Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mikey's name is spelled just like the artist, Michelangelo. It was spelled with the extra A back then because there was no spellcheck.
When the new series launched, Peter felt like it was correcting an old mistake.

I just know from now on it's Michelangelo in every carnation of the TMNT.

Yep, as Mystic and drcoco said, Mirage changed his name to "Michelangelo" rather than "Michaelangelo" to resemble the famous painter and Renaissance artist. There has been a lot of controversy over the spelling of his name, and I'm glad you brought up this question!

I'm going back to tell the story a bit on this one... Eastman and Laird made a mistake a spelling mistake when they did the first TMNT comic calling him Michaelangelo, which caught on... they thought they spelled it the right way as the artist, but later learned that they didn't. This spelling error has been something that has annoyed Peter since he learned of it back in the day. Though I believe Kevin is the reason it wasn't change, I can't prove this... but I realize that as soon as Kevin sold most of his rights to Peter, it was changed to match the artist as Michelangelo.

So since 1984 to 2001 he was Michaelangelo. In Fall of 2001 when issue 1 came out of the newest volume of Mirage TMNT it was spelled Michelangelo. At first fans thought that it was a mistake in that comic alone, but questions came up and Peter announced that he's changing the spelling of the name. Now almost all the toys, coloring books, comics, and so on spell it Michelangelo... every now and than you can catch the mistake where someone spelled it the old way of Michaelangelo.

I perfer Michaelangelo over Michelangelo. Because it's more fitting for his character, it's him... he's not just like anyone so spelling of the name shouldn't match someone else... Michelangelo is known for being a bit of a hot tempered person with a great taste for art. Now yes Michaelangelo has a great taste for art, but Raphael is the hot headed Turtle. So did the spelling really have to change?

I still find myself spelling it Michaelangelo more than the other way around. Really I think how I spell his name concerns what the topic is... if we're talking about the new show or the new comic you'll see me spell it Michelangelo... but if we're talking about anything else I spell it the original way.

There are some people who are really mad about this topic and refuse to spell it as Michelangelo.

I don't know if that's how both creators want it... I'm going to have to ask Kevin's thoughts on it someday... though that is how Peter wants it.

Peter has done a lot of changes since he got control over the Turtles.

Got rid of Venus (which was going to happen no matter what since she was a forced character only there for the live action TV show... though Kevin might of tried to keep her around since he did end up liking her)

Changed the spelling of Michaelangelo to Michelangelo.

And is changing the original way of Mirage Vol. 1 #8 by taking out Cerebus of the full comic... basically going to re write and draw that full comice for any of the reprints that will come out.

These are the noticeable changes... there may be more to come...

i still have to call him "Mikey" it's easier for me to remember

*awaits TMNT 2010 version when Michelangelo's name is spelled Meekelangelo* 4laugh