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TMNT: Mutanimals #2 [Review]

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Walt

mutanimals002Story: Paul Allor
Art: Andy Kuhn
Colors: Nick Filardi
Letters: Shawn Lee and Tom Long
Cover: Andy Kuhn, Nick Filardi
Edits: Bobby Curnow
Published by: IDW
Cover Date: March 2015
Cover Price: $3.99

While Slash and Hob scope out the Null corporation and find heightened security, Mondo and Herman have some downtime. Eventually their new friend–Mutagen Man–joins them, and as the group bonds, Mondo dubs Mutagen Man “Seymour Guts” since he doesn’t have a real name. Hob learns the location of the other mutants–he and Slash return for the rest of the group and launch an assault to save them. Unfortunately, this doesn’t go as well as hoped, which reverses the equation–instead of a group going in to save two, we’re left with two to save a group.

An earlier reference in the main TMNT book to “mutant animals” seemed a nice little reference to the classic Archie-published continuity, expanded and heightened by the use of the actual term “mutanimals.” Getting a mini-series for this “new” version of the characters has been a huge treat (at least conceptually). This issue, though–like the “mutant animals” reference–gives us a familiar adjective that for me totally made the whole issue worthwhile.

In the story, though we see the two mutants Hob set out to rescue, we’re not given the names. One looks like it COULD be a character I’m hoping for, but with other alterations for the current continuity as well as possible ownership things, I’m honestly not sure if we COULD see Man Ray or Ray Fillet in this series…same for Jagwar and Dreadmon or Wingnut and Screwloose.

So Mondo (Gecko) is the sole representative of that group of characters for me, and this “contemporary version” of the Mutanimals is a far cry from what I’d prefer–though the story itself is interesting and I definitely welcome continuation and expansion of the IDW TMNT-verse beyond just a single issue of the main title each month.

I don’t like that this is only a 4-issue arc…but then, that’s the “standard” and somewhat pigeon-holes stuff, making for shorter stories that maybe COULD be longer or have more ongoing plot threads/subplots. That said, this puts us to the halfway point, and we do meet the head of the Null corporation…something I’d feared would not happen at all or at least not within this series (or not til some epilogue or final-issue reveal).

While I definitely appreciate the notion of adding female characters to the TMNT-verse and recognize that named major female characters are quite rare historically in the property…I’m not a fan of this sort of changeup. Still, that’s a gut reaction and other than basically meeting the character and seeing what she does in this issue, we have no idea the actual origin and backstory and all that…and with two issues to go there’s still plenty of room for things to be developed and change my mind or clarify what I might be mis-assuming.

Visually I’m not terribly impressed with the issue…but as with the turtles themselves, it seems that one constant is the abundance of different visual depictions of the characters, and not all are necessarily going to be fully to my personal preferences. The art certainly gets across everything going on and I’m not left wondering at the action or any wonky anatomy or weird stuff like that.

I definitely enjoy seeing more of Hob and that while the character may be an antagonist to the turtles, he’s not some out and out villain…he’s like a Magneto of sorts, and that works well for me. I’m not used to a “smart” Slash nor a lack of the character seeking his palm tree…but I’m liking this take on the character.

I’m particularly eager to get the next issue to find out more about the two new mutants…and I’m quite curious at the future of this version of the Mutagen Man. I’d prefer the classics–Man Ray, Mondo, Wingnut and Screwloose, Jagwar, and Dreadmon–but given sufficent story space and development I could definitely see enjoying this new group and their dynamics quite well.

While one may not really have a lot of context for these non-TMNT mutant characters IN the TMNT universe without having read the main TMNT book, this does seem like it works well enough as its own thing as much as any “spin-off” or “tie-in” might. As a second issue, I’d certainly counsel grabbing the first…but unless you’re specifically seeking out the single issues and keeping up on a month-to-month basis that way, you’re just as well off waiting for the inevitable collected volume and get the whole story in one go. If you’re a fan of IDW‘s TMNT continuity, this is certainly a well worthwhile read.

_____________

The Adjective comes into play, behind the cut:

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Filed under: 2015 posts, 2015 Reviews, IDW Publishing, Mutanimals, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) #44 [Review]

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Walt

teenagemutantninjaturtlesidw044Attack on Technodrome (part four)

Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Cory Smith
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Cover: Cory Smith, Ronda Pattison
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Published by: IDW
Cover Date: March 2015
Cover Price: $3.99

It’s been a few months since I’ve covered an issue of this title–I think it was the end of the previous arc. Here we are at the end of the next arc–already! Though we’ve had Krang since the earliest issues, this arc and issue is where the “long arc” of stuff pays off.

