Mirage Studios

Note: Not to be confused with the American film company Mirage Enterprises.

Background
Mirage Studios (also known as Mirage Publishing, Mirage Licensing and The Mirage Group) is the production company of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, founded in 1983. Based in Northampton, MA, they are responsible for the comic book series and the subsequent franchise it has spawned. In 2009, Nickelodeon acquired the franchise from Mirage, and because it's unclear whether or not they had further projects to work on, Mirage stopped producing comics and went dormant a year later in 2010, though they continued to sell merchandise on eBay. In 2021, Mirage stopped selling merchandise and went into complete indefinite dormancy, but kept their website active as an archival resource for the comics they produced.

(1995-2010)


Logo: On a green background, we see a white box with what appears to be a stylized head drawing of a ninja turtle with an angry expression and a big nose similar to the 1980's-1990's television design of the Turtles, on an orange background. Below are the words "MIRAGE" in a black box, with "STUDIOS, INC." in a future-type font.

Trivia:
 * In the original 1980's series of TMNT comics, on the cover for issue #10, there is a picture of Raphael fighting Shredder. The Mirage logo is based around Raphael's facial expression and fighting stance.
 * There are licensing and publishing folders from the company that show a live action picture of a turtle drawing and painting the logo. This is probably a reference to the live action TMNT trilogy from New Line Cinema and Golden Harvest.

Variants:
 * On comics, "MIRAGE" is in a different font (Antique Olive Compact) with no box, and "PUBLISHING" in the same font replaces "STUDIOS, INC."
 * The colors vary depending on the product. Many comics, as well as certificates of authenticity, have the logo entirely red, while some certificates have the logo grey. Tales of the TMNT has the logo in a black box, with the turtle head either red, orange or green.
 * On TMNT, the logo is in-credit, the turtle head is grey, and "MIRAGE" is white.
 * On Space Unagi, the background is white and "LICENSING" replaces "STUDIOS, INC." This variant also appears on some merchandise and promotional material.
 * Sometimes, there is nothing below the "MIRAGE" text.
 * The logo can also have no box enclosing it.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the show. On Space Unagi, a majestic Japanese theme plays instead.

Availability: Appeared on the 4Kids version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as the 2007 movie TMNT. Also appeared on comics from the studio since 2001 through 2010. Expect to see this on trailers for video games from the studio, but not on the games themselves. Don't expect to see this on Turtles Forever, either, since it came out after Nickelodeon acquired the Turtles.