Friday, August 26, 2011

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

In 1984 Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird released the first issue of a comic book which centered around four teenagers who just happened to tbe turtles... and ninjas. Over the years the franchise would span several publishers, inspire four television series, a Japanese anime, three live-action theatrical films, an animated feature film (which is pretty damn good, by the way).

Things have come full circle yet again as Eastman teams with IDW to return his creations back to comics. Along with writer Tom Waltz and artist Dan Duncan, Eastman re-imagines the Teenange Mutant Ninja Turtles for a new generation.

As the story opens we learn the Turtles have only been in action for less than 18 months, and have already lost one of their number. The comic opens with a battle between Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Splinter against Old Hob and his gang. Through flashbacks we're also shown the early days of the turtles and rat as lab animals at Stock Gen Research who are given their names by young lab tech April O'Neil.

Eastman and Waltz throw us right into the action, letting the story fill in around the edges. Even with it being a reboot I enjoyed the first issue, but I have to admit I'm a little sad to not see Laird drawing the comic (although he did one of the variant covers for this first issue). Duncan's art is good, but it's a little too clean for what I want in a TMNT comic.

Fans of the characters, especially from their comic roots, will want to pick this up (although there is a nice joke thrown in for fans of the animated series as well.). Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

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