Well, IDW Publishing and Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman (and writer Tom Waltz) sure got this all new chapter of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles off to a roaring start.

If there was one thing I could change about this all new ongoing Turtles title… go old school, get rid of the color and keep it black & white. That is a minor, minor gripe on my part, and in no way should it take away from the fact this book looks great. The art team of Dan Duncan, Ronda Pattison and Robbie Robbins really captured the dark gritty nature of the turtles and their dark gritty world.

The story itself is a mix of action and origin, opening with a street brawl. Old Hob and his gang are looking to tear Splinter, Donatello, Michelangelo and Leonardo apart. The second and third pages of this first issue are about as epic as a TMNT splash page can be!

The real theme of this street brawl… restraint. Splinter orders the Turtles not to kill anyone. Splinter then observes his “sons” fighting style and how different they are, as they do what they do; and what they do is kick butt.

The new TMNT introduces us to all the familiar faces from the Turtles of yore! April O’Neil is an intern at StockGen Research Labs, and her first order of business is taking care of the Turtles… when they are just baby non-mutant turtles. We also get a glimpse as Casey Jones, at the very end of the book, I’m sure there will be more on him later. On the villain side, no Shredder yet; but we are introduced to a disembodied General Kang and Stockman. They are working on getting a mutegen developed to create super soldiers, but we all know how that will end.

The all new TMNT #1 does a great job re-introducing the Turtles, and setting up what will be an interesting story and I can’t wait to find out why Raphael is wandering the streets eating out of the garbage, not fighting the bad guys with his brothers. Regardless if you are a TMNT fan, this is a must add to your collection and to you monthly pull-list for sure.

If an all new TMNT ongoing series wasn’t enough to  get you excited… IDW Publishing announeced the TMNT Ultimate Collection. The Ultimate Collection will feature deluxe hardcover books collecting the original Eastman/Laird Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comics. Volume 1 will feature issues 1-7, plus a Raphael one-shot. Make sure to pick up there epic editions as they are released!