Don’t get me wrong, I’m fond of the stuff I used to like as a kid too, but most people romanticize the crap out of their childhoods as being a time where every cartoon and movie was perfect nothing will ever top it. “Destroying my childhood” is a phrase that pops up every time a reboot of some 80’s or 90’s movie or show comes up; a phrase I absolutely loathe (not as much as “raping my childhood”, but still). Look. We just have to accept the fact that a lot of the stuff we liked as kid mostly sucked. I grew up in the 90’s, and as much as I like to think 90’s cartoons were better, well….they were, I can’t lie. I’ve gone back and watched all the shows I grew up with, 90% still hold up but that’s a topic for another article.
All that being said, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes out (as of this writing) in 2 days.   Once this movie was announced it’s had the sever misfortune of being skewered every which way from both critics who have every reason to be wary of a movie Michael Bay’s name is attached to, and butt-hurt fans who are fond of their nostalgia glasses. From the “Turtles are aliens now” aspect that has long since been removed, to Megan Fox being cast as legendary figure of all females in fiction and feminist icon April O’Neil, to the redesigned Turtles themselves, to the new tie-in rap “Shell Shocked” (which I’m with you is terrible, but infuriatingly catchy). This movie could make no right step in the eyes of the fans, and it’s not surprising, seeing as how everyone has already made up in their minds to hate it. They’ve seen how Transformers played out, they know the damage Michael Bay can do, and even though it’s been repeatedly stated he DIDN’T DIRECT THIS, his name is critical poison. This movie couldn’t have lower expectations, in fact, there are even those idiots claiming this would kill the franchise dead (a franchise that survived Turtles 3, Next Mutation, We Wish you a Turtle Christmas, and TMNT 2007). This movie could be no-less than Citizen Kane if it was gonna hope to sway the naysayers.

So how does it fair?

Well….It’s okay. Not great, but far from terrible.

It’s sad, because I really wish I could have been jumping for joy and telling you it’s better Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America 2 and you absolutely have to see it above anything else, but I can’t. It’s just a okay movie, a good movie. Nothing more, nothing less. And truth be told, that’s exactly what I was expecting given the creative team. Look, this was never gonna be a masterpiece, nor was it going to be the movie that killed 30 years of a franchise that started as a parody. All this movie had to be was a fun, 2-hour, distraction that made money. And that’s pretty much what it aspires to be.

FROM THIS POINT ON, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS…

The story is simple…really simple. April O’Neil (played by Megan Fox) is a journalist mostly assigned to fluff pieces who longs to cover real news. She begins investigating crimes committed around the city by the villainous Foot Clan, and ends up stumbling across mysterious vigilantes fighting them who are actually four, six-foot, talking, mutant Turtles who are trained as ninjas. As the movie goes on we learn more about the Turtles origins, April’s past connection to them, and together they battle the Foot’s armored leader The Shredder and his partner, the shady businessman Eric Sachs (played by William Ficthner).

There are no side plots here, or any real character arcs, it sets up a very basic story and stays with it through the end. It’s about as deep as an episode from the cartoon series; The Turtles and April save the city and foil Shredder’s diabolical scheme. It really does feel like the people who wrote this movie really were fans of the original cartoon because that’s exactly what it feels like. It’s pretty corny and is shallow as a kiddie pool, but it’s still fun and entertaining enough. Also, it moves pretty quickly. Once it starts, it doesn’t really slow down. I was actually surprised on how quickly this movie seemed to go by. I was kind of disappointed, but after sitting through 3 hours of the mind-numbing nothing that made up the latest Transformers movie, this was a breath of fresh air. The villains motivation goes no further than “money and power”. The classic vengeance backstory between Hamato Yoshi, Shredder, and Splinter that’s driven the plot of most TMNT incarnations has been replaced here by nothing more than “bad guy out for money”. Hamato Yoshi has been removed from the equation, instead the Splinter learns ninjitsu through…and I’m not kidding..a book he finds in the sewer (still no more ridiculous than a rat mimicking ninja movements from its cage). It’s an odd choice, but if you remember the original cartoon, the vengeance plot line was there either. Like I said before, it feels like an episode of the cartoon. Sachs and Shredder’s plan of unleashing a deadly toxin and selling the mutagen as an antidote is about as complex as putting a mesmorizer device atop the highest tower in the city to control people’s minds. There are a couple of side plots about April trying to find her big story to cover, and Splinter being afraid of letting his sons grow, but later is poorly set up and the former has no satisfying resolution. Once the main plot gets going, everything just gets swept up into it.

