DARK HORSE

- Axe Cop: President of the World #1 - At some point, this odd comic that is written by 8 year old Malachai Nicolle and illustrated by his brother, 31 year old Ethan, will lose it’s magic.  Someday Malachai will probably “grow up” too much or become too self-aware, but until that happens we should enjoy the ride.  Here’s a link to my review of last Spring’s Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1.

- Early issues where you can hop on before it’s too late.  Fatima: The Blood Spinners #2 by Gilbert Hernandez, Mind Mgmt #3 by Matt Kindt and The Massive #2 by Brian Wood.

- Eerie Comics #1 brings back the beloved old Warren Publishing title.  It’s really hard to go wrong with a horror anthology in black and white.  Of course, don’t miss the big brother: Creepy Comics #9.

DC

- I know folks are gaga over Before Watchmen, but I can’t get that excited.  I’ll check it out digitally if folks say it is incredible.

- I couldn’t be less interested in any of the DC superhero titles that isn’t called Batman #11 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.  I’ve never been this uninterested in the DCU in my entire life.  These cover images just remind me that I don’t particularly like the DC house style of art.

VERTIGO

- How cool is it that Punk Rock Jesus #1 is coming out?  Sean Murphy (writer and artist) has been talking about this one for a long time.  I expect the art to be stellar, although I note that the listing says “B&W”.  I’ve never seen Sean’s work uncolored besides the few original pages of his that I own, so that should be interesting.  The story premise sounds cool too: modern science clones Jesus Christ and a reality show is created around him.  As you can imagine, “J2″ doesn’t enjoy living in a 21st century fishbowl and lives a different life than his namesake.  The religious folks are up in arms about this title which means it will probably be good.  Seriously, when was the last time those people complained about something and it wasn’t awesome?  For me, those people are like a backwards Rotten Tomatoes.

- A double-bill of fanged goodness in American Vampire #29 (new story arc with Rafael Albuquerque) and American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares #2 (with art by Dustin Nguyen).  Every story arc of AV has been something that a complete newbie could pick up and enjoy, so don’t be scared away thinking you’re too late.

- The usual suspects: I Zombie #27 (penultimate issue), Sweet Tooth #35 (“The secrets of the plague revealed at last!!”), Spaceman #8, New Deadwardians #5 (I wish this was an ongoing), Saucer Country #5 (wonderful character work in this series so far) and The Unwritten #39 (quietly, this might be the best series of the last few years)

IDW

- I haven’t been buying these IDW Artists’ Editions.  I love original art and these are mostly artists I’ll never be able to own pages from (Have you seen what a Wally Wood page costs?), but I just can’t justify ~$125 for a big hardcover that doesn’t fit on the shelf that I’ll probably only look at once.  That said, Bernie Wrightson’s: The Muck Monster, Artist’s Edition Portfolio is intriguing.  It’s only 7-pages for $29.99, but you get that original art vibe without the huge bulky book and the mega-price.  Then again….I have a Wrightson original, so this will be a game time decision.

- I wish IDW published more comics that I want to read beyond GI Joe #15, Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #15 and Cobra #15.  They do such a lovely job with the publishing: nice paper, nice printing, etc.

IMAGE

- Can you believe we’re here?  The Walking Dead #100 is upon us.  It’s an extra sized issue and promises “one of the most violent and brutal things to happen within the pages of this series.”  That sounds nifty!

- Revival #1 by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton looks pretty cool about a cop who has to solve a murder during a zombie outbreak.  Seeley knows horror and Norton makes pretty art.  This should be high quality.

- Debris #1 has me torn.  I LOVE Riley Rossmo’s art.  But, I’ve been less fond of writer Kurtis Wiebe’s stories.  This is why you buy things digitally and DON’T put them on your pull list where you’re stuck with 3 of the 4 issues in the miniseries before even reading the first one.

- Definitely check out Hoax Hunters #1. The #0 issue was really great and brought a kinda Myth Busters meets Bigfoot vibe to comics.  Even though we have an artist change from the #0 issue, the “new guy” is Axel Medellin who has been drawing Elephantmen.  It’ll be pretty!

- A bunch of usual suspects: Elephantmen #43 (always good), Fatale #7 (new arc, although I wish they’d go back to doing Criminal), Haunt #28 (love Nathan Fox), The Manhattan Projects #5 (ongoing Hickman science goodness), Mind the Gap #3 (very excited for this series to begin), Planetoid #2 (again…very cool looking), Prophet #27 (this series has been pure awesome), Saga #5 (probably the most exciting debut of the year), Secret #4 (we’ve only seen one issue, but it was good)….  Image get’s a lot of my money.

