FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review

 

Here's an edited review that I originally published two years ago. The issue is free to purchase this week at Neon Ichiban.

 

FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review

Writers: Juni Ba, Paul Allor

Artists: Fero Pe, Andy Kuhn

Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado, Ronda Pattison

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Cover Artist: Juni Ba

Publisher: IDW

Price: Free

Release Date: May 4, 2024

 

A masked and armored figure stalks the night. Who will fall prey to his fury? And what does Splinter get up to when the Turtles are away? Let’s order a pizza, leap into the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue, and find out!

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher: Story

The Mutagen bomb changed everything. Humans are inherently clannish and often born with prejudices. They exclude others who don't belong. One person sees how people punish the victims of the tragedy. They will not allow Mankind to exploit these unfortunates who never asked to become mutants. So, this individual dons a mask and armor. While stalking the night, the self-made hero protects mutant interests and instills fear in the hearts of anyone who threatens them.

 

Writer Juni Ba puts you into the mind of the Nightwatcher in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue. Letterer Nathan Widick places the vigilante’s thoughts into red narrative boxes. The Nightwatcher’s thoughts share panels with the thieves’ black dialogue in white balloons as these opportunists venture into a mutant neighborhood to rob a bank.

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher: Art

A full moon illuminates streets filled with uncollected trash. Scaffolding surrounds damaged buildings, while others await structural repairs. Three mutants approach a tall, thin structure sporting a grand, columned façade. But no goblins guard the treasures inside this bank. The mutants walk past counters filled with ransacked trays. Discarded documents cover the floor as they enter an open vault. Some of the safety deposit boxes hang open. Who knows what treasures the others might contain?

 

A figure awaits them in the darkness. Panels focus on the violence of the fight: a mailed fist punches a face, a hand grabs a gun from a canvas bag, and gunfire bounces off the Nightwatcher’s armor. And then, all too soon, flight follows.

 

Luis Antonio Delgado provides appealing color to Fero Pe’s art in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue. Delgado conveys the darkness of the street and the abandoned bank. Yet everything is visible, illuminated by a flashlight or the rays of moonlight that find their way inside. Much is gray as the Nightwatcher hides or hurtles like a shadow through the night. Yet light reflects off his mailed arms and shoulders, even in the darkness. And then, there are his glowing eyes.

 

Splinter's Day Off: Story

On a rare night off, Michelangelo plays video games, Rafael pounds on his punching bag, Donatello tinkers with a robot, and Leonardo hones his pizza-making skills. Yet errant dough initiates mutant mayhem, dispelling Splinter's attempts at meditation. Splinter chastises the Turtles for their behavior and sends them out on patrol. While this displeases the Turtles, Splinter realizes he doesn't have to maintain his aura of dignity. He’s got a night off from being a role model. He can have fun like his children!

 

Paul Allor’s tale in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue reminds us that adults don't have to grow up. Parents can enjoy play as much as their children. Nathan Widick’s large dialogue allows adults to share this comic tale with their children and hopefully instill a lifelong love of reading.

 

Splinter's Day Off: Art

Kuhn's art conveys the Turtles' camaraderie, emotions, and personalities. We see how they function as a team. Backgrounds convey depth and reality, and fight scenes between the turtles and others convey violence and energy. Inset snapshots pepper pages with closeups amid larger panels. Yet Splinter’s humorous exploits are what linger.

 

Brown dominates the turtles’ domicile in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue. The turtles add a fleeting touch of green as they leap between roofs against a blue night sky. Blue stars reveal impacts as the Turtles exchange blows, yellow stars blaze as they fight the Foot Clan, and white and blue stars accompany the robot’s antics. Ronda Pattison adds interest by coloring inset panels with contrasting colors, while Nathan Widick’s sound effects help us hear Splinter's fright and delight in Splinter's Day Off. Thanks to IDW and Neon Ichiban for sharing this story with us.

