Retcons, Reboots, and Resurrections #10: Heroes In A Half Shell Find New Modern Comic Book Life

They say the only three certain things in life are birth, death, and change. When it comes to comic books those things are also certain as they come in the form of retcons, reboots, and resurrections. 

For our purposes retcons are elements that are retroactively added into a character’s history after the fact, reboots are either big full change revivals of a character/title or are extensive changes to their canon, and resurrections are characters making the return from death or character limbo. 

Each week we’ll explore the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to Retcons, Reboots, and Resurrections.

All the way back in 1984 Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird debuted a little comic book title called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This title about four mutated turtle ninjas and their rat mentor spawned a number of comic book volumes, cartoon series, toys, big-screen films, and more over the next couple of decades. They bounced from their original Mirage Comics to an extreme stop in the Image Universe in the late ’90s and ended up back with Laird in the early to mid-2000s for a series that slowly petered out with long-delayed releases. 

Fast forward to 2009 where Nickelodeon, under the Viacom banner, purchased the majority of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle rights from Mirage Studios, which closed its doors shortly after the completed sale. They used the franchise to launch new cartoons and movies under their own banner while licensing out the franchise to other groups for other mediums. In 2011 this included the rebirth of TMNT comics from IDW Publishing. 

What Was It?

IDW took the opportunity to clean the full slate and start from the very beginning for this new comic series, rather than following the previous Mirage and Image series that tried to tie into each other in haphazard ways. Writer Tom Waltz and artist Dan Duncan were tapped for the series with the assistance of TMNT co-creator Eastman who returned to the franchise after previously having his parts of the rights bought out by Laird. Eastman is a consultant of sorts for the franchise now and collaborated on plots and layouts for the new series. 

This new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series started with Splinter and three of the brothers dealing with finding their way and hoping to find their missing brother Raphael. It showcased a new origin for the characters that mixes in some of the elements of the previous versions seen in comics and on screens. 

The major new part is that Splinter and his children are actually truly father and sons as they were originally humans who lived as members of the Foot clan in feudal Japan. When Hamato Yoshi (Splinter) sees the Foot leader Oroku Saki do heinous things, he chooses to leave the clan and is marked a traitor. Yoshi’s wife Tang Shen is killed when Saki orders the family to be wiped out, but Yoshi and his boys escape. Eventually, Saki, now known as Shredder, finds them years later and kills the family. 

Their spirits persisted though and in the modern-day are reborn within a rat and four turtles that are kept at the research lab Stock Gen, led by Baxter Stockman, as part of secret experiments with mutagen conducted by General Krang of the alien Utroms. The turtles and rat are named by intern April O’Neil, are stolen by the Foot Clan who was seeking the mutagen, are exposed to the mutagen (as is an adversary cat known as Old Hob, and become the characters that we know. 

This remixing of origin elements with new bits sprinkled in has become the heart of what this series has done ever since its launch in 2011. While there are strong hints to the original comics at the start, such as all the turtles having red masks for a few issues, the reach of the creative team extended much further. Characters, plot elements, and other bits have been incorporated for the original Mirage Comics, the Image comic run, the 80’s animated series, the 2003 and 2012 animated shows, the Archie Comics era comics, and recently even the ’90s feature films. 

Along the way though, it has introduced a ton of its own characters and plots like the aforementioned Old Hob and allies to the Turtles like Alopex and Sally Pride and some of their other foes. More recently the series turned newer character and former Foot assassin Jennika into the fifth member of the Turtle clan, as she’s become a pretty popular fan-favorite character.  

Was It Good?

Since the series is still running, up to 118 issues as of this moment along with numerous minis and one-shots and other books that have spun off around it over the years, it’s pretty easy to stamp this with a big giant yes. 

The series took all the things that people love about the Turtles and their world and expanded upon it with new stuff while paying huge respect to everything that has come before. Characters and concepts from various adaptations have been merged together in inspired and creative ways. The popularity of the TMNT franchise has rarely ever wavered and it’s at a very strong point all these decades later. 

Currently, the series is experiencing an even bigger revitalization following its 100th issue with a new creative team headed up by writer/artist Sophie Campbell, and it’s easily one of the best comics around. As a long-time Turtles fan, and as the person that reviews the book for the site, it’s always at the top of the read pile for me when new issues drop. 

Reboots are a hard thing to make work at times but the best ones are those that do what this series has done by making sure to pay respect to what has come before without being too beholden or weighed down by it. While also making sure not to jettison everything that has made it popular in the first place. It’s about finding that perfect recipe mix that brings harmony. 

IDW Publishing and all the creators they’ve tapped have found that delicious harmony. 

Next Week: When Retcon Meets Resurrection…An X Is Born