After last month’s less than stellar issue, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes back to see how the heroes in a half shell get out of a robot-packed conundrum. Is it good?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #48 (IDW Publishing)
As you might imagine, the gorgeously drawn fisticuffs (by artist Cory Smith) start early. Meanwhile, Father of the Year runner up Hun gets some help by a very unlikely group of allies. Like seriously unlikely. I know the ‘unconventional team-up’ is a pretty common trope, but I think he might have been a lot safer staying in jail.
Back in the sewers, Donnie makes a few very cool strategic moves, allowing him to enter the fray.
Is It Good?
…and we end on almost the exact same cliffhanger as the last issue. C’mon now. I’m not saying a horde of murderous robots isn’t a scary situation, but we just saw them get out of it last issue—and that was without the help of a mechanized Donatello.
“…and find out who keeps leaving the window open!”
The subplot with Hun being broken out of custody was far more engaging. Not only did we get some great action, but Waltz gives the characters a lot of funny dialogue (including the poor cops who caught in the middle of everything). It’s almost enough to make up for the fact that I have a very hard time believing his rescuers would ever try to save him. It will be interesting to see how writer Tom Waltz lets this play out.
The rest of the story, however, is a little disappointing. Compared to the high stakes conflicts we’ve had before, the most exciting thing about this story arc so far has been the connecting covers. Add in the scenes of status quo Shredder and Baxter Stockman being predictably obtuse, and the whole thing feels a bit stale. The saving grace for this issue is Cory Smith and his fantastically frantic fight scenes. Otherwise, I might just skip this one and wait for the next volume.
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