Next week will mark the debut of an explosive TMNT story arc that will change the turtles forever. The new arc promises twits and surprises as well as characters we have not seen in the IDW continuity. Tom Waltz and KEvin Eastman have sat down with the good folks at CBR to discuss this upcoming event. Below is a part of that interview:
CBR News: With “City Fall” approaching, can you bring readers up to date on what’s been happening with the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” so far?
Tom Waltz: Well, the Turtles, alongside their father Splinter and good friends April O’Neil and Casey Jones, have experienced a number of highs and lows since we first began the series at IDW. We learned early on that the mutated turtles and their rat father are, in fact, reincarnated ninja from Feudal Japan, having been ruthlessly executed by Splinter’s (nee Hamato Yoshi) arch-rival from that same time period, one Oroku Saki.
Since being reincarnated (into four humanoid turtles and one humanoid rat), the strange family has faced everything from a greedy mad scientist (Baxter Stockman), a vengeful mutant cat (Old Hob), a psychotic mutant snapping turtle (Slash), killer robots called MOUSERs, gang bangers (Purple Dragons), an inter-dimensional warlord alien bent on terraforming Earth (Krang) and other ninja, including those from Yoshi’s former clan, the Foot — most notably, their leader, Shredder, who, as it turns out, is the resurrected Oroku Saki.
Oh, and Saki’s got fierce descendent working alongside him, a young female ninja named Karai, as well as a mutant snow fox named Alopex. So — yeah, the TMNT have been busy, and as I mentioned, it hasn’t always been easy, though most recently they’ve been on a bit of a winning rush, having travelled via inter-dimensional portal to the Planet Neutrino to rescue the royal family there alongside a fugitive robot named, aptly enough, the Fugitoid.
Did I mention they’ve been really busy? [Laughs]
Kevin Eastman: What the?!!! Is that what’s going on?! Crikey! [Laughs]
What is so fantastic about Tom’s re-imagining of the “TMNT” is how awesomely well he draws it back to, and grounds it pretty solidly in, “TMNT” lore — or at the very least, is wonderfully inspired by it. The whole IDW team, as well as the relationship and support from Nickelodeon, has been incredible — I am personallyvery pleased they let the whole team have the breathing room to tell some really fantastic stories. What really has excited me about the entire series is how much this new direction has really excited me about the entire series! [Laughs]
Seriously — I have not had this much fun working on the “TMNT” since the very early days with Peter Laird — I have really found out how much I loved and missed drawing and working on the Turtles.
So, what’s happening to the Turtles in “City Fall?”
Waltz: In a nutshell (heh — shell), “City Fall” will detail Shredder’s first major offensive against his NYC underworld enemies. He’s got world domination on his mind, but he knows he has to start his campaign in his new backyard — New York City — and build his empire from there. But, he has no plans to do this alone as he’s set his sights on making the eldest TMNT, Leonardo, his second-in-command, no matter what it takes and no matter whom he has to crush in the process.
Eastman: One of the final “TMNT” storylines I worked on with Peter (plotted/etc.) was the “City at War” series, which was produced as a wonderful solid team effort (Jim Lawson pencils, Keith Aiken and Jason Minor inks, A.C. Farley covers and more… AND actually is just about to be printed in a two volume hardcover set by IDW) and a series that always remains near and dear — and this arc feels very much like a love poem to that final run — but I’ll tell you, the direction Tom has decided to go — and how far we’ve been able go by Nickelodeon gives me goose-bumps. Much like putting April back in the lab — but having her “name” the TMNT’s in the first four issues, or Raph getting separated at exposure and having him bond with Casey first — this is the kind of re-adjustment stuff. There’s tons more besides these two examples I am totally grooving on — and it really seems like the fans have been as well. Man, I think fans are going to go even more completely nuts for this run, I certainly did when I saw Tom’s final breakdown — really rockin’ stuff!
Kevin, is the name “City Fall” an homage to “City at War?”
Eastman: Well, I’ll touched on this a little more later — but at the end of the day, each is its own beast, has its own merits and qualities. But speaking for the here and now, after watching what has been building to get here over the last twenty months or so — I just say, buckle up and enjoy the ride guys — things are about to get seriously fun! [Laughs]
Will “City Fall” have any long-lasting effects on the Turtles?
Waltz: Absolutely! We honestly try to make all of our plots important (and matter) to the overarching story being told in the ongoing, but this one’s extra big as it really brings the Foot out of the shadows, where they’ve been lurking in the modern era to this point.
Individually, it will affect different characters in significant ways, with some of our players stepping up to become more than they have been to this point, while others will find their self-confidence, honor, and courage sorely tested. New alliances (some very surprising) will form as a result of the war the Foot rain down on NYC, as well as new enmities (also surprising). And, we will be bringing new characters into the mix, some of them old and beloved fan favorites from TMNT iterations past.
Eastman: This arc, much like all the chapters in the series, including the one-shots or miniseries, has a certain level of weight to the total story and inter-connects so incredibly well — it really blows my mind — yet, I still feel there are easily a number of different places for new fans to enter the storyline without having had to have read them all — and that is fantastic — but once they get in, they want the rest for sure! Even when Tom and I were working out my crazy detective-style digression for last year’s annual, great care was taken to have it tie into the overall series — and man, what a great time that was!
Head over to CBR to read the full thing
