The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been fixtures in global pop culture for nearly four decades. Created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the titular heroes-in-a-half-shell have permeated every form of media, from TV cartoons to live action films and everything in between. Many of their stories, both on the page and screen, are fairly straightforward. But almost 40 years of history is a lot of canon to sift through.
But despite their long history in publication, the Turtles are far from inaccessible. And the kinds of stories featuring the classic quartet of Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michaelangelo range from comical to gritty. New readers have an ample amount of jumping-on points for everyone's favorite Renaissance-themed, martial-artist amphibians.
10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (Mirage Studios, 1986)
It's usually best to start at the beginning. And the original TMNT one-shot by Eastman and Laird from Mirage Studios is no exception. The Turtles were never meant to be an ongoing sensation with a catchy theme song, and their humble beginnings are a testament to complex storytelling wrapped in a simple concept.
Eastman and Laird took inspiration from the sensibilities of gritty Daredevil comics by Frank Miller and grafted them onto the unlikely subject of ninjitsu-trained amphibians. There is a surprising amount of characterization, name-recognition characters and exciting action in their first battle against their nemesis, Shredder.
9 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #101 (IDW Publishing)
Leaping from the earliest TMNT jumping-on point to the most recent, IDW Publishing has kept the Turtles' legacy alive in comics for more than a decade. With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #101, IDW introduces the fifth turtle, Jennika, into the mix.
Various creators and media have toyed with adding a female turtle to the group for years, but with Jennika, the concept has found its footing. Jennika's arrival finds the Turtles divided, unsure if they want to continue fighting together. It's a new lens through which to examine familiar territory, making it an ideal starting point for new readers.
8 Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #36, 56, 59, 61, 64 (Mirage Studios)
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was an anthology series published concurrently with the original Eastman and Laird series. The irony of writer Tristan Jones's "Gang Wars" storyline that ran across five issues of the anthology, is that it's a great entry point despite the fact that the story wasn't finished.
Eastman and Laird sold the classic and iconic independent TMNT property to Viacom in 2009, meaning the Mirage-era storytellers never finished the tale. "Gang Wars" centered on the Turtles dealing with the lone remaining sect of the Foot Clan and its last, desperate attempt to regain its status in the New York underworld.
7 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #24-26 (Mirage Studios)
The argumentative Raphael isn't the easiest of the Turtles to get along with. He's acerbic, prone-to-anger and generally unpleasant. But when Raph is de-mutated and turned into a regular turtle, his brothers engage in a quest to restore him.
"The River" ran from issues #24-26 of the original Mirage Studios series and isn't easy to find. Legal and creative rights issues have prevented it from being reprinted for decades. But there is no better entry point for new readers to understand the fragile dynamic that exists between Splinter and his adopted amphibious sons.
6 Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-6 (DC Comics/IDW Publishing)
When Krang transports the Turtles and Shredder to the DC Universe, the Splinter Clan has to team up with Batman and fight their way through the Dark Knight's rogue's gallery. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Freddie Williams II, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is both an epic crossover and a solid entry for new readers.
Batman is no stranger to finding success despite dysfunction. He and the Turtles have that in common. And the cold, clinical viewpoint of the Dark Knight Detective is a proper way for new readers to learn about the Turtles from an outside-looking-in perspective.
5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen #1 (IDW Publishing)
Stan Sakai's iconic Usagi Yojimbo, the talking Samurai rabbit, is just an odd concept as the Turtles themselves. Indeed, Yojimbo and the Turtles crossed paths numerous times over the decades. But when the modern iteration of the TMNT find themselves in Yojimbo's world, the venerable warrior rabbit has to learn how to coexist with his green compatriots all over again.
The line between being a lapsed reader and a new reader is a thin one. Both types of readers have to be dealt with carefully, and the new 2023 crossover between the Turtles and Yojimbo is as good a reintroduction to the world of TMNT (and Yojimbo himself) as any other.
4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #19-21 (Mirage Studios)
With the Turtles on the run after a disastrous battle with the Foot Clan - and an even more disastrous "healing" period on an upstate farm - the Clan heads back to New York to face the Foot in a final showdown. "Return to New York" is Eastman and Laird at their best, and the three-issue story is stacked with iconic TMNT imagery.
There's the ultimate brotherly battle between Leonardo and Raphael, the bizarre resurrection of Shredder after his death in the comic's debut issue, and a climactic duel between Shredder and Leo. This three-issue arc served as the backbone of the 1990 live-action film adaptation, and it perfectly encapsulates all things Turtles for prospective new readers.
3 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-4 (IDW Publishing)
IDW took the reins of publishing the adventures of the Turtles in 2011, and with the first four issues of their new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the publisher reintroduced the Heroes-In-A-Half-Shell to the printed page. Under Eastman's writing, alongside Tom Waltz, with art by Dan Duncan, the new series perfectly combined the grit of the original run with the polish and humor that made the TMNT a Saturday morning sensation in the 90s.
The series opens with Raphael seemingly already estranged from his brothers. This leads the team to engage in a battle with the mysterious mutant cat Old Hob and the first clues in a series of mysteries for new readers.
2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #41-44 (IDW Publishing)
Moving to the middle of IDW's first 100-issue volume of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brings readers to "Attack on Technodrome." Written by Eastman and Waltz with art by Cory Smith and Ronda Pattison, the story shows the disembodied brain Krang making an incursion into the Turtles' dimension and the debuts of franchise mainstays Bebop and Rocksteady.
As with the beginnings of the IDW series, "Attack on Technodrome" has plenty of action and character development to hook new readers and a fresh coat of paint on old ideas to keep legacy readers engaged. And it features a tragic ending that's sure to shake both.
1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #50-62 (Mirage Studios)
"City At War" is the ultimate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story. A year-long epic from Eastman and Baird, it showcases the horrific aftermath of the team's victory over the Foot. Their adversaries have now splintered into multiple smaller groups, all vying for control of New York.
There isn't much in the way of development for the Turtles at this point in the original Mirage run. But it is a beautiful and haunting post-coming of age story, as the Turtles realize their contributing role in the violence they fight against. The arc has been remade multiple times to reinvigorate the TMNT franchise. But the gritty atmosphere of Eastman and Laird's original telling is the best way to experience "City At War" for the first time.