On Thursday after the first day New York Comic Con, Comic Watch, along with three other outlets, was invited by IDW Entertainment to sit down with incoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles scribe Matthew Rosenberg for some pizza and Turtles talk.
Comic Watch Reviews:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #18: New Beginnings
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #17: The Result of Fear
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #16: Reunited and it Hurts So Bad
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #15: Reunited and it Feels So Good
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13: Same City, New Status Quo
Rosenberg, best known for 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us, Astonishing X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, and currently writing Spawn and King Spawn
It’s all-out war as New York’s own Matthew Rosenberg takes over the TMNT!
Related: The Comic Watchers; Episode 253: Matthew Rosenberg Is Taking Everyone Down With Us
Rosenberg talked about his history with the property, the honor of being the first TMNT writer from New York City, and revealed plans and directions laid out for his Heroes In A Half-Shell opening arc.
He had some interesting insights on the Turtles as a property, why he took the writing duties, and more
Topics included in the discussion were:
- How, after leaving DC Comics, he wanted to focus on his creator-owned projects and that one of the licensed properties he would consider writing was TMNT
- How he planned to use his experience growing up and living in NYC to bring an authentic feeling to his story
- The theme of the first arc would be that of the Turtles being on defense rather than offense
- Working with artist Juan Cabal
- Takes on certain characters
On being offered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
“I hit a point where my Image books were making more money for me than my DC books. I told DC, I love it here. I’m really happy to be here. I love working here, but I want to step away and focus on my own stuff.
My girlfriend said, You’re a liar. You’re just immediately going to take some dumb offer as soon as it comes in to do some license because you can’t say no.
And I said, I’m not… I’m done.
I said, literally, the only two books I would take are G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Those are the only ones I would do because those are my childhood books.
And then right after, Jake Thomas, my editor at Marvel, called me and was like he was like, it’s the Turtles.
Do you want it?”
“I think the city, it’s the most cliche answer, but it is because it’s true, is that like, if you tell a good New York story, the City is the character in the story, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
“I guess a basic question is what role does New York City play?
Obviously, the pizza’s important.
I think that New York is a city that you can shorthand so that people understand, even if they’ve never been there.
It’s very much a character that people think they get.
And it has a great mixture of being inherently dangerous, but also immune to caring about weirdness.
And I think that’s inherent to the Turtles.
Like we have the Turtles riding the subway and there’s other people on the subway and you just have to be like, That’s weird.
How many New Yorkers, if the Turtles got on it, would just be like, not my business, and just not look at four hulking behemoth turtle men with weapons on them?
We focus on different neighborhoods and different elements of the city so there’s a Bronx section, a Harlem section. Central Park, Midtown, Hell’s Kitchen, Queens, and Staten Island.”
On the first arc of his run:
“I want to do something simple.
My editor was like, just do a fight, like just do a fight comic that’s full of like character and heart. Your strong suit is like character writing and hard. And like, don’t, go over the top.
You’re trying to build a machine when you don’t need a machine.
And it was like amazing advice,and once he said that, it cleared up a lot of things and the story came naturally.
But my first note was just like: The worst night of the Turtles lives.
And that was it, and I was like, that’s my idea.
That’s what I want to pivot off of.
“The Turtle’s mission isn’t to win. It’s to survive. And that’s very different. This is not an offensive Turtle’s book … It’s a defensive Turtle’s book.
And so that changes the rules. The answer is not how do they beat this thing that’s better than them?
It’s how do they get past this thing that’s better than them?
They are sort of in a race.
They’re sort of trying to survive.
And that’s sort of our guiding principle.
This is the Turtles on their back heels, and trying to just stay ahead, just trying to survive this night.”
On working with artist Juann Cabal:
Juann Cabal?… Well, I love him.
Actually, when I took Spawn, he was on my list at the time. I suggested Juan for other stuff too i think he’s great. He’s killing it so far
I said, to me, said Turtles is hard because one thing is
To me, this is the hardest job in comics because it needs to be three things and they don’t fit well together.
It’s a fight comic, and the artist needs to do action.
Whoever draws this, they need to do action well; it’s…character, it’s a family comic,
They need to do expressive character drama. That’s not super easy.
I know he can do expressions on people; his Rocket Raccoon was what sold me.
Some people draw the Turtles disgustingly… Technically, they are correct in the drawing, but it just looks gross to me
I don’t want them to be cutesy, but I don’t want them to be unpleasant. The artist has to have a cool, unique take.,,and Juann does.
On who’s the most dangerous:
You just have to be like, Shredder is, you know, he’s the Darth Vader.
He’s the big bad.
You have people who are more powerful.
You have people who have armies and are geniuses.
But at the end of the day, Shredder is always going to come back as the scariest.
On why it’s hard to write Donatello:
I find Donatello the hardest
Writing smart is just hard…you can’t fake it…It’s not catchphrases.
I can put jokes and capture Mike’s whimsy and temper, and leadership issort of things they teach you when you write superhero comics.
Like,how do you write in these sort of styles?
You can’t fake just being the smartest. It just goes to the fact that faking intellectualism is very difficult.
Check out Juann Cabal’s main covers for issues #25 and #26, along with the variants for issue #25
Juann Cabal Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25 Main Cover:
Godtail Variant Cover:
Dan Panosian Variant Cover:
Mark Bagley Variant Cover:
Attack Peter Variant Cover:
Cyanide & Happiness Variant Cover:
Serg Acuna 1:25 Incentive Variant Cover:
Juann Cabal Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #26 Main Cover:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25
The biggest fight in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles history starts here, as our Turtles fight “War All the Time.”
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.
Creative Team
- Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
- Artist: Juan Cabal
- Cover Artist: Juan Cabal
- Variant Cover Artists: Godtail; Dan Panosian; Mark Bagley; Attack Peter; Serg Acuna
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25 goes on sale January 13, 2027, from IDW, with pre-orders due November 30, 2026
The Comic Watch team would like to thank IDW for this opportunity