Summary

• Mutant Town was originally intended to be a controlled post-apocalyptic wasteland, but the decision was made to scale it back and create a tight-knit community instead.
• The creation of Mutant Town allowed the Ninja Turtles to finally have real lives in a real community, where they could mingle with others without having to hide.
• The canonical Mutant Town fulfilled everything the Turtles had ever wanted, as they became respected community leaders and were no longer judged based on their physical appearance.

Mutant Town is a relatively new addition to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lore, but one that has become integral to the wider story, as it makes the established universe feel so much fuller while also creating nearly limitless future story potential. While Mutant Town is unarguably a good thing within TMNT canon, it was originally supposed to be way darker, and the creative mind behind Mutant Town, Sophie Campbell, said so herself ahead of the conclusion to her run on TMNT.

Mutant Town was created after the events of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #98 when the TMNT villain Old Hob set off a mutagen bomb in the middle of a crowd in New York City, mutating every human in that general vicinity. While there were some outlying mutants who popped up in later stories who weren’t in the immediate area - given that the mutagen was airborne - it was only a relatively small number of mutants that were created that day, though more than enough to give the City of New York cause for alarm. In response, the newly-elected Mayor Baxter Stockman decided to wall-off a portion of the city where the mutants could live separate from humanity. This happened in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #101, which was Sophie Campbell’s debut issue. And now, Campbell reflects on the choices she made with the development of TMNT's Mutant Town, including the original scale of the walled-off portion of New York City.

“Like Escape From New York”: The Original Scale Of TMNT's Mutant Town

In an interview with CBR, Sophie Campbell discussed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #150, as that issue will mark the end of her run on IDW Publishing’s TMNT comic book series. While talking about what fans can expect, Campbell touched on how her storyline began, most notably Mutant Town. She spoke about what aspects of Mutant Town she was proud of, while also revealing what could have been.

Campbell: Originally, I had wanted to expand the mutagen bomb effects and have the entirety of Manhattan become mutants and have the city walled off like Escape from New York, but we ended up scaling it back, which I think was the right way to go.

Sophie Campbell also explained how Mutant Town impacted the Ninja Turtles personally, not just in of the wider universe.

Campbell: It was an opportunity to do a whole brave new world for the Turtles – a situation they’d never been in. They could finally mingle with other people without having to hide. They could finally have real lives in a real community.

Ninja Turtles Almost Got Another Post-Apocalyptic New York

These quotes outline two very different versions of Mutant Town. Given the reference to Escape from New York, it seems the original idea for it was something more akin to a controlled post-apocalyptic wasteland behind tall, unbreachable walls. That gives one an image of the Ninja Turtles filling the narrative role of Snake Plissken, carefully traversing the dangerous area, taking down mutant crime lords and kicking butt along the way. It’s a cool thought based on an ambitious idea, but definitely a dark flip for the Turtles that would have ultimately only served to separate them further from humanity, which is the opposite of what the canonical Mutant Town actually did. The Mutant Town TMNT fans got was the culmination of everything the Turtles had ever wanted up until that point. Sure, they hated that so many people were displaced and mutated, but in the end, everyone came together to form a tight-knit community where everyone belonged and no one was judged based on their physical appearance.

No longer did the Turtles have to hide in the shadows and live in the streets. In Mutant Town, they were respected community leaders, law enforcement officers, and even a reliable new source. Sophie Campbell created a home for the Turtles with Mutant Town, which - based on this interview - is a far cry from the ‘Escape from New York’-esque prison they almost got, as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Mutant Town was reportedly supposed to be way darker.

Source: CBR