"What I appreciate about the IDW run is that they are reincarnations. In the current Ninja Turtles comics published by IDW, a reboot effort that began in 2012, the Turtles and their father figure Splinter are reincarnations of a family from feudal Japan. They might not look it, but to their Chinese American scribe, that makes them quintessentially Asian American."
"They sit between two cultures, between American culture centered around New York City and Japanese culture. I feel a lot of resonance with them as an Asian American. We're playing with that a bit. The connection between Japan and America is in every iteration of the Turtles, but there's a little extra oomph in the IDW version."
"I remember watching the show with my little brother. I remember coming across those old Mirage Studios comics at a friends' house and being stunned by the art. It was Frank Miller-esque, channeled in this unexpected way."
Forty years after its creation by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remains a massively profitable franchise owned by Paramount. Gene Luen Yang, the new writer for IDW's Ninja Turtles comics, interprets the characters through an Asian American lens. He views the Turtles and Splinter as reincarnations of a feudal Japanese family, making them quintessentially Asian American despite their appearance. Yang emphasizes their cultural positioning between American and Japanese cultures, particularly New York City and Japan. As a second-generation Chinese immigrant and celebrated cartoonist, Yang brings personal resonance to this interpretation, having grown up watching the Turtles and admiring the original Mirage Studios comics.
#teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles #asian-american-representation #gene-luen-yang #comics-and-graphic-novels #cultural-identity
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