Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 2 #1 Review (Mirage)

Story and Pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks: Jason Temujin Minor
Letters: Mary Kelleher
Colors: Mary Woodring
Cover: A.C. Farley

Oh man, Volume 2. The unceremoniously cancelled series that really went nowhere. And it's too bad, Jim Lawson clearly had some long term plans on this book, but they would never come to fruition. And get used to it, this is the beginning of a lot of unresolved TMNT stories that would plague Mirage for the remainder of time they published Turtles comics.

The issue opens with a letter from Peter Laird talking about how the Turtles are going "back to basics". What a joke. Back to basics would last a whopping three issues. Laird also discusses the change from black and white, giving the explanation of "why the heck not?". Personally, I have no strong feelings on the Turtles being black and white or not. Overall, I associate the Turtles with being black and white more than I do color, but I overall don't care. It's not like color is going to make or break if a story is good or not. It's also kind of funny reading this letter now where Laird says "Welcome to the Future" when I'm reading it 20 years later.

The first page is shocking. It's a splash page of Splinter dead, beaten to death by an unknown Turtle. Oh my God! Where could this shocking foreshadowing be going? Fucking nowhere. We've seen Splinter die, and it was by a heart attack. But he's alive in the Battle Nexus, or a ghost or something, so maybe Leo beats him in the Battle Nexus later on, a concept that wouldn't be conceived until the 2003 animated show. Maybe Laird and Co. had that much foresight. Actually, forget it. It's just a disappointment.

This is followed by Donatello meditating about burying Splinter in the future. We've since seen Splinter's funeral, which was in Central Park and not Japan so again, something that went nowhere. Seven pages in, and already two unless plot threads.

The issue then cuts to the dreams of April and Casey. Casey's dream involves Dark Casey, and do I really need to say it? It goes nowhere! Here's a huge shocker, April's dream sequence does go somewhere! It takes over a decade for it to be resolved, but it gets there. Crazy.

The story goes over to, you guessed it, another dream sequence. This time it's Raph and he's dreaming about killing a helpless rat. Except then the rat gets friggin' huge and attacks Raph. This possibly could be related to Splinter's dream, and maybe the unknown Turtle is Raph, and maybe Splinter isn't really dead, but there is no way to know. Again, just another story being set up that goes nowhere.

Leo (or possibly Raph) then dream about Raph and Leo being experimented on. This dream also goes somewhere and is resolved by the end of Volume 2, but not exactly as it's shown in the dream. I like that the dream is distorted and not a direct translation of events to come, because that's just how dreams are.

The last two pages show Michelangelo as a TV or movie producer. No real indication is given here if this is the future, or just another dream sequence. Way back in #17 of Volume 1, it was shown that Mikey liked to write and makeup stories, and as much as I hate to sound like a broken record, this plot thread goes nowhere.

When this issue came out, people were confused. It didn't make any sense and readers didn't know what to make of it. It's funny reading letters pages now. The Mirage crew is so proud of themselves for confusing readers, promising that everything will make sense in the future and that you confused intentionally. Well it's been 20 years, and I still don't get it. Aside from Volume 4 never being completed, Volume 2 being cancelled was the worst thing that ever happened to TMNT comics from Mirage. The series really did have potential, but it was never fleshed out enough to really have anything become of it.

1/5