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 (Kai-Sei Era) #3 Review

 

Writer: Tim Seeley

Artist: Nikola Čižmešija

Colorists: Francesco Segala & Gloria Martinelli

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Editor: Jake Williams

Cover Artists: Nikola Čižmešija, Kade Byrand, Arthur Adams & Martin Simmonds

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: October 8, 2025

 

Dr Rumi Chiba sensed Anguirus' anger at being drained of its Kai-Sei energy. She rescued Jacen Braid when hungry mouths rose from the seabed to drag the Kai-Sei wielder beneath the surface. But Dr Chiba couldn’t protect Jacen from the Human pirates that attacked Team G-Force USA off the coast of Bermuda. Can she shield him against the sea leeches attacking their captured vessel? And where will Godzilla strike next? Let’s armor up, leap into Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #3, and see!

 

Story

Nadine Nuki has a dour look on life. She pushes away others and warns Jacen that most new members on Team G-Force USA don't last long. Despite Incense's interest, Nuki also keeps the glamorous pyrotechnics influencer at arm’s length. But the past binds Nuki to Jacen. While the heavy munitions expert helped protect the Deadzone, Jacen lost his mother there. After the government transported Jacen across the country to New York, Godzilla plowed through the city walls to attack him at Gravesend Charter Academy. When the sea leeches attack, and Jacen can’t use his power to save them, Nuki risks her life to protect the newcomer.

 

But Commander Riviera has more to worry about than his team, let alone his latest recruit, in Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #3. The leader of Team G-Force USA wears his patriotism on his armored shoulder. He knows that America awakened Godzilla by testing nuclear weapons. Still, after empowering the kaiju with "weird energy," Riviera wants to kill them or trap them below the surface. But the kaiju keep rising from the sea and attacking the good old USA. So when Riviera finds a target, he doesn't want anyone getting in his way of taking down the kaiju. And that includes voices of reason like Dr Rumi Chiba.

 

Tim Seeley's story hurtles along, powered by the clash of personalities, loyalties, and ideas. Yet it takes time to ponder how our actions affect others. American cities have barricaded themselves behind walls, and the country has retreated from the international community. Yet whether people like Richard Riviera want to admit it or not, America needs help resolving the kaiju crisis. Not just to target the aggressive monsters, but to forge a more peaceful relationship with them.

 

Art

As a woman eats a pink donut while navigating a traffic-choked freeway, the car's green interior glows. The vehicles momentarily lose color as gray fills the air. Then green tongues of fire leap off a gray beast with glowing yellow eyes, as it erupts through the concrete lanes in Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #3. Francesco Segala & Gloria Martinelli paint Godzilla's rampage through Chicago in grays, greens, and blues. Orange, yellow, and red surround Riviera's team and Captain Corroñero's pirates as they battle the sea leeches in Bermudan waters. Colors shift slowly amid frenetic action, creating auras around battling giants.

 

Nikola Čižmešija conveys Nuki’s concern for Jacen as she blasts the leeches leaping toward them. Dr Rumi Chiba cuts a graceful swath through the melee with her sword. Incense displays his confidence as he summons fire and pauses for a selfie to share with his followers. Commander Riviera moves like a bull, creating carnage and destruction wherever he goes. Captain Corroñero resembles a broken man, even while wearing a monstrous jaw with long, sharp incisors on his shoulders. Jet Jaguar may not feel emotions. But the smile fixed upon his metal face suggests otherwise.

 

Nathan Widick places black uppercase letters in dialogue balloons that are anything but oval. Yet they link together in a pleasing, organic manner in Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #3. An Atlanta DJ and Marco Petithomme, Jacen’s new roommate, fill beige balloons with off-camera dialogue. Jet Jaguar's beige balloons include music notes. Balloons adopt a hallucinatory feel as a newcomer makes a bold entrance. Sound effects make the ground shake with gunfire, jet flybys, kaiju screams, and the power of advertising. Thanks to IDW for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

While Dr Rumi Chiba may dislike Commander Riviera's American term, Kai-Sei energy links Jacen with the kaiju and those anxious to exploit the new power source. Godzilla’s attack on Atlanta opens a new era for Humanity in Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #3. The kaiju are no longer limited to coastal cities. Now, they can tunnel underground and emerge hundreds of miles inside the continental United States.