MARVEL

- God….it’s just Avengers vs. X-Men all over the damn place.  I guess it’s enjoyable enough and I already get the main X-books and the main Avengers books, but until Marvel shows that that these issues have any weight, it leaves me cold.  They get my money, but not my passion.

- Mark Brooks is doing GREAT covers on X-Men Legacy.  The series itself has been seriously “blah” for 3+ years, but these covers are pretty hot.

- The double-shipping is getting annoying because Marvel doesn’t have enough A-list artists to pull it off.  I enjoy the tag-team of Chris Bachalo and Nick Bradshaw on Wolverine and the X-Men, but I’d rather not see lesser artists come on board to maintain a rapid shipping schedule that readers don’t want.

- Speaking of covers, why are the covers for the Ultimate comics mostly bad?  And why does Marvel advertise with these mediocre covers in their house ads?  It makes me not want to read the book.

- Seriously uninspiring Marvel!  Unlike DC, I really WANT to like Marvel, but they don’t make it easy with the events and the artist changes.  Just put a good artist on the good books and publish some stinking stories.

BACK OF THE BOOK

- Ironic that they’re on the same page because they are so different, but both Rachel Rising #10 by Terry Moore from Abstract Studios and Glamourpuss #26 by Dave Sim from Aardvark-Vanaheim are examples of why creator-owned comics are so awesome.  These are two master comic book creators who are doing their thing without any fiddling.  Seriously, the depth of creation going on in these titles is so much better than anything in a superhero book.

- Don’t be missing The Secret History of DB Cooper #5 by Brian Churilla.  It’s been crazy and trippy fun so far.

- The back of Previews is kinda a dust-bin.  Between the pages will all these tiny thumbnails of book covers you have these BIG AND NOISY sections for publishers like Aspen.  It’s really an assault on the senses and it’s hard for small guys to stand out.  Usually, there are a few OGNs or reprints that catch my eye, but not this month.

- Dean Stell

By: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (story), Dan Duncan (art), Ronda Pattison (colors)

The Story: Doesn’t matter how big a robot is once you stick a knife through its motherboard.

The Review: I don’t know exactly when it happened—though I’m guessing probably sometime in the seventies—but at some point weirdness became an attractive quality to the mainstream.  Think about it: NBC comedies, reality television, films like Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter—it’s almost as if in our ever-increasing struggle for originality, we appreciate anything that produces surprise of any kind, however tepid or extreme.

Nowhere does that point seem more apparent than in this series.  In the opening pages, April O’Neil recaps the Turtles’ story up to the present day, covering their mutant origins, their training in the martial arts by a giant rat, and their rivalry with a mercenary cat with an eye-patch.  And that’s before we get to Michelangelo reminding Donatello, “…you forgot to tell her the part about us being reincarnated and stuff.”  So, yeah, this is some truly strange stuff at work.

Perhaps it’s because the characters take all this oddity in such stride that we don’t dwell on it for too long, freeing us to just enjoy the story.  Even April, whose head is obviously spinning from these revelations (“Reincarnation?  Let’s…let’s not go there, okay?”), is willing to set aside her shock/confusion to focus on the problem at hand—and that gives us a good insight into the stuff she’s made of.  While she admits being attacked made her feel helpless, being able to help her newfound acquaintances allows her to be more in control, making her a valuable ally.

The plot doesn’t advance too much in this issue, at least not until the final two pages where we reunite with the other great malevolent figure of TMNT canon.  Otherwise, we tread mostly the same material we’ve covered before, namely Hob’s sadistic grudge against Splinter and his sons, and also Stockman’s continued assurances of support to an increasingly doubtful Krang.

What this issue mostly offers us is solid character development like with April.  I confess I didn’t get around to reading the TMNT micro-series, which gave you one-on-one time with each turtle.  I think you can get some fairly strong character moments here, though.  For example, Raphael turns out to be the Rambo of the pack, his head-on battle tactics proving the equal of Donatello’s more intellectual strategies, at least when it comes to defeating laser-shooting mechas.

