Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Part myth. Part legend. Part science fiction. Part fantasy. Part pizza.

OK, alot pizza.

But to their fans, they are more than all this; they are an important source of inspiration and empathy in their lives.

And boy, are there a lot of fans. This fandom varies in the exterme; some people like only the original Mirage turtles; others prefer the more fun loving cartoon turtles; still others like the new combination in the Image comics. But they are all still turtles.

Now me, I love the turtles in all their incarnations. There are some constants, after all; Leo is always the "fearless leader"; Mike is always the goof off; Raph is always the misfit; Don is always the quiet, thoughtful one. This is true no matter what color headband they wear, how disfigured their faces are, or how much of theie body is made of metal. (As a sidebar to this I'd like to note that Donatello now looks not only like a Borg from Star Trek - another great series - but also like Verminator X from the Archie series. Coincidence?) The only exeption I believe would be Michael Zulli's version; and even there Splinter is still sensi.