 

Rating 9/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #2 Review

 

Writers: Ethan Parker & Griffin Sheridan

Artist: Pablo Tunica

Letterer & Design: Nathan Widick

Editor: Jake Williams

Cover Artists: Pablo Tunica & Juan Gedeon

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: September 17, 2025

 

Some dubbed them demons. Others proclaimed them gods. Whatever people called them, the kaiju rose from the oceans to wreak destruction upon the land. The United States declares the Pacific Northwest uninhabitable. But as people scrounge amid the Deadzone, they find a way to survive.

 

While searching wrecked stores for cigarettes and drinking alcohol in ramshackle bars, survivors draw strength by sharing their encounters with the kaiju. Lacking cellphones and social media, people trade in urban legends. One concerns a man with a kaiju tail. Who is he? And what allows him to walk into the kaiju-held zones where others fear to tread? Let’s scrounge a Slurpee from a trashed 7-11, leap into Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #2, and see!

 

Story

With his thick skin, claws, and determination, the Wanderer subdues beasts that defy guns, rockets, and bombs. Like a mutant Mad Max, people hire this mercenary to protect their towns or tame the smaller kaiju. Some see him as a fulfillment of prophecy, a savior of the ruined lands, come to deliver them from their kaiju oppressors.

 

When the Wanderer encounters two kaiju fighting, he discovers two Human children controlling them. In Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #2, he learns who oversees the children's efforts. Instead of fearing the kaiju, these people believe the monsters are ushering in the next stage of Human evolution.

 

Ethan Parker & Griffin Sheridan’s story shows how tough times reshape Human society. People living in fear often break the social contract, such as by hoarding food and severing relationships. In this otherworldly tale, the kaiju DNA is spreading mutations across the Human population. A visionary leader urges people to welcome this transformation of their world. Some embrace the leader's teachings. Others wonder if hardship and suffering have driven her crazy.

 

Art

As Norman stares at a bottle on the floor, his wife forms a fetal position on the couch. Their dirty, trash-filled living room boasts cracks in the walls and broken windows. Laundry dries on a line before exposed pipes. Covered in dirt and blemishes, his wife keeps her back to him as she tells him it’s over. When Norman steps outside, the door slams behind him in Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #2. In an instant, the rich greens, blues, and purples fade to light blue and black.

 

Streaks of green fall as Norman smokes on the front porch of this fragile yet retrofitted home. More streaks of green, brown, and yellow form a reflective appearance in the wet street. A stranger approaches and hands Norman a red parchment. The dark red image and lettering suggest a flyer written and drawn in blood.

 

As Pablo Tunica fills Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #2 with fanciful characters, eye-catching settings, and imaginative mutants and kaiju, characters speak black uppercase letters into edgy, cloudy, and spiky dialogue balloons. The letters grow bold for intonation, swell for raised voices, and rarely shrink. Squiggly lines connect each speaker’s dialogue within and across panels. Nathan Widick paints the black uppercase narration on orange boards with rough-hewn edges. Sound effects start small, but increase in frequency, size, and Kai-Sei energy when a mistreated character grows enraged, and a startling metamorphosis occurs. Thanks to IDW for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

While everyone else struggles to survive, one man makes the wasteland his own. The narrator claims this powerhouse mutant has no memory of the time he was Human. Yet even as he transforms into a beastly rage, the Wanderer protects children from harm and cherishes a tattered photo in Godzilla: Escape The Deadzone #2.

 

Rating 9.7/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1 Review

 

Writer: Ethan Parker & Griffin Sheridan

Artist: Pablo Tunica

Letterer & Design: Nathan Widick

Editor: Jake Williams

Cover Artists: Pablo Tunica, Rod Reis & Caspar Wijngaard

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: August 6, 2025

 

Once, people in the Pacific Northwest lived amid serene beauty. They enjoyed running water, electricity, readily available food, and comfortable homes. Then the kaiju came and took all that away.

 

Like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains, the giants tore across the land and made it their own. The US government declared Seattle uninhabitable. Those who remained among the rubble dubbed it the Deadzone. How do the inhabitants survive without Amazon, Microsoft, and Seattle's creative music scene? Let’s grab our survival kits, leap into Godzilla: Escape The Deadzone #1, and see!

 

Story

Whether we worry about turning off the lights, making our mortgage payments, or surviving a war, stories get us through the dark times. In Ethan Parker and Griffin Sheridan’s tale, one locus point of civilization is the corner bar. People gather there to discuss the realities of life.

