Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may just be the biggest part of my childhood. Those heroes in a half-shell have had a long and storied career, but despite trying several times to break-through into the hearts and minds of newer generations, I'm not sure the turtles have been all that successful.

And maybe because of this, those turtle boys find themselves going back to their roots, with a new comic book series penned by series co-creator Kevin Eastman that seeks to YET AGAIN establish the origins of the TMNT. It is, for the most part, successful.

• THE GOOD

If there's anybody you want to be writing your Turtle story, one of the creators of the characters themselves is who you want. Eastman has a flair for writing the absurdly ludicrous ideas of having domestic turtles mutated into large humanoids and learn ninjutsu in a pulpy/gritty tone that makes the whole thing oddly plausible. This is essentially the re-telling of the origin story once again, but the changes that Eastman makes to the basic formula are filled with delicious nuggets or reference and foreshadowing to all kinds of Turtle lore that fans are going to love.

Keeping with the "new, but old" feel of this issue is the artwork by Dan Duncan. His rough pencils fit right in with the pulpy action, and the darker colors reinforce the feel of the darker story the evinces the feel of the Daredevil-inspired stories that spawned the original Turtle books themselves.

• THE BAD

As much promise as this first issue shows, I get a vibe that perhaps Eastman and co-writer Tom Waltz are trying to straddle the line too much. The reason this book was so readable for me because I was intimately familiar with the source material, and therefore could follow leaps in logic and found the references in the story meaningful. I'm not sure a new reader or (if they exist) someone who had no idea what a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is are going to find this initial offering so inviting. Of course, the changes made by Eastman also threaten to alienate long-time fans of the series, but that remains to be seen. Also, although the turtles themselves look great, as do all the anthropomorphic animal characters, the artwork stumbles a bit on human characters. It's never bad, just the change in style can be a bit jarring.

• THE VERDICT

Only time will tell if this TMNT series gets to live out its full potential. It may be trying to do too many things to find an audience that just doesn't exist. Still, existing turtle fans can feel comfort in knowing that this is classic TMNT with changes that leave the future wide-open for more exciting story-telling. People who don't know about the series already may also enjoy the ludicrous pulp they pick up from this IDW title. There's plenty of turtle power here to recommend this book to the curious.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nos trae a las famosas tortugas mutantes en una nueva interpretación más cerca de la primera interpretación de los personajes antes que fueran famosos por sus películas y distintas series animadas. Así que en este primer issue nos encontramos a las tortugas con Spliter enfrentando a un grupo liderando por un gato mutante. Luego de la pelea un personaje siente un vacio. Mientras tanto nos presentan un poco de los orígenes de los personajes.

Al principio considere esto un issue bueno pero cuando volví a releerlo varias veces sentí que nada paso aquí. Nos presentan unas cuantas cosas que nos dejan en el aire para las demás issues. El arte me gusto ya que es un estilo diferente y además mucho mejor que el del arte original. Las personas se ven bien, las tortugas se ven bien. Las peleas se ven bien. Pero tuve un poco de problema para distinguir más a los las tortugas ya que todos usan cintas rojas como parte del clan. No sé si realmente lo de identificarlo se origino en las caricaturas pero hay que esperar. El dialogo hace su trabajo pero hace su labor para ir introduciendo ciertos personajes. En fin, es bueno el issue ya que es algo un poco distinto a la serie animada. La última serie animada han tocado algunos temas un poco maduros. Pero no había mucho contenido y esperare como la historia se desarrolle en el futuro.

If anyone even closely knows me, they have probably experienced my incredible love for the Ninja Turtles. Particularly, I’m a fan of the older comics. I have artwork from Jim Lawson, Peter Laird, Michael Dooney, Dan Berger and others hanging up in my tiny, college-living room, I have read nearly every TMNT book that has come out (excusing the Archie series) – I own almost all of them. So, a new Ninja Turtles series has come out, and boy was I excited.

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles satisfies the reader. It’s a mixture of the new and the old with many easter eggs and cute little additions thrown in here and there for the devoted reader (me) to catch. Dan Duncan’s art is energetic despite the lack of backgrounds and you get the feel for the characters right off the bat. The telling scene when April O’Neil names the turtles (pre-mutation) really hits home and I enjoyed it.

The comic dives right into the action as the Turtles face off against a human-like cat minus one of their own, Raphael. They fight and we learn their origins. At the end, we learn that Raphael is wandering the streets (for what reason is still unclear) but still stands up for what is right.

Of course, for the diehard fan, there are some problems. The biggest thing that I could not fathom was how these turtles could mutate and become ninjas within 18 months. It takes years to be a ninja and even in the original series they had 15 years under their belt before fighting the Shredder. Another thing that really bothered me was how many mutants we’re probably going to be running into. I liked the original series because the Turtles were unique. There existed only 5 mutated characters in the comic (until Leatherhead came along) and they fought against humans. They were champions for the oppressed but could not be known. So, when the lead villain, Old Hob, shows up as a mutated cat… well, it’s a harder sell for me (I know, I know) because it is so similar to the 80s/90s television show where everything was a mutant.

The writing also seems like it was trying too hard. It’s way too epic when the Turtles are fighting, and way too obvious when Chet, the scientist, is trying to hit on April. (I get it… he’s nervous… he doesn’t have to stutter every sentence). There’s a jerkiness to the writing that is hard to pin down, but it just does not have that magical flow.

Nevertheless, the comic delivers on its promise of introducing new readers to the Turtles in a fun way. I’ve read it a few times and I still crack a smile here and there. Overall, it’s worth picking up and is easily accessible to everyone.

As a kid I loved the Ninja Turtles (who didn’t?), so I decided to pick this guy. And it did not disappoint. I really like the fact that Kevin Eastman is directly involved in this.

Good:

It starts of strong with a showdown between Splinter, Mike, Don, and Leo against a new villain ‘Old Hob’, with Raphael noticeably absent.

Michelangelo gets in a few quick one-liners this issue which brought back memories of the old cartoon show I grew up with- but not too over the top slapstick/goofy, which I liked.

We start to get the Turtle’s origin story via flash backs where and the Turtles are just pets in a science lab of sorts, where April O’Niel works as a student.

In end of this issue we also get see Raph meets a young man presumably Casey Jones. So it’s good to see that a lot of the old characters are still going to be there.

Bad:

Nothing (other than I have to wait for issue#2)

Verdict:

It’s a new take on the Turtles by an old writer of the Turtles, and it’s great.

I couldn't be more excited that Kevin Eastman is writing Turtles again. I'm a longtime fan of the series and think no one captures them like he does.

That being said, I love this re-imagining. I'm not going to compare it to the original series because there's no point, but I will say I think you'll enjoy it more if you're familiar with the old stories. I think casual fans with just a general knowledge of the Turtles will be able to jump right in as well.

Dan Duncan's artwork is a great fit and he has some really awesome panels in here. He gives everything a bit of a coarseness that just works with the overall feel of the book.

I hope Eastman stays on board for a while and that this is just the beginning of a long running series!