Naruto x TMNT artist Jorge Jimenez shares sneak peek of second issue

Modified Sep 29, 2024 17:03 GMT

Naruto x TMNT artist Jorge Jimenez shares sneak peek of second issue (Image via Shueisha, Viz Media, IDW Publishing) — Naruto x TMNT artist Jorge Jimenez shares sneak peek of second issue (Image via Shueisha, Viz Media, and IDW Publishing)

Sunday, September 22, 2024, saw Jorge Jiménez post a sneak peek of the upcoming second issue of the Naruto and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) crossover comic. Jiménez is co-illustrating the project alongside Hendry Prasetya, with Caleb Goellner writing. Prasetya drew an alternate cover art for the first volume in addition to Jiménez’s cover (which was used for the final version).

The upcoming Naruto x TMNT comic crossover is set to begin hitting shelves on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, and is currently set to run for four issues. It’s also been said that each of the issues will have multiple variants, with details on what that will entail unclear as of this article’s writing.

Naruto x TMNT second issue cover sees ninja's Nine-Tails Cloak form side-by-side with Donatello

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The second issue cover for the Naruto x TMNT collab sees Donatello, in full ninja-inspired garb and gear, standing side by side with Naruto in his Nine-Tails Cloak form. The two seem to be standing in a puddle of water. In the top left and bottom right corners of the cover, references to both of their origins can be seen; Donatello’s in the top left with a vial of ooze broken over a sewer grate and a photo of the titular ninja as a baby with the Eight Trigrams seal on him.

It’s been revealed that the story will begin with a meeting between April O’Neil, a longtime ally of the heroes in a half shell, and the Fifth Hokage Tsunade. This attracts the attention of the turtles’ longtime enemies, the Foot Clan, which results in the Hidden Leaf and the turtles teaming up. For simplicity’s sake, a version of the TMNT world will be inserted into that of mangaka Masashi Kishimoto’s franchise in this storyline.

As mentioned above, the comic is only currently planned for a four-issue run. However, if it proves popular enough, Shueisha, Viz Media, and IDW Publishing could choose to continue it eventually as they recently have with the Deadpool: Samurai manga series. There are also several other popular manga collaborations with comic books that have been released recently or will be released soon, suggesting a large market for them exists.

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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise was created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It began as a comic book published by Mirage Studios from 1984 to 2014. This was followed by the premiere of the well-known animated series in 1987, which ran for nearly a decade. The franchise has also released toys, video games, animated and live-action films, and more.

Kishimoto’s manga series first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in September 1999, where it ran until its conclusion in November 2014. A television anime adaptation was produced by Studio Pierrot, running from 2002 to 2007, then returning from 2007 to 2017 under the Shippuden title. A sequel series called Boruto is currently being serialized in Shueisha’s V Jump, written by Masashi Kishimoto and illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto.