'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' #101 Review: Loss of Splinter hangs heavy in the brilliant first issue
When IDW Publishing rebooted the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' franchise in 2011, it was quite a few issues before the Turtles were together, as a team, and as a family. The essential premise wasn't something that was taken for granted, it was earned.
'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' #101 feels like it might be doing something similar as it starts a new chapter for the TMNT saga. The grief of Master Splinter's death has split the Turtles apart. They have a lot to do to find their way back to each other, and when they do...there’s are even bigger challenges in store for them. While the new direction, helmed by Sophie Campbell, builds on what's come before, it takes the series into new and unfamiliar territory with a moody, engaging opening.
The issue is written and drawn by Campbell, with colors by Ronda Pattison. Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz remain as story consultants, with Bobby Curnow as editor, bringing some continuity to the transition in the creative team.
While issue #100 saw a happy ending for Master Splinter in the afterlife, the Turtles have still lost their father, and the weight of that hangs over everything. The opening pages hit hard, with silent pages of raw grief. The six-month time lapse doesn’t take the grief away and the grief has grown into something soft, almost comfortable. The Turtles are wrapped in it. With the exception of Raphael, they've been living in Northampton, where they first went to recover after the 'City Fall' arc, and introduced Campbell to the series.
The TMNT remains dedicated to its worldbuilding. While the Turtles have been away in Northampton, New York City Mayor Baxter Stockman has been tackling the consequences of the mutant bomb set off by Old Hob that transformed a crowd of ordinary humans into mutant animal-human hybrids. His solution is to wall the city’s mutants — and by extension, its worst troublemakers like ninja, mythical beings and aliens — to a restricted part of the city. All the anti-mutant talk definitely gives the issue certain X-Men vibes, though with the variety of bipedal animals walking around, it can also feel like you're reading a dark take on a 'Bojack Horseman' comic.
Fans who didn’t come here for something new, who want that familiar feel of the banter of brothers, might not enjoy this issue as much. While it builds a lot off of old continuity, it's bridging to something new. The newest Mutant Ninja Turtle Jennika is a big focus, and there appears to be a definite push for more female characters in the book. With the exception of Raphael, the presence of the Turtles themselves feels minimal. It’s almost as if the Turtles are taking a step back to let a new world settle in, the world Campbell is creating.
Campbell’s art takes full advantage of the book’s many mutants, with a cartoonish feel used to emphasize the intricacy of character emotion. Every character is vibrantly expressive. The colors, by Pattison, ground the art, and make Campbell’s detailed backgrounds come alive. There are very few artists who can effectively draw what a cold day feels like, and the cold is everywhere. It’s in the snow. It’s in the air. It’s in the cozy, quiet rooms of Northampton, and it’s in the way the Turtles bear their loss.
The vividness of the art is best highlighted by the action. You can almost feel the movement coming off the page in each action scene. The action is quick, efficient, focusing on effective hits that really highlight the Turtles’ ninja capabilities. While the action is a brief part of the issue, it sticks with you, and makes enough of an impression to be excited about longer fight scenes with more capable opponents.
But you miss the main four. And Splinter. And Casey Jones, and April, whose brief appearance was more of a passing glance than anything. The issue has its moments of warmth, and fun, but it in large parts feels cold, and unfamiliar. You just wish things were back to the way it was, but this issue seems to establish that it’s going to take a little while before it gets there. There will be an adjustment period to the comic's new direction, but the journey is worth it. 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' have set a high standard for comic book storytelling, and it's a standard that's definitely being upheld.
Issue #102 of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' releases in stores on January 29.
