Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #23

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #23 

Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, & Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Mateus Santolouco with Dan Duncan, Ross Campbell, Andy Kuhn, Ben Bates, & Kevin Eastman

Solicitation & Preview

Review
I hate the old "brainwashed" addition to any story. What is the point of it? Are you just trying to have your hero character do bad things and have an excuse that "hey, they were mind controlled at the time, so it don't count" shtick?

More or less, character become brainwashed in an instant or off panel. The only reason while I have some respect for Leonardo's brainwashing in this issue is because it was done it a way that is tasteful. We actually go through the brainwashing with him, which is why this instance of brainwashing the hero gets some respect from me.

Kitsune, who performs the brainwashing of Leonardo, acts upon the insecurities of a teenager burdened with too much responsibility. It starts to make logical sense why Leonardo would chose to side with Shredder towards the end of the process. I also liked the fact that we got past turtle artists to cover the brainwashing parts of the comic where we go inside Leo's mind. For an incident where Dan Duncan wrote the original story, he comes back to lend art duties for the altered version of that scene, and so on and so forth with the other artists and their respective scenes. It was a nice touch and felt like there was a level of detail and respect given to the previous artists.

It is really hard to pick out which artist I enjoyed seeing more from this issue. Each double page spread of goodness was just thoroughly enjoyed.

In reading this issue over and over, I wonder if the brainwashing really worked or not. Yes, Leonardo called Shredder "master," but for all intents and purposes he could have felt like he was waking up from a dream. So will there be any permanent hits to his psyche?

City Fall has been bringing the hits along, and it has only been two issues. This makes me excited for what may come next, and it really makes me wonder where the story will go if it keeps getting turned on it's head like it has been the past two issues. Either way, I know I will be along for the ride.

Grades
Words: 8/10
Pictures: 10/10 - so many bits of goodness.
General Feeling After Reading: Flabbergasted.
Buy Next Issue: In a heartbeat.