Caleb Goellner

''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an ongoing American comic book series published by IDW Publishing. Debuting in August 2011, it was the first new comic incarnation of the Turtles to debut after the franchise's sale to Nickelodeon in October 2009. It is the fifth comic book series in the franchise's publication history and serves as a reboot of the franchise's story and characters.

The IDW ''Turtles'' series reimagines the franchise's titular characters—brothers Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo—as sons of Hamato Yoshi, a member of the Foot Clan led by Oroku Saki in feudal Japan. When Yoshi leaves the Clan, Saki (who will later be known as Shredder) murders Yoshi and his four sons. In modern times, the spirits of Yoshi and his sons are reincarnated as a rat and four turtles, respectively, in a research laboratory owned by Baxter Stockman, a scientist who has secretly allied himself with the extraterrestrial Krang. After coming in contact with the alien mutagen, Yoshi and the turtles are transformed into intelligent, humanoid beings. Living in the sewers, Yoshi (now called Splinter), remembers his past life and begins to train the turtles in the art of ''ninjutsu''. Allying themselves with April O'Neil and Casey Jones, they are threatened by various foes old and new.

The initial creative team on the IDW series consisted of Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman, who collaborated on the plot and the page layouts, writer Tom Waltz, and artist Dan Duncan. In 2017, it became the longest-running comic book series in the franchise's history, surpassing Archie Comics' ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures'', which ran from 1988 to 1995. Starting from issue #101, writer and artist Sophie Campbell took over as the sole lead writer before the series was relaunched in 2024 with Jason Aaron taking the mantle.

Publication history

2011–2024: original series

In April 2011, IDW Publishing acquired the license to publish new collections of older ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' comics from Nickelodeon, as well as a new ongoing series. The first issue of the new series was released on August 24 that year. Turtles co-creators Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz wrote the book, with Eastman and Dan Duncan providing art. In 2017, issue #73 of the main ongoing series was published, making it the longest-running comic in the franchise's history, surpassing Archie Comics' ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures''. In 2019, issue #100 of the comic was published, concluding the eight-part "City at War" arc. Starting with issue #101, series writer and artist Sophie Campbell took over as the sole lead writer for the book.

2024: relaunch

It was announced on January 12, 2024, that the current volume would end with issue #150 and a new volume would launch in July 2024; with Jason Aaron taking over as the head writer. The first five issues of the new series will each be drawn by a different artist (Joëlle Jones, Rafael Albuquerque, Cliff Chiang, Chris Burnham, and Darick Robertson respectively); with the first four issues spotlighting a different turtle (Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Donatello, respectively) before having them reunite in the fifth. Following these issues, Juan Ferreyra would then draw the second story arc beginning with issue 6.

Plot

Volume I

Issues #1–100

Hamato Yoshi is a member of the Foot Clan led by Oroku Saki during Japan's feudal period. After seeing Saki act ruthlessly, Yoshi leaves the Clan and is marked by the clan as a traitor, and Saki orders Yoshi's entire family to be put to death. Yoshi's wife, Tang Shen, is attacked and severely wounded by the clan's ninjas, and with her last breath, she beseeches Yoshi to protect himself and the children. He flees with the boys and remains on the run for several years. Saki, who will later be known as Shredder, eventually finds Yoshi and his children and murders them all.

Centuries later, Yoshi and his sons' spirits are reincarnated in modern times as a gray rat and four green turtles, respectively, in a research laboratory called Stock Gen, owned by Baxter Stockman, a scientist who has secretly allied himself with the extraterrestrial Krang. An intern at Stock Gen, April O'Neil, names the turtles after Renaissance artists: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. Members of the Foot Clan break into the facility to steal an alien mutagen. The animals are taken by mistake, and when they and the stolen mutagen get lost in the sewer, they are covered with the spilled mutagen and transformed into intelligent, humanoid beings.