Contrary to what some people were predicting, Megan Fox is not the Anti-Christ. This is arguably her best performance, although that’s not saying much. She’s clearly trying, and to her credit, she’s not bad. But still, her talent level is up there enough to make the role more captivating than what is there. She hits her cues fine, but there’s not much she adds beyond “surprised face”. Will Arnett plays her cameraman sidekick Vernon, whose role has been changed from being a cowardly and pompous rival of April that he was in the cartoon, to being a lot more wisecracking and helpful. He’s amusing. He doesn’t steal the show like I hoped he would, but he gets a few good one-liners in there, and serves as a good foil for April. Whoopi Goldberg has a cameo as Bernadette Thompson, the rule 63 version of Burne Thompson, April’s boss from the cartoon. She’s….there.

William Ficthner, as usual, plays the villain. Eric Sachs is a brand new character to TMNT lore. And rest assured he is, at no point in this movie, The Shredder. Ultimately he’s kind of wasted here, as he has no real motivation and never gets any good moments to shine. One has to wonder why he was even created when the character could have been replaced by a character like Baxter Stockman, who is already an established TMNT villain with a lot more potential. I wish he would have been more over-the-top, or had better lines, but he’s just there, as is Minae Noji who plays Karai, who has so little impact on the story I forgot she was even in the movie. Shredder is still the main villain, and for the most part, he’s pretty cool. The armor he’s in looks cumbersome, but he moves like a ninja master should. He’s so shadowy and overly-diabolical it’s kind of funny, but still pretty badass. He even delivers a classic line from the cartoon that absolutely floored me with the delivery. If he had more of a story-arc, he’d be the best movie villain of the year. They may have gone overboard with the design, but when you beef up the Turtles it’s only natural that Shredder gets the same treatment.

Speaking of the Turtles, they are where this movie shines. The Turtles are all perfectly in character. When they’re on screen they quip, the bicker, and the absolutely command the spotlight. They’re never juvenile, or obnoxious, or vulgar like a group of certain giant robots from another Bay-attached film, they’re the same characters we all remember growing up. Leo is the straight-man of the group and the commanding leader. Donnie is the nerdy tech genius spouting technobabble and gets a few good “adorkable” moments. Raph is the snarky and sarcastic tough guy who thankfully doesn’t end up taking over the entire film. He’s not as emo as he was in the original movie, but the seeds are still there. Mikey comes out the best here, as they thankfully make him closer to his Mirage comics counterpart. He’s not hyperactive and spouting surfer slang, instead being more laid-back and actually funny. There’s a running gag with him attempting to woo April that surprisingly doesn’t feel forced and get old, and actually manages to stay both charming and humorous. All the best bits of humor come from the Turtles banter and interactions both amongst themselves and other characters. The actors and animators both deserve a lot of credit for how much emotion they’re able to convey. The designs for the Turtles caught a lot of flack, especially with all the added flair, but not only is it not distracting, they actually work here. They serve as quick visual indicators of each Turtles personalities and give this movie’s Turtles a unique look of their own. Splinter is also on point here, and the movie shows him as both stern and humorous when he wants to be. He’s portrayed as both a caring father and a badass warrior, and the best fight scene in the movie his clash with Shredder midway thorough.

The action scenes are good. My biggest disappointment here is that unlike the previous movies, the “Ninja” part of the title takes more of a backseat to the “Mutant” part. There aren’t really any intricate, well-choreographed martial arts fight scenes, the Turtles kind of plow through the Foot soldiers with sheer strength alone a lot of times. There are some kicks and weapons play thrown in here and there, but these Turtles are so strong it’s a wonder why they even need them. That said, the centerpiece of the movie is a giant chase scene through a snowy mountain as the Turtles, April, and Vernon try to escape a squad of Foot. It’s here where you can see where the budget mostly went. The Turtles are sliding through the snow at high speeds on their shells dodging attacks, flipping around, and bantering all the while. It’s fast-paced, it’s exciting, it’s where both the director and visual effects team sunk their hearts into and it pays off. If there’s any reason to see this movie in 3D, this is it. This movie also does something the original two movies never accomplished; it gives the Turtles an active role in Shredder’s defeat. Unlike the first movie where Splinter had to save them and the second where a pier falls on him, The Turtles, while getting their asses kicked through most of the fight, manage to get the upper hand on the Shredder in the end. I love this because it makes the Turtles look like actual competent fighters who can take care of themselves.

