By: Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz (writers), Dan Duncan (art), Ronda Pattison (colors)
The Story: Allez ninja, allez ninja, allez!
The Review: It’s been rather fascinating to watch the development of IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Co-creator Kevin Eastman and script-writer Tom Waltz have been combining elements from the Turtle’s original comic series and the first cartoon show, as well as bringing in some new twists and concepts for this new on-going title. Yet despite letting the origin go on for five issues, many of the ideas have felt under-developed. I’ll get into the elements I think have been rushed in the Musings, but as I haven’t been reviewing this series until now, I think it fair to just review this issue on its own. And honestly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 is pretty good.
The writing in this issue is very tight. The Turtles are out on patrol when they sight a pair of ninjas chasing a mysterious Frenchman. They follow, allowing us to see the brothers interact as a group. The chemistry between the four is great, and if there are some cheesy lines like “These dudes take their Ninja Vitamins today, or what?” and, “Holy guacamole…”, well, this is the Ninja Turtles after all. However, the Turtles are physically so close to their quarry during the chase that I found it hard to believe the ninjas never heard the Turtles banter. At the end of the chase, things turn deadly, and despite internal disagreements, the Turtles don’t step in to help either side. They’re left with an ominous warning from the Frenchman, and the lingering question of whether they did the right thing by not interfering.
In the aftermath of their run-in with the ninjas, the Turtles regroup with their sensei, and Donatello expresses some disbelief at Splinter’s account of their origin. Splinter claims they are all the reincarnated spirits of a feudal Japanese family, killed in an internal power struggle of the Foot Ninja Clan. The reader is left with the question of whether this is accurate, or a by-product of the psychotropic drug used on Splinter when he was a lab rat. It’s good use of dramatic irony, and a bold move to throw doubt on a character that has basically been portrayed as infallible since his creation.
The rest of the issue cuts between some short scenes with Baxter Stockman, Casey Jones, and April O’Neil. Though hardly taking up any room in this issue, each scene manages to inform us more about the characters, forward each character’s story, and provide enough closure to be contained in one issue while promising stories to come. It’s an impressive show of restraint that hasn’t really been seen from this series, which has somewhat felt like it’s been written for the trade until now.
The art team continues to turn in solid work. Dan Duncan’s exaggerated style conveys an excellent sense of movement and flow to the action scenes, though it must be said that his work with the mutants is somewhat better than with the humans. The colors from Ronda Pattison are a perfect match to the series: gritty enough for slums and sewers but bold enough for mutants and ninjas. I was concerned that her subtle distinctions between each of the Turtles would be unnecessary now that they’re sporting the different-colored headbands, but the colors are actually subtle enough to simply reinforce their individuality while not becoming distracting.
Conclusion: After a clumsy if enthusiastic start, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 may be the issue where the series finds its stride. If you’re a Turtles fan from any era, I can highly recommend this issue. If you’re not, this is a good place to check out what the franchise has to offer.
Jumping on point?: Yes. Actually, this may be a better jumping on point than issue #1.
Grade: B+
-Jim Middleton
Some Musings: -Casey Jones continues to be the most well adjusted hockey-playing, criminal-beating, son-of-an-abusive-alcoholic you have ever met. He’s polite, thoughtful, self-motivated and has no problem with anthropomorphic reptiles storming into his house and beating his father…at all
-I can suspend my disbelief enough to buy that the Turtles are either reincarnated spirits, which explains their incredibly quick development, or that the mutagen has enabled incredible ninja powers somehow. What I cannot believe, however, is how either one of these ideas explain fully formed personalities, a perfect contemporary-English lexicon, and Donatello’s encyclopedia-like knowledge. In the original comics, all these things had years to develop. But here? Couple of months, tops. Maybe they’re just reincarnated spirits from the 2003 cartoon.
-Another rushed plot thread to add to the list is Raphael’s inclusion in the group. He fits in perfectly now, and you would never guess the guy was separated from his brothers for months, having no idea who he was. There’s a lot of good character development here that the creators seem to want to skip over, just so they can write the characters they way they’ve traditionally been written. If that’s so, why bother with the new origin at all?
Filed under: IDW, Reviews Tagged: | April O'Neil, Baxter Stockman, Casey Jones, Comic Book Reviews, Dan Duncan, Donatello, Foot Ninja, IDW, Jim Middleton, Kevin Eastman, Raphael, review, Ronda Pattison, Splinter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle #6, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle #6 review, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tom Waltz, WCBR, Weekly Comic Book Review
This is one of my top five series to read each month. It is just so much fun. I actually find the reincarnation thing to be very interesting, and I can’t wait to see how it will be developed. Also, Donatello is my favorite turtle and I love his antagonistic relationship with Leonardo here. It’s usually Raphael but I’m loving this version too.
Yeah, the Donatello/Leonardo dynamic is really interesting for how natural it feels. Like you say, this usually hasn’t been the portrayal, but it fits somehow. I’m hoping that this rivalry of sorts allows for Mike and Raph to have more interaction. Despite them claiming to be best friends in the old series, I never bought it. They just didn’t have much in common or spend much time with each other. Maybe this time around the creators will explore that relationship more.
Im just catching this series now as ive had to wait for its release in the uk but overall i am loving it thouroughly, but i did also find the reincarnation origin a little weird, hadnt really thought of the possibility of that being a side effect of the drug, so thanks for that angle. and if i remember right they were mutated 15 months prior to the current story and were speaking nearly instantly after mutation so personality traits like you described could be possible with such accelerated development. anyway i have to say this is one of my favourite reads at the moment, hope they keep the team as it all fits brilliantly
Hey sparks. I guess my problem with the rapid development of the personalities isn’t that they exist, but how cemented they seem. The dynamic between the foursome already feel set in stone, as though none of this is new to them. I can go along with it, but it would have been really cool, say, to see Donatello get his first computer, or to see some of the friction between the brothers be instigated instead of taken for granted. I’m still enjoying the series, I just feel like a lot of story potential has been passed over. I agree that the creative team is great for this tittle; I’d love to see Dan Duncan drawing Triceratons somewhere down the road!
i see your point, it would have been nice to see some of those things, but i think they missed the opportunity to really have raph be more grating with his brothers, he spent all that time alone, i want to see more friction between him and his brothers because of that and see more of the impulsive rash side to him, he’s just slotted in too easily in this issue. i do hope they expand on that and show us more of the time inbetween them mutating and expand on their personalities. i can see why they have done it, get the origin done in a new way and get the book up and running, just hope they do come back and flesh them out more