More and more, Leonardo is becoming the emotional center of the turtles.  I don’t know how he compares in age to his brothers in this incarnation, but he is spiritually the oldest of them all, and as such he seems to carry the biggest burden of responsibility.  In addition to calling the shots, he tries to look out for everyone’s safety (trying to persuade Casey and April to hang back in the battle) and keep a lid on any unwarranted violence.  I foresee conflicts of power in the future, particularly between him and the hotheaded Raphael.

Clearly the most difficult part about reading this series is telling the turtles apart.  Pattison goes through some pains to distinguish each beyond their eye-mask color, but once the setting gets even a little dim, the different shades of green become impossible to tell apart.  Even Leo and Donnie’s eye-masks are similar enough in hue for you to get them mixed up.  Besides this, Duncan delivers some wonderful TMNT art, making the turtles look intense and competent enough to stand proud against their comic book peers, but without taking away from their fun and humor, which is how the turtles should be.

Conclusion: A bit thin on the plot, but still entertaining throughout as the cast finally comes together and executes their first official mission as a team.

Grade: B

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - Did anyone catch the 30 Rock episode where Tina Fey made a Krang reference not once, but five times?

- If not for the fact Leo and April are different species, I’d say Leo would make a pretty good tsundere figure for her; they have about the same chemistry as Korra and Mako in Legend of Korra.

- And the award for Best Rambo Impression From a Turtle goes to Raphael: “You know damn well what rat, punk.  Where?!”

By: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (writers), Dan Duncan (artist), Ronda Pattison (colorist)

The Story: It’s generally not a good idea to take your girlfriend down a sewer on the first date.

The Review: The hot news this week is Michael Bay, director of the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film adaptation, plans to revitalize the franchise by removing the “Teenage” and “Mutant” parts entirely and making them aliens instead.  In my determined pursuit of objective review, I’ll wait to see how the movie pans out before getting rendering judgment, but even I can’t help feeling like Bay will have a lot of work before him to make this idea work.

I understand the point of these changes is to remove some of the hokier elements from the Turtles’ conception and make them more believable.  But let’s say we revise Superman’s origins so he’s an Earth-born genetic anomaly rather than the last child of a doomed planet who happens to be sent to our planet.  Sure, it’d be more sensible and less corny, but I doubt many people would see it’s an improved story.

The stakes may be lower here, but the changes are no less significant for the Turtles.  The loss of their “teenage” status would remove a major part of their endearing and enduring appeal.  True, their jocky mentality and mannerisms can get gimmicky and a tad annoying, but that’s what make these freaks lovable rather than terrifying.  I mean, how can you be scared of giant turtle-men armed with traditional Eastern weaponry who call you “Bro” and compliment you on the “Cute girl” you have passed out in your arms?

That unconscious girl, by the way, is April O’Neil, brought by Casey Jones to the sewers to meet his turtle buddies, who also happen to be the ninjas she claims nearly killed her some time back.  The intersection between the human and reptile characters of the series means our core cast is finally complete, though it may be a while—especially on April’s part—before they all fight as common allies.  Looking forward to much entertaining exchanges among them to come.

On a similar note, I must express my hope that Bay doesn’t remove the brotherhood/family aspect of the team, which is yet another of their endearing traits.  First of all, family plays a smaller role in comics relationships than lovers, friends, and comrades, so the Turtles are special in that regard.  Second, there’s something really weird and funny, yet kind of delightful, about a band of oversized turtles who call a robed rat with a walking stick their father.

And if Bay does decide to remove the “mutant” parts of the Turtles’ characters, then he’s removing not only one of the major elements of their mythos, but also one of the themes that underlies much of their stories and conflicts.  Half their enemies and acquaintances are mutants of some kind, like the eye-patched Hob or the breast-bound wolf (fox?) ninja (whom Stockman calls Krang’s “competitor”).  Krang’s whole plan for world domination revolves around creating a mutant army based on Stockman’s research on genetics.  Take away the “mutant” in TMNT, and suddenly the whole of their continuity feels less cohesive and powerful.

Turning back to the world of comics, Duncan does great work.  He has the right look for a “youth” title—these are teenaged turtles, after all—since his lines are loose and kinetic enough to inject fun and humor into the title, but he has enough sophistication to make the more serious scenes work (the Turtles’ anger over Splinter’s kidnapping, for example).  Pattison enlivens the action with timely uses of bright, bold colors, but also scales back the intensity of her hues during quieter scenes, keeping you focused on the import of the words.

