IDW’s relaunch of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set records before the first issue even arrived, and series scribe Jason Aaron has only put his stamp on one turtle so far. Next week will see the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2, an issue focusing on Michelangelo with art by Rafael Albuquerque, but will also mark the final order cutoff date for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3, the upcoming Leonardo-centric issue featuring art by Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman, Paper Girls). Following that, November will see the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4, a Donatello-focused story that has Chris Burnham (Batman Incorporated, Doom Patrol) delivering the art.
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Ahead of the final order cutoff dates for both of those upcoming issues, ComicBook sat down with Cliff Chiang, Chris Burnham, and Jason Aaron to talk all things Turtles, their influences on the issues they drew, and how they’re trying to keep the franchise fresh for its 40th anniversary. For Chiang and Burnham, the decision about which turtle they wanted to draw in the series’ first four issues was a very easy one.
“When Brian K. Vaughan and I were working on Paper Girls, he was saying that every quartet kind of breaks down into one of the Beatles or one of the Turtles,” Chiang said. “I ended up being the Leonardo of the group, just being maybe the most responsible, I guess. So I have an affinity for him, as the erstwhile leader of the turtles, although the others might disagree. I thought it was interesting to follow his journey and see what he’s up to.”
For Burnham, his interest in Donatello went even further, citing the Donatello Mico-Series from Mirage Studios as one of the first 50 comics he ever bought.
“Probably have read that comic a million times,” Burnham added. “There’s that whole text piece in there explaining who Jack Kirby is and why they made this comic, and apparently never read it ever as a kid. I was so old before I realized it was a Jack Kirby tribute.”
Wearing their influences on their sleeve has been a part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand since Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird have always been open about the influence of Frank Miller’s Daredevil on the series. For Chiang, Burnham, and Aaron, that influence still runs deep.
“I think everything I was trying to do with the Turtles and really kind of who I am as a comic book fan and who I am as a comic book writer, came through that same lens that was forging the Turtles back in that period,” Aaron said. “The mid-80s was when I first became a ravenous comic book reader, where I went from pulling random things off the spinner rack to, ‘Okay, I got to read every issue of this book and that book,’ and Frank Miller’s Daredevil was a part of that. Dark Knight Returns was a massive part of that. I think so much of the comic stuff, the action movies of the time that were inspiring Turtles in such a huge way, I was scarfing all that stuff up, right? Like Saturday morning cereal, I was devouring all of it. And I think that that kind of made me the writer that I am today.”
Chris Burnham found inspiration from a different Miller title within his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue, adding: “There’s a particular kick in the face that when I started thumbnailing, I just pictured this amazing kick from a Sin City. I guess it’s in A Dame to Kill For, when the main dude kicks the millionaire guy in the face and kicks him into the bookshelf…I just smelled that kick as I was trying to draw on this particular page.”
Chiang added that the Frank Miller-Klaus Janson work on Daredevil was such a major inspiration for him in his issue that he went back and re-read their entire run ahead of starting his penciling.
“I re-read all those issues to try and just get back into the mindset of, being a fan at that time, and what Eastman and Laird might have been thinking about when they’re creating their books,” Chiang said. “And once I read Jason’s script, it just had that feel, the narration and the action just really brought me back to those roots. So I wanted to just steep myself in all the Daredevil storytelling. I’m trying to use a lot of those compositional tricks and things that they were doing at the time to get across some of the feel and the excitement, and meld that with the turtles and my take on it.”
When it comes to those action scenes, and making Turtles fighting ninjas still look cool some forty years later, Cliff Chiang and Chris Burnham both took the approach of just grounding it in the respective characters that their issues focus on. For Chiang’s Leonardo issue, it was all about focusing on the stillness around the character himself, how action happens around him.
“He’s so in control of things. So he’s kind of like this Zen samurai master,” Chiang added. “I tried to keep him as still as possible, and the action happens around him, and that’s where all the Miller-Jansen Daredevil stuff comes in, because you’re trying to show almost sequentially from panel to panel, how just a second later how things are different… He just looks so badass in the issue, because he’s just taking people down looking like he’s not breaking a sweat.”
