Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW Publishing)

Plot

Hamato Yoshi is a member of the Foot Clan led by Oroku Saki during Japan's feudal period. After seeing Saki act ruthlessly, Yoshi leaves the Clan and is marked a traitor. Saki orders Yoshi's wife and four sons to be put to death. Yoshi's wife, Tang Shen, is attacked and severely wounded, and with her last breath she beseeches Yoshi to protect himself and the children. He flees with the boys and remains on the run for several years. Saki, who will later be known as Shredder, eventually finds Yoshi and his children then murders them all.

Yoshi and his sons' spirits are then reborn, reincarnated as a gray rat and four green turtles in a research laboratory called Stock Gen", owned by Baxter Stockman, a scientist who has secretly allied himself with Krang. Members of the Foot Clan break into the facility to steal an alien mutagen. The animals are taken by mistake, and when they and the stolen mutagen get lost in the sewer, they are covered with the spilled mutagen and transformed into enlightened, humanoid beings.

Yoshi, now called Splinter, remembers his past life and begins to train the turtles in the art of ninjutsu. An assistant at Stockgen, April O'Neil, names the turtles after Renaissance artists: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. Unfortunately, the seemingly trivial event which led to the creation of the Turtles and Splinter is part of an escalating conflict between several powers trying to take control of the Earth:

Finding new allies as they go, the Turtles are forced to strive against enemies and save the world from total destruction as this many-fold conflict begins to spin out of control.

Characters

The series slightly re-imagines the origins of the Turtles, as well as other characters such as April O'Neil, Splinter and Casey Jones. Notably, the series, like the original Mirage version, initially gives all four Turtles red eye masks until issue #5, where Splinter gives Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo their well-known blue, purple and orange masks, respectively.

The series features characters and plot devices from all over the to-date TMNT franchise, including:

It has also introduced brand-new characters, such as:

Main series

The ongoing comic main started in August 2011 and has released 63 issues as of October 2016.

Micro-series

As per TMNT tradition, four one-shots (officially a mini-series) were released focusing on each turtle, with issue #4 tying in to #9 of the main series. Due to the heavy popularity of the series, IDW announced another 4 issues, focusing on Master Splinter, Casey Jones, April O'Neil and the Fugitoid. Associate Editor, Bobby Curnow, says that if popularity increases, the Micro-Series will become the IDW equivalent of Mirage's Tales of the TMNT.

In April 2013, a new series of eight one-shots was started, under the title Villains Micro-series. The first four issues focus on Krang, Baxter Stockman, Old Hob and Alopex. Other issues focused on Karai, Hun, Bebop & Rocksteady and Shredder.

Infestation 2

The Turtles were included in the IDW crossover event Infestation 2. They appeared in one panel in the first issue of the main series. Raphael also appeared on the covers for both issues of the main series; as does Donatello on a variant cover of #1.

The Turtles were also given their own two-part miniseries. A series of strange occurrences leads the Turtles into long forgotten tunnels, where they are forced to confront the Lovecraftian creature Shub-Niggaruth and its cult of warped monstrosities.

TMNT Annual 2012

A 48-page black-and-white annual issue was released in October 2012. Its plot focuses on the loss of a valuable peace offering to the Foot Clan from the Savate Ninja syndicate, which inadvertently proves the catalyst of a vicious gang war that threatens New York City.

Secret History of the Foot Clan

A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles four-part mini-series, titled Secret History of the Foot Clan, was published from January through March 2013. The series tells the story about the original founder of the Foot.

Utrom Empire

A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles three-part mini-series, titled Utrom Empire, was started in January 2014. The series focusses on Krang, Professor Honeycutt and Baxter Stockman, as their struggles against each other put the last of the Utrom race into dire peril, as well as including a story about the last days of the titular Utrom empire.

The X-Files: Conspiracy

A one-shot, out of continuity issue was published in February 2014 as part of the The X-Files: Conspiracy mini-series crossover event. Guest characters include the Lone Gunmen and the vampire characters from the X-Files episode "Bad Blood".