Conclusion: Somehow, the creative team of this series has managed to make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a viable if unconventional superhero team worthy of as much attention as teams from the Big Two.  Great entertainment, from start to finish.

Grade: B+

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - April’s paranoia apparently doesn’t extend to unfamiliar guys with martial arts skills inviting her, alone, to come with him into the sewer.

By: Marc Guggenheim, Peter David & Stan Sakai (story), Sandy Plunkett, Bill Sienkiewicz, Sakai & Arthur Adams (art), Jeromy Cox, Dave Stewart & John Rauch (colors) and Scott Dunbier (editor)

The Story: Another anthology of Rocketeer stories from top-shelf creative talent.

Review: If you enjoyed Rockteer Adventures last time around, IDW is back with another helping of Dave Stevens-inspired goodness.  For those who don’t know, Dave Stevens created the Rocketeer character back in the 1980′s and even got a movie made of the character in the early 1990′s (which isn’t a half-bad movie, btw).  Stevens tragically died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 53.  Truly he was taken too soon, but one wrinkle when comic creators die is: What happens to their creator-owned material?  We all know what happens to Marvel/DC characters when Jack Kirby or Joe Simon die, but it is different with creator-owned characters.  Does anyone even have the right to legally publish the character?  Will creators see it as (a) continuing the passion of a dearly departed colleague or (b) treading on the grave?

Anyway, IDW did a great job with the first Rocketeer Adventures miniseries: A-List creators doing inspired work led to one of the best miniseries of 2011.  So, the question was whether this would be a bridge too far for IDW?  Based on one issue, it doesn’t look like it.  All three of the stories in this issue are entertaining, well-done and true to the original vision of Dave Stevens.  I even “discovered” a new-to-me creator.  When I saw this name “Sandy Plunkett” as the artist on the Guggenheim story, I wondered, “Who is this guy?  Did IDW bring in some B-listers for this series?”  Nope!  Man….can this Plunkett guy draw his ass off?  As regular readers of my reviews know, I’m a collector of original comic art and the true litmus test for whether I like an artist is if I pause in the middle of reading to find the artist’s website to see if they sell original pages…..and I was on Plunkett’s website immediately.  He’s really good in a kinda old-school kind of way.  Love him!

From a story standpoint, probably my favorite was the Peter David/Sienkiewicz.  David whips us a Rocketeer-inspired story called The Ducketeer.  Basically, it is Daffy Duck versus Marvin the Martian illustrated with Sienkiewicz doing his full-on trippy style.  Loved it.

Conclusion: Another great example of IDW giving Rocketeer fans some great material.  It’s hard not to be impressed with the respect that IDW gives to properties like the Rocketter.

Grade: B+

-Dean Stell

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By: Chuck Dixon (writer), Alex Cal (artist), J. Brown (colors), Robbie Robbins (letters), Carlos Guzman (assistant editor) & John Barber (editor)

The Story: As the Cobra Command crossover comes to a close, Cobra has just about cleared out the country of Nanzhao.

A Few Things: 

1. Entertaining ideas, but… - This has been an entertaining and creative storyline, but it’s just too damn long.  I really don’t understand this fixation that publishers/writers/editors have on making stories longer.  When Cobra Command finishes, it’ll be NINE issues long.  I don’t see any good reason this couldn’t be 6 issues and still have accomplished the same things.  Let’s move onto what is next!  I guess when it comes down to it, I like the ideas presented in this story (and issue), but the execution is lacking a little bit.  Lots of the scenes are too long by a few panels.  As an example, there surely there was some drama in Scarlet’s decision to shoot down a nuclear armed Cobra drone, but that decision shouldn’t take a full two pages.  Comics aren’t supposed to read like a novel.  Keep it snappy!

2. Cobra will be in an interesting place when this is over. - I’ve really enjoyed IDW’s view of Cobra as it emerges from the shadows.  When this arc ends, they’ll have basically destroyed a sovereign country just to remove a competitor in the global drug trade.  Scary huh?  When you get down to it, this was all a big battle between two rival drug gangs; just like Marlo versus the Barksdales in The Wire…except that Cobra has nuclear weapons.

3. Cal does a pretty good job with the art. - I’m never going to be able to truly love a GI Joe book for its art because I’m not a big fan of realistic art.  But I have to recognize the difficulty in illustrating these issues.  There are a ton of characters and many of them don’t have obvious visual cues beyond Flint’s beret or Scarlet’s red hair.  Then, on top of the basic GI Joe characters, there are random UN troops running around.  Just drawing all the characters in the issue would be a major job.  Then you have to draw all the hardware.  Some comics are permitted to just have “random” guns (that don’t even look functional when you examine them up close), but GI Joe guns need to look pretty good.  Ditto for the planes and drones.  And then you’ve still got the random tie-ins to 1980′s toys that must be correct or else fanboys will roast you on the internet.  This isn’t my favorite comic from an art standpoint and I’ve been hard on Cal’s art in the past, but he’s getting the job done here.  Cal also mixes in a few really cool layouts with Snake-Eyes walking into a Storm Shadow ambush (his drawing seems better here too… maybe he likes ninjas?).

Conclusion: This story arc is almost over and it’s time.  It has some interesting ideas, but we when a publisher screws up the length of the arc, you DO have to work to see the positives. Why must everything be long?  How many times in comics have we said, “Gosh!  That ended too fast!” and even if that DOES happen, the publisher can always revisit the material later.  Still, I think the Joe books are worth checking out.  They’re entertaining and have stakes and that’s enough for me.

Grade: C+

-Dean Stell

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By: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (writers), Dan Duncan (artist), Ronda Pattison (colorist)

The Story: Can’t a turtle rest easy in his own sewer home without pests crawling in anymore?

The Review: No matter how you think about it, there’s just a major element of campiness about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Their very concept is all kinds of silly: brash, adolescent humanoid turtles practicing the martial arts, eating pizza, and talking like they just rose out of the surf in a nineties comedy.  All these things make them perfect for kids, of course, but once you’re grown up, all that stuff can get pretty gimmicky pretty fast.

That’s not to say you’d want the Turtles any other way, however.  Better they remain the jauntily quirky characters they are than get “modernized” into dreary, angst-driven antiheroes, like half the comic book protagonists out there.  Fortunately, Eastman and Waltz have done a great job keeping intact all the weird things about the TMNT that makes them fun, yet brushing them up with just enough sophistication to make them intriguing, rather than solely comic, characters.

The first step has been to make the villains less hokey and more, well, villainous.  Take General Krang.  I remember him back in my cartoon rerun days as a gross-looking, but not necessarily threatening figure, especially with his high-pitched whine—and his resemblance to pink cottage cheese.  Here, he comes off a lot more impressive, if only because of his redesigned exo-suit, which bears a faint resemblance to an un-helmeted Darth Vader.  Old Hob’s not bad as a villain either, seeing how he’s willing to resort to some fairly ruthless measures to take down his foes.

Eastman-Waltz have also played up this reincarnation aspect of the TMNT lore, which injects a nice, esoteric, serious flavor into the title.  It gives the more serious turtle bros (Donatello and Leonardo) an interesting mystery to chew on, and actually a little bit of angst as well.  Leonardo, as the oldest and most dedicated of the turtles, seems to remember something more of his past life, though that seems to give him more pain than pleasure.  You have to remember that if the turtles are brothers and Splinter’s their dad, the absent momma will affect them at some point.

Don’t take any of this to mean that the Turtles have completely lost their inherent goofiness.  Michelangelo seems imbued with the classic TMNT spirit, right down to his beach frat-boy speak (“Man, I’m so stoked you’re finally gonna meet Woody, bro!  He’s such a righteous dude—have I told you that?”).  Eastman-Waltz would be wise to stick to one silly turtle, as that’s not only easier to handle than a whole crew of ‘em, but it also adds some great cheeriness to the title.  You don’t get a lot of comics with heart nowadays, and you don’t get much more heart than a pizza-maker giving Mikey and Raphael a free antipasto with their order, with extra olives, just because that’s the way Master Splinter likes it.

I suppose I should at least mention April and Casey, as they get a pretty cute scene in the issue, but it’s just unclear at this point where they’re meant to intersect with our sewer friends.  Still, Eastman-Waltz seem to have a plan for all the disparate characters and plotlines they’ve got going here, so I think it’s safe to trust them on this one.

Duncan is a terrific fit for this title.  His figures have just enough cartooniness to get the whimsy and fun out of the script’s lighter scenes, but he also puts in just enough substance behind the characters to make the action sequences look dynamic, even intense.  The way he choreographs Leo, Don, and Splinter fighting the Mousers, they look more perilous and masterful than quite a lot of the mainstream comics out there, for all their photo-realistic artwork.  You can nod along sagely with Old Hob when he remarks on their martial artistry, “….so friggin’ beautiful.”

