Return to New York, book 1.5: Zog
Plot: Eric Talbot and Jim Lawson
Script/Pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks/Tones/Letters: Eric Talbot
Frontispiece: Michael Dooney
Cover: Jim Lawson, Eric Talbot and Steve Lavigne
Published by: Mirage Publishing
Refusing to wait for his brothers, Raphael returns to the NYC sewers, where he promptly encounters a Triceraton. Upon waking from the beating inflicted, he finds himself prisoner of Zog, along with a Foot ninja. Though technically enemies, the Turtle and Foot realize they’re not gonna get free of this alone, and must work together…though after a bit of cooperation, their relationship tanks pretty quickly. When their captor returns, Raph takes advantage of the alien dinosaur’s deteriorating mental state by donning the skull of the dead Triceraton commander. With this guise, he convinces Zog that he’s needed for a final mission that involves helping the turtles.
I can’t be certain without digging out the original Return to New York arc…but this reads as slightly more refined than that. But then, it’s coming nearly two decades later, and the Mirage talent has had plenty of time to grow and refine their work since the original story. Also, this is written by Lawson & Talbot rather than Eastman & Laird, so has that slightly different feel. Despite that, this does not feel out of place in and of itself, and I greatly enjoyed the return to such a key story. The “voice” of the characters fits, and while the opening pages provide some context and serve to differentiate this from the early TMNT issues, there’s nothing that I can recall that this contradicts.
The Lawson/Talbot art seems pretty much standard-TMNT to me…really, the standard, to where other artists’ work on the characters has been the variance and different interpretations. While the visuals don’t exactly match what I recall of the original story, that’s fine by me. The art fits the story, conveys what’s going on, and it’s the story itself that makes the issue fit, the art just conveys this specific chapter.
This seems a fitting send-off to this long-running title. Though this is the final issue, its predecessor felt like much more of a final issue. This fits between-issues of the 1980s Return to New York arc when the turtles returned from Northampton and confronted the resurrected Shredder after their sound defeat months earlier. 
One of the best final touches to the issue is that rather than ship with different editions, each with a different cover (as virtually every other comic publisher seems wont to do these days), this issue ships with a “variant version” on the front, and the “standard” cover on the back…and Mirage gets loads of credit from me for that. This “variant” cover takes on the trade dress of the Return to New York arc–this’ll fit nicely in the longbox with that story and not look out of place–while the standard cover on the back carries the contemporary trade dress/logo.
This issue may whet your appetite for the full Return to New York story if you’re just checking this out or otherwise are not familiar with this key story from the original Mirage run of TMNT. If you’re already familiar with that story, this should be that much more of a treat.
I wouldn’t recommend this issue as a single issue to start with…but otherwise, it’s well worth tracking down…particularly if you’re familiar with the early Mirage TMNT stories.
Story: 7.5/10
Art: 7.5/10
Overall: 8/10
Filed under: Comic Reviews 2010, INDEPENDENT/SMALL-PRESS PUBLISHERS, Tales of the TMNT (Mirage) | Tagged: Comic Reviews, Eric Talbot, Jim Lawson, Michael Dooney, Mirage, Mirage Publishing, Mirage Studios, Ninja Turtles, Raphael, Return to New York, Steve Lavigne, Tales of the TMNT, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, Triceraton, Zog | Leave a comment »
Though I dabbled briefly in buying some of the newer comics as they were released, the ridiculous price ($8/issue!) Gemstone was charging for the books being geared toward collectors instead of readers quickly drove me away from the monthly releases. I did, however, pick up a couple of TPBs of Carl Barks’ Greatest DuckTales Stories (originally published in the Uncle Scrooge title, that later served as the basis for episodes of the cartoon), The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and a couple other books that were quite enjoyable.
I expect DuckTales to make for a very enjoyable read in collected-edition format, and same for Darkwing Duck (and with a story title of The Duck Knight Returns and an inside-cover/title-page image in homage to the classic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns…I would absolutely buy a collected edition if they use that as the cover!)
Comic Reviews by Walt 