Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, often abbreviated as TMNT, is a media franchise created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It began as a comic book series published by Mirage Studios in 1984, featuring four anthropomorphic turtles named after Italian Renaissance artists: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. The story revolves around their mentor, a humanoid rat named Splinter, and their adventures fighting crime and evil in the fictional city of New York.