The Leo, Raph, and Mikey tangle with some of Baxter’s flyborgs, before the scientist recalls them to make his escape…which leaves them free to get the mousers away from the Fugitoid…though this does not go over well with Krang. Meanwhile, Bebop and Rocksteady have been ordered to kill Donatello, and take great pleasure taking on the turtle and Metalhead. While the other turtles face Krang directly, Splinter is aided against Karai by Alopex and Nobody. Back on Burnow Island, Shredder’s mutants fail to help him, and escape…not realizing Baxter has designs on an alliance with their (probably now former) master. The turtles and Fugitoid end Krang’s plans for the Earth though they’re unable to prevent the island from being terraformed. The legacy of their battle is a space on Earth that can be a haven to surviving Utroms. While Honeycutt returns to Dimension X to see Krang answers for his crimes…the turtles return home to find that everyone was too late to save their brother.

Even long as the above summary is…it hardly does justice to the feeling I had reading this issue. I was expecting something big–I may have seen something hinting at a major event, or might’ve just felt like there’d “have to” be something big given all the “buildup” to the Technodrome activating and that it’d be a letdown if “all” that happened was that the turtles defeated Krang with no other lasting repercussions.

The art and writing together made for quite a scene between Bebop and Rocksteady vs. Donatello…and I honestly felt a bit sick reading it, at seeing Donnie take such an outright beating from the two. Gone are the overblown words and threats and no-one-actually-gets-hurt notion of the turtles facing the supposedly-dangerous lunkheads as we got throughout the ’80s/’90s animated series. Here, as I turned the pages I had a mental flash to Batman: A Death in the Family…exacerbated by the panel of Rocksteady’s hammer-swing quite looking like a crowbar. And though we don’t get detail, we get enough–the crack and crunch on the shell, and my realizion that I’d just been contemplating before that I’d never really read any TMNT story with any of the turtles truly having their shell damaged. They’ll be shown with scratches or cuts and such but the shell is generally shown deflecting a sword blade or some other object…but they’re not superhuman or invulnerable.

And we’re shown just enough to SEE that yeah…this is bad. VERY bad. Of course, that itself is made worse by the two talking over what they’d just done, remarking on the damage and what it looks like…definitely solidifying that it wasn’t just some “visual sound effect” and not just some visual angle.

And the end of the issue certainly suggests that the turtle family has been truly reduced by one…and yet no one comes out and says the “d-word” here, and I’m reminded of a key scene in the original Eastman/Laird series when Leo’d been horribly beaten by the foot and his near-lifeless body thrown through a window to the floor amidst the rest of the turtles. While mentally processing as I read the rest of the issue, I’d also thought immediately of the Image TMNT series, in which Donatello wound up a cyborg after a horrific accident all but killed him…the specifics remain a blind spot in my TMNT knowledge but given how much this series has drawn from prior incarnations of the property, I certainly have some expectation of where things can go from here…it’ll be the details and pace that are gonna hold my attention in a big way.

The immediacy of the issue–it’s the current issue as of this writing; it just came out this week; there’ve been no other new TMNT issues SINCE–certainly lends to a sense of importance by itself. Yet, I do truly think that in the long run, this may well be a key, defining issue in the series as well as moment for all the characters…something that’ll be referenced and relevant and to some degree inform the heart of the characters and the series for a good long time.

There’s not much “context” given, this is the fourth chapter of a four-part story, so it’s not particularly a jumping-on point. I certainly recommend the series, whether you backtrack to #41 and the start of this arc or pick up the entire series in collected format. Though I hurt for the characters, look forward to seeing how they get through, this remains one of my favorite comics being published currently by any company, and just about the longest I’ve kept up with any single series consistently on a monthly basis for such an extended time since the late-1990s.

While not the foundation/building blocks of the property, in terms of story quality, development, longevity, consistency, and quality…this is probably my favorite TMNT series, period…and after this issue I am all the more eager to see what comes, and even at the $3.99 price point, would likely enjoy weekly issues as long as the quality was maintained.

[ “The Scene” behind the cut. ]

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Filed under: 2015 posts, 2015 Reviews, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of March 18, 2015

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Walt

While not the largest week, this was certainly a largER week than I’d “prefer” these days for new comics.

weekly_haul_20150318a

I believe there are only two issues left of the Solar series to finish out…and only a couple more weeks on the DC Weeklies.

I “recognized” Secret Identities from enjoying the first issue last month, and with a handful of other #1s was itching to try something “new” for the sake of something “new.” I opted for Red One over Chrononauts (which was going to be my first choice) or even both.

There were a bunch of covers for Chrononauts…which, to me, means they have no need of me to support the title because frankly, they expect people out there to buy multiple copies, which will MORE THAN cover me purchasing #1. (Or by extension, #2 or #3 or #4….).