Yoshi, now called Splinter, remembers his past life and begins to train the turtles in the art of ninjutsu. Unfortunately, the seemingly trivial event which led to the creation of the Turtles and Splinter is part of an escalating conflict between several powers trying to take control of the Earth:
* The Foot Clan, with their leader Shredder, who has survived into the modern age due to the machinations of the shape-shifting witch Kitsune, and having new recruits such as Jennika, Alopex, Koya, and Bludgeon
* The Utrom warlord Krang, who plans to terraform Earth into a new home for the last survivors of his race
* Old Hob, a mutant alley cat embittered by his experiences with humanity, initiates acts of terrorism to elevate mutantkind as the new masters of the Earth
* The zealous government agent John Bishop, leader of the Earth Protection Force, who seeks to eradicate mutantkind and aliens
* The mysterious Madam Null and her enterprise ''Null Group'', a business conglomerate with its hands in many ventures and ties to other dimensions, deliberately create mutants as a slave workforce
* A mysterious Pantheon of immortal demigods, some of whom attempt to subvert humanity to their will as they once did in bygone times.
Finding new allies as they go, the Turtles are forced to strive against enemies and save the world from destruction as this many-fold conflict begins to spin out of control. The conflict culminates when Kitsune, a member of the Pantheon, attempts to resurrect the Dragon to end humanity, which the Turtles and their allies attempt to thwart, leading to the death of Splinter and Shredder's redemption.

Issues #101–150: Rebirth

With a mutagen bomb attack by Hob on the New York populace during Baxter Stockman's inauguration as the city's new mayor, the world's public is made aware of the existence of mutants. A ghetto called Mutant Town is erected in the heart of Manhattan to quarantine them, with Hob and his Mutanimals exercising loose political control over its inhabitants.''TMNT'' #101 (IDW) (January 8, 2020) The Turtles and their friends unite to make Mutant Town both a better place to live in and a hub of tolerance and communication with the outside world, but new conflicts begin to emerge:
*Zom becomes pregnant and gives birth to a daughter, hailing a new era for the Triceratons, but also stirring hostility in the radical Utrom Ch'rell
*Lita, a mutant albino turtle child the Turtles take in, is revealed to become a time traveler under time mistress Renet and has traveled to the present to stop the Turtles from splitting up in the future
*The Punk Frogs, a street gang of mutant frogs, attack the Turtles and burn the dojo, believing that they took away one of their members, Bonnie
*A mad mutant surgeon by the name of Jasper Barlow experiments on mutants to make them more human, kidnapping Bonnie as part of her experiments (who becomes Venus, a turtle with psychic powers) and eventually resorting to inhumane methods to become human again
*The Rat King, a member of the Pantheon, is eager to see his family's power game brought to a conclusion and attempts to unleash the Armageddon Game upon the world, a conflict that involves every major character up to that point

The outcome of the Armageddon Game is the downfall of both Krang and Ch'rell, the destruction of Mutant Town's borders, and the banishment of all the Pantheons from the world. During it, Donatello travels to the future and discovers Armaggon, a monster that can devour and erase timelines. He becomes obsessed with stopping the monster and inadvertently creates it while traveling through space and time. With Venus' help and sacrifice, Donatello is able to stop Armaggon and ensure that his family won't be erased from history.

Volume II

After a falling out and parting ways, Raphael travels the country and eventually ends up in San Quentin Prison, Michelangelo becomes an actor in Japan, Leonardo seeks enlightenment through yogic living, and Donatello gets captured and put in a safari with other mutants while reeling from the trauma he endured after fighting Armaggon as well as carrying a dead rat he believes is a reincarnated Splinter. Meanwhile, Karai, seeking to bring the Foot Clan back to power, puts Hieronymus Hale, an important lawyer of New York, in charge of the city in her stead after his parents were killed by mutants. He sends assassins after the Turtles, forcing the brothers to come together as a family once again as they were put on trial after being framed for murdering the warden of the prison Raphael was incarcerated in, and start to hear Splinter's voice. In addition, Jennika dons a mechanical suit and becomes the vigilante Nightwatcher, unraveling a crime ring taking advantage of the disadvantaged civilians of Mutant Town, until the suit became sentient, resulting in Jennika leaving Mutant Town to reunite with her girlfriend, Sheena.

