Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series Raphael: Review!

This comic did barely anything for me.

In the tradition of the classic comics, this one-shot/micro-series has a stand-alone tale involving Raphael with Casey Jones tagging along.  They beat up some bad guys and discover *gasp* ANOTHER MUTANT.

I am not a fan of the late 80s/early 90s show.  I have good memories of it growing up, but, looking back, nearly every character was a mutant.  This made the Turtles far from special.  This comic is basically a gigantic throwback to the old show by once again having a new mutant (mutant of the month, everyone?), and, on top of that, throwing in Bebop and Rocksteady.  The whole concept of a bazillion mutants running around without the normal inhabitants of New York City freaking out is beyond me.  Plus, everyone knows how to fight.  It’s impressive!  The last serviceable thing the comic does is hint at Shredder returning.  I believe they should wait a long time before going into the Shredder mythos and build him up as the ultimate evil ninja-thing.  This is just a teaser, though.  So, we’ll see how it plays out.

The overall plot is boring and frustrating (unless you actually like the first television show and enjoy all of the nods towards it).  The writing is too dramatic and stilted relying on way too many caption boxes for a character who probably does not think to himself all that often.  Raphael’s about action, not words.  Or, in the very least, those words should show off his character rather than just announce things (“So you wanna find the secret HQ.  Play damsel in distress, win a magic ticket. Or maybe… you’re an errand-girl”).  On another note, did anyone else notice that the text is really, really small?  I have good eyesight, but sometimes it was a struggle.

The cover and some of the interior art are the most appeasing things about this issue.  There are some interesting angles and compositions, but the backgrounds are less than robust.  The colors by Fabio Mantovani are fantastic with great lighting effects and texture.  The colors really help the art pop and are probably the best thing about this issue.

If you are a fan of the early show and not a Mirage purist, then you will probably enjoy this comic.  Sure, I’m hung up on the previous set of series under Mirage and should be more open to this new take on the characters.  But, it just seems like old ideas are being rehashed in unoriginal ways.  It looks nice, but it remains rather stagnant.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4: Review!

Despite all of the inconsistencies, this issue pleases.

In particular, the story gains some momentum and solves a few of the mysteries that were begun in the first issue.  It’s clever in reuniting some characters with one another.  And, some of my initial issues with the story regarding their training and back history seem to be on their way to be answered (looks like next issue).  I don’t think they’ll do too well in answering them because they seem rather outlandish (even within the actual concept).  Overall, this was a step in the right direction.

However, the writing seems far from brilliant.  It’s predictable and been said before.  Nothing flashy but nothing quite original.  There are some clever ideas, but it does not really spark the fan inside of me.  The ending was precious, though.  I’ll give it that.  I suppose the comic made me care about the characters even though I did already.  And, I’m rather enjoying Old Hob.

The art has remained fairly inconsistent throughout the series.  Sometimes, it’s beautiful with fluid action and momentum.  Other times, it’s stilted and contrived.  There’s actually a part during the fight scene that takes up the majority of the issue where Raph punches two different guys right after each other in almost exactly the same way/pose.  Some of the pages also seem very rushed and more jagged than others.  One page can differ dramatically from the next.  More than likely, this may be a combination of Kevin Eastman’s layouts and Dan Duncan’s art.

The comic does deliver on its promise of showing ninja turtles fighting while forwarding its plot, but there’s nothing spectacular about it.