Quick Rating: Not Bad
Story Title: Nobody Does it Better
As Raph and Casey spend some time together, a figure out of their past returns…changed.
Script: Dan Berger
Art: Jim Lawson
Letters: Eric Talbot
Cover: Jim Lawson & Steve Lavigne
Frontispiece: Michael Dooney
Publisher: Mirage Publishing
This issue gives us a tale of an apparently “new” version of the character known as “Nobody.” This character has a history with the TMNT, going back quite a number of years–more than half their existence, really. Yet, he’s made very few appearances (one should note that there’s a handy recap/intro on the inside front cover: enough to remind you of the past appearances/stories if you’ve read them, or just enough to give you a bit of context like the opening text of A New Hope gave before launching you into the story).
We come upon Raph and Casey in the wee hours of the morning–Casey having had a few too many drinks, Raph playing the part of the good friend…as they meet Nobody, who has been ejected from an alien the US government had allied with years ago. While Nobody explains how he came to be present, another alien attacks our group, and ultimately, Nobody has a new status quo while Raph and Casey wind down their night.
This issue’s art is provided by Jim Lawson, the regular artist on the core TMNT book. This story itself is set between-issues of that series, but has a great visual consistency by Lawson‘s work. Berger‘s story actually feels like it goes alongside the Laird-penned pages of TMNT…and given the rarity of new stories from Laird himself, this chapter set within that continuity is extremely welcome.
The visuals, unfortunately, do seem to suffer a little bit from lack of color–there are points that things blend together, and a splash page that I felt like I had to study to make much sense of what was happening (I gave up and trusted to context on that point). Other than that, Lawson‘s version of the characters–especially Raphael’s mutated appearance–is one I associate very much with my enjoyment of a number of TMNT stories.
The recap page did a lot for me in establishing context–I’m almost entirely unfamiliar with Nobody as anything other than some throw-away character that–in retrospect–I actually have read before, though didn’t recall by name.
If you’re a fan of the TMNT–or specifically Casey and Raph–or just this series, this is another par-for-the-course issue. If you’re not familiar with the characters or primarily enjoy the turtles-as-a-team in-action…or are otherwise new to the TMNT-verse, this doesn’t make a good jump-on point.
Ratings:
Story: 3/5
Art: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Filed under: Classic Reviews | Tagged: Comic Reviews, Dan Berger, Eric Talbot, Jim Lawson, Michael Dooney, Mirage, Ninja Turtles, Steve Lavigne, Tales of the TMNT, TMNT | Leave a comment »
Comic Reviews by Walt 