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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Editor Teases “Heavy Cost” Of Bringing Splinter Back From The Dead (Exclusive)
The world of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was rocked when they lost their mentor Splinter, but their beloved leader and guardian has unexpectedly returned from the dead. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #14 finally sees the Turtles and Splinter reunited, but as fans know, not everything is as it seems, as the Turtles are unaware Splinter is also their deadly foe, Ujigami. ComicBook had the chance to speak to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Editor Jake Thomas all about the current series and what’s in store for our heroes, and he teased that there’s a heavy cost when someone comes back from the dead, and the Turtles aren’t even close to paying it off.
The Turtles actually managed to bring their mentor back to life, though that comes with consequences that they haven’t fully realized yet. When asked how Splinter’s return will open up story possibilities and how his transformation into Ujigami will affect the Turtles, Thomas teased that the heavy cost that must be repaid is at the center of this ongoing story. “I’ve always been very reluctant to bring characters back from the dead and think there should always be a cost. Gene agreed with me, and as he built out his story, ‘What is the cost?’ was one of our guiding stars. The readers have a taste of that with Ujigami, but crossing that veil has a heavy toll, and they’re not done paying yet, not by a long shot.”
It’s not often that you get to transform an iconic hero into a lethal villain, and Thomas is excited that the series is getting to take these sorts of big swings. “Really thrilling. These kinds of big swings are very tricky, and I’m grateful that I have such a great team on the creative side with Gene and Freddie, who are handling this material with both grace and panache, and on the licensing side with our Paramount folks who are trusting us to tell these kinds of stories and take these kinds of swings with characters fans really love,” Thomas said.
“I always begin to feel like we’re onto something when we start having that feeling of, ‘Oh gosh, are they going to let us get away with this,’ and then I KNOW we’re onto something when that kind of story is strong enough that the Powers that Be give you the green light to do it,” Thomas said.
The Surprises Don’t Stop At Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #12 brought the previous run to a close, and we wanted to know what excited Thomas most about picking up the baton from the team and moving things forward. “First and foremost, let me give a massive amount of congratulations and gratitude to Jason and Juan, the other incredible artists from those opening issues–Joëlle Jones, Rafael Albuquerque, Cliff Chiang, and Darick Robertson–as well as the editorial team who came before me and put that incredible run together, Charles Beacham, Jamie S. Rich, Maggie Howell, and Andy Khouri. What excited me most was the incredible feast all those folks put on the table for us and the incredibly high bar they raised,” Thomas said.
“What Jason does better than anyone is drill down into the core of a character or team, and he did that incredibly well with his run, breaking down the Turtles family and then getting them back together. Now Gene, Freddie, and I get to build them back up and make them a family again! But don’t think that means we’re going to go easy on them! We’ve got some brutal surprises in store,” Thomas said.
Now that the original four Turtles are back together and Splinter is back in the mix, you might expect the series to quickly expand regarding its cast. While there will be new additions to the story, the focus is staying largely central to the core Turtles family.
“We’re still in the foundational building stage, so we’re going to be pretty tight on the core crew for this first arc, but we’ve already got plans for bringing in some fun, and I think pretty surprising, supporting characters in the next arc, and that will only continue as we go,” Thomas said.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #14 is in comic stores now.
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