Jason Aaron will relaunch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics with a new series, launching this summer, publisher IDW Publishing announced.  IDW is wrapping up its current TMNT series with a final, 150th issue in April (see "IDW To Wrap Up ‘TMNT’").  Aaron’s work will debut with a 10-page prelude story in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1 in June, and the new ongoing series will launch in July.

Aaron, who’s written comics professionally since 2001, broke out with his work for Vertigo in the mid-00s (The Other Side, Scalped).  He’s had long runs on classic Marvel characters, including Ghost Ride, Thor, Hulk, and Wolverine.  Aaron won an Eisner in 2016 for Image title Southern Bastards (see "Image, D&Q Dominate Eisners"), and years-later collections of his Marvel work are among current top sellers in comic stores (see "Top 20 Graphic Novels – November 2023").

Aaron says he’s looking forward to the new series and promises a tone similar to the original series by Eastman and Laird.  In a statement accompanying the announcement, he describes himself as "a kid who first fell in love with the Turtles all those years ago because of that original Mirage Studios series, buying those groundbreaking issues fresh off the rack, comics that kicked you in the face with their action-packed grit and gloriously raw attitude."

Aaron tied that history to his plans for the characters.  "In terms of what’s to come, the kid in me wants you to know that you can expect some good old-fashioned grit, a sprinkle of dark, new attitude and all the bone-cracking action that four mutated ninja brothers can possibly handle," he said.