When it comes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ modern stories, there are few names more influential than Tom Waltz – the writer behind the first 100 issues of IDW’s TMNT series, the epic Armageddon Game event and the blockbuster Last Ronin miniseries (which is soon to get a live-action movie adaptation from Paramount.)

With Last Ronin‘s sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution releasing this March and Jason Aaron revamping IDW’s series with a new #1 in late July, there’s never been a more fascinating time to hear Waltz’s take on the series and find out what it was like being so integral to TMNT at a time when more fans than ever are checking out the Heroes in a Half Shell. Screen Rant sat down with Tom Waltz to discuss the upcoming Last Ronin sequel and its new generation of turtles, his personal takes on the larger franchise, and his feelings about Jason Aaron’s bold new direction for the turtles.

The Last Ronin’s Success and Its Re-Evolution Sequel

Tom Waltz Discusses the New Generation of Turtles

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Tom! Last Ronin was a huge success story – something that was always going to delight franchise fans, but ended up showing just how many people out there were hungry for a dark Turtles story. What was the first sign you can remember that it was going to be such a breakout success? How quickly did you know?

Tom Waltz: Before I answer, thank you so much for taking the time to interview me – truly appreciated!

My initial clue that THE LAST RONIN was going to be much bigger than we’d expected (and trust me, Kevin and I had high hopes for it from the very start) was when I first learned we were going to a second printing even before the first printing was out to stores. Ironically, IDW was getting accused of deliberately shorting the first issue, but the truth was that IDW had deliberately OVER PRINTED the issue in the hopes its sales numbers would surpass the initial preorders once curious folks saw it on store shelves…and we still didn’t have enough to meet the demand — not even close! That was my first inkling that THE LAST RONIN had the potential to be something very special and beyond all our expectations. I ain’t gonna lie – it still shocks me how popular it’s become. I’m sincerely humbled by it all and couldn’t be more grateful.

The Last Ronin II: Re-Evolution will follow the new generation of turtle siblings, raised on the Last Ronin’s teachings. What were your main priorities when developing a new generation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? How did you make them as distinct from each other as the originals?

Tom Waltz: Our main rule was that they needed their sibling/family dynamic to feel familiar yet different. What I mean by that is that we wanted to capture the same tight familial bond between our new mutant heroes (as well as Casey Marie and April) from past TMNT iterations, but we wanted to infuse them with new personality traits that set them apart from the OG TMNT. The best way to do that, we felt, was to tap into modern personality/societal traits – things like social anxiety, autism, heavy integration of technology into everyday life, etc. – while layering those things on top of the tried-and-true aspects of what has made the original Turtles so beloved for so long – over-the-top ninja action, corny jokes, sibling rivalry/camaraderie, genuine respect for their elders, things like that. Sometimes an old stew recipe works just fine, but tastes even better with a few new spices added, you know?

(Um…did I just accidentally make a turtle stew analogy? Sorry!)

Do you have a favorite of the new Turtles, or something you particularly love about them individually?

Tom Waltz: Just like the original TMNT, I can’t pick a favorite. I will say that Ben Bishop’s initial design of Odyn was a love-at-first-sight moment for me (the little turtle tank didn’t have a name at that point, but his cuddly/lovable personality immediately sparked in my mind and my heart). I totally dig Moja’s choice in old-school alternative music (everything from Joy Division to Nine Inch Nails), Uno’s constant confidence (even though it does get a bit snobbish at times), and Yi’s wide-eyed wonder (and mature comprehension) about how the entire world works.

Fans are more than ready to jump back into the world of Last Ronin this March, with Re-Evolution set a decade after Michelangelo’s defeat of the Foot Clan. How has the world changed ahead of the new Turtles taking their place as New York’s champions?

Tom Waltz: Well, the Foot Clan is gone, but that left a huge power vacuum in the city, and as we all know, nature abhors a vacuum. So instead of just one criminal entity trying to run the show, we’ve got competing cartels (including the police) trying to fill that void, with the Resistance caught in the middle of it all. By failing to have a solid plan for ascension after defeating Oroku Hiroto and the Foot Clan, the Resistance (and our hero family) now find themselves in even more confusing and dire straits than before. Sixteen years ago, the Last Ronin and his allies knocked down the hornets’ nest, but now the survivors of that war are finding they didn’t get rid of all the hornets, and those suckers like to sting!

The world of The Last Ronin is a very dark, almost post-apocalyptic place. How does growing up in this new era change what it means to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for Odyn, Uno, Yi and Moja?

