Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Writer Departing Series

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles writer Sophie Campbell will leave the series after 50 issues. IGN confirms that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #150 will be Campbell’s last writing for the TMNT ongoing series. She began writing the series with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #151, ushering in the “Reborn” era. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #145 will bear “Road to 150” branding, hyping readers for the finale to Campbell’s run on the title and the beginning of what IDW Publishing has in store next for the longest-running Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series. Continuing themes present throughout Campbell’s Turtles run, especially since the conclusion of “The Armageddon Game” event story, the “Road to 150” story arc sees the Hamato clan divided as Donatello learns he’s too late to prevent the cataclysmic arrival of Armaggon, which signals the beginning of the dark future he previously visited.

Vincenzo Federico draws the arc, with Ronda Pattison coloring and Shawn Lee providing letters. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman continues in his long-running role as a story consultant.

“It’s crazy that I was only supposed to write 12 issues at first, but now here I am almost 50 issues later,” Campbell told IGN. “It’s been a huge honor not only getting to write the series and these characters I love so much, but to have Kevin, Tom [Waltz], Bobby [Curnow], and the folks at Nickelodeon trust me enough to let me take the reins for this long. I never in a million years thought I’d make it this far and be able to do some of the things I did on the series, I’m still amazed at some of the things they let me get away with. It’s been incredible.”

She continues, “I also have to thank the readers, of course, they made it all possible, so thank you so much to everyone who kept on reading and embraced me despite having to fill Tom’s big shoes. And you know what, even the people who thought I was the worst TMNT writer of all time, I want to say thank you to them, too. Just anybody who read it and had an opinion, it’s all good, it’s an honor to inspire that sort of energy from people. Even though I’m taking a break to work on some other stuff, I will almost definitely be back in the world of TMNT soon enough.”

Eastman adds, “With great pride and respect I celebrate the accomplishments of a very important visionary creator who has brought such spectacular concepts, thrilling heartfelt stories and brilliant characters to life in the IDW TMNT universe, but most of all the epic dose of humanity that grounds it all. As issue 150 looms on the horizon, the mark and the spark of this body of work speaks volumes and will endure.”

Campbell’s association with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles predates her run writing IDW Publishing’s ongoing series. She created a fan comic that she published on the web retelling the events of the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secrets of the Ooze. She also worked with original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles publisher Mirage Studios, offering covers for the Raphael: Bad Moon Rising miniseries and frontispieces in two Tales of the TMNT issues. She first worked with IDW on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-series #4: Leonardo. She continued that relationship with covers, variants, and interior artwork, including drawing the “Northhampton” arc of the main ongoing series and the Alopex issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series: Villains and serving in various creative roles for stories featured in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe anthology series.

Campbell’s run on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is collected in IDW’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Reborn volumes. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #145, beginning the “Road to 150,” goes on sale on November 8th. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #150, concluding Campbell’s run, goes on sale in early 2024.