Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher Reimagines the Mysterious Mutant Superhero

Who is the mysterious vigilante hero known as Nightwatcher? That's a question that originated in the 2007 TMNT animated movie, and now the character is making the jump to IDW's ever-growing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book universe. Having recently debuted in IDW's Free Comic Book Day special, Nightwatcher is now starring in their own TMNT miniseries.

IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1. Get a closer look in the slideshow gallery below:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher is written by Juni Ba and illustrated Fero Pe, with additional cover art by Jon Lankry and Eric Talbot. The series builds on recent events in the TMNT-verse, following the detonation of a Mutagen Bomb in New York City. With anti-mutant hysteria on the rise, the Nightwatcher has arrived to keep the peace. But who are they? Will it turn out to be Raphael under the mask, as was the case in the original movie, or is this someone else entirely?

"I was entrusted with a new version of Nightwatcher, and when I was told who would be in the suit, I saw an opportunity for an interesting story about why one would even put on a mask in the first place," Ba tells IGN. "What it means to them, and why they feel the need for it to mean something to the world, especially when the world has larger things to worry about. By the end of the first issue you’ll know who is under that mask, and then it’s off to the races!"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1 will be released on August 14, with the preorder deadline on July 8.

This isn't the only new series in IDW's TMNT line. The publisher is set to relaunch the flagship TMNT comic with a brand new superstar creative team. We recently got an exclusive first look at the cameo-filled connecting covers for the series.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.