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The man who inspired the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is finally joining them for a landmark issue. IDW is publishing the tremendous 300th issue of the reptilian quartet, which will feature a number of characters by noted creators. J. Scott Campbell, Stan Sakai, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird are all providing covers, as is one creator who will be contributing to the series he helped inspire for the very first time. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #300 has a lot more going for it than its covers, of course. The main story, by regular creative team Gene Luen Yang and Freddie Williams III, sees the Turtles fighting for their lives against the evil machinations of mad scientist Baxter Stockman.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #300 also features a back-up story from writers Tom Waltz and Eastman, and artists Ben Bates, Eric Talbot, Chris Allan, Frank Fosco, Jim Lawon, and Dan Duncan that reintroduces Renet, a teenage "Timestress" who first graced the pages of the book in issue #8, all the way back in 1986. She's taking a look at the extensive comics history of the Turtles, from their black-and-white early days to the modern day, with plenty of stops along the way (including that time Raphael punched Adolf Hitler).
Legendary Daredevil, Batman, and Sin City writer-artist Frank Miller is contributing a cover to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #300, which is on store shelves today. Miller's gritty, noir-infused comics were a key inspiration to Eastman and Laird, who first intended the Turtles as a send-up of then-current comics tropes. The unspoken conceit of the Turtles was that the toxic waste that robbed young Matt Murdock of his sight and granted him the super-senses of Daredevil had gone on to ooze into the sewers, where it made four abandoned pet turtles into Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello. Daredevil was mentored by Stick, so the Turtles were taught by Splinter; he fights the Hand Ninjas, so they fight the Foot Ninjas. Of course, the parody elements of the series soon ended as the book proved to be immensely popular, not only launching a multimedia empire of cartoons, movies, and action figures, but also causing an explosion of black-and-white books in the indie comics scene.
How Did 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Reach 300 Issues?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has not been continuously published for 300 issues; #300 is the 20th issue of the current volume. The 300 is derived from "legacy numbering," which adds up the numbers of previous volumes of a series. The same process will see The Amazing Spider-Man, which is now in its seventh volume, celebrate its 1000th issue later this year.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #300 is available from IDW Comics in stores or digitally today. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
