IDW has been nothing if not ambitious in its approach to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise lately. In 2024 alone, they relaunched the flagship TMNT comic under writer Jason Aaron, kicked off the sequel to the best-selling TMNT: The Last Ronin, and embarked on a ninja-heavy crossover in the form of TMNT x Naruto. Now in 2025, the main TMNT series has a new regular artist and a new status quo. The four Turtles are finally back together, but theyre not exactly on friendly terms these days.As part of IGN Fan Fest 2025, we had a chance to speak with both Aaron and TMNT x Naruto writer Caleb Goellner to find out whats next for their respective books. How do these stories grow with time? Whats the mission statement for the TMNT line? And will Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo ever learn to get along again? Heres what we learned.The Mission Statement of Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesAgain, IDW has launched a lot of new TMNT series in a short span of time, including their flagship monthly series. The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 was certainly a hit, selling around 300,000 copies and ranking among the top-selling comics of 2024. We were curious if IDW had a guiding vision or mission statement for the TMNT line that Aaron was seeking to execute. As he explains, its all about getting back in touch with the classic Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird TMNT comics from the Mirage days.For me, on this book, the guiding principle was just looking back at that original series, the original Mirage Studios book, Aaron tells IGN. Last year was the 40th anniversary of that series, kicking off and introducing the Turtles, and that was my expert first experience with those characters. Before the films or the cartoons or anything, it was that original black and white Mirage Studios book. So I wanted to try to recapture some of the grittiness and griminess and the big double-page spreads and action scenes of grimy turtles fighting ninjas in New York City alleyways. Aaron continues, That's kind of the spirit we were going for, but also to tell a story that felt new and felt like it was taking these characters forward after all the stuff they'd been through in the previous 150 issues of the IDW series, to see how they've kind of grown up a little bit and reached a turning point in their lives where they're going in four different directions and trying to figure out how do they come back together and be the heroes they used to be that they need to be to win this fight.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #11 - Exclusive Preview GalleryAs mentioned, TMNT #1 was among the best-selling comics of last year, alongside other major successes like Marvels Ultimate Universe line, DCs Absolute line, and Skybounds Energon Universe. There seems to be a common thread there, with audiences responding very strongly to comics that seek to reboot and/or streamline major franchises. Is there a pent-up demand for books that offer easy jumping-on points for these big properties?It certainly seems like it after last year, and I'm very happy to have been a part of a couple of those, even though I've been doing this for 20 years and I've written, wrote a whole bunch of stuff for Marvel in the last few years, I've written for what feels like every company in comics. I still don't really even think about that stuff, Aaron says. I sit down to do my job here at my desk, in an empty basement by myself, and I'm just trying to make up stories that get me excited. And I knew as soon as I got the call about doing Turtles, which was not really a job I'd ever imagined would come my way when I got that call, I was excited for that opportunity and realized I think I can do something kind of cool.Aaron continues, And then got to work with an incredible, ridiculous cavalcade of artists over the course of those first six issues. So I just knew we were doing a book that made me really, really excited. As someone who grew up a Turtles fan and as someone who just loves good comic book stories, I think this is a story for you if you've loved The Turtles for 40 years, if you've never heard of them until this moment in time. And so, thankfully, that excitement seems to have translated to other people.A TMNT Family ReunionAarons TMNT run started off with a very unusual status quo. As issue #1 opens, the four Turtles are scattered to the four corners of the globe. Raph is in prison. Mike is a TV star in Japan. Leo is a brooding monk. And Don? Lets just say hes the worst off of the bunch. Only by the end of that first storyline does Aaron bring the family back together in their old stomping grounds in New York City. We were curious if Aaron feels a certain sense of satisfaction in bringing the brothers back together (even if its clear most of them would rather be anywhere else).Those first four issues were really fun to write when you're seeing each of the brothers kind of in a different situation around the globe, Aaron says. I had a lot of fun with those - what kind of trouble they had gotten into and then what starts to bring them back together. But the real fun is what happens once they are all together, seeing how those four characters bounce off each other. At this point in time in the book, things aren't great. Theyre not really happy to see each other, and they're not reliving old times. They're very much rubbing