War All the Time Begins in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25 Covers First Look [Exclusive]

It’s a good time to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. In 2024, IDW relaunched the iconic series with writer Jason Aaron and artist Juan Ferreyra taking the beloved characters into new and interesting directions and that was followed up by Gene Luen Yang and artist Freddie E. Williams II, who leaned into what Aaron started and went even further, leaning into Japanese mythology and delivering some incredible action and deeply emotional moments as well. But now, a new creative era is about to kick off for the turtles. Beginning in January, writer Matthew Rosenberg takes over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles along with artist Juann Cabal. The issue, which goes on sale January 13th and has a pre-order date of November 30th, is poised to be full of action, lore, and a love for New York — and ComicBook has an exclusive first look the covers for the issue.

If the covers, which you can check out for yourself below, are any indication, Rosenberg and Cabal’s time with the Heroes in a Half-Shell will be seriously action packed — and that makes sense given the new upcoming storyline’s title: “War All the Time.” It sounds intense, but if there’s one thing we know about the Turtles, it will be a thrill well worth the ride, one made all the better as the book is set to explore and celebrate New York City in all its glory. After all, Rosenberg is a born and raised New Yorker so that will add an exciting extra layer to a story we already can’t wait to dig into.

New York City Won’t Be Quiet for Long Once “War All the Time” Kicks Off.

As you can see for yourself, those are some seriously cool covers., with Cover A from Juann Cabal, Cover B from Godtail, Cover C from Dan Panosian, Cover D from Mark Bagley, Variant RI 1-10 from Juan Cabal, Variant RI 1-50 from Serg Acuna,
Variant RI 1:25 by Stipan Morian. and Cover F by Attack Peter. We can also exclusively reveal that there is another variant cover that we can’t show you just yet from Cyanide & Happiness that will be their first ever comic book cover. Also Godtail will be featured on Cover B for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles through #30 so there is a lot of great art to get excited about!

Here’s how IDW describes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25: “It’s all-out war as New York’s own Matthew Rosenberg takes over the TMNT! After ’The City That Never Dies,’ it’s been quiet in New York City…a little too quiet. But a newly resurrected old enemy is determined to make some noise for our Heroes in a Half-Shell. One city. Countless villains. The biggest fight in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles history starts here, as our Turtles fight ‘War All the Time.’”

Taking on countless villains sounds like a huge challenge for the Turtles, and that is something that seems to be exactly Rosenberg’s plan. The writer told ComicBook it’s just how much of a challenge the Turtles can handle that he’s going to but to the test.

“The first time I ever saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the single thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was how tough and cool they were,” Rosenberg said. “They took a beating and just kept going, giving better than they got. It’s one of the things that really defines them for me so now, I’m going to put it to the test.”

Sounds to us like cowabunga time is about to get very, very intense. We’ll find out for sure when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25 hits stores on January 13, 2027, from IDW Publishing. In the meantime, the finale of Gene Luen Yang’s run, Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles #24, featuring art by Fero Pe, goes on sale November 11th.

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