 

In these uncertain times, fantasy and reality intertwine. As they search for scraps of food, clothing, and whatever they need to survive, the locals see things they can’t explain. There are the monsters who came to Earth. Then, there are the people who become monsters.

 

While those at the outdoor cantina muse about the changes life brings, Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1 focuses on one man. He hides his appearance from others and perhaps even from himself. Yet, in becoming one with his new environment, he flourishes while others live in fear. He wouldn't see things that way. The man with a kaiju tail cherishes memories of his former life. Yet, whether man or monster, he inspires others. And so, they create stories about him.

 

Despite the narration, or perhaps because of it, a silence hangs over Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1. People share stories about this “monster man.” We never learn his name. Yet, as he helps others and seeks to tame the wilderness, we admire him. As he leaps into situations that would overwhelm others, he forges his future rather than letting others define it for him.

 

Art

Pablo Tunica contrasts Seattle's gleaming towers with those walking the streets. Then, he introduces a man working at his desk. Amid his cluttered workspace is a Polaroid of a smiling woman. A note reminds him not to work too long. Then he stands with his coworkers as an enormous eye looms like the sun outside the window walls.

 

After revealing the man’s former life, Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1 shows how civilization stumbles on. People cobble together whatever materials they can find. The protagonist dresses in a green jacket, a yellow hoodie, a baseball cap, and enormous work boots. His large hands, now as brown and tough as his tail, sprout yellow claws. When the kaiju attack with their amply jointed limbs, enormous maws, and eyes adorning their ridged spines, he is ready for them.

 

Nathan Widick fills Pablo Tunica's evocative panels with black uppercase narration in orange paper scraps. Characters speak into edgy white balloons with arrows as disjointed as their lives. Sound effects shake the ground. Screams and roars alert people of approaching kaiju. Distorted letters in bubbly balloons reveal how some people cope with tough times. After shouts turn balloons spiky, an arrowless balloon heralds a discovery that could change everything. Thanks to IDW for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

The kaiju do more than destroy buildings and infrastructure. As they bring their radically different bodies among us, they change what it means to be Human. In a world where he doesn’t belong, Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1 follows one man's relentless march toward whatever the future brings.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #1 Review

 

Writer: Tim Seeley

Artist: Nikola Čižmešija

Colorist: Francesco Segala & Gloria Martinelli

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Cover Artists: Nikola Čižmešija, Kade Byrand, Arthur Adams & Martin Simmonds

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 23, 2025

 

Some cities build walls to keep out the kaiju. Other beacons of civilization are now rubble. The G-Force USA team aims to prevent such destruction from recurring. Can Dr Rumi Chiba and Jacen Braid fit in with their more experienced teammates? And can the team determine the root cause of the constant kaiju attacks? Let’s armor up, leap into Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #1, and see!

 

Story

Nuki is a heavy munitions expert from the Deadzone. The destruction of Seattle has taught her to push people away. Incense is a social media sensation who summons fire with his hands. Jet Jaguar has a tune locked in his metal head that the android can’t shake. Dr Rumi Chiba is a Japanese kaiju whisperer. Jacen Braid channels the same Kai-Sei energy as Godzilla. They all have their differences, and the newbies have something to prove. But all Commander Richard Riviera cares about is preventing kaiju from cutting another swathe through Human civilization.

 

Commander Riviera opens Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #1 with a briefing. But the team members have more to assimilate than Riviera’s kaiju history lesson. They probe each other for weaknesses, strengths, camaraderie, and the secrets of their power. But their orientation abruptly ends when a kaiju arises in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

As they've all suffered loss, it's understandable that these teammates want to punish the creatures that turned Earth into the monsterverse. Yet in Tim Seeley’s story, Commander Riviera hasn't learned from Humanity's mistakes. Nuclear testing awakened the kaiju and prompted their intrusions on Human civilization. Riviera keeps Dr Rumi Chiba at arm's length in Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #1. The commander disdains Rumi's peaceful approach, insisting that brute force is the only way to combat the kaiju threat.

