Time for the Turtles and the Foot to move forward.
Splinter and the Turtles are home after barely surviving and escaping their first real battle with the Shredder. The family reflects on their conflict but they still must move forward. Meanwhile Shredder is reflecting on the battle as well, and realizes he has to make a move for the Foot Clan's own good. -summary
Collecting TMNT issues 13 - 16 and Written by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz. This fourth volume is more of a cool down story that focuses on revealing new threats plus further pushes developing storylines. It's far less action packed than the last volume especially which may be an issue for some people. Fortunately, it still does manage to at least handle all of its characters properly.
The characters are handled with so much care making everyone feel important to the story. It seems as though if anyone was killed along the way, the story will just never be the same. Splinter is one of the highlights as he carefully explains the threat of Shredder and makes it clear that the Turtles will have to kill him eventually. This really isn't something that they can drag out. Shredder not only understands the threat of the Turtles, but knows that it's time for his Foot Clan to evolve, and the best way is to get himself a new second-in-command. Also a new threat enters the Turtles lives giving them a fight they won't soon be forgetting.
There is plenty of story progression in this volume and the plot is well paced keeping things entertaining in different ways. The one glaring weakness is definitely Andy Kuhn's artwork. The character designs feel quite generic with very little good details and the lines can be far too dark. While the previous books had dark, brooding like artwork to reflect the setting and enhanced the atmosphere. This feels dark more due to lack of talent. The action panels feel to be a step down yet they still work towards developing the new threat as a true powerhouse. It's not butt ugly I don't think, I just advise to expect something different.
Overall this is a decent enough book that is actually newbie friendly. One can start here and move forward but I highly suggest otherwise. Definitely start from the first volume because this is still an amazing series with a brilliant beginning. To those whom have followed up to this point, still come in expecting some above average TMNT storytelling.
Pros: Story progression is looking good, characters are still high point
Cons: Artwork is below average