Spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13
Since announcing the new creative team of writer Gene Luen Yang and Freddie E. Williams II taking over the main ongoing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title, IDW Publishing has been hyping the book for months with a blind bag promotion to boot. Most notably, the publisher has been teasing the introduction of a brand new for named Ujigami with the creative team’s first issue, TMNT #13, out today. With any luck, readers have avoided certain sites with a penchant for leaking early spoilers (namely Bleeding Cool) because it’s quite a doozy.
In his debut, Ujigami established himself as a force to be reckoned killing Xiang Fei Tong, the leader of Chinatown gang the Ghost Boys, and delivering a possibly killing blow to Dr. Baxter Stockman, current NYC mayor. By the end of the issue, having evaded capture, Ujigami is revealed to in fact to be the TMNT’s recently resurrected rodent sensei, Master Splinter!
As loyal TMNT readers are likely aware, the previous creative team of writer Jason Aaron and artist Juan Ferreyra ended their acclaimed run by bringing Master Splinter back from the dead. In the current IDW continuity, Splinter met his demise at the conclusion of the epic “City at War” storyline back in 2019. In October, I actually speculated that Ujigami could in fact be Splinter. At the time, I had absolutely no inside or advance information whatsoever. Other than the fact that both characters had four digits on each hand, there wasn’t much substantial evidence to back my hypothesis. Before the final page reveal, TMNT #13 offers early clues regarding Ujigami, such as the fact that he proclaims himself an ally to the Hamato Clan and has a brief heart to heart with Donatello, the turtle with the greatest spiritual link to Master Splinter.
The exact circumstances of how and why Splinter took up this new Ujigami remain a mystery to be revealed later. It seems a safe bet that Karai, the current leader of the Foot Clan, has some involvement given her dabbling in mysticism and being responsible for Splinter’s resurrection.
