Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Sarah Myer
Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Cover Artists: Sarah Myer & Travis Hymel
Publisher: IDW
Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 26, 2024
Ogg The Magnificent tricked the Turtles into a Best Of Three Contest. If the Turtles win, Ogg loses his powers. If Ogg wins, the Turtles get erased from existence. Forget that song from the rock band in the GEICO commercial and that movie about a US Navy aircraft carrier time traveling back to Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The Final Countdown to Total Turtle Extinction begins now! After one win and one loss, can the Turtles defeat the wonderful wizard Ogg? Can the Turtles win the final round and return to our world? Let's order a pizza, tune into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #14, and find out!
Story
Mister Ogg is the overlord of Dimension Z. He controls everything, from April Ogg’neil’s news reports to the sequels, remakes, and mashups on his TV. In all his travels, Ogg only found one force that commands people's attention yet resists his influence. Ogg adores the Turtles' uniqueness but hates that he cannot control them. So, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #14, Ogg vows to destroy them. At least he can claim he's the absolute ruler of everything, even if nothing surprises, amazes, or satisfies him again.
In Erik Burnham's story, Ogg pits the Turtles against their most remarkable Saturday Morning foes from the past, present, and future. Raphael struggles to invest in such a surreal fight. Leonardo works hard to wield his team as an effective fighting force. As usual, Michelangelo is ready for anything, provided there's a pizza attached. So it's up to Donatello and his fondness for solving puzzles to find the solution to their dilemma.
As readers will expect, the villains are always willing to attack the heroes. But uniting big-time egos isn't a prescription for effective teamwork, as Marvel’s Avengers movie so readily displayed. Unlike Bilbo Baggins, the Turtles don’t need a wizard to trick the villains into fighting each other. But that doesn’t mean the Turtles gain an easy victory. Ultimately, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #14 reminds us that playing to win doesn't necessitate maiming or murder and that wits are always stronger than steel. And yes, that includes Shredder’s Forever Blade!
Art
Sarah Myer hurls the Turtles into action against villains like Shredder, Chrome Dome, Wingnut, and Screwloose. Of all of them, Ogg betrays a fondness for Shredder. Raphael kicks his foes away. Donatello slams his bō so hard on an opponent's head that it resembles a hockey stick. Michelangelo spins his nunchaku so fast while leaping that he evokes the aerial screw of Leonardo's namesake. And Leonardo smiles and gives his swords a rest while the villains battle. Amid a debate over classifications of villainy, Krang finds a body to love, and the Rat King meets somebody he'd like to know better.
Luis Antonio Delgado lavishes a loaded palette on the creature-feature mutant mayhem of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #14. Mr Ogg may not be a Flat Earther, but the grandstands fade away as heroes battle villains on a brown Discworld against a star-filled purple sky. Bluish-white explosions filled with blue dots portray Ogg's portals, and pink lasers from a villain's eyes and fingers make Mikey dance, dive, and do cartwheels.
Ed Dukeshire's uppercase black letters in white dialogue balloons will please pizza lovers of any age. Words rarely shrink and embolden for inflection, while Chrome Dome speaks white letters into black fields like a complete Cylon. Energetic and colorful sound effects help us hear frantic fistfights, sizzling lasers, and a portal open as Mr Ogg appeals to the gamesters of Turtleskelion. Yet Shredder upstages everyone by ripping a panel and sending purple titles flying. Thanks to my compadres at IDW for providing a copy of this cowabunga issue for review.
Final Thoughts
While the Turtles battle for their existence, Mr Ogg bows to a higher authority and agrees to play by Donatello's rules. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #14 introduces a new villain and foreshadows a supergroup to rock readers like a hurricane.
Rating 9.4/10
To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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