Conclusion: This is one of those rare titles where it’s a pure pleasure to read.  While it doesn’t have quite the drama of other books, it has a thoughtful tension all its own that raises it above childish nostalgia.

Grade: B+

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - I don’t know…Master Splinter looks pretty creepy with those inky black eyes.  They look almost like someone put out his eyeballs.

- It broke my heart to see them drop that pizza and antipasto like that.  I can’t stand the sight of wasted food.

By: Mike Costa (writer), Alex Cal (breakdowns), Beni Lobel (finishes), J. Brown (colors), Neil Uyetake (letters), Carlos Guzman (assistant editor) & John Barber (editor)

The Story: As the new Cobra Commander takes over a SE Asian nation, his lieutenants begin to scheme against him.

A Few Things: 

1. The Cobra characters are so much more interesting. - Honestly, I’d rather this comic didn’t show what the Joes are doing… ever.  Let me summarize what the Joes are doing in case anyone wants to skip it: “We have to stop Cobra.”  We need a little pre-emptive strike action from the Joes, otherwise they’re just reactionary.  On the flip side, the Cobra main characters all ooze charisma.  Each is unique and has his/her own strengths, flaws and goals.  They’re so much more three-dimensional than the Joes.  Maybe villains are just more interesting than heroes?  Maybe Mike Costa is a better writer?  Am I the only one who sees this?

2. Scheming is good! – Well…you didn’t really think that all the main Cobra guys would just say, “Cool!  We have a new commander.  Let’s blindly follow him!”  So, it isn’t a huge surprise that everyone is scheming against Krake.  Here we’ve got all kinds of weird little alliances forming among the Cobra lieutenants and that’s cool because you know that those alliances won’t last a second longer than necessary.  Plus, the scheming gets Baroness into the action (in a towel no less) and that’s always positive.  And….it won’t surprise anyone if Krake has been a step ahead of his minions all along.

3. What’s in the briefcase? -I got a huge Pulp Fiction/briefcase vibe as we saw the Cobras geeking out over whatever image Major Bludd has on his iPad.  Tomax especially had a great look.  What could Krake have done on a hidden camera that is so horrible that he might lose his leadership position?  Is it an old YouTube video he made when he was 15 where he professed his deep love for Snake Eyes?

4. Solid art. - Again, the art team does a solid job.  I hate internet hyperbole where everything is either AWESOME or SUCKS.  This is solid.  It mostly sticks to a grid, the storytelling is solid and it gets the job done.  If you like Mike Deodato, you’ll enjoy this.  Two quibbles: One is the problem of depth on the computer rendered jungle backgrounds and the other is the absence of a red Cobra on Baroness’ outfit.

Conclusion: Every time the GI Joe books cycle back around to Cobra is a high point for the overall story.  The bad guys are just more interesting than the good guys.  Honestly, I wouldn’t mind just reading about Cobra a la Secret Six.

Grade: B-

-Dean Stell

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By: Chuck Dixon (writer), Alex Cal (artist), J. Brown (colors), Shawn Lee (letters), Carlos Guzman (assistant editor) & John Barber (editor)

The Story: Cobra has taken over a sovereign country and is driving the civilians out!  The Joe’s have to stop them.

Five Things: 

1. Cobra is a pretty compelling enemy. - The best thing about the GI Joe relaunch at IDW (which is a couple of years old now) is how they have and are handling Cobra.  They’re not some out-in-the-open enemy and have been more of a rumor until very recently.  The Joes have a hard time even convincing people that Cobra is real.  In some ways, Cobra is kinda like a pre-September 11th Osama bin Laden; certainly a lot of folks knew who he was, but there was disagreement about whether he was a serious threat to the US or just an annoyance spouting venom in Afghanistan.  Combine this mystery with the fact that the main Cobras are all really interesting and you almost find yourself rooting for them over the very vanilla Joes.

2. Overall thrust of the story remains good. - Going with my first comment above, this is a good overall story: Murky criminal/terrorist organization, no one believes they’re a threat and the first thing they do after going public is to overthrow a sovereign country!  Wow!  That really steps up the treat level for Cobra!  You could understand how with their cool technology that Cobra could be a major nuisance, but this story is showing that they have a magnitude to them as well.  And, since any story is only as good as its antagonist, this Cobra Command story arc is opening a lot of possibilities.

