Chris Cooper reviews the latest issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…
“Trapped in Dimension X, the Turtles have split up to save the Neutrino royal family from the clutches of Krang, and simultaneously help fight a war to free the people of Neutrino! ”
So you’re confronted by four mutant turtles and several soldiers. What do you do? It appears that Krang’s answer is to produce what I can only describe as a ludicrous amount of weaponry from your armoured suit.
This pretty much sums up issue twenty. It not only had a big battle to conclude, but the story arc as a whole. It does this with aplomb, and not only did I feel like it was wrapped up successfully, but it also threw in a few little pieces to give me food for thought. There are also several things that we should be able to come back to in the future.
I did struggle with the off world trip the Turtles took in this arc, but ultimately I feel it went well, and it helped me get over the issues I’ve had before with the Turtles leaving New York. So if you harbour similar feelings I urge you to give this a go, as now I can move on with my life knowing I won’t have to sigh every time aliens are mentioned.
The art by Ben Bates continues to be strong on his final issue (with Mateus Santolouco taking over for the next big arc, City Fall). He’s done a good job, and if weren’t for Secret History of the Foot Clan, these would probably be my favourite designs of the new series. It really has been great how IDW has continued to attract great artists to this title.
Mikey and Leo get a large portion of the action this issue, and though they are my preferred two, I’d like to see a bit more of the others, Donatello in particular. His mind has been put to use for sure, but I want to see him get his hands dirty.
Good work IDW, you’re mixing it all up very well with TMNT. Looking ahead it seems big things are in store, with large changes about it happen. But you’ve given me nothing but confidence for the future.
Chris Cooper
Originally published March 20, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
