Donatello (Mirage)

Description

The Mirage Donatello is his first ever appearance in media, originally depicted alongside the other turtles in 1984 with issue #1 of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. And as such, this version became the basis for his character in all future adaptations. Due to this first issue being purported as a one shot, his personality was initially not well established. He would later be defined as the techno turtle as early as the second issue, wherein he states that "I'm familiar with some computer systems." A great draw back from his later depictions where he is usually shown as a scientific genius.

Appearance

He pertains the same appearance as his brothers, possessing more pronounced turtle features than later adaptations, such as a tail, and a larger beak. He is also significantly shorter, and, unique to the Mirage comics, wears a red eye mask in place of his more iconic purple one. In a later issue, Leonardo mentions that the turtles had previously considered wearing different coloured masks so that they could be more easily distinguishable from each other, but they thought this would be "too dorky". The Mirage Donatello also wields a noticeably shorter staff.

Personality

Donatello's superior intellect and knack for technology is less exaggerated in Mirage but still prevalent. Subtle hints of his intelligence include a more exotic vocabulary than the other turtles, and how he is often found either working on building and repairing gadgets or spending time deep in thought.

Unlike later incarnations where he is depicted as eccentric, up-tight, or a straight up sociopath like in Rise, in Mirage he displays a heightened sense of maturity in accordance to the turtles's overall older mental age and the target demographic of the comics. In this way, the Mirage Donatello is more often shown occupying himself with quiet contemplation. However, he is not without his signature playful and sensitive side.

Donatello displays his caring nature through instances such as Volume 1 #24: after Raphael regresses into a normal turtle, each of his brothers say their goodbyes to their now infantile sibling before venturing on a journey. Unlike Leonardo, who holds and offers Raphael a firm but concerned farewell, or Michelangelo who is too emotional to even look him in the eyes, Donatello gently puts his hands around him in an almost motherly embrace and smiles at Raphael in reassurance.

His often expansive but purely logical view of the world also leads to some scepticism. Volume 1 # begins with the turtles on a training exercise where they must deprive themselves of sight in order to enhance their other senses, as well as their spirituality. Donatello is quick to express his disdain, mocking their intentions by comparing their alleged spiritual enlightenment to "The Force" from Star Wars. In the same issue, he also reinforces his belief that everything has a logical explanation. Which is slightly odd considering that he is in fact a giant walking talking turtle, who had by this point witnessed ghosts, aliens and time travellers, to name a few.

Relationships

Leonardo

Michelangelo

Like many iterations, Michelangelo is also shown here to be the turtle with which he has the closest relationship. Although he loves and cares for all his brothers equally, he is often shown around Mikey, likely due to his brother's approachability,  being the second turtle after himself the least likely to engage in a fight, and how Donatello is the nurturing older brother figure and Mikey is the little brother.

Raphael

Splinter

April

Due to April being a scientist in this incarnation, April is the character which Donatello shares the most interests with and this acts as a point of bonding. April and Donnie are often shown working together and they share a close platonic older sister and younger brother type relationship.

Casey

In complete contrast to April, Donatello and Casey have very little in common. Although they will occasionally work on repairing something together, Casey being somewhat of a handyman, the two make efforts to understand one another but cannot do so well. This draws parallels to Casey's relationship with April, minus the rocky start. Their dissimilarity has even caused some turbulence, although this was mainly due to Casey's drunken state at the time. When Donatello and Casey fought, the former was very patient and understanding and only when tipped over the edge did he fight him. This shows Donatello's respect for Casey and how they do acknowledge each other as friends or even family.

Shadow

Shadow sees Donatello as family, and more specifically like an uncle. He is caring and receptive towards her however she displayed some wariness at his appearance after Donatello was turned into a cyborg in Volume 3. Due to her taking more traits from her father's side, Shadow and Donatello possess such differences and a relationship akin to him and Casey.