 

Final Thoughts

An antihero rises to haunt the mutant neighborhoods, while Splinter takes a leaf from his children's book in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

Read FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles free this week at Neon Ichiban.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #2 Review

 

Writer: Frank Tieri

Artist: Angel Hernandez

Colorist: Heather Breckel

Letterer: Steve Wands

Editor: Jake Williams

Production & Design: Darran Robinson

Cover Artists: Fero Pe; Angel Hernandez with Patricio Delpeche

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 9, 2025

 

Bob Jones dedicated his life to proving that kaiju exist. Despite all the data he collected, Bob couldn't find a single clear photograph of a giant monster anywhere. So, when the government oversight committee demands justification for Project Colossus' funding, Bob can only show them an artist's rendition of Godzilla.

 

While contemplating the demise of his department, a call from the Oval Office rescues Bob from seeking other employment. But before Bob can fly off to Japan to confront the creature that he always believed existed, two men in black abduct him. Will they erase his memories with a Neuralyzer even though Godzilla is on the TV news? And why wouldn’t they want Bob to help Japan survive the rampaging kaiju? Let's grab a camera, leap into Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #2, and find out!

 

Story

In Frank Tieri’s story, Dr Kyoto welcomes Bob into her limousine. She explains that much of what he believed about monsters is true. She also confronts his disbelief in aliens. As they transition to an airplane, Dr Kyoto mentions that Japan isn't the only danger zone. Aliens are invading New York City. And Bob can't use this knowledge to warn his wife and child of the approaching storm.

 

Bob learns the secret history of his world in Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #2. His briefing blends secret history and mythology with the pseudoscience he has always dismissed. Despite devoting his life to kaiju research, Bob struggles to believe how Dr Kyoto fills the gaps in his knowledge. And he discovers that the government has built a deterrent to fighting the alien invaders and kaiju. Sadly, it's more Dr Kyoto's last option than her first. But then, barring assistance from Obi-Wan Kenobi, Plan B is her only hope.

 

While the Point Of View briefly transitions to the shapeshifting alien orchestrating the invasion, Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #2 primarily focuses on Bob. The former leader of Project Colossus may be more reactive than proactive in Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #2. But he has a lot to take in. If Bob and his wife survive this catastrophe, he won’t be able to tell her about his work anymore. And instead of heading a research project, Bob will spend his days orchestrating Earth’s defense.

 

Art

Angel Hernandez portrays cinematic scenes in a page or less. Gray alien monsters roam the countryside and cities. Like an octopus from another dimension, the engineered beings wrap multiple tentacles around people's faces, limbs, and bodies. A plane swoops into an underground landing strip like a Cylon Raider. As she guides him through the secret facility, schematics link Dr Kyoto with a historical figure Bob imagined might have belonged to the Sons of Liberty. But just as Director Stone scoffed at Bob's hearing, Bob struggles to accept that the historical figure's ideas could address Earth's contemporary struggles.

 

Green-clad figures study gray bodies in the brown countryside. The ship they arrived in, and the monsters they brought with them, are likewise devoid of color. But the carnage they unleash, and the way they attack their victims, colors the sky orange and red. Heather Breckel paints the plane’s interior the same gray as the bank of 1950s TV monitors in Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #2. As Dr Kyoto sits at a brown table, her red jacket links her with the monsters’ eyes and what they drain from their victims. A gold medallion rises to the forefront amid a montage of crucial actors and events in Dr Kyoto’s retelling of history.

 

Steve Wands exposes the truth behind Bob’s beliefs with uppercase black dialogue in edgy white balloons and narrative boxes. Larger white lowercase words, perhaps from a manual typewriter, locate us in space and time. The words grow bold for intonation as Dr Kyoto briefs Bob on the way forward. Yellow sound effects enhance her secret weapon, which overwhelms Bob more than the alien invaders and their creations. But unlike Susan Ivanova on Epsilon III, at least Bob doesn't need a bathroom break. Thanks to IDW for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Folk legends teach an essential truth through the guise of fiction. In Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #2, government agent Bob Jones discovers that a century-old novel and a millennia-old poem could help protect Humanity from extinction.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #1 Review