So overall, how does this rank? If Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t come out a week ago, I would have said this was the perfect summer movie, but it’s not bad. It may not have the same depth as Guardians, but has the same level of fun and charm. You can go to this movie with your brain off, and for two hours be entertained. It’s not gonna blow your mind, but it won’t offend you, it’s harmless. Kids especially will love it, and it’s clear they are the target audience here. But there’s enough humor that adults wont mind it either. In terms of other Ninja Turtles movies, it’s actually on par with the first one. Look, remember what I said before about romanticizing our childhoods? Well, time to face facts. The first movie isn’t a great movie either. It throws a lot of stuff at you at doesn’t really bother explain the rationale behind any of its choices, Shredder has less motivation there than he does here, and Turtles themselves are very underutilized. The best storyline in that movie is hands down April and Casey’s relationship as Judith Hoag and Elias Koteas are really charismatic in their respective roles. If your new to TMNT or just not a fan, it’s a very weird movie, but us, the kids back then, we ate it up. That’s ultimately what this movie will be for kids now. It’s weird and goofy, but fun non-threating. People who complain about the CGI over rubber suits need to get over it. Those original rubber suits were clunkly and broke apart a lot. The actors didn’t like being in them. They looked spot-on, but they were a hassle. Plus, this is 20-freaking-14 and movies like Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes exists. Motion capture technology has advanced and this movie uses it to the best of its abilities. If that isn’t good enough for your childhood, well, to hell with your childhood. It probably sucked more than you realize, anyway. If you liked the old cartoon, you’ll like this. If not, the IDW comic and Nick cartoon exist and they’re much better written.

So get some popcorn (or pizza if you’re a purist), sit back, quit your bitching, and enjoy it for what it is.

6 ½ Shells (see what I did there) out of 10.

I’m known amongst my peers as somewhat of a Ninja Turtles connoisseur, so my merciful overlord Aaron has graciously allowed me to cover it for this new installment of Tease Me, Baby.  And truthfully I’ve been waiting for a long while to cover this.  Ever since this movie was announced way back when and Michael BayBLAAA!!@#@#$*KILLRAPECHILDHOODBLAAAAAARRGH!!!

….Sorry, that seems to be the general reaction most people have to his name….and Michael Bay was attached as PRODUCER.  Not director, though this trailer does have a few certain Bayisms.  Needless to say I’ve been curious as to what this movie was gonna look like.  I try not to cry suck at movies before I see them, but with the inclusion of the guy who directed Cash of the Titans being at the helm, I’ve adjusted my expectations accordingly.  But enough jibba jabba, let’s dive into this shell-first.

–WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU MISS O’NEIL

Here we have multi-time Academy Award viewer Megan Fox playing TMNT mainstay April O’Neil.  Her attachment, too, was met with similar rage, but honestly I think she’ll do okay.  April’s role has never been too complex and layered, especially if they’re going by the old cartoon which it looks like they are given that she’s a reporter in the flick.  She’s feisty, adventurous, loyal, and get’s kidnapped a lot.  From all the behind the scenes stills she seemed to be enjoying herself, and reportedly she lobbied hard to get the role, so as long as there’s some personality injected into it, she’ll be fine.  Besides, it’s the Turtles we came to see, so they should carrying the lions share of the film.  Speaking of which…

-THE TURTLES PUCKER UP

Here’s our first true look at the Green Machines in full motion.  From what little we saw, their personalities remain intact (Thank God).  The real differences come in their physical appearances.  These Turtles are…jacked.  They’re big, bigger than ever.  Traditionally they’ve never gone past 5’10, but these Turtles tower over humans and make big thud noises when they land, which given the new origin (which we’ll get to in a bit) and producer, it makes “sense”.  They’ve also seemed to have taken a cue from the new TMNT cartoon and given the Turtles different body types.  Leo has the typical hero physique, Raph is more muscular,  Don is the tallest and lanky, and Mikey is the shortest.  That I really like.  The Turtles also have different attire.  I’m guessing that was done to make them even more distinct than incarnations in the past.  Given that we’ve seen literally thousands of Turtles figures of them wearing battle armor, sports gear, farmer overalls, etc…this isn’t anything new.  Onto the face, the Turtles have…*GASP* LIPS!  …Has the world ended yet?  Nope?  Yeah, go figure.  Honestly the lips aren’t a problem.  I can’t say this for sure, but I’m guessing the lips just made the mouth movements a lot easier to animate.  A human-like mouth is definitely easier to manipulate than a turtles beak.  So the lips, not an issue.  The nose, on the other hand, just looks dumb.  I don’t know why they did this.

-THE FOOT GO COMMANDO

This seems to be a holdover from that god awful script that leaked a year ago.  The Foot are less ninjas now and more black ops soldiers.  Which as I stated before, given the new origin and producer it makes…”sense”

-TURNING JAPANESE…I DON’T THINK SO

So yeah, The Shredder, traditionally Japanese archenemy to the Turtles and Splinter, here is played by traditionally NOT Japanese actor William Fichtner.  This was the bit of casting that made me scratch my head.  But at least the good sense not to put him in yellowface.  He’s playing a new iteration of the character named Eric Sachs.  By the look of that painting he seems to be inspired by the Japanese, though…

Cool armor, bro.

-THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY DON’T ACTUALLY CHANGE ALL THAT MUCH

So the biggest reveal of the trailer is that the Turtles, who look to still be mutants and not aliens so put your pitchforks down, nerds, owe their existence to Sachs and *DUN DUN DUUUUUN* April’s Dad!  This new origin…isn’t really THAT new.  At least if you paid too much attention to the TMNT franchise like certain people that totally aren’t me.  I have a life….

…

Shredder being responsible for the Turtles creation isn’t at all surprising seeing as how he’s always been either directly or indirectly responsible for their existences in every incarnation.  Hell, in the 1987 cartoon he was the one who exposed them to the mutagen (which this movie correctly labels as TCRI and not TGRI).  As for April’s dad being involved, yeah that’s an interesting little twist, though the new IDW comic has seemingly beat them to that, at least in terms of getting it out there.   When it comes to new origins, nothing gets more radical that the IDW comic origin (which involves genetic modification and reincarnation), so this one in the movie is pretty par for the course.  What this doesn’t explain is how Splinter fits into this.  I’m mentally preparing myself for the possibly levels of stupidity this may go to.

-COOL, BUT RUDE

Like I said before, the Turtles personalities seem to be in tact.  There’s a nice little bit where Don whips Raph shell first into a truck in their way, yelling “BATTER UP” beforehand.  This is good indication we’ll get some classic Turtle wisecracks going.  Which is a relief.  They should not try to go full on serious with this.

-OH HAI, BAYCOPTER

It wouldn’t be a Michael Bay joint, produced or otherwise, without his gratuitous military porn and…

BAYSTRUCTION!

What is interesting is that we don’t see what’s actually causing the destruction.  Which could either be saved for a future big reveal, or it might just be that in Michael Bay’s world things randomly blow up.

I’m guessing the latter.

————————————————————————————–

Overall: The extreme secrecy of the movie all this time had me worried, but this new trailer gives off…very slight hope.  As long as they have a good balance of action and comedy, they’ll be able to capture the feel of the original Turtles cartoon nicely.  It’s easy and understandable to be apprehensive about this, and you should, but there’s always hope.  As long as the movie is at least dumb fun, it’s done it’s job.

But above all else remember this, the Turtles have been around for 30 years now.  This movie won’t kill the franchise no matter how sucky it may turn out.

Part 2

The Comics

 Last time I talked about how everything went so wrong.  Now I’m here to regale you about how everything began to go so right.

It’s fu­­nny that so many people know of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but many of those same people have no idea it started out as an independent, black-and-white comic three years before the beloved cartoon series ever started.  Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still remains the most successful independent comic of all time, but as I said in the previous article it went generally unnoticed for years, in the shadow of it’s more popular counterpart.  The most recent TMNT comic was written and self-published by TMNT co-creator Peter Laird himself and never made any headlines.  The series was still in production when Nickelodeon’s buyout of the franchise occurred, and is currently in hiatus.  It’s not really known if the series will ever continue, as Laird still maintains the right to produce up to 18 Ninja Turtle comics a year if he wants to.

