If there is one characteristic that defines Michelangelo, and the other three of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it is their martial arts prowess. However, with much of the attention focused on the turtles’ battles and fighting abilities, it is easy to forget, ignore, or miss their backstories. Since they are all with teenagers, these backstories make for quite interesting reading.
In any version of the comic, Michelangelo is depicted as the most relaxed, playful, and easygoing of the four brothers. He is the one member of “the world’s most fearsome fighting team,” who is as comfortable eating pizza and watching movies as he is with stomping on a Foot Clan henchman. In line with the humorous hero type, Michelangelo never misses a chance to throw out a wise-crack, even in the face of punishing danger. Being the resident joker and all-around prankster of the team, he is often not taken seriously by Master Splinter, his brothers, or even his enemies. But his upbeat, jovial personality belies a creative core that the other turtles would be wise to tap into rather than tap down.
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #17 by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and Eric Talbot readers finally get to see Michelangelo's more creative side with his very own manga. Michelangelo’s love of comics is no secret to his fans, and like many serious comic book fans, his interest in the genre has led him to try his hand at it. By scripting a tale that would certainly merit consideration for publication in Shonen Jump, he does so with excellent results.
Readers are initially led to believe is a one-off story focusing just on Michelangelo. As the story unfolds, readers see that Michelangelo, separated from his brothers, and contemplating his next steps when an old man, his daughter, and her son stumble upon his resting spot. It is, in ways, similar to the 2020 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Last Ronin series, except for the fact that rather than take place in a future New York City, the setting of this story is feudal Japan. Forever the friendly helper, he offers the group some food and a spot to warm up by his fire. After some pleasant conversation, the family goes on their way. As Michelangelo prepares to continue on his own journey, a band of soldiers rushes past his secluded spot. Based on the conversation he just had with the family, he guesses that the soldiers are after them, and there will be blood. Rightly calculating that they require assistance, Michelangelo decides to delay this own journey in order to lend the family a helping hand.
Only after the family’s story is resolved, does the manga reveal that it is not some story from an alternative Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles timeline, but rather a story Michelangelo is writing as the turtles recover, at Casey’s country house, from the effects of Shredder’s attack on their lair in New York City. The story checks all the elements of a classic ninja-based manga. It also shows that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' own Michelangelo has the creative chops to be a top-level mangaka.
