During San Diego Comic-Con, IDW announced the new creative team of Matthew Rosenberg (If Destruction Be Our Lot, Spawn, Uncanny X-Men) and artist Juann Cabal (Daredevil, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Elektra) will be taking over the title when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ongoing series with issue #25 arriving in January 2027. Readers can expect more details to be revealed in the months to come, but we do know that the storyline will involve Details are scarce at this time, but IDW teased that fans should assembly of villains hunting down the TMNT over the course of a single night.
Between taking over the writing duties for Spawn and his various creator-owned books, it’s no exaggeration to say that Rosenberg isn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon. The Beat had the pleasure of sitting down with the prolific writer to discuss what TMNT fans can expect.
Taimur Dar: When IDW relaunched the main ongoing TMNT title two years ago with writer Jason Aaron, I appreciated it was simultaneously a fresh jumping on point for new readers but didn’t completely disregard what other creators had built. Same when Gene Luen Yang took over the book with issue #13. How are you approaching the title differently than Aaron and Yang?
Matthew Rosenberg: Obliviously, I’m a huge fan of both of them as writers for years. They’re two of my favorites. I’m a fan of what they did with the book. It’s always a strange thing when you follow someone who did a really good job. I need to do something different not because what they did wasn’t good. It’s because I don’t want to do the lesser version of that. My only chance to do a good book is to pivot. Jason’s run borrowed so much and owed so much to Sophie [Campbell] and the people who came before. And Gene’s run borrowed and owed so much to Jason’s. I am honored and feel really lucky to be doing the same. There’s a big thing in Gene’s run that sets our story in motion and allows me to tell the story I’m doing. At the same time, it’s tonally different. We’re doing something a lot more grounded. Jason did a grounded story. Gene did a big spiritual story. I’m taking it to someplace different than both of them but with elements of both.
Taimur Dar: Much like Batman, as a franchise TMNT can be grounded and street level or delve into the fantastic with stories set in space. It sounds like you’re taking a more street level approach but what types of TMNT stories do you lean toward?
Matthew Rosenberg: Not to steal from Gene but we were talking earlier and he said, “The Turtles are great characters because you can put them in any story and genre and it works.” It’s really true. I fell in love with the Turtles with the Eastman and Laird comics first. They were these grounded, gritty, and dark stories. Right after that I realized they’re also this cute children’s cartoon that’s very different. They’re like Happy Meal toys. [Laughs]. They both work really well. You can send them into space. You can send them back in time. You can send them into the future. You can have them do anything. It can be magical, it can be mystical. At the heart it’s a family drama. It’s about four brothers and their father. I love that and that’s the human element that sells the Turtles to me.
Taimur Dar: I’m sure more details about your run will be revealed as we get closer to the release of your first issue. We do know that it entails a gathering of various TMNT villains. Can you say what old villains will be involved or possibly new baddies?
Matthew Rosenberg: I can’t say which villains, but I will say it’s a lot. [Laughs]. What I was talking about before with Gene’s run, there’s an element that opened a door where I realized we could bring in a lot of characters that people wouldn’t expect to see. I’m trying to make it equal parts new villains and classic heavyweight fan favorite and deep cut obscure and weird ones [that] people wouldn’t think would be coming back. That’s the balance we’re trying to figure out. Most of them are locked in, a couple are not. It’s a really fun mix of that. The hope is that it keeps people on their toes and guessing. Every new issue is going to show you a character you either love so much or don’t know or a character you never thought you’d see again.
Taimur Dar: It’s been interesting to see the coordination of the main TMNT ongoing series with other titles. I’m curious about the coordination you have with creators on other TMNT books such Dan Watters who is currently writing the Shredder title?
Matthew Rosenberg: A lot of what Dan has been doing influences a lot of my stuff. Dan is a very good friend and we both live in New York. We went out and talked about this stuff a bunch. I love what he’s been doing. Alex Paknadel did the Casey Jones book and I loved it so much. There’s elements of that [in my run]. That’s the fun of it. There are so many great supporting characters in Turtles. IDW has done such a good job getting really amazing talent on those books. For me, I’m trying to make interesting comics but I’m also a fan. Dan has these ideas in Shredder that are so cool. I asked if I could borrow some of that. [Dan and IDW] said, “Please!” I’m begging to do the coordination because I genuinely enjoy what everyone’s been doing.
Taimur Dar: I feel like I’m obligated to ask if you have a favorite Turtle and who is it?
Matthew Rosenberg: I do have a favorite Turtle, but I will not say. Look, the internet is going to decide for me and guess and accuse me of having a favorite Turtle. So I’m not going to set them up. When I write my last issue, I will come back and tell you which one was my favorite. But until then, I think I would rather everyone guess.
Taimur Dar: That segues perfectly into my final question. Is your run a finite number of issues like it was for Jason Aaron and Gene Luen Yang or is it potentially indefinite?
Matthew Rosenberg: We are…going to figure that out as we go! I think a lot of it comes down to how everyone feels. How I feel, how IDW feels, and most importantly how the fans feel. It’s not my book. I know that and everyone knows that. I’m honored and lucky to get to borrow the Turtles and spend some time with them. They’re not my Turtles. They’re the fans’ Turtles. They’ve been that forever. If the fans show up and like what I’m doing, I would really love to stick around. I’ve got a lot of stories to tell. If everyone hates it, I’ll get a short run and I’ll be proud of it and we’ll be excited to see who comes next.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from SDCC ’26.
