Very few characters have captured the hearts and imaginations of fans like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They’ve been around 40 years, and some of the fans who watched the cartoons in the 1980s and films in the 90s have now grown up to be writers and artists on the current line of TMNT comics. “It was a dream come true” to work on TMNT books, said artist Sarah Myer.
Co-creator Kevin Eastman blamed us, the fans, for the longevity of the franchise —“Your fault.” He wrote the first issue of TMNT “as a complete story because we never thought there’d be a second issue.”
The franchise has evolved tremendously since then, with The Last Ronin being its most recent comic book success story. Its sequel, The Last Ronin II, begins next year, and it’s “all about the legacy” of the original turtles, according to artist Ben Bishop. “It was a dream to kill the turtles and bring some back,” Bishop said.
The Last Ronin co-writer Tom Waltz discussed the challenges and anxieties teens face in 2023 and how they compare to teens in the 80s. The creative team wanted to bring those challenges and anxieties to The Last Ronin II with the new batch of turtles. In terms of naming them, Eastman and Waltz took inspiration from Star Trek’s Number One, and named each of the turtles some variation of that in different languages.
The panel closed with a discussion about — or rather, a gushing over — Mutant Mayhem, the excellent animated film that was released this summer. Director Jeff Rowe surprised the audience by joining the panelists on stage and talking about the film and its development. He was “terrified” to present it to Eastman. “I would have been so sad if [Eastman] didn’t like it,” he said. But his anxieties were for naught as Eastman loved it and is mighty eager for a sequel.
Rowe really leaned into the “teenage” part of TMNT for Mutant Mayhem. Saying how the Spider-Verse films wanted to look like living comics at times, he wanted his Mutant Mayhem film to look like a teenager’s notebook drawings before they’re officially trained as artists. Rowe and Myer bonded over their shared affection for Donatello’s anime nerdom present in the film.
Eastman said he “can’t wait to see where [Rowe] takes it next,” and I think I can speak for all Turtles fans when I say I very much agree.
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