Issue #150

[Bahamut810]

I dont have more of a spoiler then this...Sophie is leaving after #150.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #150 Marks the End of an Era for the Franchise (https://me.ign.com/en/comics/213383/feature/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-150-marks-the-end-of-an-era-for-the-franchise)

So the question is will it keep going after she leaves or are we getting a new writer?

[Ninjinister]

She's been saying #150 is her last one for a while. As far as everything is right now, there will be a new writer with #151, we just don't know who yet.

[Cowabung-Gal]

As far as everything is right now, there will be a new writer with #151, we just don't know who yet.

Yeah…and probably someone just as bad or even worse.

[Coola Yagami]

I dont have more of a spoiler then this...Sophie is leaving after #150.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #150 Marks the End of an Era for the Franchise (https://me.ign.com/en/comics/213383/feature/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-150-marks-the-end-of-an-era-for-the-franchise)

So the question is will it keep going after she leaves or are we getting a new writer?

So.... does this mean the good times are finally coming back?

Will the new writer nuke Mutant Town?

[neatoman]

YPCXz5qJR_s

[Sumac]

Damage has been done and I am not sure the series can recover after this.

[CyberCubed]

So.... does this mean the good times are finally coming back?

Will the new writer nuke Mutant Town?

Mutant town hasn't been the focus of the series in a long while. Yes it's still "there" but the actual stories haven't been about living in Mutant town or whatever.

What I wonder though is how many of these characters will continue in the series after issue 150 that Sophie introduced.

Jennika, Sheena, the 3 weasels, Lita the kid white Turtle, Mona Lisa, Carmen and Bob, Venus, Regenta,, some of the background mutants like Jay the frog, the ant, the walrus guy, the chicken, etc

[MikeandRaph87]

Damage has been done and I am not sure the series can recover after this.

Yes, I am afraid so even if Mutant Town is fully removed and Jennika and the citizens cured. The downward spiral started with City at War speeding up loose ends and Campbell ignored the ones left. Then the misuse of Krang in Armageddon Game. So it's not entirely on Campbell and the sexually ambiguous mutant citizens and liberal politics with nothing going on.

I can only say that with Campbell’s departure officially confirmed I am so excited and I cannot hide it! I am about to loose control and I think I like it! :tparty: :rolling: :mango:

[CyberCubed]

What loose ends are there? Most of the major villains are either dead or reformed like Shredder or Karai. Dr. Barlow will probably die within the next issue or two.

Krang is dead. Ch'rell is dead. Rat King is dead (for now), the Pantheon is gone. Bishop is dead. Hun is dead. Null is captured and locked up in Dimension X prison.

Karai, Koya/Bludgeon, Bebop/Rocksteady and Null's mutants are for now ambiguous allies. Old Hob has been an on and off ally of the Turtles for awhile now. The only other character is Baxter and he's basically being kept a watch on by Sally and the others.

Armaggon is the only new villain threat for now.

[Wednesday's Serial]

The issues post-Armeggedon game has been good. Though it seems I'm more pro-Jennekia than you lot. There were a lot of strong points to the mutant town story, especially in comparison to the X books of late.

[GameCobra]

I think Old Hobs is going to become a threat down the line, along with the Foot Clan. They maybe reformed, but that could change. Old Hob I think has always had a temper, and I think one of the problems down the line is it's going to have him cross paths with the turtles somehow. I could see him doing something that provokes a war between the Splinter Clan and the Foot Clan.

Either that, or we have the three team up to fight a new army or threat. I'm pretty sure there are others the series hasn't explored. Like the demodragons.

[CyberCubed]

There's also way too many allies outside the Turtles:

April
Casey
Angel
Alopex
3 Weasels
Lita (and her future self)
Bob
Carmen
Jennika
Sheena
Venus
Regenta
Sally
Pigeon Pete
Herman the crab
Mondo Gecko (although he hasn't appeared since before issue 100 I think)
Mutagen Man (same as above)
Man Ray (possibly dead?)
Harold and his Wife (they came back from Dimension X)
The Neutrinos and Prince Tribble
The Nova Posse
Fugitoid
April's parents
Kara Lewis the police woman
Darkwater agents Knight and Winter
Lola the reporter
Renet
Old Hob (probably)
Mar'iell and the other Utroms
The Punk Frogs
Woody (if he ever appears again)
The Mutant town mutants (Jay the poison dart frog, the female ant, the walrus, and all the others)
The humans Mikey was training before they went to Dimension X
Leatherhead (probably becoming an ally after the next arc)


They introduced way too many characters way too fast. And kept the old ones around too, like Karai and her mutants. They REALLY got to slim down the cast.

