Looking for a dose of glorious nostalgia? Well, here comes the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles logo. Who would have thought a comic book series that began as a parody would still be spawning big-budget films more than 30 years on? And yet, the promotion for the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie has begun – and the newly revealed logo is as green, mean and messy as we could have hoped for.
No, we're not talking about the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that's just been released on Netflix, but rather producer Seth Rogen's upcoming feature film that's due for a cinema release in a year's time. Rogen's revealed the title to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and the accompanying logo (see below) wins the crown, or the pizza, for the best logo for any TMNT movie to date. Let's just hope the film lives up to it. For some tips for your own work, see our guide to how to design a logo and our picks of the best logos of all time, but for now let's admire that TMNT logo.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem logo (Image credit: Paramount Pictures / Nickelodeon)
Rogen revealed the logo on his Twitter account – both alone and in a piece of promotional street art. The design positively oozes nostalgia for the energy of the '80s and '90s, which will make total sense for loyal fans – the comic book series was born in 1984 and the first live-action film in 1990. This design looks like it could have been the logo for the franchise all along.
The new film will be CGI animated, but the logo's gone for a comic book feel with a healthy dose of skateboarder style, which fits the adolescent turtles down to a T. We get no fewer than three typographies, from a sharp-pointed comic-like lettering, toxic green and yellow graffiti and dripping green slime.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is in theaters one year from today!!!!! pic.twitter.com/bm1jVyawa6August 4, 2022
For devotees of the minimalist trend in logos, it will look like a disaster, but it should delight all those who say that logos are all starting to look the same. "This logo is a masterpiece. The colors, the letters, the nostalgia," one fan wrote in response to Rogen's original tweet. "Cowabunga dude, it looks like a mess AND I LOVE IT THAT WAY!" another person replied.
Do we need yet another superhero revamp and a third generation of TMNT? Not remotely, but we have hope that Rogen may finally give everyone's favourite sewer-dwelling crime-fighting reptiles the film they deserve. The original 1990 film spawned three sequels, then we got a reboot in 2014. And let's not forget Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just a few years ago. Actually, yes; let's.
We don't know a huge amount about what to expect from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The film's to be directed by Jeff Rowe, who worked on The Mitchells vs. The Machines. That makes us think we might see quite a unique style of animation, but the retro look of the new logo makes us all the more intrigued about what aesthetic he'll go for. We might have expected a more modern take, but the logo design seems to suggest a return to the franchise's roots after the disappointing last reboot.
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The evolution of TMNT logos from the 1984 comic book to 2018's animated TV series, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Image credit: BreakingGarrick on Reddit)
Working on your own logo designs? Make sure you check out our selection of the best graphic design software if you need to upgrade your tools. And for some pointers on what to avoid, don't miss our roundup of the worst logos of 2022 so far.
Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
