TMNT

• 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]

• 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]

• Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #15
• Comic Vine: link
• Writers: Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz
• Artist: Andy Kuhn

Realizing there is only so long they can remain hidden above ground while staying in the apartment building belonging to April‘s father the Turtles scour the city for a new subterranean home. What the Turtles don’t realize is as they hunt for a new home they are being hunted as well.

The comic opens by showcasing the origin of a new mutated turtle from Stockton Research Incorporated Laboratories who escapes containment, and causes havoc around town before beginning to hunting down the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I’m still not sold on Andy Kuhn’s art, but the story, after the origin of the new mutant to prowl the city streets, moves at a good pace and I enjoyed the banter between the Turtles throughout.

I was surprised to see the comic reintroduce Slash so early in its run. His new origin is certainly more in line with the current comic (and far less confusing than trying to reintroduce him as an eco-terrorist from another dimension) and the first battle with his Turtle-brethren is certainly action-packed. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]