Turtles

Turtles are reptilian animals that are very slow-moving and do not really pose a threat to anyone or anything - not even lettuce. They are distinguished from other reptiles by a shell that grows from their ribcage and extends over their back to act as a shield against predators. This is advantageous, since most turtles are not really adept at defending themselves.

A notable species of turtle is the sea turtle or marine turtle, which are amphibious and are distinguished from other turtles because they have flippers rather than feet. Four species of sea turtles are on the endangered species list and are often vulnerable to various dangers such as being chopped up or injured from prop motors on boats. Classically, there are seven different species of sea turtle, but it could be argued that there is also a more elusive eighth species, which are known to speak and have developed a Southern California surfer dialect. Like humans, turtles are also subject to dramatic physiological alterations and increased intellect as a result of chemical mutation. In at least one notable instance, a mysterious "ooze", increased the size, speed and mental prowess of four common turtles. As they grew into teenagers, they developed certain martial arts skills and donned masks to defend the city as a team of ninjas.

In comics
While turtles in their natural state have not had a very lasting impact on comic book history, the notion of anthropomorphic turtles has definitely proved to be a formula for success, enough so to launch an enduring multimedia franchise that includes comic books, cartoons, video games and feature films, as well as other various assorted licensed merchandise.

We speak of course of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who were the brainchild creations of comic book writers Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird back in the halcyon days of 1984. The group were first seen in their own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series, which was published by Mirage Studios and ran from 1984 to 2010.

The Ninja Turtles were once four regular turtles that inhabited the sewers of New York City. They were exposed to a mysterious chemical that mutated them, increasing their intellectual capacity, altering their developmental cycle and causing drastic changes to their physiology. A sewer rat, also exposed to these chemicals, was mutated as well. As the rat, Splinter, was already older and wiser, he took the four turtle "brothers" under his wing and raised them as his own children. He named them after famous artists from the Renaissance era: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael.

Splinter taught these mutant turtles the art of Ninjitsu and set them on a righteous path to confront and defeat the evils of the city, while maintaining their secrecy and isolation beneath the sewers. As these turtles became teenagers, they adopted many behavioral characteristics common to human teenagers such as trendy terms and phrases, an appreciation for extreme sports, and an unabashed love for pizza.

There have been several other turtle-based character that have appeared in comic books, most of which were featured in titles published by DC Comics. A villain who called himself the The Turtle was a criminal mastermind from the 1940s and was a foe of the Golden Age super-speedster, Jay Garrick, aka the Flash. The Turtle was introduced in All-Flash #21 in December of 1945. He also appeared in the third story from Comic Cavalcade #24 in 1947 called "The Slow Motion Crimes".

A successor to this character, who called himself the Turtle Man, was a foe of the Silver Age era version of the Flash, Barry Allen. He was introduced in Showcase #4 in Sept.-Oct., 1956, which was the same issue that Barry Allen made his first appearance. The Turtle Man made only a single appearance during the Silver Age, but returned to plague Allen's successor Wally West in the late 1980s.

During the early 1960s, the writers at DC enjoyed tormented everyone's favorite (or least favorite) freckle-faced photographer Jimmy Olsen. A recurring trend from this era was to show Olsen going through various bizarre mutations. In Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #53, Jimmy was exposed to a growth ray that not only increased his height, but altered his physical features so that he became The Giant Turtle Man. As with all of his other crazy mutations, the effects of this syndrome were only temporary.

Space Turtles
Without question, one of the craziest concepts to ever come out of movie history as it relates to turtles is the Japanese daikaiju Gamera. Gamera is a big-honking bipedal space turtle with tusks that has biological rocket thrusters that enable him to fly provided that he consumes enough petrol. I'm not kidding. Gamera was the creation of Daiei Studios and received his own Gamera movie in 1965 to compete with Toho Company's more infamously recognizable proto-hero, Godzilla. Targeting a younger audience, Gamera was often portrayed as a "friend to all children' and has even carried the title, Guardian of the Universe.

The popularity of Daiei's Daikaijû Gamera (Japanese title) proved strong enough that it branched out into a moderately successful series of sequels beginning with Gamera vs. Baragon in 1966, Gamera vs. Gyaos in 1967, Gamera vs. Viras in 1968, Gamera vs. Jiger in 1970, Gamera vs. Zigra in 1971 and Gamera: Super Monster'' in 1980.

Like Godzilla, Gamera enjoyed a revival during the 1990s which yielded a three-movie film arc. In 1995, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe was released. This was followed up by Gamera 2: Attack of Legion in 1996 and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris in 1999. All three films are considered part of the Heisei series. Beginning in 2006, the franchise received yet another shot in the arm with the movie Gamera the Brave, proving once and for all that people REALLY like nutty-ass space turtles.

Ninja Turtles
The four main protagonists of the 1990 action/comedy film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were, appropriately enough, sentient turtles with a gift for gab, and a penchant for eating pizza and kicking ass. Their mentor, Splinter (who was himself a mutated rat), named them after famous European artists: Leonardo, who was the leader of the group and wielded a katana, Michelangelo, who was the goofball and considered himself quite the "chucker" with his Nunchaku, Donatello, who was the friendly one and the resident computer whiz. His preferred weapon was a Bō staff. Lastly there was Raphael, who was short-tempered, had a sharp Brooklyn accent and liked to use twin Sais as his weapons.

Regular Turtles
There's not a lot to be said about normal ole boring-ass turtles. You might be able to find a few scittering about in 1955's Revenge of the Creature.