Chris Cooper reviews the latest in IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series…
Cover art by Mateus Santolouco“The Turtles return to New York to find a city in Shredder’s grip. The Turtles will have to use all of their skills and stealth to survive. But is Casey ready for a homecoming welcome from Hun?”
Santolouco is back!
That was all I could think about as I opened up TMNT #33. If you’ve read my reviews you’ll know that I loved Campbell’s run in Northampton, and didn’t miss Mateus as much as I thought I would. But now he’s back I was very excited to see what he had in store for us.
It’s odd though, as it actually took some readjustment to get back into the swing of the artwork. As strong as the artists are, they have very different styles which I find most reflected in their turtles. Campbell’s softer, more expressive turtles were more suited to the reflective style of the previous arc whilst Santolouco’s more dynamic and detailed work suits a more action packed storyline.
Knowing that, I was surprised to find that #33 is mainly dialogue, with some brief action interspersed. The TMNT are preparing themselves for a looming battle with Shredder and The Foot whilst Casey and April deal with more real world issues. School and money are still needed even when you’re in league with a group of reincarnated mutant ninjas! A much calmer issue than I expected, though given that this is the start of a new arc maybe I should have seen that coming.
Nevertheless, both the art and dialogue are strong, continuing the high standard I’ve come to expect. I guess it’s all just a bit of a comedown after the action packed and gut churning ‘City Fall‘ and the quietly awesome ‘Northampton‘.
One thing that struck me this time round is the pronounced difference in the turtles masks. Leo and Donnie’s cover their snouts(?) whilst Mikey and Raph’s go up and over. I prefer the latter, though I do very much appreciate the attention to detail that sets them all apart.
Keep your eyes peeled for a brilliant shot of the turtles traversing the NYC skyline in silhouette, and also for Mateuss Bebop and Rocksteady. By far the strongest interpretation of these characters I’ve seem, with their brute force and intimidating size.
One request. We need to continue the theme of Mikey wearing awesome head wear!
Art wise it’s very much a case of ‘the King is dead! Long live the King”. On the writing front Tom Waltz continues to bring it with a script that contains strong voices for each character whilst filling me with questions for the future.
Once again it seems that things are going to get very interesting. With a very large story behind us, and with Leo just about back to where he should be, it strikes me as good time to take on some shorter tales in amongst larger pieces falling into place. Time will tell whether or not I’m right on that count.
Chris Cooper is a Flickering Myth Staff Writer, and owner of the blog Super Duper Stuff. Follow him on Twitter @SDCCooper or visit the blog’s Facebook page.