Raphael Bad Mood Rising #1 (Review)

Story: Bill Moulage
Pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks and Letters: Eric Talbot
Cover: Ross Campbell
Release: July 2007

The first official Raphael solo title since his microseries way back in Volume 1. Will it be as memorable and introduce us to classic characters? Not so much. These new miniseries that Mirage released were for the most part fairly forgettable. The Raphael series and the Michelangelo series didn't really follow up on any interesting stories like the Leonardo and Donatello series did. This story follows up on Tales Vol. 2 #7, and I don't think many people were demanding that story get continued.

The issue opens up in North Hampton where Raph and Shadow are watching The Exorcist. Good flick, but what's really jarring is that a still from the movie is shown in the comic in the middle of Jim Lawson's art. The issue is only on the third page and something weird has already taken me right out of the story.

Raph gets a beer and we continue in read dialogue from The Exorcist. This movie watching goes on for a bit too long, 6 whole pages. When the comic is only 28 pages long, using 6 to take dialogue from a movie is a lot. The doorbell rings and Raph opens the door to find Lulu, the cute-as-a-button little girl who I bet has more to her than meets the eye! (Spoiler: She does!) Lulu asks for help finding her mother, which Raph and Shadow agree to do. Lulu then asks if her dog can come in, but hey, it's a werewolf. Not just any werewolf, but  Sloane, a character from Tales #7.

Raph agrees for the second time that he will help find Lulu's mother, who turns out to be another werewolf. He can't have his brothers help though because that story is "in a tale as-yet untold". I hate it when Mirage did this. Foreshadowing is one thing, but confusing the readers by teasing a story that has not been written yet, but has already happened in the timeline is frigging annoying. Tales biggest flaw was how much the narrative jumped all over the place and how long stories would take to get a conclusion. Crap like this does not help.

We then see Raph get decked out in gear to fight the supernatural. This outfit was first seen in Tales Vol. 2 #3 where Raph is saying "Let me tell you a story". That issue came out three years prior to this miniseries. While I doubt things were planned out that far in advance, it's neat to see it come back around.

Lulu then teleports everyone to a different dimension that exists in the shadows of our world. The rest of the issue consists of everyone riding on giant bats, being chased by demons that eat your soul. I really like the creature designs of the soul-eaters. They're a mix of lizard, dinosaur, and have a giant eyeball for a head. The issue ends with them getting surrounded with no obvious way to escape.

This is not a terrible issue, but it's not very good either. The pacing is poor, the beginning spends too much time watching a movie and the end spends too much time just flying on bats. The middle is really the part that moves the plot forward. I also really miss Casey in this series. It feels like all good Raphael stories have Casey in them, and Shadow is a poor substitute.

2/5

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #24 Review (IDW)

Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, & Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Mateus Santolouco with Mike Henderson
Color: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow

City Fall part 3. While still interesting, this story is starting to feel bloated. And honestly, it might not be the story. I think it has more to do with IDW blowing their load with all their TMNT promotion and pretty much letting us know how this is going to end. While not everything is known, I feel like a lot the overall story has been laid out. Hopefully something will surprise me along the way, but I really don't know.

The issue opens with Karai training. The Shredder essentially tells her to stop whining like a child and come be useful. We then get another family moment with Casey have a dream sequence with his dead mother. If this issue has a theme, it's about broken families. Karai looking for acceptance, Casey needing to get away from his abusive father, and the Leo turning against his family. For as potentially deep as this subject matter could be, the issue reads flat for whatever reason.

We then see the Turtles following Hob to a warehouse. And it has taken a very long time, but Hob is actually interesting. I was more intrigued with him than anything
else in this issue. He's playing both the Turtles and the Foot, and I'm looking forward to seeing what his ultimate objective is. The highlight of the issue is Mikey trying to make friends with Slash. He gives Slash some candy, being the first kind act done towards Slash. Slash goes from a snarling monster to over-excited child in just a few panels. It's a different take on Slash, but that's a good thing not to just rehash what's already been done. I always like seeing when Michelangelo is portrayed as just generally decent instead of just a "party dude".

The Turtles might be ninjas, but seriously lack common sense. They walk into yet another trap, a reoccurring plot device in City Fall. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that the Shredder is there with "Dark Leo" (a really uninspired name) and he fights his brothers. Leo quickly defeats them all, which is fine by me. Leo has been shown to be a superior fighter and lets assume his brothers aren't trying to kill him. The Shredder has a really cliched moment where he tells Leo not to kill the Turtles, you know, so the comic can continue beyond this issue. But what's really weird is that four panels later, he tells Leo to kill them all. What? This is all on the same page, why tell him to not kill them and then to kill them with literally nothing happening in between those orders.

