Kevin Eastman co-created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird in 1984. Since then, both creators have taken breaks from the franchise at separate points. However, Kevin Eastman has been back collaborating and drawing for the IDW Publishing’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic series. Eastman has his own website, Kevin Eastman Studios, and for the especially dedicated Turtle fans, there is now the Kevin Eastman Fan Club.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made their presence felt in many different universes. Throughout their journeys, they have met several characters that have since become an important part of the franchise. Unfortunately, the writers and creators at IDW don’t always get a chance to make all of these characters a part of the story anymore. According to editor Bobby Curnow, this is one area that the new series entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe will attempt to fix. If you’ve been waiting to see your favorite characters make another appearance with the turtles, this might just be your chance.
Full cover art from the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe drawn by Freddie Williams II. Source: IDW
“Essentially, over the past four-plus years our TMNT world has grown too large to contain to one monthly title. There are dozens of fan-favorite characters. In short, we need a second title to do the ‘TMNT Universe’ justice. With two series we can flesh out these supporting characters more and devote greater time to the Turtles themselves and expanding their world. Our aim is to tell stories that are self-contained but complementary to the original ongoing TMNT title.”
It would appear that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe is going to be yet another side story in the franchise, but it sounds like a pretty darn good one. Paul Allor, writer of the new series, described ‘Universe’ as follows:
“This is a classic siege story in the vein of Rio Bravo and Assault on Precinct 13. It’s a brutal, action-packed siege story, packed with villains old and new, that’s also very driven by the relationship between these four brothers.”
If you’re familiar with either of those films, chances are that this concept will sound quite interesting. Rio Bravo is a classic John Wayne western, while Assault on Precinct 13 is an action packed cult classic from the mind of John Carpenter. If these comparisons ring true, this story is shaping up to be something truly special. Although they didn’t want to give too much away, Curnow did slip in the names of some characters we can expect to see in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe. Among those names were Old Hob, Casey Jones, Fugitoid, April, Nobody, Harold and Baxter Stockman.
Fans of IDW’s work are no doubt going to be very happy to hear about this new comic book series. With a planned release in August of 2016, we won’t have to wait too long to get our hands on this expansion to the universe of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The release of TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is only two months away, which means that we will probably be seeing a lot of promotional material for the game in the next few weeks. Mutants in Manhattan has proven to be a highly anticipated title, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that both the developer and producer of the title have recently been approached for interviews.
Through their discussions of the game, developers and producers from Activision and Platinum Games have confirmed some rather interesting details about the upcoming TMNT video game. Developer Eiro Shirahama had the following to say about the story:
“For people that have never really seen the turtles before, it’s going to be totally new, but they’ll still be able to understand it. However, for those that have seen the turtles before, there will definitely be elements that are like ‘oh man, that takes me back.’ At the same time, the story is new, so that’s kind of what we were aiming for.”
If this statement is accurate, it would appear that Platinum Games has taken inspiration from a variety of different elements and crafted their own story in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe. We are probably going to see a lot of familiar faces, and we might even see a few memorable plot devices, but it would appear that this isn’t exactly an adaptation of something that we’ve already seen before.
Some fans might be disappointed to hear this, but I’m sure that others will welcome a new TMNT experience, especially when you consider that Platinum Games worked with IDW to develop the story for TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan. A statement from Activision producer Robert Conkey appears to confirm this:
“In terms of universe, Platinum pulled from a lot of places, but really referenced the original Eastman and Laird comics as well as the original tv show, the IDW comic series, and some of the more recent Nick 3D versions of the TV show as well. So [the developer] took all the stuff they really liked and put them all in one place and added their own unique Platinum Games spin on it.”
Screenshot from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan
In other words, TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan is pulling from several different versions of the Ninja Turtles in order to tell a new story in the franchise. From what we have seen of the game in trailers and gameplay footage, it would appear that this title is shaping up quite nicely. It’s nice to know that although Mutants in Manhattan will feature its own story, it will also be heavily inspired by previous iterations of the characters.
Today brought the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Deviations One-Shot, showing an alternative reality in the TMNT universe. In a world where the Turtles obey Shredder, we see a dark and twisted alternative to the half-shelled heroes.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Issue #56 released this week, with the return of artist Mateus Santolouco, a long-time favorite character, and plenty of intrigue at Burnow Island. Here is our Issue #56 review: