TMNT

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #26
• Comic Vine: link
• Writers: Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz
• Artist: Mateus Santolouco

As “City Fall” continues Splinter is forced into a dangerous bargain with Old Hob and Slash which could cause all kinds of new problems for the Turtles down the line as the sesei procures mutagen for Old Hob in exchange for his help with the brainwashed Leonardo.

The rest of the Turtles seek for answers and assistance from various sources. Michelangelo hits up his old pizza buddy, Donatello and April look for help from a crazy inventor, and Raphael gets an offer of help from Angel (but learns the rest of the Purple Dragons are involved in their own issues).

As his brothers try to gather intel and resources, Leonardo leads the Foot into battle taking down the Savate and bringing the city one step closer to being completely under the Shredder‘s power.

Things are certainly looking bleak for our heroes as Leonardo (still struggling a bit against Kitsune‘s brainwashing) continues to help Shredder with his master plan. However, it appears Karai (perhaps with the assistance of Alopex) may have plans of her own. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Animated Adventures #3
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Kenny Byerly
• Artist: Dario Brizuela
  

Unable to sleep after his zombie marathon, Michelangelo leaves the sewers and hits the streets of New York only to find actually mindless zombies doing the Kraang‘s dirty work. At first his brothers are far from receptive to the idea, but under Splinter‘s orders Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello follow their brother topside to find out just what the hell is going on.

Although the aren’t exactly zombies, the turtles are forced to deal with hundreds of New Yorkers sleep walking and delivering technological components to the Kraang. Without doing too much damage to the brainwashed sleepwalkers, and rescuing Dr. Sloane (the scientist whose research the villains from Dimension X have corrupted for their own purposes), the Heroes in a Half-Shell will set-out to save the day once more.

Any issue that forces the other turtles to take Mikey seriously is a good one. Although they aren’t really zombies, Mikey’s knowledge of the walking dead not only discovers the problem but helps the turtles defeat the Kraang. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25
• Comic Vine: link
• Writers: Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz
• Artist: Mateus Santolouco

“City Fall” continues as the Foot Clan goes to war with the Savate and all sides deal with fallout of Leonardo joining the Foot as the Shredder‘s new second-in-command. For April and Casey that means getting a little closer, for Raphael it means hitting the streets (and anything else that gets in his way), for Karai it means growing dissatisfaction with her diminished new role, and for Splinter it means seeking the help of an untrustworthy enemy.

“City Fall” continues to deliver as we learn more about the limits of Kitsune‘s control of Leonardo’s mind (laying the groundwork to bring the Turtle back to the Light Side) as well as Karai’s contingency plan concerning a pair of classic TMNT characters finally making their first appearance in the comic.

With the promise of the addition of Rocksteady and Bebop, and more of Alopex and Karai, the full roster is filling out nicely. My only real complaint with the comic is the inconsistent art from artist Mateus Santolouco whose style is at time distracting. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villains Micro-Series #5
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Brian Lynch
• Artist: Ross Campbell
  

Through Karai‘s visit to her old sensei in an attempt to work through her reduced role in the Foot Clan now that the Shredder has taken on the brainwashed Leonardo as his second-in-command we learn he history of Shredder’s descendant, returning her family to the old ways of the Foot Clan, and studying to become the kind of ninja who could kill her father to take command of his empire.

The second-half of the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series one-shot focuses on a battle between Karai and Leonardo where the young ninja allows herself to be defeated only after coming to the understanding that the brainwashed Leo fights with neither the skill nor heart of the original (which makes sense, but seems to contradict the ass whoopin’ he put on his brothers in the last issue of TMNT).

Although this isn’t a series I plan to pick up every month, the last two issues have been strong focusing on Alopex and now Karai, two of the more intriguing characters of the Foot Clan. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]