[TigerClaw]

So.... does this mean the good times are finally coming back?

Will the new writer nuke Mutant Town?
Its been a good time since issue 101 and on, and Mutant Town is here to stay since its going to become its own district in NYC.

[Zog The Magnificent]

F**king Finally.

I don't know if it matters at this point, though. The damage has been done. I just want this comic to end already, at least go out on SOME semblance of a high note. But I don't have my hopes up.

[IMJ]

I'm never going back to the book as long as IDW holds the license at this point. If they continue to publish vintage Turtle stuff, I might check it out, but even then hesitantly, trusting that they'll include their "political sensibility" that's bankrupted their company to begin with.

[Ninjinister]

You guys all have rot in your brains. Seek help.

[Zog The Magnificent]

You guys all have rot in your brains. Seek help.

Ah yes, the modern discourse. You either like something, or you're an idiot/sexist/bigot. Why even have opinions if you're only allowed to have one?

[Drose18]

Haven't been reading IDW series since the early issues but I remember really digging Sophie Campbell's art style. I loved how it looked like the 2012 show's wave 1 figures from playmates in comic form.

https://tmnt-ninjaturtles.com/assets/IDW-One-shot_Leonardo_Cover-B_Campbell-395x600.jpg

I especially adored the Leo micro #1. I remember being blown away at it.

Thanks for your contributions to the franchise Sophie.

[Andrew NDB]

She's been saying #150 is her last one for a while. As far as everything is right now, there will be a new writer with #151, we just don't know who yet.

Are we ruling out Tom coming back full time?

[CyberCubed]

For what its worth, the series definitely isn't ending at issue 150. We might very well make it to 200 issues after all, assuming all of IDW doesn't go bankrupt entirely...

[Roseangelo]

Are we ruling out Tom coming back full time?

I see two options. Tom comes back, or the series ends.

[CyberCubed]

If they were ending the series, they would already be hyping up issue #150 as the grand conclusion of IDW TMNT. However they aren't, just saying it's the road to 150 and Sophie is leaving. It obviously implies the series will go on.

[MikeandRaph87]

Last Ronin was good, I loved both Power Rangers crossovers, the Usagi crossover was decent and so is Stranger Things. I thought the Saturday Morning Adventures was okay as a miniseries, but the ongoing is much better. I know very little of Street Fighter and saw Jennika was involved so I stayed away. It had too much a post-#100 vibe and a property I am unfamiliar with. So IDW has had some solid comics, but it's all outside the main title and if it's tied to it I am automatically skeptical of it. That includes the odd assortment under Karai coming up.

[Zog The Magnificent]

Well, it would seem they're gonna try and go further than #150, and given IDW's financial state, it would seem that this series will be canceled somewhere around #163, in the middle of a story arc that they then have to rush through in and finish by #165. Maybe not exactly those numbers, but that sitution seems unavoidable.

[CyberCubed]

Technically Tom Waltz isn't employed by IDW anymore, so I'm not even sure if he can come back full-time. He's doing The Last Ronin but not as a full-time employee.

[Rooish]

Haven't been reading IDW series since the early issues but I remember really digging Sophie Campbell's art style. I loved how it looked like the 2012 show's wave 1 figures from playmates in comic form.

https://tmnt-ninjaturtles.com/assets/IDW-One-shot_Leonardo_Cover-B_Campbell-395x600.jpg

I especially adored the Leo micro #1. I remember being blown away at it.

Thanks for your contributions to the franchise Sophie.

Her art has always been fantastic, probably the best of the series.

I don't like the Mutant Town story, but I'd be happy with more of her art.

