Key findings

• The crossover between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Naruto takes place in the Naruto universe and brings the Turtles into Naruto’s world.
• Written by Caleb Goellner, the miniseries features epic designs by Hendry Prasetya that combine aesthetics with seamless creativity.
• Hendry Prasetya’s designs for Turtle’s “Naruto-esque” appearance in the series are a visual treat that combines TMNT with Naruto’s world.

This November, IDW (in collaboration with Viz) is releasing an epic new crossover series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Narutoin which the legendary Ninja Turtles (created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird) come together with the equally legendary ninja Naruto (created by Masashi Kishimoto) for a miniseries event from writer Caleb Goellner and artist Hendry Prasetya.

The miniseries will feature teenage reporter April O’Neill, who is apparently investigating a story about mutation research by Baxter Stockman during a visit to the Village of Hidden Leaves. Shredder and the Foot Clan will attempt to capture April, leading to a team-up between the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Naruto and his allies. The series will mostly revolve around bringing the Turtles (and their friends and enemies) into the world of Naruto (as opposed to a multiverse situation). CBR caught up with Caleb Goellner, the series’ writer, to talk about the new series, why he decided to set the series in the Naruto universe, how Hendry Prasetya visually adapted the characters to that setting, and exactly what role pizza will play in this crossover event!

CBR: There have obviously been a few fun episodes of Naruto crossovers and a number of joint video game appearances, but Naruto doesn’t really have a history of comic book crossovers, so how does it feel to have been chosen to work on a pretty historic event that has the full support of Masashi Kishimoto?

Caleb Goellner:
It’s honestly an honor. It’s also something I never could have expected. I tried my best to work with my editor Thea Cheuk, artist Hendry Prasetya, as well as partners at VIZ Media, Shueisha, TV Tokyo, and Nickelodeon to create an entertaining story for the fans and get the thumbs up from Kishimoto Sensei.

Why did you decide to bring the Turtles into the Naruto universe and not the other way around (or a “two realities collide” setup)? And why did you choose Shredder and the Foot Clan as the villains?

The multiverse concept is pretty ubiquitous right now, thanks in part to Marvel and DC movies, so I think fans will enjoy something that gets a little to the point
. This isn’t a jab at the framework story or the cooler stories that have used it, but Naruto is already basically from a world of talking animals and mad scientists, so it’s fun to bring the TMNT into the mix with instant inherent naturalness. Some of my favorite Hellboy crossovers have taken this approach, so it felt right for this story.

You’ve written about the Turtles in a few different continuities, and now you have a new one in this crossover series – what do you think it is about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that adapts so easily to completely different continuities?

Mutants mutate, you know? Whether it’s Eastman and Laird’s early collaborations with Dave Sim and Stan Sakai, the influence of the many talented artists at Mirage like Jim Lawsom and Ryan Brown, or the crossover toy lines at Playmates, 40 years after their debut, fans have seen the TMNT explore every style.
The TMNT were topped like so many pizzas, and who doesn’t like at least some kind of pizza?

As anyone who has bought a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure after, say, 1988 knows, the Turtles are known for fitting into so many different design elements (Leonardo as an Amazonian monster, Leonardo as a Starfleet captain, Leonardo from the prehistoric era, Leo as a lifeguard, etc.). What can you say about the new Naruto-inspired designs that Hendry Prasetya has created for this series?

I expected nothing less than amazing designs from Hendry and I am still blown away.
I knew a Naruto TMNT would look amazing, but the forehead protectors, masks, karuta – Hendry’s skills make it all look inspired and seamless at the same time
as if the TMNT had always been a part of Naruto’s world.

In your own series Ghost CageYou and Nick Dragotta have seamlessly combined a number of different manga concepts into a fast-paced adventure that still has a lot of heart. Crossovers like this often have a similar approach (bringing different ideas together), so do you try to look for commonalities to make the combination smoother, or do you prefer to embrace the contrasting elements? Or is it the ever-popular “a little bit of both”?

Thank you! Nick and I are huge manga and anime fans, so I’m glad that came across in Ghost Cage. With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto, I felt so connected to each world that my biggest challenge was focusing on making the story fun and accessible. Personally, having grown up on stuff like JRPGs, I’m always tempted to casually squeeze the world’s secret history, the true fabric of reality, and the physics of a codified human consciousness into every scene as a sort of aside, but here I tried to relax and focus on the mission of entertaining the fans. When you give the TMNT and Naruto characters something cool to do together, everything else just kind of falls into place.

It’s common knowledge that pizza exists in the Naruto universe, and with the Turtles, there obviously has to be pizza. So, as the author of this crossover, you can be the one to decide what kind of pizza Naruto likes to eat the most. Which one will you choose?

What can I say? I never want to speak for Kishimoto Sensei, but readers may have at least a rough idea when we wrap up our story in issue #4. And don’t worry, even though I like pineapple on pizza, I won’t be starting a big shinobi pizza war over it in this series.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Naruto #1 will be released in November