Tag Ronda Pattison

A TMNT #139 Micro-Review – “I Know You Wish For This to Be Over…”

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 139, cover, April 2023, Fero PeTITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #139
AUTHORS: Sophie Campbell, Kevin Eatman & Tom Waltz (Story Consultants)
ARTISTS: Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: April 26, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Kitsune, early in this issue: “I know you wish for this to be over, and so do I.”

This whole Armageddon Game story? You have no idea, lady.

The Turtles learn some more meta-physical, extra-dimensional stuff in this issue. It results in a big exposition dump early on where the returning Kitsune essentially has to explain what it all means. On the upside, we then get some pretty cool splash pages, each featuring an individual Turtle. I don’t think I’ve ever complained about Fero Pe and Ronda Pattison’s art. Just the story they wound up in…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A TMNT #138 Micro-Review – “Gettin’ Way Too Big For Us”

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT 138, variant cover, March 2023, Kevin Eastman, Sophie CampbellTITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #138
AUTHORS: Sophie Campbell, Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (Story Consultants)
ARTISTS: Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer). Variant cover by Eastman & Campbell.
RELEASED: March 22, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Raph has a line early in this issue: “This is gettin’ way too big for us, Leo.” That feels like a thesis statement for this Armageddon Game stuff at large. I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier to see a TMNT story wrapping up.

On the plus side, I’m still really enjoying Fero Pe’s work. Ronda Pattison compliments him very well, as she’s done for virtually all the artists she’s worked with on this series. I’m hoping he sticks around post-Armageddon Game.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A TMNT #137 Micro-Review – Storylines Converging

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT 137, variant cover, February 2023, Kevin EastmanTITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #137
AUTHOR: Sophie Campbell, Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (Story Consultants)
ARTISTS: Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer). Variant cover by Eastman & Campbell.
RELEASED: February 15, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Great variantscover by Eastman and Campbell. One of my favorites the series has had in awhile, despite Casey Jones not actually being in the issue…

Storylines seems to be starting to converge in this big Armageddon Game story, as four of our five Ninja Turtles are now back together. That’s a good thing, as I’m dying for us to have a more focused narrative. Great art notwithstanding, this story continues to be a big mess.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A TMNT #136 Micro-Review – A Game of Thrones Connection?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

**This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT 136, cover, January 2023, Fero PeTITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #136
AUTHORS: Sophie Campbell, Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (Story Consultants)
ARTISTS: Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: January 18, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

No Casey Jones in this issue, contrary to what the cover might have you believe. *sigh*

This “Armageddon Game” story is like the TMNT equivalent of Game of Thrones, only there’s no gratuitous sex or violence. And without that, what do we have? Great characters, sure. But we’ve also got a lot of story elements in play at once. And you practically need to read with a notebook to keep it all straight.

Fero Pe continues to impress with the art, though. So at least there’s that.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A TMNT: The Armageddon Game – The Alliance #3 – A One-Two Punch

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT The Armageddon Game The Alliance 3, cover, January 2023, Roi MercadoTITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Armageddon Game – The Alliance #3
AUTHORS: Juni Ba, Erik Burnham
ARTISTS: Ba, Roi Mercado, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), William Soares (Colorist), Jake M. Wood (Letterer). Cover by Mercado.
RELEASED: January 4, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This is far and away the best issue to come out of this Armageddon Game storyline yet. Juni Ba’s writing and art on the main story (along with Ronda Pattison’s colors) are a tremendous change of pace, delivering a great character story for Alopex. Then Burnham and Mercado’s back-up makes for a great one-two punch.

Mind you, I’m still not enthralled with Armageddon Game as a whole. But this the first issue from the storyline that I’ve enjoyed from start to finish.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A TMNT #135 Micro-Review – Lost in the Woods

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT 135, cover, December 2022, Fero PeTITLE: 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*

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A TMNT #134 Micro-Review – The Other Mutant Turtles

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT 134, cover, 2022, Fero PeTITLE: 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’.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A TMNT #133 Micro-Review – The Long (and Slow) Game

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT 133, cover, 2022, Fero PeTITLE: 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.

A TMNT #132 Micro-Review – Into the Fire

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT 132, cover, 2022, Pablo TunicaTITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #132
AUTHOR: Sophie Campbell, Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (Story Consultants)
ARTISTS: Pablo Tunica, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: September 7, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

As fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie will recognize, this issue calls back pretty heavily to the campfire scene from that film. We’ve got a very similar scene, complete with lines plucked directly from the movie. And of course, there’s the cover.

Most of it hits me in the feels, as I love TMNT: The Movie. But they might have laid it on a little thick for my taste. In other words, maybe a few too many recycled movie lines. Even with something as great as TMNT: The Movie, its possible to tip your hat too many times.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

TMNT: The Armageddon Game – Opening Moves #2 Micro-Review – Villain Tour

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TMNT Armageddon Game Opening Moves 2, cover, 2022, Fero PeTITLE: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Armageddon Game – Opening Moves #2
AUTHOR: Tom Waltz
ARTISTS: Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison (Colorist), Shawn Lee (Letterer)
RELEASED: August 24, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Shredder concludes what I’ll call his “villain tour” in this issue, as we’re apparently preparing to finally get the “Armageddon Game” storyline underway. Is it just me, or have we been waiting on this story to start for a couple of years now?

Fero Pe continues to impress. His work feels a little bit like a throwback to what we saw in the early days of the series from the likes of Dan Duncan and Ben Bates. And of course, Ronda Pattison and Shawn Lee provide great consistency between this issue and the main series.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.