SDCC 2026 Interview: “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” Writer Andrew Joustra

Writer Andrew Joustra shares details about the upcoming Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic series and the anticipated sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

In addition to Star Trek: Voyager – Homecoming, IDW Publishing is also releasing a collection edition of the Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fugitoid Frenzy. This iteration of the Turtles is set in the same universe as 2023’s animated feature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The comic series is written by Andrew Joustra, who is also a script supervisor on the animated movies. The Geekiary sat down with Joustra to learn more about this iteration of the Turtles.

The Geekiary: With Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fugitoid Frenzy being your comics writing debut, what lessons did you learn in the process?

Andrew Joustra: I think collaboration. I’ve worked in animation and writing for that before, but working in comics is a little different just because you’re doing everything remotely. Not meeting in person with the artists and editor and stuff, so getting used to the workflow of doing that over e-mail and occasional phone calls and just kind of communicating things in a way that everyone understands easily. If there’s something specific I want to see visually on the page, making sure that Louie [Joyce], the illustrator for the book, kind of knows what I’m talking about and giving him proper reference. And then if there’s a story point I’m trying to clarify with Ellen [Boener], my editor, just making sure that I’m properly getting that across and also not spending ten pages explaining myself to her. That was definitely something that I think I had to get better at as we were working on it.

Thankfully, I had written other comics before that just haven’t gotten made, and I was an intern at Marvel when I was in college, so I kind of knew the proper formatting for comic books. But it was something I had to reteach myself just cause I’ve been writing in animation screenplay format for the past many years. And so just switching over to writing panel one, panel two, and that kind of thing. It didn’t take too long for me to jump back into that.

TG: What are the challenges of working with a beloved franchise and cast of characters like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

Joustra: I think there’s definitely a lot of pressure that I put on myself just because I do care so much about the franchise. I love it a lot, and I know it’s important to a lot of people. So, I want to make sure that I’m doing justice to the characters, that I’m telling stories that are worthwhile and worthy of the name Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For me, I took that very seriously and always tried to think about not necessarily what I like or want to see in the story, but what is the right fit for this version of these turtles.

TG: Which character is your favorite to write?

Joustra: I loved writing Fugitoid just because he’s my favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character of all time, so getting to re-imagine him was a lot of fun. I put a lot of myself into him, so it kind of made it a little easier. I really enjoyed that. But as far as the others go, I really liked writing Splinter. That was a lot of fun. He’s just this version of Splinter in the films that’s portrayed by Jackie Chan. Just so funny and warm and loving. To be able to imagine his voice as I’m writing it is really fun.

TG: Besides this iteration of the turtles, what are your favorite versions across all mediums?

Joustra: Comics. I love the original Mirage Comics by Kevin [Eastman] and Peter [Laird]. I read the entire run of that before I started on Mutant Mayhem, and just seeing their imaginations going wild and trying all of these different stories and introducing new characters, I thought was just incredibly successful and fun. They had a strong balance between the humor and the action and the heartfelt moments. It’s tough to pick a favorite. That’s probably my favorite, but I also love the IDW run that Tom Waltz started and his reimagining of the origin of the turtles and their relationships. I thought that’s incredible, and it’s still going strong and great.

In terms of films, the 1990 live-action film I thought did an incredible job of capturing the tone of those old comics for a wide-scale audience and is, to this day, I think, one of the most successful comic-book adaptations for a movie.

TG: Yeah, I have a soft spot for those animatronics.

Joustra: They’re awesome. They still look great. I went and saw it when they put it back in theaters last year. The audience was full. Kids and adults were both laughing and having a great time, so I think it holds up.

TG: In addition to the comics, you’re also the script supervisor for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sequel. What can you tease about the sequel?

Joustra: Not as much as I’d like to, but we’ve been working on it for about three years now. It comes out next August 27. We’ve still got a little bit left to do, but it’s going to be a lot of fun, a lot tonally similar to Mutant Mayhem, but more action, higher stakes. And of course Shredder is going to be our main villain in this one. Introducing him and giving him this iteration’s origin and showing how he comes into the turtles’ lives. He becomes a big threat and flips their whole world upside down. Beyond that, I can’t say much. It’s largely the same creative team as last time. Seth Rogen’s our executive producer, Jeff Rowe’s directing again, a lot of the same artists and the team at Mikros Animation. If you liked Mutant Mayhem, this is very much in the same DNA.

TG: In addition to the turtles, are there any other IPs you would love the opportunity to play with?

Joustra: There’s a bunch. I love Teen Titans from DC. Transformers, Fugitoid. I’ve always been a big robot guy, so Transformers is a big one that I like a lot. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for sure. There’s a lot that I’d love, but those are probably the big ones.

TG: Are there any other projects that you’re currently working on that you can tell us about?

Joustra: There are a couple of things that are kind of too early to talk about in development. I am doing more comics for Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for IDW. We’ve got Coastal Chaos, which is the next story arc that’s coming out in September. That’s going to be a three-issue limited series about Armaggon, the shark that’s tearing up the Jersey Shore. And then, we haven’t talked about this yet, but after that we have another arc that we’re going to be doing that I’m about halfway through writing right now. I can’t say a whole lot about it, but I’m bringing Fugitoid back because I can’t help myself. I’m not sure when it will come out, but it will be after Coastal Chaos.

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The collection edition of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fugitoid Frenzy will be available on September 29, 2026.

You can keep up with The Geekiary’s San Diego Comic-Con 2026 coverage here.

Author: Jessica Wolff

Jessica Wolff is a graduate of Drexel University with a BS in Film/Video. She has a passion for entertainment and representation in entertainment. She currently resides outside of Washington, DC.

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