First Look at TMNT’s New Era Proves It’s Returning to “Grungy and Raw” Origins

Summary

• TMNT
  ‘s new era promises a return to its gritty origins with violent street-level battles in New York City.
• Exclusive previews of
  TMNT
  #1 covers by top artists reveal a dark and raw tone for upcoming issues.
• Jason Aaron’s vision for
  TMNT
  includes a revitalized focus on the original, grungy roots of the Mirage Studios series.

The origins of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have always been “grungy and raw”, which is something the new series writer for IDW Publishing’s TMNT continuity, Jason Aaron, promises to put a revitalized focus on in upcoming books. And now, fans know that Aaron is, indeed, true to his word, as the first look at TMNT’s new era proves it is returning to its “grungy and raw” origins.

In an exclusive preview for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, CBR gave fans a first-look at the covers for the upcoming issue: the main cover and five variants. The main cover is done by artist Rafael Albuquerque, with the five variants by Joëlle Jones, Eric Talbot, Matteo Scalera, Peach Momoko, and Darick Robertson (featured in that order below).

CBR also confirms that artists Kevin Eastman, Khary Randolph, Aaron Campbell, and Sean Gordon Murphy will be doing covers for TMNT #1 as well, though those covers have yet to be released. However, even with this ‘incomplete’ set, it’s easy to see how the TMNT’s original grittiness is being put front and center in this new era.

TMNT’s New Covers Indicate a Return to Hardcore, Street-Level Violence

When Jason Aaron describes his new era of TMNT as being “grungy and raw” (as he did during a Screen Rant interview discussing Jason Aaron’s upcoming TMNT run), he means a return to the violent grittiness of the original Mirage Studios series. While many fans were perhaps introduced to the TMNT as fun, kid-friendly, toyetic characters from a ‘90s cartoon, that’s far from how they originated.

Mirage Studios’ original TMNT series by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird was black and white, the Turtles were trained assassins who actually killed Shredder in the first issue, and the comic depicted the life of a mutant as gross and dirty. They lived in the sewers, they were outcasts in society, and they only existed to kill whoever their master, Splinter, decided needed to die. The entire tone of Mirage’s TMNT was the epitome of “grungy and raw”, and these covers indicate that fans will be seeing that same level of violent grittiness in TMNT’s next chapter.

TMNT’s New Covers Highlight the Turtles Fighting in New York City

IDW Publishing has recently taken the Turtles cosmic; now they’re being brought back down to Earth!

While a few of these covers make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appear about as violent and aggressive as their Mirage Studios debut, all of them have one thing in common: they all feature the Turtles engaging in street-level battles. Most of them highlight the Turtles’ ‘return to New York’ (which is actually the name of Jason Aaron’s very first TMNT storyline), but even the ones that don’t make sure fans know that the Turtles are back on Earth (in the literal and narrative sense), far from the cosmic conflicts of the more recent TMNT continuity.

A return to basics is the perfect way to give TMNT’s IDW Publishing continuity a soft reset following the immense scale of the Road to 150. To be clear, the Road to 150 and everything before it are outstanding TMNT storylines, but this new one will bring a level of grunginess to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles canon the likes of which haven’t been seen since Mirage Studios – and these new covers prove it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 by IDW Publishing is available July 2024.

Source: CBR