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

Story and Pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks: Jason Temujin Minor
Letters: Mary Kelleher
Colors: Eric Vincent
Cover: Peter Laird

For as hard as I was on issue #1 of this series, I really do like Vol 2. and wish Jim Lawson had the chance to flesh out his planned story. You know what? Now that I wrote that sentence, I'm kinda pissed he didn't take that opportunity in Tales of the TMNT Vol. 2. Damnit Lawson, what were you thinking?

Anyways, the issue opens with a nice splash page of where Klunk takes a shit. No really. It's a complete waste of a page, and it's nothing but filler. A page could have been used to explain where the hell Splinter is in all of Vol. 2, but no. Let's take a look at the litter box instead!

I actually really do like this issue as it quickly gets into what do the Turtles do now that their problems with the Foot are behind them. Where do they go from here and what can give them purpose? Donatello has apparently moved out with Splinter to North Hampton. This wasn't abundantly clear in the last issue, but absolutely nothing was clear in that issue. The three remaining Turtles are left talking in boredom with each other. Michelangelo says he plans on starting a journal, and I really like that. For as flat and two-dimensional as he is in every other medium, the Mirage Mikey is my favorite character. Why? Because he has dimension and growth. Mirage, more than other comic companies, like Marvel and DC, had the opportunity to make their characters grow and change over time. Most of them stayed exactly the same once they developed personality other than "I'm a gritty bad-ass that likes to kill Foot soldiers and have dark  inner monologues".  Michelangelo actually changed and grew and I liked his character arc. Sure he became WAY to aware of it by Vol. 4, but that's gripe for another time.

Now that I've had a strayed long enough from the plot of this comic, Raph moves out to find his own place in the world, leaving only Mike and Leo together. The story than cuts to D.A.R.P.A., a branch of the military that is paranoid and like the color green. Some soldiers are killed by a gun hanging from the ceiling, and let's face it, if you hang a loaded gun by the ceiling, you're just asking to get killed off. The gun is being controlled by the mysterious figure who happens to be African-American. Who could it be? Let's run down the long list of black TMNT characters: 1. Baxter Stockman 2. April in that one issue she was colorized. OK, fine, it's Stockman. Actually kind of surprising since he hasn't been seen since issue #2 of Vol. 1. Unless you count the Fred Wolf series, and I doubt the Mirage team was taking influence from that show.

The story then goes to North Hampton where we find Donatello hiding from Evangelists. Don't know why they're there, don't know if this story was going anywhere. It's random and has no purpose, but look! Donaltello! He's one of the Turtles too, so fuck it, add some filler pages in with him.

We cut back to New York to find Leo. Leo stabs the car of a probable criminal (cause that'll stop it) and they get in an accident, probably killing the criminal. One of the things I like about the Mirage comics is that the Turtles never viewed themselves as heroes. Despite what other incarnations did, the Turtles didn't go from rooftop to rooftop doing rounds looking for villains. Except that's what Leo's doing here and I love how out of character it is. Leo is looking for honor and purpose, but all he has is rage. He's not a leader anymore, and I wish this story could have been fleshed out further, because it had a lot of potential.

The issue ends with what is not surprising reveal of Baxter Stockman. He no longer has the uncomfortable plot of destroying the World Trade Center and  has some kind of plan involving his brain and robots. Overall, I like this issue. But it's disappointing in a way to. It's like looking at the potential that Vol. 2 had that readers never got to really see pan out.

3/5