Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Chris Burnham Talks Jason Aaron's Relaunch, Reveals First Look (Exclusive)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enters a new era in July when IDW Publishing ships the first issue of its relaunched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ongoing series, written by Jason Aaron. However, Ninja Turtles fans can get their first taste of Aaron's take on Turtles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1 in June. The issue will offer a glimpse at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe after the finale of the current series in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #150, with the aftermath explored in several upcoming TMNT titles, as well as a 10-page prelude story from Aaron and artist Chris Burnham, one of the four artists kicking off the new Turtles era with stories that each focus on a different member of the Turtles family.

Burnham is known for his work on superhero comics like Batman Incorporated and Unstoppable Doom Patrol, and creator-owned books like Nameless and DIE!DIE!DIE!. He'll draw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4, focusing on Donatello, the same Turtle featured in his and Aaron's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha story. The focus on Donnie harkens back to Burnham's first encounter with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which pre-dates the advent of "Turtlemania" in the late 1980s and 1990s.

"I think the first one I read was the Donatello one-issue micro-series, actually," Burnham recalls while speaking to ComicBook.com via video chat. "I missed the first couple of issues. But somehow or other, I turned onto it a year or two into it and loved it right from the jump. I was in it from, I guess, not the ground floor, but just about. To the point where when the cartoon came out, I was like, 'What's with the multicolored headbands? This is bulls---.' So, I was a sourpuss fan from the start. That particular one-issue micro series is one of my all-time favorite comics. I mean, it's a Jack Kirby tribute. I had no idea who Jack Kirby was. That element of it did not occur to me until I was in college or something. It's like, 'Oh, wait, what?' So yeah, that's high up there."

When ComicBook.com spoke to Aaron in February, the writer expressed a desire to return to the "grit" of those early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issues that creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird wrote, drew, and self-published through their company, Mirage Studios. For Burnham, that means infusing his work with what he remembers of those early TMNT comics without direct references. (You can get a sense of what that looks like from the process and preview pages accompanying this interview.)

"I was pretty intentionally not drawing smooth lines," Burnham says. "I was trying to draw angular and chunky. I did not look at the old stuff at all. I didn't want to get caught up in trying to replicate the Eastman and Laird style. So, it was just like channeling my memory of that stuff. Hopefully, I'm shooting for the vicinity of Eastman and Laird, plus the Jim Lawson and Eric Talbot stuff. So, that nasty, chunky-looking style is what I'm looking for. Everything is halfway gross and halfway cartoony and sketchy and shaded and stuff. That is what I'm searching for. So, hopefully, it does not look slick at all. If it looks like s---, then it's on purpose."

Burnham relies on his artistic instincts and knowledge for his Turtles work. If there's something he's unsure of, "Google Images knows what that looks like." However, he took some inspiration from an iconic martial artist in figuring out how to make Donatello's fighting style work on the page.

"I was looking at what does it look like when a person is using a bow staff," Burnham says. "And most of the guys you see are real skinny dudes, but a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, just by their nature, has a big giant shell on their back. So, when they're spinning the bow around, it's not going to work the way it works on a skinny dude. Sammo Hung is amazing with a bow staff, and he's a pretty portly dude. If you squint, you can shift his mass from the front to the back, and it is easy to turn him into a turtle. That was part of me getting my head around how a bow staff works when you've got a giant shell on your back. Sammo Hung helped me out with that."

That situation scratches the surface of the inherent humorous absurdity in any story involving Ninja Turtles. That humor isn't lost on Burnham.

"Every drawing you draw a Turtle should somehow feel like a stupid joke," he says. "The whole thing is kind of a joke on Daredevil. The whole thing is inherently kind of stupid, and then you layer on all the violence and the drama, and it builds up some lore behind it. But at its core, it's a dumb joke for kids. So, I feel like you always have to have at least one foot planted there.

"But yet, it is a challenge. How does it work? A lot of people draw the turtles as basically a Jim Lee drawing. I don't know if he's got a backpack on, and instead of a six-pack abs, they draw a six-pack shell on the front. That looks like a dude. I'm trying to make it look like a weird, cute little monster who happens to be good at karate, or whatever."

After the 10-page story in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1, Burnham is drawing the Donatello-focused Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4, which goes on sale in October. We know that Rafael Albuquerque, who is drawing the Michelangelo-focused story of August's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2, will return to the series for its first full arc launching in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5. As for Burham's future with the new Turtles series after his initial two tales, that remains uncertain.

"I think it is somewhat open-ended," Burnham says of possibly returning to draw a future TMNT arc. "I don't know if it's been nailed down. I don't know how to answer it safely. If there's time for me to do it, I would love to come back for an arc, but who knows? Scheduling out these things is difficult. Everyone's got a million moving parts in their life. If I could hit pause on the universe, I'd love to do an arc."

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1 goes on sale on June 5th. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 follows in July. Burnham's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 goes on sale in October.

This interview has been edited and modified for clarity and length.