Shellibrate 40 years of the TMNT with a jumbo, era-spanning, one-shot from IDW

There’s a 70 page Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles extravaganza on the way from IDW, set to celebrate 40 years of Turtle power.

Mean green teens

It’s almost hard to believe that it’s been 40 years since the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted. Created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, TMNT started as a hard-hitting, gritty, black and white book from Mirage Comics. It wasn’t really for kids, but there was nearly immediate interest from the younger set, due to the soon-to-launch (1987) animated series that basically took the world by storm. After that the Turtles were everywhere from action figures and video games, to mugs and wall clocks. If it had ‘TMNT’ on it, there was an assured audience.

The Turtle train didn’t stop there either, because as fans well know, almost every decade has its own version of the four brothers. While the 90s still had the originals, the 2k’s had the 2003 and 2007 Turtles, the 2010’s had the fan-favorite 2012 series, and the present day has… well let’s just say it has more than a few different versions of the TMNT, and leave it at that. One of the more popular continuities in with that last lot too, has been the comic from IDW.

The series created a wholly new universe, that worked in elements from almost all of the previous ones. And while the main run has since concluded, the license itself is still going strong at the publisher. As such, and with the 40th here, there’s some comics style celebration to do.

IDW will be doing just that in the form of a monster, 70 page issue set to debut this summer. Entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 40th Anniversary Comics Celebration, the one-shot will feature a huge list of talent, and as mentioned, multiple different eras of the TMNT. Some of those eras will figure in as actual stories, and some will have pinup images.

Here’s who’s onboard:

With several new stories and pinup art pieces inspired by different eras of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this technodrome-sized issue with more than 70 pages will feature fan-favorite creatives returning to their respective eras for all-new tales. This special one-shot issue will feature new stories and pinup art from Jim Lawson, Ciro Nieli, Tristan Jones, Paul Harmon, Steve Lavigne, Andy Suriano, Ronda Pattison, Pablo Tunica, Freddie E. Williams II, Sophie Campbell, Tom Waltz, Lloyd Goldfine, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, Dan Duncan, Erik Burnham, Sarah Myer, Luis Antonio Delgado, Chris Allan and more. Plus, the one and only Kevin Eastman will be contributing a story, too! 

IDW press release

Along with all of the different stories, fans can expect a monster slate of variant covers to collect. Those can be seen in the gallery above, and will be from a spread of artists that includes “Sophie Campbell, Isaac and Esau Escorza, Simon Bisley, Michael Dialynas, Vincenzo Federici, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, Michael Cho, Dave Wachter, and an IDW Exclusive cover by Ben Bishop”.

But hang on, because that’s not all, as even the standard cover illustration lis going to be one you’re probably going to want. Along inked by Kevin Eastman, the seldom seen Peter Laird is going to be present as well, in the form of that main cover ill.

All of the above will be on hand, when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 40th Anniversary Comics Celebration hits the stands on July 10th, 2024. Pre-orders for the title should be are open right now via your local comics shop, and will wrap up on June 3rd.