Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the ground in Dover

Apr. 15—The site where two fledgling artists created Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is now a vacant lot. Soon it will be home to a manhole cover.

Time to yell "Cowabunga!"

The cartoon hatchlings of two former Dover residents have been comic, TV and film superheroes for nearly 40 years. Dover resident James Lane got the idea for a commemorative sewer lid in 2020 after realizing that he walked his dog daily on Union Street in front of the site of the Ninja Turtle creators' former home.

A manhole cover seemed a fitting way to honor Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird — the Ninja Turtles' originators — and their place in Dover's arts and culture history: The Turtles use manholes to get to and from their homes in the New York City sewers.

"I got into the Ninja Turtles back in the comic books before the TV (show) and movies," said Lane, one of many enthusiasts ranging in age from 3 to 53 and beyond. "I really connected with it as a young teenager."

Named after Renaissance sculptors and painters, the reptilian brothers Donatello, Michelangelo, Rafael and Leonardo battled evil in New York City. The swashbuckling avengers leaped to worldwide cartoon fame, spawning TV shows, movies, action figures, T-shirts, sippy cups and lunch boxes.

"I've been really proud of their roots and excited for their success," Lane said.

In partnership with the Dover Arts Commission, Lane is making the Turtles a permanent part of the cityscape through a crowdfunding campaign. In less than a month since he launched www.tmntdover.com, Lane has raised 48% of the $13,000 cost for original artwork, casting by a foundry, and installation of the manhole cover in front of 28 Union St., where Laird and Eastman lived as housemates in 1983.

Lane expects the cover will be installed this year, perhaps this summer.

At first, the manhole cover was destined for the street. Instead, it will be installed on the sidewalk, where it can be appreciated by tourists, cartoon buffs and selfie-takers.

"We can't have them lying down in the street to get a photo," said Cliff Blake, vice chair of the Dover Arts Commission.

An official New Hampshire historic site marker also will be placed at the corner of Union Street and Central Avenue, the intersection of state routes 108 and 9.

The Bay State also wants to celebrate the Turtle heroes. Northampton, Mass., Laird's hometown, recently received blowback after attempting to use American Rescue Plan funds to cast four manhole covers with the likenesses of each Ninja Turtle to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Dover's manhole cover will be funded exclusively by donations.

When Lane hatched the idea in 2020, he reached out to Dover's public works and sewer departments. Since then, the Arts Commission has been shepherding the project, which has sparked wide-ranging interest.

"There's quite a TMNT underground," Blake said. "So many people around the world have said they want to donate. It really has caught fire."

Eastman and Laird are rumored to have come up with the characters and plot in their living room, then collaborated to make it happen. In 1984, they created Mirage Studios and published the first TMNT comic book — a 40-page saga in black and white.

According to the Los Angeles Times, roughly $1.1 billion of TMNT toys, including best-selling action figures, were sold in the four years between 1988 and 1992. When it debuted in 1990, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was the world's highest grossing independent film ever. "Mutant Mayhem," the latest TMNT cartoon feature, is due in theaters in August.

Turtle booster

Ralph Di Bernardo, owner of Jetpack Comics in Rochester, met Eastman and Laird 39 years ago at a flea market when they were scouring for comic books and he was selling them. He took a liking to their funny, unorthodox, underground avengers and purchased 500 copies of their first issue so they could pay back the uncle who financed their launch.

Di Bernardo said he was skeptical about the product's appeal but wanted to support the artists.

"I thought, 'These guys are going to lose so much money.' I had no faith that this was going to be a thing." Like My Little Pony, Pokemon and Guardians of the Galaxy, "You never know what's going to resonate with people," he said. He's been friends with the co-creators since.

Around 1985, a national comic retailer bought all of Di Bernardo's first-run copies. Two or three years ago, a first-edition TMNT comic book sold for $250,000 at auction.

"I'd be a multimillionaire if I still had them," he said. But being a go-to source for all things TMNT has had its own rewards: "I have people drive from all over New England to come for Turtle stuff."

A rack at Jetpack Comics is dedicated to Turtle comics and merchandise. Customers come in daily to scoop up something TMNT-related, he said. Di Bernardo hosts a TMNT event every May in celebration of International Free Comic Day.

Money raised beyond the $13,000 target for the manhole cover project will be donated to the Seacoast Science Center in Odiorne State Park, the Turtle Rescue League in Southbridge, Mass., and the Turtle Conservancy in Ojai, Calif.

If the campaign fails to muster the goal, Di Bernardo said he may kick in the balance.

Continuing appeal

Eight or nine years ago, 7,500 fans flocked to a signing at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Rochester when creators Laird and Eastman were on hand to greet fans and autograph copies.

"It was crazy," Di Bernardo said. "We had to turn people away."

Di Bernardo recently donated TMNT comic books, signed editions and an autographed sketch by Laird as gifts for supporters who contribute $25 to $1,000 toward the Dover manhole cover project.

He's not surprised by the Turtles' ongoing appeal.

"They're young characters with Ninja weapons. They're funny. They're crass," Di Bernardo said. "They hit that combination that attracts kids and still resonates with adults."

Peyton Holland comes from North Carolina to Manchester's annual Granitecon, New Hampshire's state comic con in September, to hobnob with TMNT fans. He said just about anyone can relate to one of the Turtles.

"Donatello is the creator, the maker, the nerdiest," Holland said. "Seeing he was successful and such an important part of the team, fighting bad guys and inventing cool stuff, showed me how important it was to work, study and get good grades even while other kids pick on you. It taught me it was OK to become as smart as you could."

Holland, who said he was shy, nerdy and overweight as a teenager, is now a motivational speaker and executive director of the National Technical Honor Society.

"Just watching Donatello invent and tinker and learn on his own. You never knew when those skills could become useful," he said. "You could find a little bit of yourself" in any Turtle.

After inspiring knockoffs such as Radioactive Adolescent Hamsters and Micro Mice from Mars, the Turtles remain intrinsically different from other stars in the comic strip cosmos, Holland said. And New Hampshire, as the birthplace of TMNT, "is hallowed ground" for Turtle fans and followers and for their creators, "who brought our childhoods to life and created unique memories."

COVID seemed to boost the nostalgia. Now older generations are introducing their kids and grandkids to the comics and toys they once cherished.

"Anything from the '80s or '90s is very nostalgic now," said Cory Chambers, owner of Game Chamber, a game store in Dover, where TMNT games are on back order. "You have generations liking these characters."

"They fought a villain and the villain died. I liked that they were brothers and each had a unique identity," said Rich Warren of Denver, who has come to Jetpack events and will turn 50 this year. "I've been around the Turtles my whole life."

rbaker@unionleader.com