by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz and Andy Kuhn

As some of you may know, I am a huge TMNT fan. I love the cartoons. I love collecting the toys. I have a pretty respectable Turtle toy collection, if I do say so myself. I also love the Turtles comics, which is where it all began. I was walking through Toys R Us this past weekend when I got to the section for the new Turtles toys, I couldn’t believe the amount of kids going crazy over the Turtles merchandise. It was like being a kid again. A lot of this stems from Nickelodeon really doing a good job of promoting the new TMNT series, which premieres in the US on September 29th. Because of this, I believe that Turtle Mania has officially come back. Maybe it won’t be like it was in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but you can’t deny that there is a substantial increase in Turtle interest.

With this in mind, I thought it might be time to check in with the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

Issue 14 continues right where issue 13 left off, with Splinter trying to teach Raphael a lesson in self-control and morality. Casey Jones has an abusive alcoholic for a father and goes to the Turtles after another violent beating. This is the last straw, as far as Raphael is concerned. He storms off to teach Casey’s father a lesson. Splinter follows him and interrupts the brawl, while asking him if the true moral action is kill the guy. Splinter even puts a sai to the guy’s neck, to further make his point. Of course, Raphael sees the error of his ways and they leave Casey’s father to lick his wounds.

We also get to see General Krang tell Baxter Stockman some of his treacherous plans. In this scene, we get a lot of Krang’s origin and why he’s just so darn evil. It is revealed that he wants Baxter Stockman to complete a secret weapon that will help Krang conquer Dimension X and Earth. I won’t reveal what this weapon is, but if you’re a fan of the 1987 animated series at all, it will blow you away.

The book ends with Splinter giving another morality lesson. This time he tells the Turtles that some evils are far too much of a threat. Therefore, The Shredder must be destroyed. We then cut to Shredder in his hideout, revealing to Karai that she will not be his second-in-command. He has chosen another, which I will not spoil here.

Although the plot of this series is well done, the dialogue can be inconsistent. In this issue, back and forth between Krang and Stockman is great, but when you get to the Turtles, it feels like an 8 year old wrote it. I’m also not a fan of the artwork. Andy Kuhn can make certain characters look fine, but others just look awful. For example, the pencil work on the Turtles just comes off as juvenile. The coloring could also be better.

Although I have a few complaints, this is a fun series. Issue 14 is no exception. Any Turtles fan who isn’t reading this and the Micro-Series is crazy.

Writing: 7/10
Art: 5/10
Overall: 6/10
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Derek Baker

Derek Baker

Managing Reviewer/Reviewer at ReadComicBooks
Derek Baker lives in a small town right outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has been collecting comics since he was about 8 years old. When he first walked into a comic book shop, he knew that he was home. Derek has never really stopped reading comic books since. It all started with him watching the Batman and Robin and Superfriends cartoons in the ’80s. In the ’90s, his need for comics grew even more with the comics boom of that time, as well as animated television shows like Batman: The Animated Series and Spider-Man. For Derek, being an adult just means having a job and getting more money for comic books. Although he enjoys indie comics, Derek is a DC and Marvel fanboy at heart. Especially DC. His favorite characters include Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, Swamp Thing, The Flash, Aquaman, Spawn and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Derek is also a toy and video game collector, old and new. Derek lives with his lovely girlfriend, Nicole. He works in the health care industry and is also going to school to be a registered nurse.
Derek Baker

@hookmoney

Derek Baker

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