Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Battle Nexus #1: Turtle Time for a Multiversal Battle

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus #1 is the newest quasi-crossover event for IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While these characters are no strangers to crossover events, with several actually ongoing right now, this marks the first time the IDW versions of the Turtles will interact with other incarnations of themselves and characters from across Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lore. Let the games commence.

To get the semantics out of the way, yes, this story features the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That distinction is important, as many crossover events involving these characters do not use the IDW continuity. For example, the recent crossover with Naruto did not feature the same Turtles the IDW franchise has followed for the last fifteen or so years, whereas the multiple crossovers with Ghostbusters did. This can certainly get confusing. Thankfully, this issue makes its place in continuity very clear, establishes which characters it is referencing, and even touches on elements of current lore to eliminate any potential confusion.

With that clarified, let’s talk about the issue itself, which is genuinely fun, especially for longtime fans of the franchise. The plot is intentionally simple: a multiversal entity initiates a tournament known as the Battle Nexus, pulling the four Turtles into an alternate dimension to compete. There are several additional characters involved in the ensuing chaos, and fans familiar with the Turtles’ history of multiversal and time-hopping adventures will likely have a good idea of who to expect as the instigators behind the conflict.

While this issue primarily serves as a setup for the larger storyline, it wastes no time delivering an all-out blast of entertainment for Turtles fans. Even readers who are not fully up to date on the current continuity can jump in and quickly understand what is happening and what they need to know to follow the series. The concept of a multiversal tournament is nothing new to comics, with Marvel famously exploring it decades ago in Contest of Champions and Secret Wars, and DC currently doing so with DC KO. Because of this, it feels like a natural fit for the Turtles, and this opening issue executes the idea in a way that meets expectations.

The art is handled by Esau Escorza and Isaac Escorza, who have been key contributors to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in recent years, having worked on The Last Ronin and its sequel. Their style fits seamlessly within this world while also capturing the heart and tone established by previous IDW TMNT artists. While this issue only kicks off the storyline and does not yet showcase many of the multiversal elements that have been teased, it is exciting to imagine what these artists will do once the full scope of the concept is unleashed in the issues to come.