The IDW rendition of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has not only returned iconic characters of the past, but has also introduced brand new characters to the franchise. Here is a breakdown of our Top 5 Favorite New IDW Characters in this series:

New IDW Characters

5. Lindsey Baker

(First Appearance: TMNT #1)

We first saw Scientist Lindsey Baker at the start of the TMNT series, where she played a big role in the Splinter mutation experiments. However, due to the chaos and excitement in the first couple issues, she was a bit overshadowed in the commotion. Lindsey truly begins to shine in the Mutanimals miniseries, where she helps the Mutanimals by providing scientific information about mutagen (and being a friend). Perhaps Lindsey’s larger significance to the story, she is the first recurring LGBTQ character in the TMNT franchise (discounting Mirage’s alien Soowiiksa).

4. Harold Lillja

(First Appearance: Micro-Series Donatello)

Harold is a wonderfully fun character. Genius scientist and good friend of Donatello, Harold helps the Turtles with all of their scientific needs. Providing gadgets laced with dry humor and sass, Harold has filled a missing character archetype perfectly. For Harold fans, you may be interested to learn Harold frequently uses the word “obtruse” as a mistaken pronunciation of abtruse and/or obtuse.

3. Alopex

(First Appearance: Micro-Series Alopex)

Alopex has brought an additional tough female mutant to the Turtles team. She has appeared many times throughout the IDW storyline, both with the Foot Clan and with the Turtles. Her character was torn as to which side of the coin to be on before finding a home with the Turtles. She is quick, agile, a skilled fighter, and has currently found her role fighting aside Nobody (i.e., Angel).

2. Old Hob

(First Appearance: TMNT #1)

Old Hob is debatably the most well-written character in the entire series. He is neither good nor bad, and as a reader, you cannot help but root for him. Old Hob is a mutated street cat, who started off on the “bad” side of things after being mutated. Old Hob later finds stability as co-founder of the Mighty Mutanimals with Slash, but still cannot find consistency in being fully “good”. Old Hob has reason for everything he does, and although his actions may be dishonest, he still has logic and thorough reasoning for intentions, leaves readers in agreement and often questing their own morality.

1. Koya & Bludgeon

(First Appearance: TMNT #25 (Koya) and TMNT #37 (Bludgeon) )

Alright, alright we know we cheated on this one a little bit by including two character, but Koya and Bludgeon really deserve to share the top spot of our list. We have not seen menacing villains like these two since Bebop and Rocksteady, but Koya and Bludgeon bring agile fighting, fun mutations, and unique personalities to the Foot Clan. Koya was mutated from Shredder’s pet falcon, which is seen in earlier issues, while Bludgeon is a beastly hammerhead shark. Koya is one of our first large-scale female mutants in the TMNT series, which is nice considering most of the main mutant villains are male. Interestingly enough, Bludgeon was originally written to be Armaggon from the Archie Comics TMNT series, but TMNT editor Bobby Curnow felt it more appropriate to have an original character added to the story. Although Koya and Bludgeon have been on the antagonist side of the fighting, they have shown glimpses of good nature, possible leading to interesting stories down the line.

There have been loads of new characters in IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Who is your favorite? Leave a comment below!