Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Untold Destiny of the Foot Clan #3 Review

 

Writer: Erik Burnham

Artists: Mateus Santolouco & Santtos

Colorist: Marco Lesko

Letterer: Shawn Lee

Cover Artists: Mateus Santolouco; Kevin Anthony Catalan; Santtos;

Publisher: IDW

Price: $3.99

Release Date: May 15, 2024

 

Yoshi Chen hired Oroku Karai to steal the Utrom device from the Chincha Technology underground facility. Then, he sent his Dog Star soldiers to attack them. The cyborg ninja sent Karai to the hospital and cost Toshiro his life. Now, Yoshi wants to talk. But can he say anything Karai wants to hear? Let's grab our katanas, leap into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Untold Destiny of the Foot Clan #3, and find out!

 

Story

Yoshi tells Karai a story about the Foot Clan’s origins. Some of it she knows. But his story differs from hers. His retelling also threatens her purpose. Karai had thought she was the sole inheritor of the Foot Clan’s destiny. But Yoshi also traces the Dog Star Clan’s lineage back to the Foot Clan. He suggests they unite and pursue their destiny together.

 

Karai has good reason to distrust Yoshi in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Untold Destiny of the Foot Clan #3. Yoshi hired them to assess their strengths. His Dog Star Clan soldier committed suicide rather than answer Casey and Natsu’s questions. Now, he wants to join forces? What has prompted Yoshi’s change of mind?

 

Erik Burnham doesn’t visit the Foot Clan’s Mutant Compound, so we don’t see how Zodi is faring after Rocksteady’s brutal attack. Nor do we learn what Danno told Karai about the Dog Star Clan in the Singing Rabbit karaoke club. Instead, Burnham backs Karai into a corner. Yoshi's story makes her sacred history a lie and threatens her future.

 

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Untold Destiny of the Foot Clan #3, Yoshi Chen offers Oroku Karai an olive branch. The two have much to offer each other. Yoshi has invested in his clan’s future by enhancing his soldiers with technology. Karai has worked to master magic. But these are two ambitious people. Karai and Yoshi’s copies of the Ashi no Himitsu differ. Yet both agree on one point. Oruku Saki and Kitsune’s sons fought for the leadership of the Foot Clan. If Karai agrees, would her partnership with Yoshi last longer than Chamberlain’s Munich Agreement? Or would it only buy peace for a limited time?

 

 

 

Art

Clad in her uniform and armor, and with her katana strapped to her back, Karai stares bullets at Yoshi in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Untold Destiny of the Foot Clan #3. The Dog Star Clan’s Jonin smiles at her hostility. Then, his expression grows serious as he instructs her on the Foot Clan's true history.

 

The wind makes Takeshi’s cloak flutter like the flags that jut from a mound of bodies. Blood sprays at Oroku Maji attacks Takeshi in Yoshi’s story. Tall grass and trees greet our ground-angle view of four brothers battling. An explosion hurls Karai to the floor. When she rises, she hurries to her study and opens the safe between two bookcases behind her desk.

 

A white haze lightens Yoshi’s hologram. The warm tones of the open wooden staircase, orange carpet, and blue couch in Karai’s apartment fade away. Marco Lesko casts this secret history in limited shades of brown and orange, blue and green. Stronger versions of the same colors enrich Karai’s visit to her office, punctuated by the vibrant green and purple adorning Natsu's head. An orange glow surrounds her, and yellow overtakes her eyes in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Untold Destiny of the Foot Clan #3.

 

Oroku Karai’s black uppercase words inhabit white dialogue balloons. Yoshi uses white dialogue balloons outlined in pink. Yoshi’s alternative history of the Foot Clan appears as white letters in blue narrative boxes. Immense Japanese writing appears during historic clashes, while the English language Ktangs and Thwocks hover beside them. A pink beeping precedes an immense white Kzzzhark. But Shawn Lee saves the best for last, as electrifying sound effects accompany burning characters that hurl white letters into crimson balloons.

 

Thanks to IDW for providing a copy of this issue for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

The leader of the Dog Star Clan shakes the ground beneath Oroku Karai’s feet while suing for peace, prompting her to demonstrate how ruthless she can be in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Untold Destiny of the Foot Clan #3.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

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