Chris Cooper reviews the final issue of IDW’s four-part miniseries Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret History of the Foot Clan…
“In the present day, the TMNT have rescued historian Dr. Miller from the Shredder. With Miller’s help, the TMNT can now learn what ancient Foot Clan secrets have been lost to time. In the past, Oroku Saki has learned the truth about himself, and seeks the help of the witch Kistune to exact his revenge.“
Gutted.
Not because issue 4 of Secret History of The Foot Clan is disappointing, or that it finishes the story with a whimper. No no no. I’m gutted that there won’t be any more of this story. Quite simply it’s been the most pleasing story I’ve read in the year and a half since I started picking up monthly comics. Any way you look at it, this is a fantastic story with both the art and writing not only entertaining, but so true to each character that I don’t want anyone else to deal with them. Special mention must be made (I’ve not mentioned him so far and I’d be remiss to not fix that now) of Erik Burnham’s work on the script. He and Santolouco get these characters in a way I’m not sure others do.
With this final issue, we learn how Oroku Saki made his way from Feudal Japan to present day New York, as well as some surprising stuff about our heroes in a half shell. I won’t go any further into the details of the story as you need to read it yourself and find out! Just trust me when I say it will whet your appetite for Mateus Santolouco’s move to the main title. If his work is half as good there as it is here then we are in for a real treat, and possibly some seminal work.
It must be pretty boring to hear me lavish superlatives on this title by now, but there is nothing else I can do. I even considered checking a thesaurus just to learn new words for you. But instead I’ll just say that this story has excited me, entertained me and thrilled me. The jumps from past to present have been flawless. Michelangelo in particular has shone (and does so in particular this issue, with his facial expressions making me chuckle every time). The action is amazingly presented and really gets across the visceral nature of it all well.
Plus April is wearing yellow.
If you didn’t get this gist by now, I adore this series. When it comes out as a collection (please tell me it does) I will be first in line to pick it up.
Do yourself a favour and seek this series out. If you’ve read the last three reviews and haven’t yet heeded my advice, do it now. You won’t regret it.
Chris Cooper
Originally published March 19, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