3. Can’t really get behind this art anymore. - Unfortunately, Alex Cal’s art has gone from “competent” a few issues ago to “problematic”.  He seems to be drawing 2 or the 3 Joe books right now (this and Snake-Eyes) and while I presume that IDW started him working on these ahead of time, this art looks more rushed than his first issue.  Why IDW would dump such heavy art chores on a fairly new artist is beyond me.  Cal does draw some characters fairly well and sticks to a realistic style that will be pleasing to most GI Joe fans, but his action scenes leave a lot to be desired (i.e. you can’t tell what is happening) and his characters lack any sense of energy (i.e. they look posed).  Also, lots of depth problems in these panels between the characters and their backgrounds.  And, I’d stop doing splash pages.  Cal’s art would be better if it was smaller and allowed fewer opportunities for error.  Note to editor: Caption boxes telling us who the characters are would be appreciated.

4. Storytelling is too depressurized. - While I do enjoy the story, I really don’t think this needed to be a 9-issue story arc.  Actually, there never should be a 9-issue story arc.  And this is coming on the heels of the Cobra Civil War crossover that was ~18 issues.  I can’t imagine any comic story I’ve ever read that needed to be this long.  Cut these to 4-5 issues and make it snappier.  Let’s see what happens next!

5. Three titles as one. - It’s also problematic that the three GI Joe titles have blurred together.  I can’t imagine this makes them more enticing in this comic market.  IDW might get SOME people who hop on to check out a event/crossover, but if the quality is anything less than stellar, they’re going to drop ALL of these titles.  I like that the three comics exist in the same universe AND that they take place at the same time, but I don’t think they should interconnect to the extent that they’re one big story.

Conclusion: Good overall story concept, troubling art and it’s too depressurized.  Is it any wonder the sales numbers are dropping?

Grade: D+

-Dean Stell

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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?

By: Mike Costa (writer), Alex Cal (artist), J. Brown (colors), Neil Uyetake (letters), Carlos Guzman (assistant editor) & John Barber (editor)

The Story: Cobra has taken over a SE Asian country.  The Joes want to stop them and the new Cobra Commander’s lieutenants are fighting amongst themselves.

Three Things:

1. The story is really kinda rocking. – There’s a LOT to enjoy about the “story” aspect of this comic and the overall Cobra Command story-arc.  For one thing, we readers don’t know what to expect at all.  That is so rare in comics.  Not only is IDW’s GI Joe universe pretty new (~40 issues) since they completely rebooted it a few years ago, but to say that the naming of a new Cobra Commander ushered in a new status quo would be a huge understatement.  In comics, “classic” villains become less frightful the better we get to know them.  Sure, some writers are still able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and make Joker scary, but having a villain who is still 90% unknown is WAY more effective.  I love that we have no real idea what the new Cobra Commander is up to; he clearly has a plan, but he isn’t sharing it with us yet.  And, all the other classic Cobras like Baroness, Destro, Major Bludd, etc. are new enough that we don’t really know what to expect from them either.

2. Shame about the art. – I’ve been mostly complementary about the job that Alex Cal has done of the last few GI Joe issues he’s drawn, but this was a big step back.  Large chunks of the comic are still solidly “competent”, but there are a few other places where the sequential storytelling just falls apart.  Basically, if the panel consists of a head or a person talking, the art is fine.  But if there is action, there are problems.  One arises during a big Snake Eyes and Agent Helix fight where I couldn’t tell what the hell happened because a few panels were unclear.  IDW has been putting some inexperienced artists on these Joe titles and I think they’d be better served by going back to a 8-panel grid as the basic storytelling tool.  Gotta walk before you can run!

3. Flat colors would be better. – Along the lines of keeping to basics, it really wouldn’t hurt this title to ditch the highlighted colors and go back to something flatter.  With the exception of Destro’s head and Cobra Commander’s faceshield, I challenge you to show me one panel in this book that is improved by the highlights.

4. Well written. – It’s easy to lose sight of this while appreciating the cool over-arching story or being disappointed in the art that isn’t holding up its end of the deal, but Mike Costa writes very nicely.  There isn’t a lot to say about it, but the dialog flows nicely from panel to panel.

Conclusion: This is a really good story that is being let down by below-average art.  It’s a shame, but it shows how hard it is to do a high quality comic book.

Grade: C+

-Dean Stell

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