Credit: John Likens / TMNT Copyright owners IDW Publishing, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Pictures The upcoming TMNT: The Last Ronin movie will be R-rated, but it won’t be the only dark and gritty installment in the franchise.
You know TMNT is doing incredibly well when there’s more than one continuity currently at play. Not only has the relentlessly lucrative IP reclaimed its place in cinema with last year’s 3D-animated reboot, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, but it’s making waves across other mediums, namely in cartoon, video game, and comic book form.
The truth is that TMNT has been doing well since it emerged from the New York City sewers in 1984. Though there was a small hiatus during the early noughties, and though it’s not quite as huge as it was during its heyday in the ’90s (dubbed “Turtle-Mania”), it hasn’t really stopped, almost endlessly churning out movies, animated shows, and comic books.
Related: All 12 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Explained (Yes, 12!)
Though there are more films planned, such as The Last Ronin movie, meanwhile, IDW Publishing, which has overseen TMNT comics for 25 years, has now launched a wave of new stories, with Marvel Comics and DC Comics writer Jason Aaron at the helm.
Among those stories is a four-part series simply titled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”–although each installment has its own secret subtitle that’s revealed on the inside cover. Each issue focuses on one of the four Ninja Turtles in the aftermath of IDW’s “Road to 150”, which marked the end of an era for long-time TMNT writer Sophie Campbell.
Now, let’s take a deeper dive into this thrilling new series, which is enough to give the dark and gritty “TMNT: The Last Ronin” comic book series a run for its money.
Raphael
Opening the four-part series is the Ninja Turtle with some serious anger issues. Raphael’s story finds him locked up in a prison for unknown reasons. Switching up New York City for the clink might seem jarring, but Raphael feels oddly at home here–not just for the reader, but for the half-shell hero himself.
Through Raph’s internal monologue, we perhaps learn more about him here than we have in more mainstream storytelling mediums that have spanned the last 40 years since the Ninja Turtles’ inception in 1984.
Raphael is a deeply troubled soul who feels right at home when surrounded by criminals–because, just as he puts it in the aptly named “Teenage Mutant Ninja Inmate”, “I’m starting to accept that just maybe I was made to live among people who deserve to be punched,” adding, “I’m rage and gristle and bile wrapped up in a turtle shell. Always have been. I’m a walking life-support system for my knees and knuckles.”
Related: R-Rated TMNT Reboot Will Be a Legacy Sequel to Original 1990 Film
Michelangelo
The second issue, titled “Party Dude, Interrupted,” centers on Michelangelo, who has built a life for himself in Tokyo, Japan as a celebrity. But, like #1, not all is as it seems. Despite not being behind like bars like his brother, Mikey is also trapped. And though he tries to convince himself his newfound fame is a good thing, on the inside, he’s just as tormented.
Things take an interesting turn at the end when his red-bandana-wearing brother shows up and the two engage in a bitter-fueled brawl. But they soon team up again to take on an army of Foot Soldiers, before heading out to rescue Leonardo.
Fans of IDW’s “The Last Ronin” might go into “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” #2 expecting a similar sort of Michelangelo–which is understandable given the tone of #1–but you’ll be sorely disappointed. Luckily, you’ll also be pleasantly surprised. Michelangelo only appears to have sold his soul–inside, he’s still the same “party dude” we’ve always known and loved.
Related: ‘TMNT’ Film Series Officially Dead in the Water as New Reboot Takes Over
Leonardo
Leonardo is the most contemplative of Ninja Turtles (at least when you remove Michelangelo’s The Last Ronin, who does not exist in the main IDW timeline, from the equation).
Issue 3, “Balance and Blades,” focuses is on Leo’s commitment to the ways of the ninja, finding him in an agonizingly disciplined meditative state where he’s trying to connect with a colony of regular turtles on the banks of the Ganges, in an attempt to find where he and his brothers fit on the evolutionary ladder.
In the third story, we see many similarities between the Turtle leader and his father, Master Splinter. But don’t worry–there’s plenty of action in the third act, when the Foot show up.
Unfortunately for them, Leonardo remains just as absurdly skilled with his twin Katana blades. Bringing things full circle, his brothers, Raphael and Michelangelo, then show up, warning him that Donatello is in trouble and needs their help.
Donatello
Related: ‘Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Full Characters and Cast Guide
If you aren’t familiar with IDW Publishing’s TMNT work pre–Jason Aaron’s 2024 relaunch, then you’ll have no idea what went down in the culminate event “Road to 150” by the previous writer Sophie Campbell. That story both marked the end of an era for both Campbell and TMNT’s 25-year anniversary under the publisher.
Now, in “Grit & a Stick,” we find a very different Donatello also lost and alone. But he’s in a far worse state than all three of his brothers combined. Weak, emaciated, and losing his mind, Donnie is wandering suddenly finds himself captured and imprisoned in an old zoo where good-for-nothing humans who pay cash to beat up caged mutants.
But, to protect his fellow mutant inmates, Donnie puts himself forward for the beating every time. The fourth and final chapter in this individual arc-focused series is tragic, but it also unites the Ninja Turtles, readying them for the beginning of a brand-new era with IDW.
There are several new IDW Publishing TMNT stories currently hitting shelves. Along with the four-part “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” series we’ve just talked about, there’s also “Nightwatcher,” “Black, White, and Green,” and “Mutant Nation,” and many more.
“TMNT: The Last Ronin” is also on its third series, “Re-Evolution.” Meanwhile, the previous IDW TMNT era is now available to collect in a series of compendiums. There’s also plenty on going on for the Ninja Turtles outside the world of comic books, with brand-new movies such as Mutant Mayhem 2 (2026) and The Last Ronin (TBA) in development.
Are you a fan of IDW Publishing’s TMNT comic books? Let us know in the comments below!