Dome-atello

Slash then busts in, looking for candy and fucking up a bunch of Foot soldiers in the process. It's another cliche moment, but it works. The Turtles escape with the mandatory "TO BE CONTINUED!" and the issue ends. Typically, I praise Mateus Santolouco's art, but this issue was not his best. He took a different approach to drawing the Turtles and gave them heads that look like domes without a lot of dimension. They look more like parody drawings of the Turtles. Hopefully this is not a trend that will continue.

2/5

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

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

Turtles Forever Review

Directors: Roy Burdine and Lloyd Goldfine
Writers: Rob David, Matthew Drdek, and Lloyd Goldfine
Released: November 21, 2009

Turtles Forever. Admit it, this was the ultimate Turtles dream come true. Combining the two successful TV Turtles (and thankfully ignoring that other one) and putting them into one TV movie. It friggin' blew my mind. When this was released, I admittedly had not been not been a fan of the 4Kids show, I ended up watching it later on. Even though I was reading the Turtles comics at the time, the idea of a cartoon was just not appealing to me. But it didn't matter, because Turtles Forever is just that good. I couldn't believe it the morning it aired, it could not feel more nostalgic. I made damn sure I was awake on time in order to watch the Turtles I grew up with on TV on a Saturday morning. All that was missing was waking up in my Ninja Turtles Sheets, with my Ninja Turtles pajamas, and getting a big bowl of Ninja Turtles cereal. Actually, I'm fine with those details not being there.

The story gets going immediately. A big praise that can be said for this movie is that it does not waste any screen time, the pacing is great and if anything, I wish it was longer. I love that the '87 Turtles are not supporting characters or just have some small cameo. They're right there through the whole thing, just being ridiculous and awesome. A big complaint that a lot of people have is that they were too silly. These weren't really the cartoon Turtles, just a mockery of what the Fred Wolf show had been. My question is this: what the fuck are you talking about? What show were you watching as a kid? Because the one I watched had silly characters in over the top, kid friendly situations. The contrast between the Fred Wold and the 4Kids Turtles is what makes this movie work. It's awesome, stop nitpicking every detail and enjoy it for what it is.

Now for the nitpicking! Not really nitpicking, but a what I dislike about the movie. Animation? Phenomenal. Story? Amazing. Perfect Finale? Damn right. Voice Acting? Shit. Anyone who watches this for five minutes can tell that the original voice actors for the '87 Turtles are not used. Why is this? Cheapness, and no real other reason. The short answer is there are a few different voice acting unions, and the one 4Kids uses is not the same one Fred Wolf used. So instead of spending a little more money, 4Kids opted to have sub par actors and cheap imitations of the old music. It's the only thing that pulls me out of this movie, and it's unfortunately consistent. The actors that were hired will get about one out of every four lines to sound like the original actors and it comes across sounding really forced.

The humor in this is one of the best parts. Both shows had their shares of jokes, but I wouldn't call any of them laugh out loud funny. This movie on the other hand, I find hysterical. The 2003 Michelangelo screaming in terror on the glider after it detaches from the blimp is probably my favorite. I also like the constant joking about how the old show was so ridiculous. The Turtles know that before the stop the Technodrome, they have to save April. How do they know? Because they do that at least once a day. And I really like the 2003 Donatello thinking April worked at a car wash because of her yellow jumpsuit. The only part of the humor that I think could have been cut back on was the '87 Turtles laughing so much. Yes, they used to laugh at their jokes, but not every single one of them! The laughing itself probably takes up five minutes of the movie and gets really old.

Going into this, I had no idea how many different versions of the Turtles were going to be referenced. When the Swedish sounding Utrom Shredder shows the Turtles all the different incarnations, it's quite a visual. I couldn't believe how many obscure references were pulled up. The anime Turtles? How many people actually know what that is? I didn't notice the Turtles from their Christmas movie in there though, real shame.

The best part is the end. Holy shit, the Mirage Turtles are in this movie. This will probably be the closest adaptation of them that we will ever see. The animation matched up so well. I don't recall there always being lighting in the sky, but oh well. The only thing missing in this was some sign that said "Chet" on it. A lot of the dialogue is pulled straight from the first issue of Ninja Turtles, and it's a huge treat. I love the appearance of the original Shredder. Does he get taken out from impaling this time? Nope. Trashcans do him in, all in classic cartoon style.

Turtles Forever is next to perfect as far as anything involving Turtles animation. All we need now is a full cut of it released on DVD so I can stop watching it on YouTube. If The Next Mutation can get a real DVD releaseTurtles Forever should be able to. Seriously, if Coming Out of Their Shells gets one first, I'm going to be pissed.