TMNT Annual 2014

This annual edition features apprentice time mistress Renet and the Battle Nexus Tournament from the Mirage Comics volume 4/TMNT 2K3. Originally slated for April 2014, the release was rescheduled to August due to production difficulties. The Turtles are taken from their home by a dimension-hopping Renet and forced to participate in an interdimensional gladiator contest which by the whim of their initiator, Councilman Nieli, has no winners; but the Turtles, the stubborn Renet and some irritated gladiators intend to change this unbearable condition for the better.

TMNT 30th Anniversary Special

A special edition commemorating the brand's 30th anniversary. Featuring five short stories, one of them entitled "Ready Set Go!" was previously released in Hero Comics 2012; the other four short stories are each set in one of the comic continuities - Mirage, Image, Archie Comics, and IDW - which arose with the franchise.

Turtles in Time

A four-issue mini-series running from June to September 2014. It was a continuation from the story in TMNT Annual 2014. Some intertemporary after-effect from their trip with Renet displaces the Turtles successively into the age of the dinosaurs, medieval Japan, the age of pirates, and even the future; and in each time period they are forced to make decisions which have shaped - and still might shape - their own fate and that of the world around them.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters

A four-issue mini-series crossover with IDW's Ghostbusters comic series, celebrating the 30th anniversaries of both franchises. It began publication in October 2014. The story deals with the Turtles and their friends testing a teleportation device whose plans were provided by Professor Honeycutt. Due to a slight mishap during activation, they end up in the Ghostbusters' reality, along with an immortal, hostile creature once known as Chiyou, who seeks domination over mankind.

TMNT: Mutanimals

Another four-issue mini-series dealing with the latest incarnation of the Mighty Mutanimals, published from February to June 2015. Lindsey Baker, Old Hob's human ally and scientific creator of his mutant army, is kidnapped by the security forces of the Null Group, a genetics firm headed by the fiendish Madame Null, who wishes to conquer the world's economy by creating hybrid mutants. As the Mutanimals fight to get Lindsey back, the team - and especially Hob - are forced to seriously reconsider their conduct as mutant liberators.

TMNT: Free Comic Book Day 2015

A story was published as part of the May 2015 Free Comic Book Day. It was a prelude to the Vengeance story arc of the main series (#45–50).

Casey & April

A four-issue mini-series that started publishing in June 2015. Its plot deals with April O'Neil and Casey Jones investigating the contents of a scroll found in the Foot Clan's archives which points out the resting place of a book dealing with a group of immortal entities called the Pantheon, which includes the Rat King and Kitsune in its ranks. During this journey, Casey and April are also forced to do some soul-searching and exploring of their budding relationship.

Batman/TMNT

A six-issue miniseries announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2015, beginning in December 2015. It is the second intercompany crossover between IDW and DC Comics, after Star Trek/Green Lantern. The story, out of continuity, deals with the Turtles and their master Splinter, along with Shredder and a good number of his Foot Ninjas, having been interdimensionally displaced by their common enemy Krang; an eviction which landed them in Gotham City in the DC Universe. While Shredder sets his sight on conquering this new world in addition to his own, the mutants are desperately seeking a way back home as the mutagen which created them is slowly starting to break down; and Batman is the only person capable of helping them.

Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything!

A weekly five-part miniseries published in June 2016. In this story, Bebop and Rocksteady get their hands on Renet's time cepter and, as the simpletons they are, wreak havoc to all creation as they use the artifact to hop all over time and space, forcing the Turtles and Renet to fix the damage before it becomes irreversible.

TMNT Universe

A spin-off series similar to Mirage's Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which started publication on August 31, 2016. It serves as a narrative expansion to the main series with the introduction of crucial sideplots and additional characters. 4 issues have been released as of October 2016.

Collected editions

The IDW series has been compiled into the following deluxe hardcover collections which feature micros spliced into story in reading order.

The various series have been collected in the following trade paperbacks:

Graphic novels

Collections of the original Mirage comics series:

Collections of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures originally published by Archie Comics:

Comics

Color reprints of issues 1 - 15 of TMNT Vol.3 have been printed as of October 2016.