 

Writer: Frank Tieri

Artist: Angel Hernandez

Colorist: Heather Breckel

Letterer: Steve Wands

Editor: Jake Williams

Production & Design: Darran Robinson

Cover Artists: Fero Pe & Angel Hernandez

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 14, 2025

 

Bob Jones works for Project Colossus, a United States government department founded to prove the existence of monsters. He has researched the subject extensively, gathered eyewitness testimony, and charted their involvement with Humans throughout the centuries. Despite all his findings, the leaders of other government departments scoff at his assertions. Can he retain his agency's funding and help prepare the United States for the next kaiju attack? Let's grab a camera, leap into Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #1, and find out!

 

Story

Frank Tieri’s story begins by putting Bob in the crosshairs. His government department has drained money from other projects. That money could go to far better uses than trying to prove what seem like urban legends. Bob’s trouble is that he lacks indisputable proof that kaiju exist. Although cameras date back two thousand years, the daguerreotype didn't make cameras commercially viable until the nineteenth century. Even then, it would be a long time before photography became popular.

 

Bob lives in the 1950s. Cameras and movie cameras are becoming available. Still, there haven't been sufficient kaiju sightings to yield even one clear image of Godzilla. So for his briefing, Bob must rely on artists' depictions to convince his superiors that Project Colossus is worth the taxpayers' money.

 

Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #1 is the story about Bob's life. We view nearly the entire tale through his eyes. Frank Tieri conveys Bob's frustration, worries, and realization that his best efforts may lead to failure. His wife seems loving and supportive. But she realizes the stakes for him. And it's not just his career and marriage that matter to Bob. In an era when husbands are often the sole breadwinners, Bob also has a young son to care for.

 

Bob's struggle is as much a search for facts as a need to confirm his beliefs. He shares the same problems facing scientists and priests. People want hard facts, not faith. All he can offer them is his beliefs. In Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #1, Bob's life has been leading up to this. Perhaps Project Colossus will continue. Or fate will hand Bob a chance to shine.

 

Art

Angel Hernandez reveals Bob’s struggle to convince his superiors as they sit around a briefing table. Clad in matching gray suits, the men see a detailed Black and White drawing of Godzilla, a sketch of the monster breathing fire, and a blurry photograph. Historical figures surround Bob as he clicks the slide projector remote and shows them a drawing of an ancient symbol. Yet the men, seated before flags and a symbol of the United States, regard him with stony expressions.

 

While his wife reclines on the couch, Bob hunches with a hand on his head, staring at their yellow recliners. As his wife tries to cheer him up, Bob glances at the Black And White TV showing the 1950s' most beloved couple. But when the camera shifts to a news report, Bob watches as Heather Breckel portrays the yellow and orange barrage streaking across a maroon sky. After leaving his colorful home, Bob walks beneath an orange sky and meets someone clad in maroon.

 

Steve Wands portrays Bob's worst fears, as yellow laughter fills the briefing room in Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #1. Wands reveals uppercase black dialogue in edgy white balloons and narrative boxes. The words grow bold for significant words as Bob seeks to assert the significance of his beliefs. Yet his son's bold utterance reminds Bob of how other government researchers view him. Thanks to IDW for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

In popular fiction, governments often disguise the facts to control the populace and prevent widespread panic. In Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #1, Bob Jones struggles to prove what government leaders have tried to repress throughout history. But first, he must overcome his prejudices about popular beliefs and the stated purposes of other government departments.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For another cover see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1 Review

 

Writer: Juni Ba

Artist: Fero Pe

Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Editor: Thea Cheuk

Cover Artists: Fero Pe, Jon Lankry, J Gonzo & Eric Talbot

Publisher: IDW

Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 14, 2024

 

Terror stalks the streets of Mutant Town. Some Humans fear the Mutants. Others prey on them. But the Mutants have a new protector. Who is the hero who haunts the night and strikes down those who would harm the Mutant community? Let's strap on our armor, leap into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1, and find out!