For Burnham, the Donatello he’s drawing isn’t exactly himself. As readers saw in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Alpha #1 story, he’s found himself in a dangerous place where humans pay good money to fight and beat on mutant animals. Donatello is the only one that willingly accepts the challenges though.
“A lot of this issue is Donnie just kind of absorbing pain while he’s thinking his way out of this impossible puzzle,” Burnham said. “And he’s basically been stripped down to to nothing. Like he doesn’t even have his bo staff with him. So he’s just a Turtle in a cloak just biding his time. He doesn’t get to really explode fully out into his full Turtleness until maybe the end.”
Writer Jason Aaron has made it clear that his series picks up from the conclusion of the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series from IDW, a decision that surprised many considering how many comic books wipe the slate clean with frequency. Despite that, Aaron confirmed he has about the “same level” of creative freedom he had at Marvel or DC when it comes to using characters that may have appeared before. The flagship Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles book is just one of a few titles that all exist in the same continuity (which also includes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher, written by Juni Ba; and TMNT Mutant Nation, written by Tom Waltz). Aaron confirmed that the trio all talk about their plans, and that all three have made all their comics feel unique.
“I think the books have different feels and different focuses and can be using different characters,” Aaron said. “But we all want them to feel very much like different pieces of a whole, so they will be connecting together. We all talk and plan things out together, and so I think you’ll see more connectivity between those books as we move forward, but it’s definitely about giving people as many kind of different flavors of the Turtles’ world as we can, and that’ll include, again, continuing that huge wealth of characters that that’s been built up by by Tom and Sophie over the last 150 issues.”
Writing the flagship Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series during the 40th anniversary of the franchise isn’t a task that Aaron takes lightly. It’s one of the reasons he wants to get the series back to its roots of gritty action comics. The series scribe noted that even though he’s bringing the Turtles back to that gritty tone, readers should still expect brand new stories and situations that the Turtles haven’t experienced. One thing they shouldn’t expect a lot of? Cowabungas.
“I guess technically I’ve deployed one so far,” Aaron said when we asked how he knows when to use the signature phrase. “Issue two (has a ‘cowabunga’), but it’s in Japanese, so it’s written in kanji. So I guess I just spoiled that. Mikey’s the star of a TV show called Super Mutant Ninja Power Go… The first page of the issue is the opening credits of the show and you get a Japanese cowabunga while he’s surfing and twirling nunchucks…That’s probably the only one you’ll get.”
You can find the full solicits and cover art for the two issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles drawn by Cliff Chiang and Chris Burnham below!
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (2024) #3
(W) Jason Aaron (A/CA) Cliff Chiang
Leonardo is traveling the world in search of peace. All the adventures-good and bad-he’s had with his brothers have taken their toll, and he is seeking a new way to exist, leaving the life of New York far behind. On the banks of the Ganges, he has found a turtle colony that shows him a simpler way to be, but even these turtles have their foes. Leo can fend off the poachers easily, protecting his temporary home, but what will he do when a deadlier enemy comes searching for him?Continuing this new run of stories by legendary comics scribe Jason Aaron (The Mighty Thor, Batman: Off-World), each of these first four issues focus on one Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. In the Leonardo issue, Jason is matched with fan-favorite artist Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls, Catwoman: Lonely City), whose unique style is a perfect match for this unique TMNT story!
In Shops: Oct 23, 2024
SRP: $4.99
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (2024) #4
(W) Jason Aaron (A) Chris Burnham (CA) Rafael Albuquerque
Chris Burnham returns to art duties this issue as we finally learn the fate of Donatello! Trapped in a mutant zoo and forced to fight rich men looking for a thrill, his mind is still broken since last we saw him. As mysterious forces gather against him, can Donnie gather himself to defeat these enemies and set himself free? Superstar writer Jason Aaron continues his exploration of the individual Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, setting the stage for their reunion.
In Shops: Nov 27, 2024
SRP: $4.99
