Casey Jones

Few characters capture the scrappy, street-level energy of the Copper Age quite like Casey Jones, who crashed onto the scene in 1987 courtesy of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's indie sensation. A fixture of the Mirage universe, Casey has spent nearly four decades sharing adventures with Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and April O'Neil — as colorful and essential a crew as comics has ever produced. His staying power is remarkable for a character born in the black-and-white underground, turning up everywhere from classic Mirage issues to the wildly fun Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles X Stranger Things crossover. If you love the gritty, creator-owned spirit that made TMNT a phenomenon, Casey Jones is absolutely worth tracking down.