While the return of Splinter was a major moment for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there’s another massive return just around the corner for our heroes. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #19, which goes on sale June 10th, the Turtles will have something they haven’t experienced in centuries. That’s right, not only is Splinter back from the dead but so is the boys’ mother, Tang Shen. This is a massive moment for the Hamato Clan — but things might not end up happily ever after. Per the official description of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #19, “after the stunning conclusion to the Ujigami saga, the Hamato Clan is truly, completely whole for the first time in centuries. With much having changed since their parents were in the land of the living, the Turtles take them out on the town, but underneath this happy reunion are dark tidings. Though the Turtles’ parents have returned from the dead… something has come with them.”
The Return of the Turtles’ Mom is a Major Status Quo Shift
The resurrection of Tang Shen is a big deal for the Turtles. While the beloved characters’ history and origins have changed over the years depending on the media and format (including a version where the heroes were just mutated turtles who got their martial arts training from kung fu movie and were raised by a similarly mutated rat in the New York City sewers), IDW has given the Turtles a rich history, establishing them as the reincarnated Hamato brothers from feudal Japan with Splinter as the reincarnation of Hamato Yoshi, their birth father. However, their mother, Tang Shen, was not reincarnated with the rest of her family and has remained dead, though her love and presence has been there them, a beautiful reminder that a mother’s love never truly dies.
Now, with Tang Shen finally being brought back to life with her family, we’ll get to see that mother’s love in action, and the family element of things is a big deal — both for the Turtles and for readers, too.
“Family has always been a key element of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but there’s been one family member that has always been just out of reach,” IDW senior group editor Jake Thomas told ComicBook. “Tang Shen, the mother of the boys reincarnated as the TMNT (sounds like a wild story, huh? Well, it is! Check it out in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection vol. 1!) has only been glimpsed fleetingly in the Turtles’ rare experiences with the ethereal plane. But now, with the shocking conclusion of the Ujigami arc, she and Splinter have both returned!”
“Having pierced the veil that separates the living from the dead, Clan Hamato has been restored! Surely now things will be peaceful and happy! Surely transgressing the sacred border that separates the lands of the living and the dead will not have damning and dramatic repercussions! Surely none of this will have anything to do with our upcoming TMNT epic, ‘The City That Never Dies’! Congratulations on the family reunion, Turtles! Best of luck! (You’re going to need it…)”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #19, written by Gene Luen Yang with art by Freddie E. Williams II and colors by Andrew Dalhouse, goes on sale June 10th. You can preorder the series at a comic shop near you.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
