TMNT

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #21
• Comic Vine: link
• Writers: Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz
• Artist: Kevin Eastman

Written and drawn by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman, the latest issue of the title features the heroes in a half shell doing battle with an annoying enemy in command of a variety of martial arts styles who continually bests the Turtles over the course of a single evening, while constantly mocking their feeble skills and even goes so far as to threaten the life of their master, Splinter.

We also get a short back-up story, setting up the comics next arc, involving the Shredder digging up a new threat for our heroes. As someone who didn’t read The Secret History of the Foot Clan, I’ll admit Kitsune’s appearance didn’t do much for me on its own, but Shredder’s reaction certainly help sell her arrival as an important event.

Fans of Eastman’s style will definitely want to pick this issue up as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #21 is filled with several fight sequences all drawn in the original style of the first TMNT comics. Longtime fans of the Turtles should be able to guess the identity of the Turtles’ attacker, but it certainly doesn’t take away from one hell of a great comic. Must-Read.

[IDW $3.99]

{ 0 comments }

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #19
• Comic Vine: link
• Writers: Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz
• Artist: Ben Bates

Your enjoyment of the current storyline of IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is most likely tied directly to your feelings about the Neutrinos. The latest issue continues the Turtles adventures in Dimension X as the foursome agree to help Princess Trib and her forces rescue her parents who have been captured by General Krang.

As Leonardo and Raphael split up to help the effort, Michelangelo drafts himself as the Princess’ protector, and Donatello works to help Professor Honeycutt with the one weapon that could turn the tide of their war with Krang.

The comic also gives us (not nearly enough) scenes of Karai‘s own mission as the Shredder‘s daughter sneaks onto Burnow Island causing mischief and mayhem on Krang’s home base on Earth. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #19 isn’t bad, but it’s an awful lot of Neutrino politics and set-up for a battle that’s barely begun before the comic comes to a close. In fact you could probably skip this issue entirely and not skip a beat picking the comic up again next month. For fans.

[IDW, $3.99]

{ 0 comments }

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #17
• Comic Vine: link
• Writers: Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz
• Artist: Ben Bates

As Splinter tries to bring his refocus his family after their recent loses, the latest issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brings in our first extended look at Dimension X and the Neutrinos who General Krang is out to destroy.

As you’d expect with any story that features the Neutrinos and Dimension X, this one gets a little weird. For our heroes in half-shell the craziness begins when April reaches out to a fellow Stockton employee who is actually a fugitive Neutrino android in hiding from Krang and his forces. When other Neutrinos show up to take Professor Honeycutt home the Turtles step in to stop what they see as an attack on April and her co-worker.

Although the version of the Neutrinos we see her are far more comfortable with violence than the original characters created for the cartoon, the comic does a good job at dealing with the fallout of the previous issue while spending the proper amount of time introducing the group, without giving too much away too soon, and staring a new arc featuring the Turtles traveling to Dimension X. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

{ 0 comments }

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #16
• Comic Vine: link
• Writers: Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz
• Artist: Andy Kuhn

Picking up where the last issue left off, our heroes in a half-shell fight off the mutated snapping turtle Slash, who has escaped from Stockton Laboratories and is performing the task which he was trained and programmed to do – hunt down and destroy the Turtles.

There’s plenty of action here as the fight with Slash takes most of the issue, while intercut with other stories involving Krang‘s displeasure with the Neutrinos in Dimension X and a worried Casey and April looking for their long overdue friends.

The conclusion of the issue leaves Leonardo with some heavy soul searching and Michelangelo loosing another friend to the Turtles’ dangerous lifestyle as well as a new team-up that could cause serious trouble for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when an injured Slash is found by their enemy Old Hob. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

{ 0 comments }

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 Annual
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Kevin Eastman
• Artist: Kevin Eastman

For the first time in years co-creator Kevin Eastman does double duty writing and providing the art for a Teenage Mutant Turtle comic. The annual is set in the current IDW timeline as Raphael and Casey Jones accidentally get the Turtles involved in a skirmish between the Savate Clan and Foot Clan all due to an unfortunate traffic accident and a missing briefcase.

Although it’s very well done, the story certainly isn’t central to the ongoing plot of the current IDW series. This one is for longtime fans of the characters as we’re able to see the Turtles, in stark black and white, as those of us old enough to remember them from their original comic run in the mid-1980′s.

I’m not the biggest fan of the Rashomon storytelling angle Eastman uses here, but I I love the look and feel of the characters and their surroundings. At $9 it’s certainly going to scare off a few buyers, but Eastman fills the comic with as many of the reintroduced characters as possible and provides tons of story and action, along with a great wrap-around cover, longtime fans should enjoy. Best of the week.

[IDW, $8.99]

{ 1 comment }