Seth Rogen quietly and carefully became the biggest producer of indie comic book cinema
What does this summer’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesanimated movie have in common with 2011’s oddball superhero flick The Green Hornet? A name: Seth Rogen.
And while that might not seem like feather in Mutant Mayhem’s cap, all the other Seth Rogen-produced comic book adaptations between the two do: There’s Peacher, The Boys, and Invincible, with more seasons and spinoffs of the latter two on the way. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem looks to follow that streak.
The four wisecracking, pizza-scarfing turtles have featured in cartoon shows, movies, and toys for so long that it’s easy for their comic book origins to be eclipsed. In 1983, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird assembled their lightly parodic comic series from bits of every blockbuster superhero comic of the time: The teenagers of New Mutants and New Teen Titans, the mutants of the X-Men, and above all, Frank Miller’s Daredevil, from which they borrowed ninjas and martial arts, an origin story involving weird chemicals, a mentor named after a piece of wood, and a faceless horde of bad guys named after a bodily extremity.
Their self-published comic was the kind of sales and licensing success that rocked an industry still stretching its muscles from decades of publishing consolidation. So it’s not merely that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are an evergreen brand — they’re also a shoe-in for Rogen, who has quietly made a second career of racking up hugely successful comic book adaptations not based on Warner Bros. or Disney properties.
Polygon sat down to chat with Rogen in anticipation of the film, which he co-wrote and executive produced (and recorded for the voice of Bebop) with the work of director Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) and a cast
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