San Diego’s IDW Publishing has partnered with anime distributor and publisher Viz Media to launch comic books that mash up the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Naruto.
The four-issue series, which features the brands’ characters teaming up to fight villains from both universes, will roll out internationally on November 13.
TMNT turns 40 this year and is one of Paramount’s biggest kids brands, and Naruto has sold more than 250 million copies of its manga worldwide and also boasts an animated series and broad consumer products program.
IDW is making a bit of a business model out of bringing different popular brands together. It previously combined TMNT with Stranger Things in a four-issue comic series that launched in July 2023. And later that year, TMNT and characters from Capcom’s Street Fighter franchise joined forces in a five-issue miniseries.
IDW isn’t the only company exploring this business of brand combinations. In a significant partnership between two major brands, Cloudco and Sanrio teamed up in January to launch limited-edition products including plush, home goods and accessories featuring Care Bears and Hello Kitty. This co-branded range will start rolling out in the spring.
