The Good
Usually, I'd end the "good" section of the review with this nugget of information, but the Shredder redesign is so awesome! There are bits and pieces of the original there, but the character gets an updated overhaul making him look ominous and threatening. I couldn't get the giant smile off my face when I saw him appear in this issue.
This is actually a great jumping on point for new readers. The opening to the issue actually starts off with April explaining everything that's happened to the team up to this point. You meets all the key characters right away, and the plots are all summed up. This is a great kick off for people that wanted to get into the book before, but felt they would be lost. (Or you can buy the trades!)
Tons of great action in this issue as the Turtles and friends head to Stockgen to break out Splinter and end up getting into a scuffle with a giant robot. The coolest part of this fight scene was seeing Raphael and Casey work together, since they've quickly become friends and made a great bond, since Raphael helped out Casey earlier in the series. It's also refreshing to see someone actually get stabbed with a weapon, since the turtles most of us grew up with, on the campy television show never actually stabbed a living being.
As I've said before, the art work in this series is fantastic. Dan Duncan does the art and Ronda Pattison does the colors on the book and it is fantastic, especially with the redesign of a certain character I mentioned earlier. I love the style and the way the colors really pop off the page, and even the little things like that the Turtles are all different shades of green.
The Bad
My only problem is that this issue refers back a lot to the TMNT Microseries also going on at IDW, and to be honest, the books are a bit hard to get a hold of. On top of that, I may not want to read a whole bunch of TMNT books at the same time. What if I just want to read one? (I'd read them all actually...)
The Verdict
Is this IDW's best book? Yes. Is it one of the most enjoyable on-going series in comics? Top 10 for me without a doubt. This series is awesome. The redesign of one of the TMNT characters was fantastic, and it made me extremely happy. This issue is also a great place for new readers to jump on since the first page really catches everyone up. There's tons of great action in this awesome story, and once again, the art is fantastic.
The only downside was that this issue refers to a few microseries comics also put out by IDW, which are a bit harder to get a hold of, unless you've already got it in your pullbox.
Overall, just go out and buy this already! Seriously. It's awesome and well worth your time.