ComicsIDW ComicsTMNTIDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 40th Anniversary Comics Celebration is a joyful and nostalgic look back at every era of the TMNTWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
ComicsIDW ComicsTMNTIDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 40th Anniversary Comics Celebration is a joyful and nostalgic look back at every era of the TMNTWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: IDW)
The recent trend with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics has been to lean a little more towards the dark side of things. There’s an obvious reason for that: TMNT: The Last Ronin was a monster hit for publisher IDW, one that pushed the comics in a tougher, more mature direction. The currently ongoing sequel series,The Last Ronin II: Re-Evolution, has taken and run with that tone, and the upcoming Jason Aaron-led relaunch of the main series, while different in many ways, also looks like it’s leaning into a grittier approach to Turtle Power.
IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 40th Anniversary Comics Celebration, which publishes next week, is very different. For a start, it’s an anthology, containing 11 new strips from a myriad of different creators. And while some of the stories have a harder edge, the comic as a whole is an all-encompassing celebration of the diversity of tones that this franchise is capable of.
(Image credit: IDW)
That story in particular smartly sums up the approach the special is taking, when journalist Lauren Stanton muses, “All the stories… all the different versions of them… they start to make sense.” The Turtles' adventures are often contradictory and strange, but that’s part of what makes them so much fun.
(Image credit: IDW)
Finally, Tom Waltz and Michael Dialynas’s ‘Father’s Day’ and Ronda Pattison and Pablo Tunica’s ‘Teen Spirit’ bring us firmly into the IDW era, with the former a melancholic piece about the boys visiting Splinter’s grave, and the latter looking back to The Armageddon Game event which marked the beginning of the end of IDW’s first era.
(Image credit: IDW)
It’s hard to pick highlights when there’s so much good stuff here, but I especially dug the moody ’90s flavor of Paul Harmon’s art on ‘Gang Wars,’ the sheer fun of ‘The Man Behind the Mask,’ and the outright weirdness of Ciro Nieli’s tale. You’ll have your own favorites, as there really is something for every fan here, in a comic that does what every anniversary issue should do: remind you why you feel in love with these characters so much in the first place. Here’s to another 40!
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Juni Ba and Fero Pediscuss their new TMNT spin-off, Nightwatcher.
More about idw comicsSmile, A Quiet Place, Sleepy Hollow, and more big screen horror franchises to get comics from IDW’s new horror lineTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman and the TMNT: The Last Ronin II creative team on the new issue: “This is the kind of nail-biter we all want”
More about idw comics
Smile, A Quiet Place, Sleepy Hollow, and more big screen horror franchises to get comics from IDW’s new horror lineTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman and the TMNT: The Last Ronin II creative team on the new issue: “This is the kind of nail-biter we all want”
Smile, A Quiet Place, Sleepy Hollow, and more big screen horror franchises to get comics from IDW’s new horror line
Smile, A Quiet Place, Sleepy Hollow, and more big screen horror franchises to get comics from IDW’s new horror line
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman and the TMNT: The Last Ronin II creative team on the new issue: “This is the kind of nail-biter we all want”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman and the TMNT: The Last Ronin II creative team on the new issue: “This is the kind of nail-biter we all want”
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
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Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”