by various comic book companies since 1984 . </P>
when did teenage mutant ninja turtles come out
1984