By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
We haven’t featured any street art in this space until now. Frankly, this 8-bit style rendering of the TMNT based off the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie poster was too good to pass up. Johan Karlgren brings the image to life, as he has so many others, in his own unique style. (Hat-tip to TMNT_WIZ for the find.)
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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #135
AUTHOR: Sophie Campbell, Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (Story Consultants)
ARTISTS: Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: December 7, 2022
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
This might be the first time in the decade-plus long history of this TMNT comic that I’m not enjoying myself. Which is a shame, as the art by Fero Pe and Ronda Pattison is about as strong as it’s ever been. It just feels like they’re lost in the woods on this “Armageddon Game” story. Between the three books (Armageddon Game and The Alliance being the other two), everything feels very disjointed and convoluted. It’s very uncharacteristic of this book.
And this story is supposed to stretch into the spring? *groans*
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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Armageddon Game #3
AUTHOR: Tom Waltz
ARTISTS: Vincenzo Federici, Alex Sanchez (Inker), Matt Herms (Colorist), Jake M. Wood (Letterer). Variant cover by Ray Anthony Height & Gigi Dutriex.
RELEASED: December 7, 2022
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
Jennika looks a little pouty, on that cover doesn’t she? I mean, I know things aren’t really going her way at the moment, but c’mon now.
I still feel lost in the woods with this whole Armageddon Game thing. We’ve got some of our heroes handling business on Earth, and then some of them in space. But what are we doing in space? It feels like all the real potential drama is happening planetside, and we’re filling space in…well, space.
The silver lining? We now have Cudley in the IDWverse. (Google him, kids.)
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #134
AUTHORS: Sophie Campbell, Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (Story Consultants)
ARTISTS: Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 9, 2022
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
Fero Pe draws a damn good Casey Jones. He draws a damn good TMNTverse as a whole, to be honest.
This issue raises an interesting question. We’ve seen these four imposter Turtles attack Mayor Stockman, right? So how many other mutant Turtles did the big mutagen bomb create? We know about Jennika, obviously. But there could definitely be more. Leo, Don, Raph, and Mike aren’t the only mutant turtles in the world anymore. So what does that mean for them going forward?
Despite the cover, no Krang in this issue. Just sayin’.
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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Armageddon Game – The Alliance #1
AUTHOR: Erik Burnham
ARTISTS: Roi Mercado, William Soares (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 9, 2022
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
We see the events of this issue from Karai’s perspective. That’s nice to see, as she hasn’t gotten a lot of focus lately. That’s an advantage of this story having such a wide scope.
We also gain a little bit of insight into our four imposter Turtles. We can flat out say they’re imposters at this point, can’t we?
The Foot Clan’s training facility is apparently in Queens. Is that a weird place to put it? Or do I just not know New York City well enough? Maybe Queens is crawling with ninjas…
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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #2
AUTHOR: Erik Burnham
ARTISTS: Tim Lattie, Sarah Myer (Colorist), Jake M. Wood (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 2, 2022
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
This issue feels even more like an episode of the cartoon than the last one. Which is to say that Burnham, Lattie, and this crew are doing their job well. You know a throwback book like this is working when you can hear the voice actors as you’re reading.
It all feels faithful and fittingly cartoony. We’ve got Shredder and Krang bickering like an old married couple, Raph making bad puns, and a crowd-surfing rock monster! Raph and Mikey even break the fourth wall at one point! Vernon’s facial expressions are also a joy.
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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
I’m not sure whether cartoonist Shaun Yeo intended to evoke the look of the original black and white TMNT comic books with this piece. But he did, didn’t he?
Granted, he made it his own. If you look at the rest of his portfolio, this looks like a Shaun Yeo piece. But it’s got just enough Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in it to feel like a throwback. And a quality one at that.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
As far as toy photography is concerned, those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie figures from NECA are like the gift that keeps on giving.
This image from @dr_mumbles recreates a moment from the film where Splinter is comforting Raphael, telling him, “I am here, my son.” It’s a fine shot in that regard. But what I really dig is how Splinter is lit. He’s cast in white light, which suggests he might be dead. I like that idea of Splinter watching over his son from beyond the realm of the living.
Granted, it also helps that Splinter is dead in the IDW comic books right now. I say “right now” because we know he’ll be back…
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #133
AUTHORS: Sophie Campbell, Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (Story Consultants)
ARTISTS: Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: October 12, 2022
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series has always played the long game, to an extent. For more than a decade now it’s been great about planting storytelling seeds, setting things up for the future, etc. It’s one of the book’s greatest strengths.
But this “Armageddon Game” story is one of the rare occasions that I would accuse the series of going too slow. We’re several issues in, and while we’ve gotten our inciting incident, it feels like the story has stalled. I’m not sure if they’re dragging things out, or if they’re just going at a very, very deliberate pace…
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***
TITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Armageddon Game #1
AUTHOR: Tom Waltz
ARTISTS: Vincenzo Federici, Matt Herms (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer). Variant cover by Kevin Eastman.
RELEASED: September 28, 2022
By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder
This issue makes it apparent how wide the scope of this Armageddon Game story is. It touches every major character (a lot of minor ones too) introduced into IDW’s TMNTverse since the series’ introduction in 2011. Even as someone who’s followed that universe since its inception, the scope of this story is a little intimidating. I get the sense there’s going to be a lot to follow here…
And yet, by the end of this issue things start to get interesting. So I can’t say I won’t be reading along.
I love that Krang/Leatherhead hybrid design, by the way.
Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.
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