Tom Waltz: In that regard, I feel Casey Marie is doing her very best to maintain the old traditions that were passed down from Splinter to his sons – loyalty, courage, honor, etc. But whereas Splinter deliberately brought his children into his long-running feud with the Oroku family, both Casey Marie and April are reluctant to expose the new Turtles to the current conflict. But as the city’s bad elements become more aggressive, and the police prove to be more corrupt than not, they will find there may be no choice but to repeat the past by bringing what are really just children into a very adult war.

Similarly, how does the perspective of 2024 shape these characters, given that the original Mirage Studios comics were so steeped in where comics found themselves in the mid-80s?

Tom Waltz: Again, sadly, not much has changed if you really think about it. Adults make the terrible problems, forcing the youth of the world to confront them and, hopefully, resolve them. Just turn on the news these days and you’ll see the same thing everywhere — ancient wars being fought by modern young men and women…and to what end? It’s a tragic theme Kevin and I fully intend to tackle as best we can in this second volume (and beyond).

Tom Waltz Discusses His Extensive Run on IDW’s TMNT Series

Favorite Characters and the Series’ Inspiring Mission Statement

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an incredibly malleable property, capable of being everything from a Saturday Morning cartoon to the gritty revenge story of Last Ronin. How did you decide what direction you wanted to take in your comic run for IDW’s TMNT series, and did you have any kind of mission statement in mind for what you wanted to achieve?

Tom Waltz: I drew a lot of inspiration for the TMNT ongoing series from the 2003 4Kids TV version as well as the 2007 Kevin Munroe helmed CGI movie. For me, those versions maintained a perfect balance of strange, silly, and serious… all the best ingredients of a TMNT tale.

And, frankly, to this day, I still believe our long-running TMNT ongoing series is the best kept secret in the comic book industry. Do I feel we should have (and/or had) a bigger audience? Definitely. I’d match up our ongoing series against anything the Big 2 are publishing. That said, I’m proud as heck that we’ve lasted so long. And it would never have happened without the many loyal (and I mean LOYAL) fans who have stuck with and by us from day one, way back in 2011. All those amazing readers and fans who have been in on the secret from the start – and that secret is we tell kick-butt comic book stories month in, month out.

If there is any mission statement, it’s that we will never pander, will never compromise – we will only publish TMNT stories that are authentic and true to the core concepts Kevin and Peter Laird established 40 years ago. We are meticulous in our plotting, our scripting, our artwork, our lettering, our editing, no exceptions. We want our fans to love reading our stories as much as we love creating them.

Having been with the Turtles so long, which characters outside of the core brothers do you find it most rewarding to write, and were there any you changed perspective on over so many issues?

Tom Waltz: I LOVE writing Baxter Stockman! He’s definitely top of my list. He’s so unapologetically opportunistic and confident. So brutally honest. Even though he takes a heel turn more times than not, I still find parts of his personality admirable… like, damn, I wish I could be that forward and self-assured in real life (laughs).

Old Hob is another character I adore. He’s complicated, with so many unique and conflicting layers. I always see him as a person (er, mutant) who genuinely has the best intentions, if not always the best ways of following through on them.

A character I also love a lot is Angel Bridge (a.k.a. Nobody). She’s someone I’d love to explore more… dig deeper into her motivations and personality.

And I absolutely fell head over heels in love with the Nova Posse while writing The Armageddon Game event series. I DEFINITELY plan on revisiting them soon (stand by for that, sports fans!)

Honestly, I love every single character I have the good fortune to write. They all feel like a part of me, even the most minor characters.

It’s truly rare that a modern comic sees 100 issues with the same creator. Was there anything you wanted to do with the Turtles that you didn’t manage to fit in, or any ideas that you found yourself able to expand beyond your original plans?

Tom Waltz: I can say we told the story we intended to write in the first 100 issues – we nailed the milestones we set out to hit from the start. Although, to be totally blunt, I was just hoping we’d get to four issues before I was fired when this all began (laughs.) But in doing so, even more stories and ideas popped up in my overactive brain; tales I hope to get to tell in TMNT: MUTANT NATION and elsewhere in the future. I’m nowhere near done playing in the IDW ongoing universe as long as IDW and the fans are still okay with me hanging around.

It’s also rare that you get to work so closely with the people who created the franchise. What was it like working with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird on The Last Ronin, and did anything in their perspective change how you saw the franchise or its characters?

