I have followed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since their beginning.  Yes, this includes their over-sized comics from many, many (has it really been that many already?) years ago.  When Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created the characters and comics, it was originally supposed to be a parody of Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil.  That’s why you have the turtles’ sensei named Splinter (after Stick, Daredevil’s sensei) and why their arch-nemesis, Shredder, leads a group called The Foot (rather than the group of ninjas Daredevil so often fought, known as The Hand).

This is how I manage to salvage whatever dignity remains after proclaiming one’s following the TMNT.  This, of course, was also before the property blew up into a life of its own.  I feel like it’s in its third wave of popularity.  The first came when the parody itself became parodied (Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos, etc.), ushering in an explosion of independent black and white comics; the next came with the rise of the TMNT as television and movie properties; and now we’re on the cusp of their resurgence with the upcoming CGI-heavy TMNT movie.

Now I can share this with my own sons (I guess it has been that long now).  We can discuss the themes of family growing apart as they get older.  The importance of maintaining communication and spending time with one another.  And how we can overcome obstacles by coming together as a family and depending on one another.  Yep, this is a movie that I can already get behind.