[Roseangelo]

Technically Tom Waltz isn't employed by IDW anymore, so I'm not even sure if he can come back full-time. He's doing The Last Ronin but not as a full-time employee.

He doesn't need to be a full-time employee. The majority of the comic industry is work-for-hire.

[Sumac]

You guys all have rot in your brains. Seek help.
Any other opinion, than the one approved by party is bad and dangerous!
One opinion, one nation, one...wait...:ohwell:

[TheLabRat]

There are so many issues with this comic. The most pacifists version of Ninja Turtles fight many of the most psychotic versions of villains. This series isn't even about the titular TMNT. They gave too much spotlight to side characters rather than the main characters.

Damage has been done and I am not sure the series can recover after this.

Full blown reboot may be the last and worst option.

[DexVcx]

Hooray!! I'm actually kinda happy hopefully we can probably get a soft reboot #151. Sophie a alright artist but not really a writer tho.

[Cowabung-Gal]

You guys all have rot in your brains. Seek help.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vReXLOVbmKU/VuYyKWsla9I/AAAAAAAAHtc/QPfuaXcCUy8iJwxz1IFHm0baiuTPc_ViQ/s1600/They%2BLive_2a.JPG

[CyberCubed]

So is the whole Armaggon threat going to be dealt with by issue 150 or will it continue because it feels like it hasn't really started yet and there's only 5 issues left till her run is done.

[Cloudrunner]

Haven't been reading IDW series since the early issues but I remember really digging Sophie Campbell's art style. I loved how it looked like the 2012 show's wave 1 figures from playmates in comic form.

https://tmnt-ninjaturtles.com/assets/IDW-One-shot_Leonardo_Cover-B_Campbell-395x600.jpg

I especially adored the Leo micro #1. I remember being blown away at it.

Thanks for your contributions to the franchise Sophie.

Sophie's a good artist. Not really a great writer.

[Wentos]

There used to be so much passion in the comics discourse around these parts. All these years of IDW's mediocrity have numbed us all. A new writer always brings a chance of a fresh start, but honestly I have zero faith in IDW's ability to attract meaningful talent. I haven't even picked up an issue in years, but occasionally I check out preview pages and I am aghast at how badly the art has fallen off. It's unreadable.

I can't even tell you how jealous I am of Transformers fans, who were trapped in the morass of IDW just like we are. They have a new shared universe kicking off at Image with a murderer's row of hotshot talent. When is it our turn, dammit?

[CyberCubed]

The artist on the last number of issues has been really good.

[TheLabRat]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Sophie Campbell Discusses Her Iconic Run and Milestone 150th Issue (https://www.cbr.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-sophie-campbell-interview/)

Not sure if Campbell was try to pass the buck. But I think Waltz and Campbell are both responsible for this. We know that this series become worse after #100. But City at War and The Armageddon Game are also disasters. Especially with how many plot beats Waltz tried to cram in there all at once.

[Andrew NDB]

I wonder how much of this could be blamed on IDW higher-ups. Remember, in the past, we've heard cryptic bits about Sophie's run (including in this interview) being planned to be much shorter than it ended up being, with Tom's return happening way sooner. This coupled with other comments we've seen about IDW really liking what Sophie was doing, and them wanted a whole lot more of that -- like, maybe even more than Sophie wanted, so she may have gotten boxed into a particular direction. We may even be talking about this coming down from above even the editorial level.

[GameCobra]

Looks like Sophie managed to get Umeko/Ninjara before her run ends.

https://twitter.com/mooncalfe1/status/1709083500458967552

[Topsu]

Looks like Sophie managed to get Umeko/Ninjara before her run ends.

https://twitter.com/mooncalfe1/status/1709083500458967552
Or it might be coming after 150, she said she's doing some miniseries after that. I really think she should stay doing art for the series, she's good at that. I much prefer her art to current one, turtles are just too massive, and remind me of Bay movies.

[GameCobra]

I think Sophie's a fantastic artist and a great writer. She did do a good job introducing other turtle characters and even new characters and easing the series into something after the great rollecoaster ride that was issue 100. Though my personal favorite writer over the years of the comic was Ian Flynn. That guy knows how to write impactful moments in everyday character lives.