I flat-out did not buy to try the first issue of what was otherwise an interesting enough concept and title because I refuse to support some random title sporting so MANY VARIANT COVERS. I was going to buy it, until I noticed all the variants.

I’m also on the hunt for Warlord of Mars #0, and checked a couple comic shops for DC Comics Presents #31 and Nightwing (1990s) #30 with no luck, my interest in the latter two up thanks to listening to a podcast this morning; the WoM issue thanks to listening last week to an interview with writer Matt Brady.

I’ll likely resort to eBay or such this weekend on that one once I’ve checked a final shop.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Mighty Mutanimals Promo Ads from 1991

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Walt

Twenty-four years ago, after a number of characters were introduced in the pages of the Mirage-created/Archie-published Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, a group of mutant animal characters were put together as a group…

mighty_mutanimals_promo_01_450x689

We had several ads leading up to the group, as the group was to be given its own mini-series, a spin-off from the main TMNT Adventures title…

mighty_mutanimals_promo_03_450x689

The series was the “payoff” of a bunch of “mutant of the month” stories as well as following up on a plot element from earlier in the series…

mighty_mutanimals_promo_02_450x689

Krang had made a deal with Maligna, an alien bug queen from his own Dimension X to give her the Earth. When he was defeated, she still wanted the planet, and it fell to a group of mutant animals to stop the invasion.

While I know there is a new Mutanimals mini-series about to start from IDW, it has more than two decades of expectation to live up to. While I’ve been used to the turtles themselves being reinterpreted numerous ways, for the most part there’s only been one single incarnation of the Mutanimals, so the new stuff (for me) will be heavily compared to the “classic” stuff.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of January 28, 2015

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Walt

This was another appallingly huge week. THREE Valiants. TWO Ninja Turtles. The second-to-last Fire and Stone (Predator #4) of that mega-story.

weeklyhaul01282015a

Along with these, the usual three DC Weeklies, as well as Turok and a "random" $1 issue.

weeklyhaul01282015b

I also snagged a handful of 25-cent bin issues as well.

I’m really getting tired of the clustering…after months withOUT any TMNT Color Classics, we suddenly got two issues in as many weeks; and this is the second week of multiple TMNT comics. FIVE in two weeks…an I’ll hazard a guess that now there’ll be 2-3 weeks with NOTHING TMNT-related in single-issue format.

And of course…the Aric’s Butt issue of X-O Manowar that I’m actually surprisingly sour on…it was this or his knee and foot…where the cover wouldn’t be bad if it was a wraparound or gatefold…or the "interlocking" images were subsequent issues instead of VARIANTS of the SAME issue.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of January 21st, 2015

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Walt

This proved to be a rather ridiculously huge week with quite a bit of TMNT “clustering.”

weekly_haul_20150127a

Two Valiant books…priced the same, but The Valiant has a cardstock cover and is what they’re calling “Prestige Format” (what I expected to be squarebound like Superman: Speeding Bullets).

And THREE TMNT books. Counting the TMNT/Ghostbusters mini, I don’t get why these couldn’t be spaced out–about ONE per week.

I’m hoping that this “Color Classics vol. 3” is 15 issues…this first issue reprints the original TMNT #48, so I’m hoping #2 is 49 and #3 kicks off City at War.

weekly_haul_20150127b

The rest of the pile…the DC Weeklies, latest Bleeding Cool, and Magnus Robot Fighter. ElfQuest is a $1 reprint. And the DC Essential catalog for 2015.

I also snagged 18 quarter-bin issues…may or may not detail those later.

Filed under: 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

TMNT Revisited: TMNT Adventures Reprints, part 1

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Walt

tmntadventures_thereprints_02

Full Post at TMNT Revisited

TMNT Adventures: The Reprints, part 2

Filed under: The '90s Revisited, TMNT Adventures Revisited | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) #40 [Review]

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Walt

TMNT (IDW) #40 coverStory: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Mateus Santolouco
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Published by: IDW
Cover Price: $3.99

This issue gives us a brawl between Bebop & Rocksteady and the Turtles & Mutanimals, as well as Casey bonding with April’s father. All but three pages are the brawl, and while I normally wouldn’t consider myself a fan of all-fight issues (or issues this CLOSE to being “all-fight”), there’s enough characterization within the context of the brawl that I enjoyed it.

I’m getting a definite (nostalgic, perhaps) sense of Alopex as a stand-in for Ninjara, though “stand-in” may not be quite the wording I’m seeking. At the very least, seeing the way this current IDW TMNT continuity draws from seemingly “everything” that’s come before, I can’t imagine there’s not some influence from the Raph/Ninjara stuff (from the Archie TMNT Adventures) being drawn from in the current Raph/Alopex stuff.