 

Story

A car roars through the streets, dispelling the festive, if guarded, calm of Mutant Town. Behind the glaring headlights, a figure crouches atop the automobile. Unlike Scott Howard in 1985’s Teen Wolf, the armored mutant isn’t street surfing. Nor is the hero savoring the chill thrill as Michelangelo did atop the armored SUV in the Turtles' 2014 film. The masked driver’s eyes bulge as a gauntlet shatters the windshield. Like the Terminator, the armored assailant reaches inside for the driver. The car swerves and plunges into a dark alley. Squealing brakes send the attacker flying.

 

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1, the driver isn't inclined to flee. He pulls a semiautomatic from his overcoat and straps on a metal gauntlet akin to his attacker's. Suddenly, the fight isn't so uneven. The driver knows he can fight off the Nightwatcher. But the noises and thuds coming from the car’s trunk suggest there’s more going on than a driver protecting himself from an unprovoked attack.

 

Juni Ba interposes a highspeed chase and fraught fighting with insights from the Human and Mutant community. The Mutagen Bomb created more Mutants than ever before. Since Mutant Town became an incorporated borough of New York City, Mutants gained a legitimacy that many regret. Mayor Stockman’s lack of leadership and the Turtles' departure threaten the fragile peace between Humans and Mutants. While the new hero protects them, the Nightwatcher’s vigilantism could rebound against the Mutant community. 

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1 delivers an action-packed rescue plot while reminding us of the threats facing a diverse community. Juni Ba’s story shows how the Nightwatcher’s actions inspire some and worry others. Yet the stakes seem highest for the Mutants' latest vigilante. Living a double life could destroy what the Nightwatcher values most.

 

Art

Mutants walk the streets or hang out by cars and mailboxes stuffed with uncollected mail. Snapshots of frightened faces scatter across the top of the page as a car hurtles across the bottom. As his roof bulges inward, the masked Human’s eyes reveal he shares their fright. Fero Pe devotes a page to Nightwatcher reaching through the fractured windshield and intersperses the battle with four nine-panel pages. The Tic-tac-toe pages introduce not the Brady Bunch but two Humans and two Mutants. Despite the concerns over the vigilante's activities, a ghostly bust of Mutant Town's newest hero rises above the dilapidated buildings of this troubled borough on Fero Pe’s final page.

 

Colorist Luis Antonio Delgado shines orange light upon the purple-gray buildings. A purple-gray haze rises from the rooftops but cannot obliterate the white stars in the black sky. Green, orange, and yellow shine amid the street life, while red often fills the backgrounds of Nightwatcher’s battle. The red echoes the marks on the silver armor and the scarlet liquid that splatters the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1.

 

An energizing Skree circles the clock from 7 to 11 across the frightened neighborhood and races alongside the protesting tires. A terrifying Krish joins the glass shards flying toward the driver's eyes. A Krzssh rises as the classic car plunges into the boxes near the dumpsters. Amid the spectacle, black uppercase letters in gray boxes relate to one person's hopes and fears. Nathan Widick’s white letters in black balloons with red borders signal the vigilante's reluctance to fight. Words embolden, change color, occasionally swell, and rarely shrink as the speakers in Juni Ba's Turtle Tale share the concerns of a community in crisis. The balloon and box shapes underline the precarious nature of the participants and the stakes facing everyone in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1. Thanks to IDW for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Adults fear New York's latest vigilante. Children admire their protector, even if they wish they didn't need one. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1 is a tale of heroism, sacrifice, and resistance to change.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

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

FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review

 

Writers: Juni Ba, Paul Allor

Artists: Fero Pe, Andy Kuhn

Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado, Ronda Pattison

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Cover Artist: Juni Ba

Publisher: IDW

Price: Free

Release Date: May 4, 2024

 

A masked and armored figure stalks the night. Who will fall prey to his fury? And what does Splinter get up to when the Turtles are away? Let’s order a pizza, leap into the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue, and find out!

