Jason Aaron Replaces Casey Jones With April O'Neil In Feminization Of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Comics
Jason Aaron is only ten issues into his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles relaunch for IDW Publishing, and he’s already gender-swapped Casey Jones by giving April O’Neil the mantle in the latest push toward feminism.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the gold standard in comics when IDW Publishing first launched its original iteration. Through its first one hundred issues, comic book fans were actually saying it was the definitive version of the TMNT because the quality was so high.
As the comic industry descended into woke madness, everything changed after that hundredth issue. The company decided to add a fifth, female turtle designed by transgender activist Sophie Campbell. They would later give Campbell the series as writer in a further effort to add diversity, equity, and inclusion to the brand,
During this time, editor Heather Antos was hired by the company, first taking on the mantle of Star Trek, which she quickly turned into a nightmare as she demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the property. As Sophie Campbell’s run failed, Antos was promoted to the head of all licensing at the company, giving her reins over the Turtles franchise and others.
Last year, IDW Publishing pulled a desperate move to increase sales by relaunching the TMNT with an all new #1 issue, bringing Jason Aaron on board as their “superstar” writer to helm the series. The first few issues were a deconstruction of the Turtles where they were torn apart and miserable, much like we see from a lot of modern iterations of comics, but fan reception was generally positive, as the art on the book is top tier for the comic industry and there was a reasonable amount of action.
However, the series takes April O’Neil and turns her into Casey Jones in a move toward feminism, which is the hallmark of every Jason Aaron major run-on book.
Images from the TMNT book show April O’Neil with Casey Jones in a hospital where she is monologuing about how he never backs down from a fight. She picks up his mask in issue #6 and says, “You just keep fighting Casey. And so will I.”
In a display of feminism, April O’Neil beats up trained ninja Foot soldiers in issue #7 with a hockey stick, in a move that makes little sense given the character’s background.
Issue #11 has a full cover showing April O’Neil in the Casey Jones costume, however, as the replacement character ends up being complete.
This isn’t the first time IDW Publishing has botched April O’Neil. In one solicitation for an April O’Neil anthology collection, the company misspelled the character’s name on the cover as “Arpil.”
More recently, in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto crossover, they replaced the traditional April O’Neil with a black lady.
Jason Aaron also is known for loving to take his male-led books and turn them into feminist replacements. His Doctor Strange run was mired by having Doctor Strange lose his powers, get depressed, while he developed a female apprentice who was smarter and better than him.
However, Jason Aaron is best known for taking Jane Foster and giving her the mantle of Thor for a run at Marvel Comics, replacing Thor with his love interest much like we’ve now seen with April O’Neil and Casey Jones.
It seems the writer only has one idea in his arsenal, and it’s always a female replacement character.
What do you think of TMNT replacing Casey Jones with April O’Neil from Jason Aaron? Leave a comment and let us know.
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Put a chick in it, and make it lame and gay.
No race and sex swaps are acceptable.