SDCC 2019: The first look at Jennika as the 5th Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is here

Fans now have their first official look at Jennika as the newest member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Last week, it was revealed that in IDW Publishing’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles No. 95, a fifth member of the titular team had been mutated. She’s been revealed as Jennika, a member of an incarnation of the Foot Clan led by Splinter. Reaction to the issue has been extremely positive; sales for the issue led IDW to announce a rare reprint, and the publisher itself pulled an eBay sale of 100 first print issues on the eve of the San Diego Comic Con to avoid absurd sales. According to Bleeding Cool, first prints are going for up to $300 a pop.

Now, more official images of Jennika in her masked Ninja Turtle form have been officially revealed by the creators involved. Writer Tom Waltz and artists Michael Dialynas and Sophie Campbell have released official artwork alongside IDW Publishing’s full court press push. Furthermore, they’ve revealed more about how this development came to be.

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Waltz introduced Jennika into the main TMNT series with October 2015’s 51st issue — right after the Shredder was killed off. As revealed via Waltz’s social media feed, nearly two years later in May 2017, he began collaborating with Sophie Campbell to begin Jennika’s transformation. He states her yellow mask is inspired by her hair color. Campbell happened to design her own female Ninja Turtle in her “Secrets of the Ooze” fan comic on Deviantart in 2014. Named Artemesia, this heroine also used arrows in her arsenal. Jennika won’t change her name to that of an Italian artist (or their work) and will use claws alongside arrows as her weapons.

Waltz also posts tidbits about the numerology of the name “Jennika” as well as artwork by Michael Dialynas, who take over for Dave Wachter with issue 96. He also posted more sketches and designs by Campbell and Dialynas; both also sharing these images on Twitter. Dialynas also revealed that the 35th TMNT anniversary panel at the San Diego Comic Con showed preview images for the next issue, which show Jennika seeing her new form and donning the mask. It appears to be an unmitigated success for the series as it nears its 100th issue on this anniversary year.