Comics

Ongoing

Mini-series

One-shots and Annuals

Crossovers

''Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''

A crossover series with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman from DC Comics.

''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''

A crossover miniseries focused on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Boom! Comics version of the Power Rangers.

''Usagi Yojimbo''

Crossovers with the Usago Yojimbo series by Stan Sakai, who have frequently crossed over with the Turtles in other media.

Other crossovers

Roninverse

A separate continuity focusing on a cyberpunk dystopia several years in the future, based on an idea originally conceived for the Mirage Comics.

TV show adaptations

Chronological comic order

This is a chronological listing of the in-continuity comics in which the timeline of events developed.

Collected editions

The IDW series has been compiled into collections which include the spinoff series placed into their continuity order. Initially they were released exclusively in deluxe hardcover format. Releases in paperback format began in February 2022.

The various series have been collected in the following trade paperbacks:

Other TMNT publications by IDW

Mirage Comics

The original Mirage Comics series has been collected in various formats since its release:

The Ultimate Collection/The Works

''The Ultimate Collection series'' collects the issues from volume 1 worked on by its original creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The material in Volumes 1-5 was later recollected in full color as ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Works.''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics/Legends

A series collecting colorized issues of the Mirage series done by other creators, as well as the Vol. 2 series.

Compendiums

Collections of the original Mirage comics series:
* ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 1'', ''Tales of the TMNT Volume I'' #1–4 + Extras (December 2012)
* ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 2'', ''Tales of the TMNT Volume I'' #5–7 (April 2013)
* ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 3'', ''Tales of the TMNT Volume II'' #1–4 (October 2013)
* ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 4'', ''Tales of the TMNT Volume II'' #5–8 (May 2014)
* ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 5'', ''Tales of the TMNT Volume II'' #9–12 (August 2014)
* ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 6'', ''Tales of the TMNT Volume II'' #13–16 (November 2014)
* ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 7'', ''Tales of the TMNT Volume II'' #17–20 (August 2015)
* ''Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 8'', ''Tales of the TMNT Volume II'' #21-25 (April 2016)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Legends: Soul's Winter'', collecting colorized versions of Mirage Studios' Vol. 1 issues #31, 35, 36 (December 2014)

Collections of the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures'' originally published by Archie Comics:
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Compendium, Vol. 1'', collecting the original three-issue mini-series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures issues #1–17, plus the short stories “Zen Million Year to Birth,” “The Night of Monsterex,” “Metamorphosis,” “A Forgotten TMNT Adventure,” “Yo-Ho-Ho! And a Bottle of Mutagen!,” and “Doomsday Hassle in Banshee Castle” (March 2025)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 1'' (August 2012)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 2'' (October 2012)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 3'' (January 2013)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 4'' (March 2013)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 5'' (July 2013)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 6'' (December 2013)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 7'' (May 2014)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 8'' (September 2014)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 9'' (January 2015)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 10'' (October 2015)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 11'' (March 2016)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 12'' (September 2016)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 13'' (May 2017)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 14'' (November 2017)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 15'' (July 2018)
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 16'' (December 2018)

Comics

* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 100-Page Spectacular'' (April 2012) – Collects the 3-issue miniseries that preceded Archie Comics' ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures'' series.
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Classics'' (begun May 2012) – This series reprints issues 1–11 of ''TMNT'' Vol. 1 by Eastman and Laird (excepting issue #8 due to guest character copyright) and the four ''Micro-Series'' issues in full color with coloring by Tom Smith.
* ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Urban Legends'' (begun May 2018) – Reprints issues 1-23 of the ''TMNT'' Volume 3 originally published by Image Comics in full color. IDW commissioned original Volume 3 writer Gary Carlson and artist Frank Fosco to produce issues 24–26 to conclude the series. Later collected in two tradepaperback volumes.

References

External links

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{{IDW Publishing

2011 comics debuts
IDW Publishing titles
IDW
Reboot comics
Comic book reboots