Chris Cooper reviews the latest in IDW ‘Villains’ series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villains Micro-Series #3 – Old Hob…
“Old Hob has made a lot of enemies since his ooze-induced transformation. His once comfortable life as a lazy cat was abruptly stripped away from him, forcing Hob to learn how to survive, the hard way! After Baxter’s deadly betrayal, Hob’s through being a lackey. Now he’s ready to branch out and start calling the shots!”
So far the ‘Villains’ series hasn’t added a whole lot. Whilst both the Krang and Baxter issues were perfectly fine on their own, all they’ve done overall is give us a bit of background. Nothing ground-breaking.
But maybe I’m looking at this all wrong? Maybe I’ve been expecting too much.
I say this as this Old Hob based story enlightens me as to the mutated cat’s feelings throughout the different TMNT story arcs so far. We get his perspective on each encounter with the turtles, his feelings no them, and information we weren’t privy to before.
The issue is based around Hob explaining everything, from his creation to now, to his new ally Slash (refer to #16). It seems Slash has found himself a kindred spirit after his battle with the Turtles, and he is just the type of Hob needs.
Dave Wachter’s art is impressive, with a really strong Slash design in particular. I’m left wondering why he hasn’t been tapped for the main table before now actually.
It could have been extremely boring to just listen to Hob rattle on for an issue especially as Slash isn’t exactly the most talkative. But Jason Ciaramella weaves in and out of scenes we’ve already seen with grace, filling in gaps and giving us a clear understanding for Hobs motivations, along with some sympathy.
That’s not to say Hob is a sympathetic character. A hard life he may have had, but that’s no excuse. This leaves me very interested in how the end of this tale ties back into the main ‘City Fall’ story. We’ll find out in TMNT #23.
I had fears this would be a weak issue, but I’ll hold my hands and admit I was wrong. It’s the strongest of these issues so far, with strong team coming together to make me interested in something I didn’t think I’d care about.
Here’s hoping next month’s issue, centred on Aloplex, continues this improvement.
Chris Cooper
