Peter Laird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Peter Laird | |
 Peter Laird at the 2008 New York Comic Convention. |
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| Born | January 27, 1954 (age 54) North Adams, Massachusetts |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Artist |
| Notable works | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles |
Peter Alan Laird (born January 27, 1954 in North Adams, Massachusetts) is an American comic book artist. He is best known for co-creating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the fall of 1983 with Kevin Eastman. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife and daughter.
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[edit] Career
Laird and Eastman's creations went on to become cultural phenomenons, which forced them to take regular sabbaticals from the comic to deal with the day to day pressures. Eastman eventually sold his share of the franchise to Laird and the two went their separate ways.
After minimal involvement in the development of the original animated series, and even less with the Next Mutation series, Laird took a more important role in the next TMNT animated venture. While final preparations were underway, he relaunched the official comics canon of the franchise with "Volume Four" (the third published by Mirage comics), with artwork supplied by fellow TMNT writer, friend, and Rat King creator Jim Lawson. When the new series proved a success, Laird relaunched Tales of the TMNT to accompany the fourth volume.
Following a successful deal to revive the TMNT theatrically, Laird put Volume Four on hold to develop the new movie; he has yet to return to the comic, leaving several plot lines unresolved. Tales of the TMNT was thought to go on hiatus in 2008, and the franchise's future beyond its on-screen presence was uncertain, but staff confirmed that this was not the case. It was recently confirmed on Steve Murphy's blog that Peter Laird is returning to Volume 4 later this year and the title would return, distributed digitally by Mirage.
Laird rejected the pitch for TMNT's disputed seventh season, as it again attempted to give the franchise a "gimmick" to sustain itself as a series, he has since finally accepted a proposal, though when it will be revealed remains to be seen. The new season is expected to air in 2008.
Laird has also published the graphic novel trilogy, Planet Racer, along with Jim Lawson. In season 3 of the 2003 TMNT series, an episode was based on the Planet Racer's theme.
Laird has an ongoing friendship with Stan Sakai, whose cult comic character Usagi Yojimbo has made multiple appearances in various TMNT mediums.
On June 1, 2000 Laird and the Mirage Group purchased all of Eastman's ownership in the TMNT property and the corporations, except for a small continuing income participation, which was bought out on March 1, 2008.
[edit] Charitable work
In addition to his other interests, Laird founded the Xeric Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides grants to new comic book creators to self-publish their work. When asked about the Xeric Foundation in an interview[1] on the Project Fanboy website, Laird was quoted as saying,
"The initial impetus for creating the Xeric Foundation was frustration -- when the Turtle thing started getting really huge, people started coming out of the woodwork to ask for money. Many of them were legitimate charitable organizations or creators needing funding, but there were also quite a few ridiculous things -- like the total stranger who asked me for a quarter of a million dollars to fund his general store. It got to the point where I was getting overwhelmed with making these kinds of decisions, and it was suggested to me that a foundation might be a good way to "separate the wheat from the chaff", providing official and clearly delineated channels through which people looking for money had to make their way.
And it has worked out very well. The Xeric Foundation is actually fifty percent for self-publishing comics creators, and fifty percent for charities. There are two review committees, the volunteer members of which prefer to remain anonymous, and they do great work analyzing all of the applications and making recommendations for grants. And I credit Kendall Clark, who has run the foundation for me from the beginning, as one of the main reasons it has worked as well as it has... she's done a wonderful job.
I will say that it pleases me greatly that, through this foundation, I have been able to help a lot of deserving comics creators get their work out to the reading public just a little bit more easily. Back when Kevin and I were doing the first issue of TMNT, it helped us a lot that Kevin's uncle Quentin loaned us some money to help pay the printer's bill. It's not as if we would not eventually have been able to put the money together to do it, but it would have taken significantly longer. A big difference, obviously, is that the Xeric grants are not loans, which have to be paid back, but actual grants, which do not."
