Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo Crossover WhereWhen From Stan Sakai Coming 2023 (Exclusive)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will meet Usagi Yojimbo once again in 2023. Usagi's creator, Stan Sakai will once again will write and draw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen, a five-issue miniseries from IDW Publishing, partnering with Dogu Publishing and Paramount Consumer Products, and featuring colors by Hi-Fi. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo #1 goes on sale in March. The history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Usagi Yojimbo dates back to 1984, when both were created, Usagi by Saki and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. That both feature anthropomorphic heroes and a reverence for Japanese culture made it easy for crossovers between the two to occur in comics, multiple animated series, and toy lines in the 40 years since.
"I am so pleased with the story and art for WhereWhen," Sakai says in a statement. "There is a lot of emotion and, of course, lots of action. I actually wrote this story about five years ago and had been anxious to get to it. In the past, the Turtles have met just a few of Usagi's friends. This time, everyone is thrown in—Gen, Tomoe, Jotaro, Yukichi, Kitsune, Chizu, and more! This one is epic!"
The series sees the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pursuing the evil cyborg genius Dr. WhereWhen through a time portal and emerging in feudal Japan, where they encounter Miyamoto Usagi 20 years into the samurai's future. However, decades have passed since Dr. WhereWhen arrived, and he's built himself a fiefdom with mechanized clockwork samurai robots. He intends to expand his rule by conquering both the past and current timelines.
Each issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen will have a wraparound cover by Sakai, plus alternate covers by TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, Sarah Myer (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures), and David Petersen (Mouse Guard). Issue #1 will also include a blank cover variant.
"Usagi Yojimbo arrived in the world of comics the very same year as TMNT, and our lifelong personal and creative relationships with the characters and each other were built on mutual love and respect for the medium. Anytime Stan Sakai wants to bring them together for a tale, I'm one-hundred-percent front row center," says Eastman.
"Stan Sakai, aside from being a genius storyteller, is a kind and gracious person. It's always a pleasure to work with him. WhereWhen is a truly epic story, filled with excitement and all-out action, and we at IDW could not be prouder to publish it," says editor Scott Dunbier.
Look for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen #1 in comic book stores and digital storefronts in March.