Kevin Eastman turned a photocopied joke into a modern folk myth. With Peter Laird he co-created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a self-published parody that expanded into comics, animation, film, and toys while retaining handmade energy. As publisher at Tundra and later Heavy Metal, Eastman championed creator ownership and ambitious, international voices. His career models DIY as serious practice: crisp, kinetic storytelling, irreverent humor, and a refusal to separate art from enterprise. The Last Ronin returned to the turtles’ myth with late-career vigor, and a Dover, New Hampshire marker now acknowledges their origin—an arc from local photocopy to global icon without shedding attitude.