sweatboy's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 review

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    An origin with a twist

    The story happens in 3 sections. We start with action, no boring entry to the plot, (which i think is a great way to start reading something) and explaining what just happened in the next couple of pages mainly surrounding 2 kids that just met, one human, one mutant. And very cleverly through a question that serves as a segue, we enter a flashback, (which is one part of a series of flashbacks that we see in every issue till it's done). The flashback, in turn, ends sliding smoothly into another part of the story where we meet the Turtles and Master Splinter, MINUS ONE! And then we return to the 2 people we started with for official introductions.

    Now here's something different. Over the years, the Turtle's origins have been explained differently. The Movie, the Fred Wolf cartoon, some of the packs that contained the toys, they all had a version of the Turtle origin. The movie was actually the same as the original comic's (or close) where TGRI chemicals apparently mutated 4 pet turtles and a RAT who in turn was Hamato Yoshi's pet (minus the Daredevil fan reference and the Utroms that would be introduced later) that scratched a young Shredder's eye, while the cartoon had Yoshi himself become Splinter and in the toy packs, was depicted pouring the mutagen into the sewers.

    But here, the turtles don't belong to a random young boy, but someone very close to the whole Turtle mythos. Someone who has been around in every incarnation and has been a VERY integral part of the family. In a way, i think it's great, but this conflicts with the older versions where the revised version's owner (of not only the 4 turtles but also of the rat Splinter) blacked out twice when she met the mutants. But this version is awesome too because April loves Splinter and the guys from much earlier. This extends their bonds back by a few years. The relationship between another human that maybe as close to the family, and the brother who meets him first, is further strengthened as well. I think this defines much of the family aspect of the whole TMNT deal.

    Of course, who am i to argue when the lead author credited there is one half of the original creative team from 20+ years ago? These ideas may well have been around from the days Eastman and laird were brainstorming back then. The art is also great, some of the Turtles look thinner than i'm used to, but you can tell the brothers apart by skin colours alone, (since they're all still wearing the red bandanas they're supposed to have in their early days, or in the case of lone Raph, none at all) but their personalities too are emphasized, which really is the most interesting part of the mutant quartet. All in all, i think this issue (and this IDW reboot) looks pretty good, holding on to bits of the past but having new substance for readers to enjoy.

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