 

Art

Nikola Čižmešija portrays the media appeal of the G-Force team. Dr Rumi Chiba straps a sword to her form-fitting armor and secures her hair bun with long, crossed pins. Nuki covers her crown in a scarf, wears belts adorned with pouches, and protects her left shoulder with spikes. Like Nuki, Incense's long hair hides or obscures his features. A high collar also juts out to shield his face. Jet Jaguar’s angular metal head, fixed wide smile, and armor design evoke a warrior-jester. Commander Riviera relaxes by playing the ukulele and wearing slippers. Yet even while he sings, thick armor covers his arms and torso.

 

Francesco Segala and Gloria Martinelli’s pastels soften the intense action as Godzilla unleashes a fiery blast on New York City. The limited palette imbues action past and present with a time-worn sense of history. While Nikola Čižmešija fills Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #1 with dramatic worm's eye, bird's-eye, and crowd-level camera angles, Jacen Braid lights up a dark room with crackling green fire. All the members of G-Force USA have suffered. Yet the gray in Dr Rumi Chiba's hair speaks volumes.

 

Nathan Widick uses letters in green boxes to denote time and place. Commander Riviera’s off-camera words appear in blue narrative boxes, while Jet Jaguar’s responses fill beige balloons adorned with red music notes. All the dialogue balloons are as rough-cut, and the arrows angular, as the edgy team members. Giant sound effects remind us of threats facing Humanity. Yet the crackling energy that prepares a snack and the unrestrained sounds of savoring it help us identify with these glamorous yet scarred defenders of civilization. Thanks to IDW for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #1 introduces the special ops team defending the United States. Each member of G-Force USA exhibits unique abilities that can help them prevent American cities from becoming another Deadzone. Yet uncertainty casts a shadow over the team’s future. A recent transfer from Japan doesn’t want to fight the kaiju. And then, there is the untrained teenager who unleashes the same devastating energy as the King of the Monsters.  

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2 Review

 

Writer: Sophie Campbell

Artist: Matt Frank & Sophie Campbell

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Cover Artists: Sophie Campbell & Nicole Goux

Editor: Jake Williams

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: April 16, 2025

 

Antra protected the Earth. Yet something drove the kaiju to attack Mothra before the queen of the monsters could lay an egg. Shorn from her family, Mira grew up in Mothra’s carcass. Mira scrounged abandoned shops for food while avoiding Antra's drones in the ruined city. All that changed when her sister found her. Mothra's priestesses cared for Emi. They trained her in musical magic. A dream led Emi to Mira. But her sister and the tiny priestesses also led a strange bug-eye creature to Mira’s home.

 

Now, the sisters are on the run. The priestesses need their help to bring another Mothra into a world dominated by Antra. Can Mira and Emi find another Mothra egg and rejuvenate their dying planet? Or will the bug-eyed creatures extinguish all hope for the future? Let's warm our voices, leap into Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2, and see!

 

Story

Mothra’s priestesses helped the sisters open a portal to the prehistoric era. Mira and Emi arrived at a grand view of a riparian valley. Dinosaurs wandered through the forest while a twisting river wound past a smoking volcano before emptying into the sea. Sophie Campbell's story opens with an armored dinosaur pursuing the sisters. As they race past a bug-eyed creature like the one that attacked Mira's home, another Mothra attacks the strange monster. The tiny priestesses who accompany the prehistoric Mothra expected the sisters’ arrival. They lead Mira and Emi toward the egg while a therapod with spine ridges attacks the spiky, armored dinosaur.

 

The sisters accompany the priestesses and the prehistoric Mothra to a hidden, underground temple. Mira hadn't realized that Mothra would have priestesses in this period. She wonders what else Emi hasn't told her. Like the monsters they serve, the priestesses sense the ebb and flow of life. They can tell the sisters haven't worked together long. Worse, Mothra's priestesses realize Mari and Emi aren't in tune with each other in Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2.

 

With the girls prone to argument and unused to working together, the priestesses worry that their magic could go wrong. But the priestesses have little time to train the recently reunited sisters and help them trust each other. Mari and Emi must open a portal and speed the egg to the future. Like Mothra and Antra, the Dragon Queen has sensed the girls' intrusion into this time. It yearns to devour Mothra’s egg and increase its power. The girls' disharmony blazes like a beacon of light, drawing the Dragon Queen toward the egg in Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2.

 

Art

Matt Frank and Sophie Campbell fill their time travel tale with dinosaurs, flying dragons, bug-eyed “dragonflies,” three different Mothras, and Antra and her drones. While Emi’s priestesses resemble children, their prehistoric forebears look like seasoned warriors adorned with face paint and carrying spears. Aside from their hairstyles, Emi and Mari look alike as they fun, argue, and weave ritual music.

