When it was announced during San Diego Comic-Con 2025 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus immediately became the comic book I was looking forward to for the rest of this year. This five-part weekly series brings together different characters across the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles history. IDW Publishing provided us with an early copy of the first issue for review. Find out how it turned out with our advance review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus #1.
CREATIVE TEAM
Story Writers: Tom Waltz, Paul Allor, Sophie Campbell, Caleb Goellner, and Erik Burnham
Script Writer: Tom Waltz
Artist: Easu and Isaac Escorza
Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: BATTLE NEXUS #1 SOLICITATION
“The raddest TMNT event of the decade kicks off here! This blistering five-part WEEKLY series finds the Turtles fighting for their lives in a martial arts challenge unlike anything they’ve faced. For the first time, IDW’s Heroes in a Half Shell meet allies from other fan-favorite TMNT universes as they fight for their lives & discover the unbelievable secrets of Battle Nexus!” – IDW Publishing
HIGHLIGHTS FROM TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: BATTLE NEXUS #1
Nostalgia at its Best
Tom Waltz, Easu and Isaac Escorza, and the other contributors for this comic book do not shy away from what Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus is. This is a comic book that is hyped around its concept of bring versions of characters from across the TMNT franchise’s history. Waltz, the Escorzas, and others lean right into it in the best way. They know there is a level of pandering but don’t forget to write a story that captures the fans’ interest. All the nostalgia hits help put hit on another level as a fan of the franchise.
Pacing Helps Battle Nexus Concept
Obviously, nostalgia is the major selling point but what really keeps the interest is the strong pacing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus #1. With his history of writing in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise Waltz understands all the characters. Every character’s voice is captured well through their dialogue. It gets over the tone of this being a multiverse story that will have all sorts of characters. Capturing the voices helps to make sure the first issue was never rushed just to get to the action. The pacing works to sell all the characters’ involvement, so you get behind everyone involved.
Easu and Isaac Escorza Artwork on Point
As strong as Waltz writing is in this debut issue Easu and Isaac Escorza artwork is even better. The Escorzas artwork captures how this is a big event-level story as it involves the TMNT multiverse. There is a lot of great attention to detail, especially with characters that aren’t part of IDW’s TMNT universe. The amount of action we get in this first issue is a great tease for what we expect from the Battle Nexus tournament. It’s all those details that help make this a great looking comic book.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK IN TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: BATTLE NEXUS #1
Nothing!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus #1 is a phenomenal start to a big event-level multiverse story. Tom Waltz, Easu and Isaac Escorza, and the entire creative team knew exactly how to pace the story to get over the Battle Nexus concept. That along with the cool hits of nostalgia make this a must-read comic book for all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 10 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9.5 Night Girls out of 10
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