[ProphetofGanja]

Looks like Sophie managed to get Umeko/Ninjara before her run ends.

https://twitter.com/mooncalfe1/status/1709083500458967552

As cool as that art is... why are we doing the hat-on-a-hat thing again??? I have lost track of how many turtle mutants the series has at this point and now we're doubling-up on fox mutants? There are literally so many other kinds of animals we could see mutants of

[CyberCubed]

Alopex is literally Ninjara with different fur color. Like with having both Jennika and Venus at the same time, I don't know why we need so many redundant characters.

I'm still waiting for Chrome Dome to be introduced, lol.

[GameCobra]

Fox ninjas are the most common ninja architypes. I'm actually very surprised TMNT didn't go crazy with them in the first place. Introducing them now actually makes me happy since they are bringing in that fox ninja architype after so many years.

If they really wanted to go overboard with the ninja fox thing, they would need to make four ninja foxes that are all female. Then I'll start calling them cliche.

[Sumac]

I think, we have another non-critical lover of the IDW series.

[Mayhem]

Fox ninjas are the most common ninja architypes. I'm actually very surprised TMNT didn't go crazy with them in the first place. Introducing them now actually makes me happy since they are bringing in that fox ninja architype after so many years.
And yes, curiously, Usagi has had a couple of fox characters (Kitsune primarily) and yet for all the ninja clans featured, no foxes (cats, moles, and bats).

[GameCobra]

And yes, curiously, Usagi has had a couple of fox characters (Kitsune primarily) and yet for all the ninja clans featured, no foxes (cats, moles, and bats).

Admittedly, I haven't read the Usagi series yet. If they haven't gotten a fox ninja clan in there, it's probably because of the same thing I mentioned.

Or maybe he thought the fox clan thing was more of a TMNT thing? I dunno. X3

[MikeandRaph87]

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[lonewarrior20]

I bet years from now, you guy's will reminisce and miss this run.

[Cowabung-Gal]

I bet years from now, you guy's will reminisce and miss this run.

I already miss this run; the pre-Campbell run when Waltz was in charge. I won’t miss the furry Freeform teen drama that we have now

[Coola Yagami]

I bet years from now, you guy's will reminisce and miss this run.

Hard to miss something you never read. I literally jumped off after use 100 and only came back for the Armageddon Game, and even then I'm mostly enjoying the TMNT crossovers and the '80's TMNT' comics more.

[CyberCubed]

It is kinda surprising Sophie stayed on for 50 issues in a row. I guess they really had nobody to replace her with either.

[neatoman]

I bet years from now, you guy's will reminisce and miss this run.

_n5E7feJHw0

[CyberCubed]

The first 20ish issues of Sophie's run ranged from ok to forgettable, and then hit a real low point with the battle of the bands arc. Like that was the worst overall arc in the whole comic, a music battle where you couldn't even hear sound and then Bebop/Rocksteady just give up and don't compete anyway making the whole thing pointless. Lita and that whole future timeline nonsense was bad too.

Then Sophie started doing issues leading up to or supporting the Armaggedon game series, so those issues ranged from fine to decent extra material. The Punk Frog arc that introduced Venus/Barlow, etc wasn't that good either. I did like that Rahzar/Tokka got introduced though. All the other stuff about Mutant town as I said above ranged from meh to forgettable.

The current arc has been pretty good though. Dr. Barlow went from a D-tier villain to a B-tier villain and its been very interesting so far.

[Sumac]

What people expected from an activist to write book about outcasts?
Of course, said activist will fill the book with politics and Deviantart OG DONUTSTEAL self-insert as icing on the cake to overshadow real heroes.

Reminds of that Brazilian MegaMan comic book, I think that what it was, where writer just outright killed MegaMan and his friends to replace them with his own characters.

[TheLabRat]

I feel like Casey's character was butchered many time. Campbell trashed him because she wanted Jennika to have a pig girlfriend. In Mutant Town arc, his character is completely schizophrenic. When he first showed up in Mutant Town, he seemed okay, but then, he became an toxic masculinity alcoholic for no reason, and then, when Leo met him, he became a different person again and he've been in and out of mutant town several times and is well known at the Mutant Town Fight Club. But in Armageddon Game-The Alliance, he said that he was totally ignored by his friends an allies and no one is kept him in the loop of what's going and he felt lost and aimless. Now he become a real asshole just like his father because he joined the Foot Clan.

[Jeff]

Mutant town hasn't been the focus of the series in a long while. Yes it's still "there" but the actual stories haven't been about living in Mutant town or whatever.

What I wonder though is how many of these characters will continue in the series after issue 150 that Sophie introduced.

Jennika, Sheena, the 3 weasels, Lita the kid white Turtle, Mona Lisa, Carmen and Bob, Venus, Regenta,, some of the background mutants like Jay the frog, the ant, the walrus guy, the chicken, etc

Its normal for supporting characters to rotate in ensemble titles like this, but Jennika is a main character. She'll stay until there's a hard reboot to the series, and even then, she may be there from the beginning.

[CyberCubed]

Do we know if issue 150 will be double length? Unless I'm remembering wrong, I'm pretty sure issue 50 and 100 were both double length at about 40 something pages instead of the usual 20 pages.

[neatoman]

Do we know if issue 150 will be double length? Unless I'm remembering wrong, I'm pretty sure issue 50 and 100 were both double length at about 40 something pages instead of the usual 20 pages.

Do you honestly want it to be longer than it has to this time?

[CyberCubed]

Well depending what happens in it, if it's some big showdown with Armaggon I'd prefer it to be longer. I think the thing is we don't know if Sophie is setting things up for the next writer who replaces her or if she's ending the Armaggon story in just another 5 issues.

[DexVcx]

My prediction of #150 a major character death is going to happen hopefully is jennika. If not I'm still glad this garbage run is over

[neatoman]

My prediction of #150 a major character death is going to happen hopefully is jennika. If not I'm still glad this garbage run is over

I might as well make a list of characters I'm fine with dying (as in they exist on a spectrum of totally just forgetting they were even in the story in the first place, to me actually being relieved that they're not around anymore), and I'll let you guys take bets on which is more likely to go:


Jennika
Lita
Venus
Mona Lisa
Bebop
Rocksteady
Sheena
Bob
Carmen
Any of the damn weasels
Burne
Woody
Mondo
Wyrm
Pete
Mutagen Man


I could also have padded out this list with the random nobodies introduced during mutant town… But I think we can all agree future writers are guaranteed to forget them anyway...

[CyberCubed]

I doubt Sophie will kill off any of her own characters. I do feel like Baxter's role in the series has pretty much expired, there really isn't much to do with him anymore. Similar to how they had Hun die, sometimes it's ok to kill off a major villain when they have no further use in the series.

We know Karai and all her mutants are in a mini-series next year so they're not going anywhere.

[DexVcx]

I doubt Sophie will kill off any of her own characters. I do feel like Baxter's role in the series has pretty much expired, there really isn't much to do with him anymore. Similar to how they had Hun die, sometimes it's ok to kill off a major villain when they have no further use in the series.

We know Karai and all her mutants are in a mini-series next year so they're not going anywhere.
Only time can tell if it's really meant too be lmao. That is another possibility of what will happen.

[hypered1]

https://www.cbr.com/exclusive-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-150-covers/

It was exclusively revealed by CBR that #150 concludes the current title. It will reboot with another comic.

We've been discussing this in the licence renewal thread already.

[CyberCubed]

https://www.cbr.com/exclusive-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-150-covers/

It was exclusively revealed by CBR that #150 concludes the current title. It will reboot with another comic.

No, the series is still going with the Foot Clan mini-series coming out after issue 150, and confirmation that Ninjara will be debuting as well.

[ProphetofGanja]

did they confirm if they are doing new #1?

[TheLabRat]

Only time can tell if it's really meant too be lmao. That is another possibility of what will happen.

Not just because of this series has too many characters that no one cares about. And the most frustrating thing is when you realize that most villains always get beaten by some side character like Kitsune blowing up Rat King, Karai defeating Null Turtles and King Zenter headshot Krang, or randomly killing themselves like Bishop. If the ninja turtles are not even allowed to do this most basic things, then why is this comic called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

[Sumac]

Hey, you've got your positive messages and strong female characters!

