Yes! Im finally reviewing something that’s not Batman/DC related! BLASPHEMY I know but bare with me, today I bring you my review of the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1, this collects the first 4 issues of this ongoing series and this may be my favourite version of the turtles ever.
Now ive never been a big TMNT guy TBH, sure I really liked the early stuff of the 2003 animated series, but even that didn’t really get me into this universe, but now thanks to IDW and the creative team KevinEastman (yes the guy who created TMNT all those years ago) and Peter Laird, we have what is possibly among the best indie comic books AND ongoing series in the whole industry.
What immediately worked for me was how they changed Raphael’s origin, in every other version hes raised the same as everyone else but hes completely different from the for no apparent reason, here when the turtles and Splinter end up on the street a cat captures Raphael and separates him from his family, he is then forced to grow up alone on the streets and this explains why hes so different from his brothers.
I thought this was a absolute stroke of genius! It finally corrected something that bugged me with the TMNT universe for so long in a simple yet creative at the same time method.
Another great adition was the changes made to Casey and April, Casey is a struggling 20 year old who’sfather beats him due to his wife dying of cancer a year ago, Casey is a skilled fighter and he could defend himself from his dad, however he promises his mom that he wouldn’t so therefore he has to practically live on the streets and this instantly makes him and Raph great friends, they have a lot of banter and think a lotalike, I could totally buy these two being best friends.
April on the other hand actually worked in the facility where Splinter and the turtles lived, she actually named them and took care of them until a group of ninja’s (dont ask) attacked the facility in order to kidnap them, this is where they were infected with the Ooze, where Raphael was separated and where a newbadguy, Hob was introduced.
Now Hob is the villain of this first story and he was responsible for separating Raphael from his family, while holding him in his hand Hob was also infected with the Ooze and became a being similar to the turtles, we later find out that the real badguy is Stockman who is working for general Krang.
I also like that all of the turtles were given extra dimension, Leonardo is still the boy scout kind of guy, yet even he questions this year long hunt for Raphael and he thinks Splinter just couldn’t accept his student dying, Donatello is still the tech guy yet he also doesn’t just blindly follow Leonardo and actually disagrees with him a lot in this story, Michelangelo might still be a goof ball but hes also the peace maker and he always manages to calm a rough situation down.
There weren’t any nods to Shredder in this, but considering he was used very sparingly in the old comic and not every episode like in the animated series, I expect it’ll be a long, long time before we actually see him.
The art is very dark and sometimes violent, but this isn’t M rated TMNT, sure they are allowed to cut people up a little but there isn’t any dismemberment or killing and the worst you’ll see is some one bleeding from his nose or mouth, the most violent part ironically was Splinter as a rat biting out Hobs eye in a attempt to save Raphael.
This isn’t for kids, but this is definitely for teenagers, its got a lot of that teen angst and some really funny jokes and situations like when Michelangelo just kicks a guy in his private area because he doesn’t feel like wasting his nunchuk’s on him.
So yeah, buy this now! It is only 4 issues but I assure you, this is worth your time and money, there are so many hints to various characters and so many plot lines going on that are so interconnected it all makes sense, but none so contrived you’ll be like that BS! This is in my humble opinion the best TMNT anything ever made.
Final Verdict: A+
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