When it was announced Nick bought the Turtles franchise, there was general fear that they would run it into the ground, or worse, just let it sit on the shelf and never touch it again.  But to the relief of the fandom, they had a clear plan in mind from the start.  They wouldn’t simply be doing a new cartoon, but they were going to push the Turtles back into the public eye through all different mediums.  And just like back in 1984, it all began with a comic book.

They’re back!

A New Home

Back in April 2011, it was announced that IDW Publishing had acquired the rights to publish a brand new TMNT comic book series.   IDW was known for producing comics based off licensed material such as G.I. Joe, Star Trek, Godzilla, and Transformers.  Now, IDW is nowhere near Marvel or DC in terms of popularity, but neither can they be considered really, independent.  They’re certainly one of the more prominent secondary publishers, much bigger then Mirage Studios and much better equipped for marketing.  Let’s put it this way, with IDW you didn’t have to print and fill-out a mail order form to get your comics every month and unlike before, people would actually know a TMNT comic existed.

The new comic wouldn’t follow the continuity previously established by Mirage, (which now saw the Turtles in their 30’s, Raphael mutated into a hulking Gamera-looking Turtle monster, Master Splinter dead, April revealed to be a drawing brought to life, and other really weird stuff), but instead be a complete reboot of the franchise, taking elements from the original Mirage comics, the popular 80’s/90’s cartoon, and pretty much every incarnation of the Turtles and finding a way to spin it into something totally new yet completely familiar.  At the helm, senior staff writer for IDW Tom Waltz, whose previous work for the studio included Silent Hill and Ghostbusters.  Joining him in writing dutties, in a welcome surprise to every TMNT fan out there, was TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, who left the franchise in the early 2000’s to focus solely on the comic magazine Heavy Metal, which he’s the owner of.   Having Eastman back on board was a welcoming sign for longtime fans, who’s last contribution to the franchise was 1996’s stand alone, hyper-violent Raphael and Casey Jones story, “Bodycount”.  Throw in Dan Duncan on art duty and you’ve got the team that gave TMNT fans what they’ve been waiting years for.

The first issue of the new comic dropped on August 24^th 2011.  Right away we’re treated to a familiar scene; the Turtles are cornered in an alley by some thugs, just like in the first issue of the original comic.  But unlike the comic, one of the Turtles, Raphael, is missing from the battle, and one of the thugs is a mutant alley cat named Old Hob, who seems to have some unknown history with the Turtles and Splinter.  We’re thrown right into the middle of a much larger story, with only teases of what came before, saving them for future reveals.  Sounds confusing, but it’s far from it.  Everything here is familiar to longtime fans, all while giving them a taste of all the new twists and turns ahead.  In the first issue alone we’re introduced to most of the major players, a mixture of old and new characters; The Turtles, Master Splinter, Casey Jones, April O’Neil, Old Hob, Baxter Stockman, and even Krang (yes, THAT Krang), all remaining for the most part intact but with updates, some minor and some extreme.  The first four deal with the Turtles searching for their missing brother Raphael, all while set up the new universe and building character dynamics.  Issue five finally reveals the radical new origin, which up until then we had only seen bits and pieces of through flashback…

Let me tell you a story…

Stop me if you’ve heard this one…Hamato Yoshi, master ninja and former member of the Foot Clan, is murdered, alongside his wife Tang Shen, by Oroku Saki, a.k.a The Shredder, in revenge for the accidental death of his brother.  His pet rat Splinter is left to wander the streets until he happens upon a startling event.  A truck carrying radioactive ooze swerves to avoid a blind man crossing the street, and the process a canister of the ooze flies off the truck and knocks a glass bowl of four baby turtles out of the hand of a young boy and washes alongside them down the sewers.  Splinter follows and sees the canister has shattered and the baby turtles are covered in the strange mutagen.  Splinter cleans them off, getting covered in the mutagen himself, and over a period of time, the five begin to mutate to become more human like in size and intelligence.  Teaching them the secrets of ninjitsu he learned from mimicking Yoshi in his cage, Splinter names his new sons after great Renaissance artists and raises them to become the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

That’s the original origin from the Mirage comics we’re all familiar with in some form or another.  In order for this reboot to really stand on its own and be a fresh new start, the origin had to be revamped. Waltz and Eastman gave us a new origin that was even crazier than the last, but at the same time made a lot more sense and helped fill those gaps in logic the original glossed over.