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher

Story

The Mutagen bomb changed everything. Humans are clannish and born to prejudice. They exclude others who don’t belong. One person realizes this. He sees how people punish the victims of the tragedy. He will not allow Mankind to exploit these unfortunates who never asked to become mutants. So, he dons a mask and armor. He stalks the night. He protects mutant interests and instills fear in the hearts of any who threaten them.

 

Who is this masked vigilante? He is the Nightwatcher!

 

Writer Juni Ba puts you into the mind of the Nightwatcher in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue. Letterer Nathan Widick places the vigilante’s thoughts into red narrative boxes. The Nightwatcher’s thoughts share panels with the thieves’ black dialogue in white balloons as these opportunists venture into a mutant neighborhood to rob a bank. While the two narratives fight for your attention, Fero Pe’s art carries you along, telling you everything you need to know.

 

Art

A full moon illuminates streets filled with uncollected trash. Scaffolding surrounds damaged buildings, while others await structural repairs. Three mutants approach a tall, thin structure sporting a grand, columned façade. But no goblins guard the treasures inside this bank. The mutants walk past counters filled with ransacked trays. Discarded documents cover the floor as they enter an open vault. Some of the safety deposit boxes hang open. Who knows what treasures the others might contain?

 

A figure awaits them in the darkness. Closeups focus on the violence of the fight: a mailed fist punches a face, a hand grabs a gun from a canvas bag, and gunfire bounces off the Nightwatcher’s armor. And then, all too soon, flight follows.

 

Luis Antonio Delgado provides appealing color to Fero Pe’s art in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue. Delgado conveys the darkness of the street and the abandoned bank. Yet everything is visible, illuminated by a flashlight or the rays of moonlight that find their way inside. Much is gray as the Nightwatcher hides or hurtles like a shadow through the night. Yet light reflects off his mailed arms and shoulders, even in the darkness. And then, there are his glowing eyes.

 

Splinter’s Day Off

Story

On a rare night off, Michelangelo plays video games, Rafael pounds on his punching bag, Donatello tinkers with a robot, and Leonardo hones his pizza-making skills. Yet errant dough initiates mutant mayhem, dispelling Splinter's attempts at meditation. Splinter chastises the Turtles for their behavior and sends them out on patrol. While this displeases the Turtles, Splinter realizes what this means. He doesn't have to maintain his aura of dignity. He’s got a night off from being a role model. He can have fun like his children!

 

Paul Allor’s tale in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue reminds us that adults don't have to grow up. Parents can enjoy play as much as their children. Nathan Widick’s large-size dialogue allows adults to share this comic tale with their children and hopefully instill a lifelong love of reading.

 

Art

Kuhn's art conveys the Turtles' camaraderie, emotions, and personalities. We see how they function as a team. Backgrounds convey depth and reality, and fight scenes between the turtles and others convey violence and energy. Inset snapshots pepper pages with closeups amid larger panels. Yet Splinter’s humorous exploits are what lingers when the tale (sadly) ends.

 

Brown dominates the turtles’ domicile in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue. The turtles add a fleeting touch of green as they leap between roofs against a blue night sky. Blue stars reveal impacts as the Turtles exchange blows, yellow stars blaze as they fight the Foot Clan, and white and blue stars accompany the robot’s antics. Ronda Pattison adds interest by coloring inset panels with contrasting colors, while Nathan Widick’s sound effects help us hear Splinter’s fright and delight in Splinter’s Day Off.

 

In addition to these two new stories, the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue also promises to preview IDW’s upcoming TMNT series.

 Thanks to my compadres at IDW for providing a copy of this cowabunga issue.

 

Final Thoughts

An antihero rises to haunt the mutant neighborhoods, while Splinter takes a leaf from his children's book in the FCBD 2024: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue. The first appearance of an exciting new character is reason enough to camp outside your comic shop and be first in line when the doors open!

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To pick up a copy visit your local comic store today (before they're gone)!

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