Story: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Dan Duncan
The Solicitation
It's a new year and the TMNT and Master Splinter look to the future even as they struggle to come to grips with past mysteries. Meanwhile, General Krang grows increasingly impatient with Baxter Stockman, who is prepared to unleash a horrific new weapon to assist Old Hob in his dark quest to return the turtles and their sensei to StockGen Research, where lab intern April O'Neil continues to suspect all is not what it seems.
Preview
The Story
Solicitation is semi accurate. The turtles do begin to wonder if they are who Master Splinter thinks they are - reincarnations of their former human selves from old Japan. While even the turtles have some doubters among their ranks, it is a nice way to show how they got their ninja skills and knowledge. Again, their mutation could be explained from both a scientific and a spiritual sense. Sorta like how Y: The Last Man never fully explained how the plague hit mankind, but it puts a couple of options out there for you to decide what you want to believe.
General Krang barely is mentioned in this issue. There is reference to an Army and its ties to Baxter Stockman, but nothing that comes out and says it. Stockman is working with Old Hob, and I like how Old Hob is being played as a not all powerful bad guy. Hob has some major faults, and is the perfect opening foil for the Turtles. If we had the all powerful Shredder here, and he lost badly to the Turtles after the first couple of issues the way that Hobs did, then I couldn't take Shredder seriously as a villain. But here we have Hobs, and he is shown to not be all powerful and knowledgeable, he is just a mutated cat out for revenge.
April makes a couple of panels of appearances in this comic. The only major development in her storyline is that her and Casey meet up. Unless Casey is some sort of agent for the Foot Clan, then her search went from point A to point A + one comic book panel.
The Art
Consistent as always from issue to issue. My one problem is with the last sequence, where Old Hobs has a surprise pulled on him. It seemed like it was one page too many that focused on it, and the art did very little to hide the reveal at the end. I would have instead had the panel were the red eyes all light up at the end when Stockman is giving the full length name of the creatures instead of that panel leading the sequence.
The Cover
I got the cover that showed the Turtles in the gun sights of a robot. It definitely caught my eye right away and was something that intrigued me. While this panel definitely doesn't reflect a scene from inside the comic, it definitely set a tone that left me wondering what it meant, and then made me shout out loud on the final page when I got it.
Grades
Words: 10/10
Pictures: 9/10 - almost perfect, the last sequence just could have been done better.
Recommend: Besides the page or two devoted to Casey and then when Casey and April meet up, a new reader could easily catch up where everything is at in this issue. Good starting point if you missed the first storyline.
Buy Next Issue: Sold!
Previous Issues
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4
Three Issue Trial
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