 

After their flight through the verdant jungle, the sisters enter a gray world illuminated by glowing drawings. The luminous blocks resemble a labyrinth from the ground and a symbol from the air. Emi and Mari’s red attire fades as they glimpse a striped blue egg amid light-blue mushrooms. Swirls of color surround the sisters as they burst into song. Then, a purple dragon senses the green-and-pink portal opening and rushes to prevent the girls from transporting it to their gray world.

 

Nathan Widick incants black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons in Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2. The priestesses speak smaller white letters into pink balloons. The letters swell for volume, grow bold for intonation, and shrink for lowered voices. Monsters receive stylish introductions and fill the pages with vibrant colored sound effects as they rampage, attack, and turn Mari’s simmering anger into boiling rage. Thanks to IDW for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Mira grew up hating Mothra because she didn't save her family. Now, she must act as a guardian to a young Mothra the priestesses claim will save her world. But her sister and the tiny priestesses haven’t told Mira the entire truth in Mothra: Queen of the Monsters #2. And time travel is a complicated business. Even with precise calculations, the sisters could fly through a paradox. And that would end their hopes for a better future, wouldn't it?

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Mothra #1 Review

 

Writer: Sophie Campbell

Artist: Matt Frank & Sophie Campbell

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Cover Artists: Matt Frank & Sophie Campbell

Editor: Jake Williams

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: March 5, 2025

 

When Antra attacked Mothra, Mira lost her family. The girl survived by scavenging shops and learning to hunt. One day, as Mira cooked canned food over a wood fire, her sister found her amid the rubble. Can the sisters bridge the missing years and become a family again? Let's warm up our voices, leap into Mothra #1, and see!

 

Story

Mira hates Mothra because the queen of the monsters didn't protect her family. She lives inside the giant insect's carcass and practices her survival skills. Antra's Human-size drones menace the demolished city. While happy to see her sister, Mira is suspicious. She wonders why it took her sister fifteen years to find her.

 

Like Mira, Emi thought she lost her family. But unlike her sister, Emi gained a new one. The priestesses of Mothra found her, instructed her in their ways, and filled the void left by her parents. After years of training, Emi learned of Mira’s existence. Emi is overjoyed to find her sister in Mothra #1. She wants Mira’s help. But Mira wonders if Emi only values her for her fighting skills.

 

In Sophie Campbell's story, Mothra's priestesses explain the stakes for the girls and their world. The fairies propose to use magic to send them on a mission. Mira may not trust Emi or the priestesses. But what does Mira have to lose except her lonely, anger-fueled existence?

 

Art

Matt Frank and Sophie Campbell show the kaiju battling amid the tower blocks. As crowds scramble for shelter, Mira’s family races down the streets hand in hand. Antra and Mothra topple against buildings and crash to the ground. Mira's eyes widen as the hand clutching her slips beneath collapsing concrete. The queen of the monsters gazes up with pleading eyes at her opponent in Mothra #1. Antra births drones before the giant ant tears the queen of the monsters apart.

 

The artists color Mira's journey in grays and beiges. Vibrant reds, greens, blues, and yellows add sparkles of color to Mira's dying world. A blue and magenta flashback reveals Emi's apprenticeship with the priestesses like a windblown dream. Yet green, the color of growth, links Mothra's death and a new bug-eyed monster. The priestesses claim it is the first of more horrors unless Mira agrees to their plan.

 

Nathan Widick incants black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons in Mothra #1. While Mira's thoughts fill pink narrative boxes, the priestesses speak white letters in pink balloons. The letters swell for volume, grow bold for intonation, and shrink for lowered voices. As crashes and chittering fill the air, lyrics swirl around the sisters when they lift their voices in song. Thanks to IDW for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Mothra’s death spells the end of the world. Her petite priestesses need two Human sisters to rejuvenate the planet in Mothra #1. But the fairies have yet to explain why Antra attacked Mothra. And as they propose their dangerous mission, Mothra’s priestesses have other secrets they aren’t sharing.

