Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #9 Review

 

Writer: Erik Burnham

Artist: Dan Schoening

Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Cover Artists: Jack Lawrence & Gigi Dutreix; Dan Schoening & Luis Antonio Delgado; Tim Levins & Gigi Dutreix

Publisher: IDW

Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 10, 2024

 

Artist Kai Eddiku used his family’s secret sword-making techniques and Shredder’s stolen alien ore to reforge the Forever Blade. Can Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo prevent Shredder from wreaking mayhem through time and space? Let's order a pizza, tune into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #9, and find out!

 

Story

Kai rarely delivers his creations, but Shredder's lair provides unexpected inspiration. The artist wants to paint Krang, but Bebop and Rocksteady throw Kai out before the walking brain can commission a portrait. Still, Krang’s got enough to do. He wants to imbue the alien ore with psychoreactive properties. Then all Shredder must do is focus, and the Foot Clan leader can travel anywhere in time and space.

 

Travel drains the Forever Blade. Battle energizes it. Shredder isn’t interested in exploring the universe with a companion or convincing famous historical personalities to help him pass an exam. The evil Ninja Master wants cash. Why not sidestep into a neighborhood bank and make plans for world domination later?

 

The Turtles detect Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady’s heist. Leonardo wants to prevent Shredder from escaping before the police arrive, but an army of robot fighters proves a time-consuming distraction. Has Leonardo learned enough from Splinter to constrain a Ninja Master wielding a sword of power?

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #9 brings back the Footbots from the original animated series and serves as a sequel to the third season episode “The Ninja Sword of Nowhere.” Erik Burnham’s tale demonstrates Donatello’s scientific mindset, Raffael’s love of pop culture, and Leonardo’s reverence for their sensei Splinter. Plus, Michelangelo gets to fight and cry, “Cowabunga!” The issue ends on a cliffhanger that promises more than contemporary conflicts in the next issue of this three-part story. 

 

 

 

Art

Michelangelo needs a helmet and padding to protect against Splinter's swordplay. A glowing figure materializes in the turtles' training room. Hovering in her superhero suit and cape, the time traveler wears a helmet that sprouts fins and equipment. She clutches a staff adorned with alien fingers and claws. Krang extends tentacles from his mechanical walker to fire a gun. Bebop adopts a bodybuilder pose as he wields Shredder’s glowing sword. Ignoring shelves laden with gold bricks, Bebop shares Rocksteady’s glee as the wily warthog and the riotous Rhino fill bags with cash in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #9.

 

From the blue-white glow accompanying the time traveler's materialization to the yellow-orange blade that creates similarly colored fissures, Luis Antonio Delgado’s vibrant colors breathe energy into Dan Schoening’s art. Delgado contrasts an ample use of gray with vibrant colors like pink, purple, and orange in Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #9. Shadows fall upon characters, swords reflect light, and gray smoke evokes storm clouds. Buildings blaze with light as the turtles attack Shredder under a moonlit purple sky. Green figures leap above and wade through a sea of black and purple as they battle the evil Ninja Master’s robotic reinforcements.

 

Aside from the odd murmur, Ed Dukeshire’s black and colored dialogue in white balloons is easy to read. His sound effects help us hear Shredder rip rents in reality, Bebop and Rocksteady break down a barrier, and the turtles sever Footbot circuitry. Thanks to my compadres at IDW for providing a copy of this cowabunga issue for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

A time-traveling maiden, a bank job gone wrong, and a magical sword threaten to unleash paradoxes on the multiverse in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #9.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.