5/5

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles New Animated Adventures #1 Review (IDW)

Story: Kenny Byerly
Art: Dario Brizuela
Colors: Heather Breckel
Letters: Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow
Released: July 2013

Wow. That is a really LONG title for a comic. It's clearly a reference to the old TMNT Adventures comic. It's also doing the exact same thing as the old Adventures comic and translating the TV show into a more kid friendly comic than what currently exists. The difference between this first issue and the other TMNT Adventures first issue is this one doesn't suck.

The comic opens on April working on her stealth and attempting to sneak past the Turtles. She's caught on the first page and I really like that. So many incarnations of April have had her turn into a ninja essentially overnight, and I like that the show and clearly the comic are taking a nice slow transition into it. By the second page, you know this comic has something going for it. The character voices are in tune with their TV counterparts. The art also translates better than I thought it would. I was unsure if going from CGI to a comic format would work, but the characters still maintain the same look and feel.

Donatello continues to have his crush on April and brings her out to a military junkyard for parts. Leonardo objects to this and their is some good humor that plays out. Of course, they get caught and Donatello has to get help from his brothers to save April. If that's not a classic TMNT setup, I don't know what is.

The big difference with this April, compared to some other versions, is that she is not completely useless. Fred Wolf and Archie version? Useless. Mirage version? Useless. 4Kids? Less useless, but holds down a job with a strange dress code. Using Splinter's training, she is able to use her brain to help the Turtles escape and gets Donatello the part he came to the junkyard for in the first place. It's a nice twist for her to be the hero of the story instead of the Turtles.

One things I'm questioning with the comic is the narrative. It's going alongside the story of the first season right now. So where exactly does it fall? No idea, but it mentions Kirby O'Neil missing so it's pulling some influence from the other timeline. Given that this issue came out with a month to go left in the first season, it seems like a poor story choice to try and go hand and hand with the show. Hopefully this series will take the smartest decision the original Adventures series took and go off on its own direction and make its own story line.

3/5

Operation: Breakout Review (Nickelodeon)

Written by: Jase Ricci
Directed by: Michael Chang
Release Date: July, 27 2013

Spoilers!

This is the penultimate episode before the two-part season finale, and it's a really good . It continues a lot of plot threads and moves the story forward more than most episodes this season. The episode focuses on Donatello sneaking into a Kraang facility to break out Kirby O'Neil in order to impress April. It goes horribly wrong, but hey, it would be a really boring episode if things went smoothly.

A lot of people are really against Donatello having a crush on April. I'm not going to call it a romance, because that's not what it is. A romance would imply that something was being reciprocated, and that's not the case. And let's face it, it's a cartoon show, they're not going to have any kind of relationship where they need to go through the difficulties of her being a human and him being a Turtle and how that would even work. Not gonna happen.

/

"You named something without me?"

I think the crush itself is fine, and it actually gives Donatello something to do. In every incarnation of Donatello outside of the comics,  he does nothing but stay in the background, only coming out to fix some kind of machine. I like having his story a little more in the forefront of the series, it makes everything feel more balanced. Plus, giving Rob Paulsen more dialogue is always a good thing. He's a great voice actor and the nostalgia of having him do another Turtles voice is right up there. I'm also curious to see what this will do for conflict when Casey is introduced next season. Conflict is always a good thing, and this will probably a reoccurring problem.

Once Donatello has broken into the Kraang facility, he releases accidentally other

prisoners aside from Kirby O'Neil. One is a giant neut that Donatello names Neutralizer. Michelangelo's reaction to this is great. Throughout the season he has named all of the villains, and his offended reaction to Donatello is my favorite part of the episode.

There's a strangely violent moment in this episode that really stood out to me. The primary target audience for this show is obviously kids, so that leads to a lot of censoring and downplaying violence. Yes, this is an action show, but you're certainly not going to see things like blood. There's a quick shot here where Neutralizer eats one of the Kraang. Just kind of slurps him down. It's not graphic, but it doesn't change the fact that he ate and killed one of the Kranng. I'm surprised they got away with this.

Splinter is teaching April about invisibility

The animation in this episode is great. There's a lot of action going on and it feels smooth and frantic at the same time. The explosions are done really well, and there's a gross bit of animation where Neutralizer licks some glass and the residue saliva is seen. The action is really spectacular considering how many fights are in this episode. There was one pretty big animation flub that happens in the Turtles lair. Splinter is walking around April, and you can see right through him. It looks like the ghost of Splinter and it's very strange. Hard to believe nobody caught that before the episode aired.

Things end with the Kraang and Shredder discussing how they're plan is coming together. They wanted the Turtles to rescue Kirby O'Neil and bring him back to the Turtles lair. Is he a Kraang, some other kind of alien, does he have a magical crystal on his pencil, or is he just working for them? Don't know, but we'll find out in next weeks two-part finale.

3/5