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

For more cover art 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.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1 Review

 

Writers: Jason Aaron & Tom Waltz

Artists: Chris Burnham & Gavin Smith

Colorist: Brian Reber & Ronda Pattison

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Cover Artists: Chris Burnham & Brian Reber; Gavin Smith; Esau & Isaac Escorza; Vicenzo Federici; J. Gonzo; Rod Reis; Sophie Campbell; Chris Burnham (Gold Foil)

Publisher: IDW

Price: $6.99

Release Date: June 5, 2024

 

A safari park reinvents itself as a mutant fight club. A researcher experiments with a new and improved mutagen. How will these unrelated incidents reshape the mutant landscape? Let's grab our bō staffs, leap into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1, and find out!

 

Long Way From Home

Story

When Sunshine Safari Park closes its doors, the security guards discover a lucrative new opportunity. Two thousand dollars buys customers five minutes with the mutant of their choice. If they bag the mutant and want a trophy to show their friends, taxidermy services are available for an additional fee. But wait, these mutants are just animals, aren’t they?

 

In Long Way From Home, a white-collar worker needs a reason to hold his head high. The captured mutants want to survive and escape. A Turtle eggs on customers until they agree to fight him. But can they survive the battle with this trained warrior? Jason Aaron's ten-page story finishes too quickly and doesn't end well for the guards or the man who paid to take down a Turtle.

 

 

 

Art

Chris Burnham’s gritty art in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1 pulses with vitality and drama as the office worker attempts to prove himself to the dismissive guards and the hungry, determined Turtle. The customer grows furious while the guard grins behind his back. Panels reveal a foot, then intent eyes, before a hooded Turtle leaves his cell. The pens and fencing fade as the mutant dwarfs the would-be hero. The reptile bursts into action. And the guards watching the monitors lose their lunch.

 

A dark blue sky welcomes visitors to the glowing arena. Overhead lighting paints the ground yellow as the tanned guard in a blue shirt leads the gray suit toward barred pens. Highlights brighten the intent man's features and the green hands clutching the gray bars. The customer picks up a blue crowbar, and a star bursts behind him, shooting orange rays in every direction. Brian Reber lavishes a loaded palette on this dark story illuminated only by the artificial lights, Sunshine Security's cattle prods, and one Turtle’s determination to survive.

 

 

 

Monster Island

Story

Old Hob watches over Mutant Island, aka North Brother Island. Beside him crawls Herman the Hermit Crab, ready to shoot down any drones his boss spots. But while Old Hob worries about outsiders spying on his new home, he ignores growing problems among those in his care. After the crab destroys his latest surveillance drone, Colonel Wesley Knight sneaks onto Mutant Island under cover of darkness. What is his unsanctioned mission?

 

Monster Island updates readers on crime and politics in Mutant Town and lets Jennica and Angel Bridge reconnect. But the central focus of Tom Waltz’s story is Colonel Knight's mission on behalf of his mutant-traumatized wife and a research experiment gone wrong. It's a fraught action feature starring unlikely partners and a monster who begs forgiveness as she kills.

 

 

 

Art

A full moon shines down on Mutant Town’s three-story buildings and clustering tents in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1. The moon illuminates the Cat and Crab on the wooden pier. As the sky darkens, a boat pulls onto the rocky shore, and a soldier clad in armor holds a rifle in readiness as he charges across the grass. The Colonel trades night vision goggles for a flashlight and ventures into the compound. He follows a trail of blood and finds mutants wrapped in webbing and hanging from the ceiling. 

 

Ronda Pattison lavishes a loaded palette on Gavin Smith’s art in the thirty-page Mutant Town. Pattison portrays darkness while hiding nothing as combatants seek their prey. The subdued coloring energizes the moonlit fight as guns blaze, a rotary cannon smokes, and a fierce creature with deadly talons bursts from the shadows.

 

 

Nathan Widick contributes large, uppercase black letters to white balloons and colored narrative boxes in both stories. The words grow bold for inflection and shrink for lowered voices. A monster hisses white letters into blood splatter, while vicious sound effects intensify the struggle for survival in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1. Paragraphs of white letters accompany portraits for profiles of nine characters in Mutant Town. Thanks to IDW for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

One leader rallies the drugged and dispirited captives of a mutant trafficking ring, while another realizes that Humans and Mutants need each other in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1.

 

Rating 9.5/10

 

Preview "Long Way From Home," the prelude to Jason Aaron's forthcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, on my review at Comic Book Dispatch.