One of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators is seeing one of his forgotten characters make an unexpected comeback, and he couldn't be more excited.
The fifth and original female Ninja Turtle, Venus de Milo, disappeared nearly nearly two decades ago, fading deeper and deeper into obscurity. However, IDW recently surprised fans by announcing that the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #127, by Sophie Campbell and Pablo Tunica, will see the long-neglected Turtle return. Speaking exclusively with CBR, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman expressed his excitement not just for the return of Venus de Milo, but the future of IDW's expanding Ninja Turtles line.
"Well, it's been super exciting,' Eastman enthused. "The evolution has been wonderful. I'm working with the incredible Tom Waltz, who wrote the first 100 issues of the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series. By the time Tom and I got to around #50, we started talking about the opportunity to bring in a female turtle at some point, and I wanted it to make sense storywise. That steadily evolved from a character that Tom created called Jennika in #51 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As she evolved as a character, we were able to see an opportunity storywise to bring her to life as the official fifth turtle, and a female turtle at that, based on what we loved about Venus back in the day."
"With Tom and I stepping away from the regular series, in part so that we could spend more time doing The Last Ronin series, Sophie Campbell has come in and just knocked it out of the park. There are so many talented artists attached, including herself. The storyline and the opportunity and the angle that she came up with to bring Venus back is just... I don't want to give any spoilers here, but it's absolutely brilliant. I could not be more thrilled that she's back in the Turtle universe. It's been so much fun seeing what Sophie has done as her part of the building out the IDW Turtle universe, like bringing in Tokka and Rahzar as two different characters, as well as creating new characters and MutantTown. It's nice to see Venus back, and I think when fans see what she is and how that story will evolve, it will be even more mindblowing."
Co-created by Eastman and Haim Saban, Venus de Milo was introduced on 1997's short-lived live-action television series Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. The show established Venus as having been in the same bowl as the other four turtles that fell down the sewer, though Splinter unknowingly left her behind. Venus was instead raised in Chinatown by Mei Pieh Chi, who taught her the art of Shinobi. When Splinter found himself incapacitated, Venus proved instrumental in handing Shredder and the Foot Clan their final defeat before joining the Turtles against Dragon Lord and the Rank, among others.
Despite being tied to the continuity of the popular film franchise and crossing over with blockbuster Saban franchise Power Rangers in Space, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation proved a critical disaster and failed to catch on with fans. What's more, Venus was a sore point for Ninja Turtle co-creator Peter Laird, who took issue with the reveal of a fifth Turtle and banned adding either a fifth or female turtle when he acquired the sole rights to the TMNT branding.
In recent years, the waters were tested for a Venus return with Jennika, a Foot Clan assassin turned ally to the Ninja Turtles who debuted in 2015's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #51 by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Ken Garing, Ronda Pattison and Shawn Lee. Following a mortal wound in 2019's "City At War" story arc, she receives a blood transfusion from Leonardo, which turns her into a Turtle mutate. Jennika's popularity with the fans as both a new character and a new Turtle led to a more prominent role in the books and her own mini-series, TMNT: Jennika, which explored her place in the universe as the fifth Turtle.
Despite the popularity of Jennika, fans kept hoping for a Venus return, and they're finally getting their wish. Whether that return will hold up to the character's legacy will be seen when Venus makes her IDW debut in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #127, on shelves March 19, followed by an appearance in IDW's TMNT offering for Free Comic Book Day.