each other the wrong way.Aaron adds, None of them really want to be there, the pieces don't fit together anymore like they used to. And then in issue #6, when they finally make their way back to New York City, we see that the city has changed as well. The entire city of New York City has been weaponized against them by this new villain who's a part of the Foot Clan. So the Turtles find themselves the most hated entities in the Five Boroughs, the Six Boroughs, I guess, including Mutant Town. So the odds are stacked against them in a huge way, and again, they can't even stand to be around each, it seems like. So how are they going to come together and win this fight?Apart from the Turtles being back together, the biggest change beginning with issue #6 is the fact that Juan Ferreyra has become the new regular artist on the series. Aaron makes it clear hes thrilled to be working with Ferreyra and to have a more consistent visual style going forward.Again, it made sense to use different artists for those first five issues because we focused on the different Turtles, and then issue #5 focused on our new bad guy who's the District Attorney of New York City, Aaron says. But having Juan come on with issue #6 made sense when the main bulk of the plot picks up. And Juan, even though he was following this group of titans on this book, artistic Titans, he's doing incredible work. I think anybody who sees issues #6 and #7 realized this guy was born to draw the Turtles. He was born to draw this kind of Turtle story again, jumping through alleyways, running across the rooftops of Manhattan. Juan's work on this has been absolutely killer. So I think even though he's following all those legends, he's really making this book his own, I think, in a huge way.Merging the TMNT and Naruto UniversesIts no easy challenge combining two franchises as iconic as TMNT and Naruto, but thats what Goellner and artist Hendry Prasetya have managed with their crossover series. The first two issues of TMNT x Naruto introduce a universe where the Turtles and the Uzumaki Clan coexist in the same world, though theyre only just now encountering one another for the first time. Goellner gives Prasetya all the credit for redesigning the Turtles and making them feel like a cohesive part of the Naruto universe.I couldn't be happier, Goellner tells IGN. I only had a few basic little suggestions about how to do that. I can't take any credit for the Turtles awesome redesigns. I was like, I don't know, put them in masks in the first issue, like in Naruto, and what they came back with was, it's unreal. I hope they get made into toys. I don't have any say. I don't have any insight, but that's my wish, just so I can put them up on my shelf with my collection.As with so many comic book crossovers, half the fun of TMNT x Naruto is seeing the various personalities clash and the interactions between the gathered heroes. We were curious if Goellner had any favorite character pairings in these first few chapters of the series.The job for me is sort of to make sure all of the characters have a moment together through the course of the book, because you don't want to leave anybody hanging, Goellner says. I really like seeing Kakashi with anyone because now that I'm a dad, Kakashi is my viewpoint character to the Naruto world. I'm like, How do you manage all these kids? Splinter, you know, I'm not as wise and strong and as good at fighting as Splinter, so I love him, too, but Kakashi is doing a lot of internal face-palming, but he's staying profesh and he's keeping the trains moving for the youth. I'm going to cheat and just say all of them.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto #3 - Exclusive Preview GalleryGoellner adds, I mean, it's funny. I write this stuff and I just kind of forget what I even did. You are trying to do a good job, and all of it's a surprise. It comes back. I'm like, I wrote that? That's pretty good. That's pretty funny. Mikey's being funny with the group. I really like the heavies. I like Raph and Sakura. I like the way they bounce off each other, both kind of like the tanks of the teams, but I'm super excited to keep going. I think there'll be some even more cool surprises once the fighting with the adversary of the story heats up in #3.Finally, Goellner teased what fans can expect from the series as the two ninja clans make their way into Big Apple Village. It all centers around a major TMNT villain who was specifically requested by Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto.He had one request for this crossover. It was to have a certain villain appear and for the Naruto characters to fight that certain villain, Goellner says. I'm not going to say who, but I think everybody's going to be pretty stoked. I know I am, and I can't wait to see how folks react because so far the vibe on the book's super positive, and I really appreciate everybody coming on this journey.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7 just hit stores on February 26, while Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto #3 releases on March 26. Also, be sure to check out IGNs exclusive preview of the final chapter of TMNT: The Last Ronin II - Re-Evolution.Also as part of IGN Fan Fest 2025, we got an early look at IDW's new Godzilla shared universe and a sneak peak of an upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog storyline.Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.