TMNT Best Of Dark Leo #1 Review

 

Writers: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Sophie Campbell

Artists: Mateus Santolouco, Mike Henderson, Sophie Campbell, Pablo Tunica, Zach Howard, Cory Smith & Joylon Yates

Colorist: Ronda Pattison

Letterer: Shawn Lee

Cover Artist: James Biggie

Editors: Maggie Howell & Nicolas Niño

Design & Production: Sandy Tanaka

Publisher: IDW

Price: $6.99

Release Date: September 4, 2024

 

TMNT (2011) #24: Story

In City Fall: Part III, Oroku Karai yearns to prove herself. Shredder promises his granddaughter that she will bathe her katana in blood today. On a rooftop, Old Hob, Donatello, Splinter, and Rafael gaze down on a warehouse. Donatello and Rafael aren't sure they can trust Old Hob, but Splinter believes Old Hob knows where Leonardo is. After Michelangelo befriends the hulking turtle Slash, Rafael and Donatello's instincts prove correct when Old Hob leads them into the dark warehouse and locks them inside.

 

This first story in TMNT Best Of Dark Leo #1 shows Shredder consumed by the past. Angry with his rival, he turns Leonardo against Splinter and his family. Shredder fails to live up to his promise to his granddaughter. City Fall: Part III puts Splinter and the turtles through an emotional meatgrinder as Leonardo disowns his family and declares that Shredder is his master.

 

TMNT (2011) #24: Art

In City Fall: Part III, Karai fights through time-lapse photos. She stands beside Shredder while Alopex takes her grandfather's opposite side. A metal helmet and black mask obscure Shredder's features, while Karai and Alopex wear masks of anger. Rafael and Donatello’s faces reveal their pain and uncertainty, while Michelangelo’s expression shines with his belief in the transformative power of kindness. Dark Leo reveals the soul-robbing power of anger and revenge with his frown and the blue mask he tosses to Splinter.

 

TMNT (2011) #29: Story

In Northampton: Part 1, April O'Neil takes Casey Jones to meet her parents. Recent events in New York have left everyone reeling, so she's bringing the turtles and Splinter along. She sets Splinter and the turtles up in the barn. Then, Alopex appears. She claims that she fled New York after a fight with Shredder and is no longer a member of the Foot Clan. This shift in loyalties is something she shares with Leonardo, as he still struggles to separate memories of his family from Shredder's programming.

 

This second story in TMNT Best Of Dark Leo #1 navigates the difficulties in family and relationships. As Casey speaks with his mother in a dream in TMNT #24, Leo seeks harmony with his mother in TMNT #29. But fathers loom larger in Northampton: Part 1. Casey feels estranged from his father. Leonardo still disowns Splinter as his father, and Alopex no longer views Shredder as her master. While April's mother wears a brave face, her husband recovers from a stroke. April worries that the turtles will disturb the harmonious environment her parents sought to facilitate her dad's recovery. Still, recent events at Stockgen and something April says arouse her mother's concerns.

 

TMNT (2011) #29: Art

The art in Northampton: Part 1 gives the Turtles' idyll in the woods a homespun appearance. April looks young and innocent, her tousled hair restrained by a ponytail. Black cloth covers Leonardo's arms and legs. A black utility belt adorns his waist. Green turtle faces frame a yellowed depiction of the subsequent fight, while the orange and green foliage give the woods an autumnal glow. After Alopex shares her departure from the Foot Clan in a blue and white montage, Leonardo's memories unfold in beige tones while he kneels beside a dark lake and gazes at the moon in the purple sky.

 

TMNT (2011) #132: Story

The Turtles miss Splinter. In his absence, Shredder leads them. The overturning of their longstanding feud with the leader of the Foot Clan fills the Turtles with uncertainty. But no one struggles more than Leonardo. Dark Leo inhabits his mind and makes him doubt his leadership skills. The Turtles have mastered martial arts. Now, Shredder instructs them in the spiritual aspects of being a ninja. Their journey is an inward one. Donatello, Michelangelo, Rafael, and Jennika need an altered perspective. But Leonardo must utilize what he learns to battle Dark Leo for mastery of his soul.

 

TMNT (2011) #132: Art

Leonardo walks through the woods in this third story in TMNT Best Of Dark Leo #1. Dark Leo perches in the branches of a barren tree. Then he leaps down and battles Leonardo. Shredder left his costume behind. He sinches his black hair into a ponytail. Clad in a purple robe, Shredder follows Yoda's example and guides the Turtles through the jungle. While Porgs gently glide around the Turtles, these otherworldly spirits help the Turtles create glowing statues. Shredder instructs them amid a purple haze of darkness and the greenery of Northampton. As the cover promises, an evening communing around a campfire turns the fire blue and summons the spirit of their former master.

 

TMNT Deviations #1: Story

In this final story in TMNT Best Of Dark Leo #1, darkness falls on the Turtles. Under Kitsune's spell, they seek out their former master. Old Hob helps them capture Splinter. This alternate-world story probes the darker nature of ourselves. Without Splinter's restraint, Dark Leo, Rafael, Donatello, and Michelangelo have accomplished what Shredder's other ninjas could not. The Turtles have subdued all the gangs of New York. Shredder controls the city. But the Turtles' rise means others fall, and loyal soldiers like Karai and Alopex have something to say about that. A surprising turn for Casey's father and Old Hob and Slash’s return forms a satisfying conclusion to this four-part collection.