What else do you want? Or you don't like positive messages and strong female characters?

What are you - a bigot?

:P

[Andrew NDB]

did they confirm if they are doing new #1?

No, nobody's confirmed any #1, not even Sophie. She just said, "There will still be more IDW TMNT comics," which we already knew from the minis due to come out into the horizon.

Probably there will be one, though. It would be strange for IDW to avoid as tried-and-true of a tactic as the 'ole "cancel and start over at #1 again" to spark up sales.

[ZariusTwo]

did they confirm if they are doing new #1?

Bleeding Cool's heard there will be a relaunch announced soon and that Jason Aaron is writing it.

[ProphetofGanja]

No, nobody's confirmed any #1, not even Sophie. She just said, "There will still be more IDW TMNT comics," which we already knew from the minis due to come out into the horizon.

Probably there will be one, though. It would be strange for IDW to avoid as tried-and-true of a tactic as the 'ole "cancel and start over at #1 again" to spark up sales.

Yeah that's what I was thinking IDW would end up doing.

Honestly, I'm not mad at it. #150 is a damn high issue count to get to in this day and age, but with that comes some amount of intimidation to new readers, I guess. The way that I will probably not check out the original One Piece anime, because who the hell wants to devote time to scale a mountain of a thousand episodes or whatever they're up to.

I still really like what the IDW series has done as a whole, even if I don't like the way the past few story arcs have been handled. Relaunching with a new #1 would give the series an opportunity to streamline itself, shift focus back to the FOUR, MAIN Turtles, retcon some minor things maybe, and get back up-and-running with a new storyline (preferably something street-level to start), relatively quickly. Although it is interesting to consider that Krang is already over and done with, and Shredder has become an ally at this point (and I think it would SEVERELY undercut that turn of events if they were to ever undo it, I really hope they don't. It would reek of desperation). I also really like the reincarnation angle to the Turtle's origin, as well as IDW original characters like Hob, so I'm glad those will be kept.

[BornAgain]

With the company in the position it’s in, the thought is probably “we aren’t going to reach #200 anyway if we can’t bring in more readers.”

[IMJ]

With the company in the position it’s in, the thought is probably “we aren’t going to reach #200 anyway if we can’t bring in more readers.”

That is absolutely true. They will deny it, given the nature of personalities we've seen from IDW, but the simple fact is that if the book was selling well they wouldn't cancel it and renumber it as a relaunch for a cash grab.

Most well-adjusted and normal businessmen would operate within the reality of their situation and make statements like "we are proud of the book but it's sales are a lot lower than we would like, and we are relying on the fandom to buy it and keep it going". But instead you get IDW posting here on the forums about how well they are doing a month before they get their stock delisted and a few months before the book is cancelled and their horizontal-inventory is reduced.

Liberal IDW. The poster child for clown world.

[Vegeta]

That is absolutely true. They will deny it, given the nature of personalities we've seen from IDW, but the simple fact is that if the book was selling well they wouldn't cancel it and renumber it as a relaunch for a cash grab.

Most well-adjusted and normal businessmen would operate within the reality of their situation and make statements like "we are proud of the book but it's sales are a lot lower than we would like, and we are relying on the fandom to buy it and keep it going". But instead you get IDW posting here on the forums about how well they are doing a month before they get their stock delisted and a few months before the book is cancelled and their horizontal-inventory is reduced.

Liberal IDW. The poster child for clown world.

Pretty much why i miss the waltz run, his stuff felt pretty neutral, focused more on characters worldbuilding and storytelling more than self inserts.

[ProphetofGanja]

Pretty much why i miss the waltz run, his stuff felt pretty neutral, focused more on characters worldbuilding and storytelling more than self inserts.

Yeah, Waltz is a great writer. I loved the TMNT x Ghostbusters crossovers and although I never went and read the Ghostbusters comic series, I think I will eventually. I wonder if IDW will do some to tie-in with Frozen Empire.

[TheLabRat]

Although I think City at Wars and Armageddon Game are still a mess. I also don't understand why he brought Krang back only just to kill him multiple times?