Tom Waltz: I’ve never communicated with Peter Laird, but after all these years of working together, Kevin has become my brother from another mother both professionally and personally. Just a great, great person to have in my life. I’ve learned so much from him about comics on the creative and business fronts. He’s seen it all – the good and the bad – and his wide-ranging expertise and experience is something he’s always willing to share with me, which I truly believe has made me a better creator and collaborator (and person) in so many ways. I sincerely cherish our relationship, no doubt about it.

Waltz’s Epic Armageddon Game Event & Jason Aaron’s Upcoming TMNT Series

Aaron Is Taking the Turtles Back to Their Grim and Gritty Roots

The Armageddon Game really dug into Turtles lore with a conflict between the gods of this universe. What motivated such an ambitious perspective, and how did you make sure that four New York ninjas didn’t get lost in the cosmic fray?

Tom Waltz: Well, there was a point when the amazing Sophie Campbell thought she might need to step away from the ongoing series to take care of some of her creator-owned obligations. As a result, then-editor, the fantastic Bobby Curnow, asked if I’d be interested in coming back to write the monthly books. I was actually pining to tell more stories in the ongoing universe, but I thought what I wanted to do (tying a bow on the Pantheon story, etc.) felt like a mini-series kind of undertaking to me versus something that would fit neatly into what Sophie had going on in the main series. So, inspired by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s stupendous DARK NIGHTS: METAL event over at DC, I suggested we do it as an event series.

Well, as good fortune would have it, this idea fired up Sophie, who said she could stay on the ongoing after all, which felt like getting my cake and eating it too. Not only could I tell my big story, but I had Sophie at my side (as well as many other IDW TMNT stalwarts like Erik Burnham and Paul Allor and editor Charles Beacham, to name a fantastic few) to help me keep it manageable, allowing for a wider scope without losing any of the main characters in the process. And, like any good collaboration, we all fed off each other’s ideas, making it an organic and evolving endeavor, which I truly believe made it far better in the end than what I’d initially proposed.

If The Armageddon Game ever got a big-screen adaptation, who do you imagine voicing its major characters?

Tom Waltz: Ha! I’m the wrong guy to ask that question to. I’m terrible with actors’ names. I can say that I love the voice actors we used for the TMNT: MUTANTS IN MANHATTAN video game I wrote some years ago, those folks were great! As were the voice actors on the TMNT: SPLINTERED FATE video game I also helped write recently. I’d be all for them having a shot at them voicing our story.

I will say that my dream is for the lovely and talented Judith Hoag to be a part of something we do in other media for THE LAST RONIN. Talk about what a “Cowabunga!” moment that would be for TMNT fans, am I right?!

Jason Aaron’s upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles run is nearly here, beginning July 24. Recent reveals include some big changes, with Michelangelo now working as a TV star in Japan while Raphael finds himself in prison. As a TMNT fan, is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to with this new era?

Tom Waltz: Jason has a very specific plan for his initial TMNT arc, which focuses heavily on the four TMNT brothers. Frankly, stories explicitly featuring the four brothers have gotten a bit lost over the years as the result an ever-expanding cast of characters. It’s a much-needed back-to-basics approach that I feel is perfect for the relaunch, and I’m excited to see such a talented and prolific writer (of whom I’m a HUGE fan, his SCALPED series is one of my all-time faves!) take on the core Heroes in a Half-Shell. (By the way, Jason’s also a super cool dude.)

And, again, I feel like I’m getting my cake and eating it too (lots of cake lately LOL) because the relaunch also opens the door for our TMNT: MUTANT NATION sister series, which will allow folks like Sophie, Erik, Paul, myself, and other past TMNT creators to continue to explore the ensemble cast we’ve built together over the years. The first four issues of MUTANT NATION include a Raph-centered story I’m writing called “Attack on Area 51!” that takes place in the year between Sophie’s issue #150 and Jason’s issue #1. The uber-talented Vincenzo Federici (my partner on The Armageddon Game) will be handling art duties. Look for everyone’s favorite dinosaur Pepperoni to make an appearance (or two) in that tale, as well as some other fan-favorite characters we haven’t seen for a while in the main ongoing.

And I can’t wait for everyone to see the Old Hob-centered story I’ve written for the upcoming TMNT: ALPHA one-shot (with bonkers good artwork from the fantastic Gavin Smith and superstar colorist Ronda Pattison) called “Monster Island.”

Like I said before, I’ll keep doing this as long as IDW, our great partners at Paramount, and our wonderful fans will have me!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 is coming July 24 from IDW Publishing, followed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution on March 6.