The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back – back together, back in New York, and backs against the wall! Check out our review for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 below…
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6
Written by: Jason Aaron
Art: Juan Ferreyra
Main Cover: Jorge Fornés
Variant Covers: Kevin Eastman, Juan Ferreyra, Carson Thorn, Boneface, Wes Craig
Page Count: 28 pages
Release Date: January 29, 2025
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 hits shelves soon, and the Hamato brothers can’t catch a break! After five months of solo stories and buildup, the series makes true to its arc (titled Return to New York), and our half-shell heroes have arrived. But their homecoming isn’t exactly a warm welcome; the city that never sleeps always keeps one eye open – and it’s hard to miss four reptile fugitives!
With cops, firefighters, civilians, and, of course, ninjas on their tail, the turtles have a long night ahead of them. OG NYers might find issue #6 similar to the classic 70s film The Warriors – a falsely accused gang runs all night to flee a whole city out to get them – which is a propitious comparison!
Joining the series as its new ongoing artist, Juan Ferreyra (Batman & Robin, Green Arrow) is a wonderful addition. Ferreyra’s work is innately filmic – focusing on the core principles of perspective, tone, relationship, and informational output – which translates exceptionally well to an issue that flows like an action movie. One clever effect employed, sometimes referred to as reduplication*, is Ferreyra’s use of the four turtles in one space to indicate linear movement. Each figure represents a phase of the jump, evocative of stop-motion or film-strip photography. This kind of 3D mindset in a 2D space adds depth to the experience, giving a story about -ahem- anthropomorphic crime-fighting turtles a surprisingly nuanced and engaging quality.
Juan Ferreyra’s panels in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6, of course, take their cues from series writer Jason Aaron’s script, who has somehow injected life into a 40-year-old franchise, finding new ways to challenge old characters. With an already-astounding body of work, it seems Aaron is particularly hitting his stride; the reader can sense the gleeful taps at the keyboard from Aaron, a relatable excitement to throw our four bickering brothers together and let them chow down on dialogue. In that way especially, the creative team’s impressive displays of innovation still sit under the heat lamp of familiarity – a recognizable, nostalgic-even, return to New York and the mutants that made it.
IDW’s summer 2024 relaunch of the Ninja Turtles turned a lot of heads and made a splash with over 300,000 preorders of the promising first issue – but many fans, diehard shellheads and new readers alike – wondered if the momentum would peter out. Six months into the run, I can assure you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is better than ever and genuinely recommended! If the trade paperback re-release in June is just too far away, do yourself a favor, pop on down to your LCS, and pick up an issue.
*Repeated images (usually characters) in comics, moving through time and space over a single background, without the use of gutters/panels to create sequence or explicitly dictate reading order. Alternatively known as the De Luca Effect.
