By: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz (story), Mateus Santolouco (art), Ronda Pattison (colors)
The Story: You can make ’em look like turtles, but killer robots are still killer robots.
The Review: I’m a great believer that the more developed the characters, the richer the stories will be. Consequently, you should always be on the lookout for ensemble series that devote the bulk of their time to a select few characters. TMNT occasionally seems at risk of this. Despite its massive cast, you can’t help noticing how often the spotlight lands on Leo, Splinter, and Shredder (with Raphael coming in a close second), which is a waste when you have a treasure trove of other relationships to explore.
For example, it’s hard to see why Eastman-Curnow-Waltz felt the need to insert a scene of Leo and Splinter in deep discussion over competing priorities between Shredder and Krang. Leo merely parrots what Donnie’s been saying all along about Krang being the bigger threat (“[W]hat good’s beating Shredder if we don’t stop the world from getting destroyed in the process?”), and Shredder states the obvious when he points out Shredder is the immediate threat. There’s no debate here; the Turtles have to face Shredder first, but prepare for Krang, too—which is what they’re already doing anyway.
Most of the Krang preparations have been left to the brains of the Turtles operation, Donnie and April. This is a great move for both characters, considering Donnie has been largely overshadowed by his brothers, and April’s relationship troubles with Casey have slowly taken over her role in the series. Or it would be a great move if Donnie and April weren’t completely eclipsed by Angel and Harold, who prove to be the surprise breakout duo of the issue.
Obviously, the contrast between the crusty Harold and the street-wise Angel is a beautiful thing. She calls him “Doctor Frankenweirdo”; he refers to her as “Preschool.” Much as April and Donnie try to occupy Harold’s attention with interspatial teleporters and alien Armageddon machines, he’s constantly distracted with keeping Angel out of his stuff and showing them off at the same time. So much of this issue’s entertainment comes his ego clashing with her perpetually unimpressed attitude that you start thinking a micro-series featuring just the two of them might not be a bad idea.
Sad as it is to see Donnie, a fully trained ninja, get this thunder stolen by a homegirl with no weapon whatsoever—although a wooden staff versus a decked out turtle-bot is hardly a weapon worth sneezing on—it’s a fantastic display from Angel, who until now has scratched and clawed her way into the story. Her affinity with Harold’s exo-suit, such that she can defeat a mecha with fully-adaptive A.I., guarantees her future role on the series, which she baptizes with a new codename: “I’m Nobody.” It also means she and Harold will have ample opportunity to work together, which is good news to me.
I don’t even want to imagine TMNT without Santolouco anymore. Thanks to him, this title sports not only the best action sequences the franchise has ever had, but one of the best of any title, anywhere. Too often, even the most reputable artists on the best superhero series trend towards images that are either too static or too chaotic. Santolouco hits the range dead-center; the flow of the action almost foams with energy, but it’s perfectly channeled by Santolouco’s excellent, sensible storytelling. Those two pages of Angel taking down the turtle-bot should be passed out as a sample to all aspiring superhero artists. The long narrow panels tricks your eye into seeing time slowed down rather than frozen time; the larger, wider panels bring out the full, glorious impact of each destructive moment. Above all else, Santolouco’s lines are ever so slightly frayed to suggest movement, but clean enough that you’re never distracted or confused by extraneous marks or details. Also well worth noting is Pattison’s smooth, vivid colors, and letterer Shawn Lee’s wonderfully integrated sound effects, which become part of the visuals instead of obscuring them.
Conclusion: An unexpectedly breakthrough issue for two previously fringe characters, and a fantastic effort from the entire art team.
Grade: A-
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – An update on the state of Mr. O’Neil, post-Ooze: “[He’s] maybe even better than normal. The Ooze, Donnie, it’s…it’s like a miracle.” One irony-laden twist, coming up!
Grade
Conclusion