WARNING: THIS IS WHERE I GET INTO SOME HEAVY SPOILERS, SO IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE COMICS, STOP READING THIS NOW AND GO PICK THEM UP YOU NUT!

In the new story, we begin in Feudal era Japan with a man named Hamato Yoshi, elite ninja of the Foot Clan, one of the strongest and most feared ninja clans in Japan, led by Oroku Saki.  Saki sought to establish the Foot Clan as a dominate super power by killing an entire village of people.  Disgusted, Yoshi publically called out Saki and stormed off, cutting his ties with the Foot Clan.  Enraged by Yoshi’s disrespect, Saki put a hit out on him and his entire family.  That night, Foot ninjas attacked Yoshi’s home.  Yoshi fought and slayed them, but not before they had killed his wife, Tang Shen.  With her dying breath, Shen begged Yoshi to take their four young sons and flee, to which Yoshi complied.  For years they had lived in relative secrecy and peace, but Saki, now going by The Shredder, hunted them down, and had them all executed, with Yoshi with his last breath vowing revenge, against Shredder.

New character – Old Hob

Over a century later, a young college student named April O’Neil is in the midst of an internship at the Stockgen Research Facility, run by Baxter Stockman.  Unbeknownst to April, Stockgen’s experiments in bio-engineering meat are really a front for developing genetic and neurological weaponry for the mysterious General Kraang, reveled to be the last of a race of alien brain-like creatures called Utroms, who is waging a war in Dimension X.  One night, while alone in the lab, April is attacked by two unknown, but familiar looking ninjas, who were there to steal the experimental mutagen, as well as the four experimental test turtles.  April is saved, when the lab rat Splinter, sensing an aura of goodness around her, triggers the fire alarm which alerts security and forces the ninjas to flee, with Splinter in pursuit of the captive turtles, to whom he feels a strong, almost fatherly, connection to.  Splinter manages to free the Turtles from the ninjas, and they, along with the canister of stolen mutagen, fall into the alleyway below, and are exposed to the radioactive ooze.  It’s then that they are attacked by an alley cat.  Splinter fights it off, even scratching out one of its eyes, but it runs off with one of the Turtles in tow.  In a short period of time, the mutagen takes effect and Splinter and the Turtles are mutated to human-like form, and it becomes evident to Splinter that he is the reincarnation of Hamato Yoshi and the turtles are that of his sons. 

Uh guys, he’s behind you

Like I said, crazier, but makes more sense.  This new origin ties in many of the major characters and helps to make sense of some of the more head scratching bits of the Turtles mythology, like how Splinter knows so much about ninjitsu, and how the Turtles were able to learn in so quickly and seamlessly given their physiology.  When I first read it I was blown away by how effective it is and how deeply it’s rooted in past Turtles lore.  There are elements of both the comic and cartoons, but it’s not forced, rather the long hoped for hybrid of both incarnations.

Who’s Who

Like I said before, the characters are all familiar.  Leonardo is still the stoic leader, but this time is a more spiritual and a lot more commanding.  He’s still the most disciplined and remains close to Splinter, and having him be the only one of the Turtles with memories, albeit faint, of their past life was a great way to reinforce that.  Donatello, like always is the brains of the bunch, with an added twist of having his more logical and rational thinking frequently coming into conflict with Splinter and Leo’s spirituality, but nonetheless he remains close to both.  Michelangelo isn’t quite the hyperactive slacker he was in the cartoons, rather this time serving as the peacekeeper of the team, his youthful innocence helping to calm tensions between his brothers.  As of the time of this writing, he’s been the Turtle that hasn’t received much development, but that will no doubt change soon.  Raphael is still the hot-tempered loner, but this time his justified seeing as how prior to the start of the series, he had been separated from his family for over a year, giving him the feeling of an outsider.  He’s also the Turtle with the strongest sense of justice, often rushing in head first to right any wrong doings he happens upon, a trait he shares with his best friend Casey Jones, who in this series is the Turtles first human friend (post-mutation).  Casey in this new universe is younger, and is way more mellow than he’s been in the past, at times even being the voice of reason amongst the group.  He’s in college thanks to hockey scholarship that’s in jeopardy due to his suffering academics.  He’s the constant victim of physical abuse from his alcoholic father, and vents his frustration through his vigilante activity at night.  And yes, he still wears the hockey mask.  Master Splinter has seen some new elements to his history, his comic and cartoon origins being blended into one.  This Splinter is less frail and more defensive of his family, having lost them before.  We also learn of his past issues with controlling his anger, something that he feels indirectly caused the death of Tang Shen and his sons.  This change really makes his character more three-dimensional, transforming him from a Yoda-like all knowing mentor, to a character who’s made mistakes and has learned from them, and imparts those morals onto his sons so they don’t suffer like he has.  April O’Neil has pretty much remained the same as she was in the original comics and 2003 cartoon; she’s intelligent, compassionate, resourceful, and loyal.  Having her be the one to name the Turtles was a nice little touch, too.

