Suggested Reading: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 1: Change is Constant
Written by Kevin B. Eastman and Tom Waltz
Art by Dan Duncan

Amazon.com Summary:

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return to comics in their first IDW adventure! It''s a different world for the Turtles. The group is broken as Raphael wanders the streets of NYC in search of food and shelter. His brothers and Master Splinter are on the search, but so far all they can find is trouble - in the form of mutant alley cat Old Hob and his gang of criminals! The very core of the Turtles family is at stake as the new origin of TMNT is revealed! Join Tom Waltz, Dan Duncan, and TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman for the start of a wild ride!

Originally created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are firmly rooted in the popular superhero comics of it's time, most notably Frank Miller's run on Daredevil and the incredible popularity of Marv Woflman's run on the New Teen Titans.

However, like many of my peers, the original black-and-white comics were not my first exposure to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but rather the cartoon of the late 80's. Shortly after my introduction to the cartoon, I became obsessed with the action figures, and sure enough, my love for the Turtles led me to the kid-friendly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures published by Archie Comics. I vaguely remember picking up my first issue on a trip to KB Toys (rest in peace, mall-staple of my childhood), and predates my interest in superhero comics by a couple of years.Needless to say, this franchise holds a special place in my geeky heart.

While the Turtles never really went away, they certainly waned in popularity after the initial cartoon launch and the kids of that era grew into teenagers themselves. More recently however, the Turtles are popping up in the news again thanks to a new cartoon from Nickelodeon later in 2012, a new toy line from Playmates who made the original action figures , and even a movie from Michael Bay that's been raising all sorts of controversy. And now, in addition to all of that excitement, TMNT has  alsoreturned as a new ongoing comic series and even enlists one of the original creators, Kevin Eastman, which lends quite a boost in the legitimacy of this series as a torchbearer to a new era for the Turtles.

So how does the new series hold up? Quite nicely if you ask me. While the artwork can be a bit shaky at times, the story itself is a nice blend of what's come before in Turtle lore for a good dose of nostalgia, and doesn't come off at all as stale.

The first four issues of the series have been collected as Volume 1, "Change Is Constant", which I would readily recommend to any fan open to a modern interpretation

Rating: 3.5/5.0

If you'd like to read more on the origin of the Turtles, check out this great history lesson from Comics Alliance!