I definitely appreciate the threat posed by this version of Rocksteady and Bebop–while they maintain the “dumb grunts” status that seems to have kept them so popular through the years, here they’re shown as the danger they really ought to–and can–be. They’re actually scary, and not ones that can be tricked into a cage or into knocking themselves out running into each other, etc (pick a random episode of the classic cartoon and how the turtles got out of being killed by ’em).

Amidst the brawl, we still get “moments” between various characters–Nobody and Alopex, Alopex and Raph, Splinter and Mondo Gecko, Mikey and Slash, etc. We see that these characters have more going on than just the brawl itself. Instead of paper-thin plot points we see how the battle is affecting the characters, and the various alliances…I just see a lot more “complexity” on display here than, say, in the classic TMNT cartoon or the comics adapting episodes of said cartoon. I also continue to LIKE the story-team of Eastman, Curnow, and Waltz over a single writer: I’m thoroughly enjoying this series, and attribute that to the team aspect and presumably more ideas being worked in and “tempered by committee” than we’d get following a single vision.

I also continue to REALLY enjoy Santolouco‘s art on this title. This look for the characters works very well to me and (perhaps for its immediacy) is probably my favorite contemporary look–especially for the overall consistency of the past number of issues.

The cover is a bit misleading and doesn’t really seem to indicate the issue’s story, but I have to admit it looks good in and of itself. I did have to look closer in the shop to make sure it wasn’t a variant, as it struck me as the sort of image that might be on a variant rather than this particular issue.

As the 40th issue, this series is getting “up there” in numbers–it’s hard to believe I started out and have kept up month to month with this title for forty issues now…but I look forward to this (ideally) making it to at least twice this number and perhaps the highest-numbered ongoing TMNT book ever in the 30+ year history of the property.

Also as the 40th issue, it’s another “divisible-by-4” number, which means “technically” the end of another arc based on the standard 4-issue collected volumes IDW insists on. Which means you’re probably better off holding for the collected volumes and jump in on the NEXT issue, or simply jumping in on #41 for the “start” of a new arc. But, following the single issues, certainly nothing to this that turns me off or seems like an issue worth skipping.

Filed under: 2014, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of October 22nd, 2014

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Walt

Another week, another haul…

weekly_haul_october_22nd_2014

Kinda “normalizing” a bit. Decided to try Predator: Fire and Stone #1 to give all 4 #1s a shot, though having realized they’re just all 4-issue minis, I figure I’ll wait for the 16-issue compendium/omnibus/whatever.

Giving DC a chance on all 3 weeklies, still…though I’m a bit iffy on World’s End. Already falling into the trap I did at the start with the other two in getting backed-up on several issues…though I suppose reading several issues at a time won’t be bad.

Continuing to quite enjoy Valiant, and TMNT, and Letter 44.

And as usual…quite a spread of titles/publishers…but clearly lacking in Marvel.

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The Weekly Haul – Week of October 15th, 2014

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Walt

While it could have been a small-ish week, this proved–yet again–to be another HUGE week, as far as my desires for a $10-$20 week are concerned.

weekly_haul_october_15th_2014a

Turok and Magnus both out, as well as Unity and Q2: Quantum and Woody for Valiant, both TMNT books from IDW, and the DC weeklies. I’m far enough behind on Futures End that I let that stay behind, with the intent I’ll catch up next week. Not likely at this point to catch up on the reading, so…c’est la vie.

weekly_haul_october_15th_2014b

And though I have several of them from the previous round of One Dollar Debut editions, snagged the various Valiant books. Store owner gave me the Valiant Universe Handbook free, and the others fell within my usual standing order of all $1/promo-priced books.

With the cover changes to the review blurbs, at least these are different-looking editions.

I usually despise variant covers…but these $1 editions I’ll let slide, BECAUSE they’re Valiant, and they’re not every-day editions.

The Action Philosophers is apparently the first chapter of a hardback due out next week…while it could be interesting, I’ve sorta had my eye on The Fifth Beatle for a bit, so if I buy anything from Dark Horse, that’s likely to be the one I go for.

Along with all these, I also picked up the “final” chapter of The Death of Wolverine, to read the thing for myself before various reviews and spoilers and such. I was rather disappointed, but at least that was my own thoughts/feelings without being “spoiled” on the “how” front.

$4.99 for a shiny cover…didn’t bother to count the pages, but seemed like very little story for the price, and unlike the recent DC 3D covers, this cover seemed to be an added element of the price, along with several pages as a “checklist” of the various variant covers for this miniseries.

I’ll just have to make darned sure I redeem the digital code so that part doesn’t go to “waste.”

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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