But where would are heroes be without the villains?  Shredder is back, and more threating than ever.  He’s ruthless, conniving, and vindictive.  He still retains the blood feud with Yoshi, but here it feels a lot more personal.  There’s still a lot more left to be reveled with the character, so let’s look at the other main villain of the comic…Krang.  Save for his appearance in the 2009 movie “Turtles Forever’, hadn’t been used since the 80’s/90’s cartoon.  For the new series he’s been given a more menacing and deadly update, even combining his backstory with that of longtime TMNT characters The Utroms, and like them were indirectly responsible for the Turtles mutations.   Old Hob is a new character to TMNT mythology.  A mutant alley cat with a thug’s attitude, he serves as more a recurring nuisance to the Turtles rather than a looming threat like Shredder and Krang.  Another new character is Allopex, a mutant artic fox that serves Shredder and the Foot Clan, and has a rivalry with Raphael.  Her origin remains largely unrevealed as of yet.

Other characters from past TMNT incarnations have made appearance in both major in minor roles.  Karai and The Fugitoid from the original Mirage comics, Slash and General Tragg, from the original cartoon and Archie Comics, Angel and Silver Sentry from the 2003 series, and even beloved fan favorites Bebop and Rocksteady (unmutated…so far).  This new series doesn’t seem to be shying away from any piece of the TMNT franchise, (except for Next Mutation of course), and that opens it up to endless possibilities and chances to see more past characters used like Leatherhead, the Triceratons, Hun, Lord Dregg, Agent Bishop, Tokka and Rahzar, Renet, Mondo Geko, the list goes on.  Of course, they shouldn’t be discouraged from coming up with more new characters.  They can only live of nostalgia for so long.  Though, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a new crossover with Usagi Yojimbo.

Like the prior comic series, there’s a spin-off series of micro issues that serve to flesh out individual characters as well as set up new story elements.  So far, each of the Turtles, Splinter, Casey, April, and the Fugioid have received focus, and each serves as a both great stand-alone read and essential for understanding things to come.  Each one gives us a unique look on the perspective of the respective character in focus and takes care of the necessary character development so the main book can flow more smoothly.

Duncan and Pattison’s combined excellence in full display

The art in the first twelve issues was handled by Dan Duncan and Ronda Pattison and it was gorgeous.  Duncan’s were striking and fluid, like the Turtles themselves.  Every panel had a strong sense of movement and he really knew how to stage a scene with the strongest angles possible.  No exaggerated musculature here, the character designs were all simple and geometric.  The look of the environments had a great grittiness to them and Pattison’s colors really highlighted that.  I don’t know if they were done digitally, but I doubt it.  The issues looked hand painted to me and added to the fluidity of the action.  They characters were bright and stood out from the dark shadowy backgrounds.  As of issue 13, Andy Kuhn has taken over at duties, and while not as dynamic as Duncan, he offers a unique and delightfully odd look that fits the tone of the TMNT.

Pencils from Issue #8

This new series is like an “Ultimate TMNT”.  It takes what came before and molds it into a fresh new modern take we haven’t seen before.  It uses nearly the entire franchise as building blocks, and as a result it’s hard to see where each storyline will lead.  People know that TMNT has a comic series going again, and this is a great one to present them with.  It satisfies older fans, intrigues newer fans, and has become one of IDW’s highest selling comic series.

When everyone was up-in-arms about the Michael Bay TMNT movie, I was content in the knowledge that as long as I had this comic, I didn’t care what they did to the Turtles in the movie (then I read the script and thought otherwise, I’ll cover that later).  This, to me, is the perfect TMNT…anything.  It’s got everything I ever wanted out of the franchise and for a long time after it came out, I thought it couldn’t get any better.

Then on September 29^th, 2012…it got better…

Next Time: The New Cartoon!