Just weeks after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #300 arrived in shops — a milestone nobody saw coming when Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird first put four reptiles in a half shell — IDW Publishing came to San Diego Comic-Con 2026 with a pair of announcements that could make 2027 the most consequential year in the franchise’s four-decade run.
Current series writer Gene Luen Yang will wrap his arc with TMNT #24, passing the book to incoming writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Juann Cabal for issue #25. At the same time, IDW confirmed the third and final volume of The Last Ronin trilogy — with the full original creative team returning to close out one of the most acclaimed stories in Turtles history.
A New York Native Takes Over the Turtles
Matthew Rosenberg isn’t arriving at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles without a playbook. The writer — who built a following on Astonishing X-Men and the graphic novel 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank — is a born-and-raised New Yorker, and his first arc leans into that hard. It unfolds over a single chaotic night as the Turtles tear through real boroughs and neighbourhoods across the city.
“I’m going to start them in the Bronx, start them in Pelham, and they’re just going to be on a trip through New York,” Rosenberg told IGN at the convention. “The thing about the Turtles that’s great is you can have them fighting in the sewers, fighting on rooftops, but also they’re fun. They’re teenagers. They’re joking and they’re distracted.”
He describes his opening storyline as essentially one extended fight — “the worst night of the Turtles’ lives” — but one that doubles as a character study. The family dynamic among Leo, Donnie, Raph and Mikey is central to everything. Rosenberg has also made clear he plans to dig deep into the franchise’s sprawling mythology, teasing appearances from characters across multiple eras, including some fans won’t be expecting.
“Every character is someone’s favourite and every era is someone’s favourite. If you can just nod to that in some way, it means a lot to fans.” — Matthew Rosenberg
Joining him is artist Juann Cabal, whose kinetic linework on All-New Wolverine signals he can handle both the action and the human moments that make TMNT comics worth reading. Together, they inherit a series that has been riding high since Jason Aaron’s 2024 relaunch set a new standard for what IDW’s Turtles could achieve.
Gene Luen Yang on Letting Go of the Franchise
Handing over a series like this is never simple. Yang’s run drew consciously on Japanese culture and mythology — a different energy from the Mirage-inflected pulse Jason Aaron brought — and he leaves having shifted what the TMNT comics could be tonally and thematically.
“You know when you’re working on a property as big as the Ninja Turtles that it doesn’t belong to you,” Yang said. “It’s sort of a melting pot of creative energy. And I felt really lucky, and a little bit intimidated, that I was following Jason Aaron’s run.”
Rosenberg spoke at Comic-Con about studying Yang’s approach before mapping his own. The goal wasn’t to replicate it, but to chart a genuinely fresh course while honouring the story that came before. “He changed the game, so I have to do that. I can’t just run with that,” Rosenberg said. It’s exactly the philosophy that has kept this comic line vital across decades and dozens of creative teams.
What’s coming: TMNT #25 — written by Matthew Rosenberg with art by Juann Cabal — hits stores in 2027. Gene Luen Yang concludes his run with issue #24.
The Last Ronin Closes Out Its Trilogy
The second announcement may be the one that lands harder for longtime readers. IDW confirmed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin III — Return to New York, bringing the trilogy that began in 2020 to its conclusion.
TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman returns alongside writer Tom Waltz, artists Esau and Isaac Escorza, and colourist Luis Antonio Delgado — the same team that built the Roninverse into a phenomenon. The story focuses on Casey Marie Jones, daughter of franchise staples Casey Jones and April O’Neil. Trained as a ninja alongside four new Turtles — Odyn, Moji, Yi, and Uno — Casey Marie leads the charge against the Foot Clan in a final fight for New York.
Waltz told Entertainment Weekly that the response had left him genuinely floored: “We had high hopes readers would love the story just as much as we loved telling it. Little did we know, that love would be exponentially returned to us and our amazing art teams. We’re capping off the main trilogy, and we couldn’t be happier.”
The Last Ronin universe has expanded into prequels, sequels, and a video game from PlatinumGames that is still in development. The third volume is expected to reach shelves in summer 2027.
Two Announcements, One Clear Direction
It’s rare for a comics publisher to signal change at two levels of a franchise at once — refreshing the flagship series while closing out an acclaimed extended storyline in the same breath. What IDW Publishing has set up is a 2027 TMNT slate that gives readers something whether they came in through Jason Aaron’s relaunch, Yang’s mythology-heavy run, or the grimdark futures of the Roninverse.
Both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25 and The Last Ronin III — Return to New York #1 are set for 2027. For a franchise that just crossed 300 issues, this is a Nickelodeon and IDW Publishing partnership that shows no sign of slowing down.
