Editing Peter Laird (section)

===Unexpected success===
[[File:NH Marker for TMNT.jpg|thumb|[[New Hampshire historical markers|New Hampshire Historical Marker]] for the “Creation of the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''” in [[Dover, New Hampshire]]]]
That the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' became such a success (and in such a short space of time) came as a surprise to both Eastman and Laird. Laird has stated on several occasions that:<ref name="Rebels"/>
<blockquote>…start[ing] the Turtles…was a goof; it was not anything we envisioned directing our lives in any way, shape, or form. It was like, ‘Hey, this looks like fun! Let's [[self-publish]] it! Let's see what happens!’...Suddenly, and just completely out of the blue, this Turtles phenomenon emerged. And really – from day one – just took over. It was a rapidly accelerating process which culminated in essentially taking over our lives. Completely.<ref name="Rebels"/> </blockquote>

This led to increased pressures on the two creators (and the team which they formed to help them), including a prolonged period (about a year) of [[writer's block|artist's block]] in Laird. The "incredible growth and complexity of the business" that sprang up around their instantly-successful Turtles properties led to Laird's "suddenly discover[ing] to my horror that I no longer enjoyed drawing. It was a real shock, because if I ever had anything that I could rely on... it was that I loved to draw."<ref name="Rebels"/>

Laird and Eastman's creations went on to become a popular cultural phenomenon, forcing both of them to take regular sabbaticals from the comic to deal with the day to day pressures of running what had become a multimedia franchise. Eastman sold his share of the franchise, with the exception of a small continuing income participation, to Laird and the Mirage Group on June 1, 2000.<ref name="Laird">[http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/features/tmnt/ Daniel Robert Epstein interview with Peter Laird, c2002/2003] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905154515/http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/features/tmnt |date=2008-09-05 }}. Accessed April 22, 2008</ref> On March 1, 2008, Laird and Mirage bought out Eastman's remaining rights and interest and the two went their separate ways. Concerning Eastman's departure, Laird stated his belief that Eastman "was just tired of it."<ref name="Laird"/> On October 19, 2009, Laird sold the franchise to [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]], the parent company of [[Nickelodeon]], but still retains the rights to create and publish up to eighteen black-and-white comics based on the franchise per year.