 

TMNT Deviations #1: Art

The Turtles crouch in darkness. Black masks and red bandanas obscure their features as they fight. Only their weapons signal their identities. Splinter has never appeared more vulnerable than in this brutal street fight where his sons wear Shredder's emblem. Dark reds, blues, and purples accompany the highly detailed penciling as the Turtles punish their former master. Shredder sits on a golden throne borrowed from Ming The Merciless. Kitsune frowns beside him, but Shredder lifts his clawed hand to silence her concerns as Karai and Alopex observe the confrontation in the blued distance within a green wood panel hall.

 

Shawn Lee casts large uppercase letters into dialogue balloons and narrative boxes in TMNT Best Of Dark Leo #1. The font size and line spacing make for easy reading. The lettering master also heightens the action with sound effects. Thanks to my compadres at IDW for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Leonardo confronts the darker side of his nature in TMNT Best Of Dark Leo #1. The stories contemplate the role of fatherhood in our lives and reveal Master Splinter's centrality to the TMNT Universe.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

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.

TMNT Best Of Alopex #1 Review

 

Writers: Brian Lynch, Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Juni Ba, Erik Burnham & Sophie Campbell

Artists: Sophie Campbell, Juni Ba, Roi Mercado & Gavin Smith

Colorists: Sophie Campbell, Heather Nunnelly, Ronda Pattison & William Soares

Letterers: Chris Mowry, Shawn Lee & Jake M. Wood

Cover Artist: James Biggie

Publisher: IDW

Price: $6.99

Release Date: April 10, 2024

 

Once, she ran with her pack in the Alaskan wilderness. Now, the Mutant Arctic Fox dispatches her opponents not with her teeth but with her martial arts prowess. What is Alopex’s story? Let’s grab a pizza, leap into the four stories in TMNT Best Of Alopex #1, and find out!

 

 

 

TMNT: Villains Micro-Series #4: Alopex

Story

For Alopex, the mission is everything. She fights for the Foot Clan and follows Master Shredder's orders without question. One assignment awakens old memories. Alopex returns to the land of her birth. Walking through the Alaskan snow reminds her of life hunting prey and avoiding bears before the scientists mutated her. In this first story in TMNT Best Of Alopex #1, Brian Lynch forces Alopex to compare her old life with her new identity. She leaves with a less naive view of her ninja master.

 

Art

Sophie Campbell brings an Old School sensibility to TMNT: Villains Micro-Series #4: Alopex. The Mutant Arctic Fox crashes through windows, fights rival ninjas, and remembers battling the turtles. While reds and blues dominate, Sophie Campbell and Heather Nunnelly use other colors sparingly to highlight killing blows, the mutation drug, and the purple surrounding Alopex’s eyes.

 

 

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #66

Story

Alopex fled New York City for Alaska. She thought she could escape Kitsune’s grasp. But the witch who controls the Foot Clan refuses to let her go. Raphael and Angel pursue her in this second story in TMNT Best Of Alopex #1. The mutant reptile lacks Alopex’s fur. Yet he braves the cold to save her. He's conflicted about his feelings for her. Raphael uses two methods he learned from his fellow turtles to find her. But in Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz’s story, Alopex must discover how to win her freedom from Kitsune before returning with Raphael to New York City.

 

Art

Campbell's art lends a softer, feminine appeal to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #66. Raphael's love for Alopex knocks his confidence for a loop, leaving him open and hesitant before Angel. Ronda Pattison paints the Alaskan land and sky in gray and white, while red dominates Kitsune's scenes. Campbell's atmospheric art and Pattison's limited colors bathe Alopex’s battle with Kitsune in mysticism.

 

 

 

TMNT: The Armageddon Game: The Alliance #3

Story

Alopex’s life grows more confusing when the turtles ally with Shredder to combat the Rat King. She now blames Shredder for experimenting on her and ripping her away from her home and family. Although it hurts, she turns her back on Raphael and the turtles in this story in TMNT Best Of Alopex #1. She helps Angel take on Ravenwood’s Earth Protection Force squad and entertains an offer from Oroku Karai. Juni Ba and Eric Burnham address how our circle of friendships and our concept of family adapts to changes life throws in our path.

 

Art

Juni Ba's art in the first story in TMNT: The Armageddon Game: The Alliance #3 features sharp angles and fraught action. Ronda Pattison's limited coloring electrifies scenes where characters often revert to silhouettes or negative silhouettes, visualize Alopex's scent, and limbs resemble lightning bolts. Roi Mercado's characters approach photorealism in the backup story, while backgrounds often fade. Ronda Pattison fills null backgrounds with brilliant colors that evoke the aurora borealis from the land of Alopex’s birth.

 

 

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #140

Story

After the Rat King's defeat, everything is different. Leonardo tries to keep the group together, but the turtles can't even agree on whether patrolling the neighborhood is necessary. Raphael glimpses Alopex and texts her. But the Mutant Arctic Fox doesn't answer. Alopex has left the turtles behind. She leads the Claw Clan in this final story in TMNT Best Of Alopex #1. Despite her pack’s enthusiasm, Alopex strives to find a purpose in their activities. Sophie Campbell’s story places the turtles front and center, with Alopex limited to one scene. But a series of mutant murders and a cliffhanger featuring Raphael suggest the Arctic Fox's return.

 

Art

Gavin Smith packs this final story in TMNT Best Of Alopex #1 Review with breathtaking reality. The turtles and other mutants convincingly (if not always harmoniously) interact with their Human neighbors. Ronda Pattison enhances Smith’s inked shading and illuminates her characters under the city lights and a full moon. Pattison's loaded palette and nuanced coloring portray a community rocked by change. 

 

Final Thoughts

From ferocious arctic fox to streetwise ninja leader, the mutant Alopex has endured the trials and hardships of modern life. She navigates a maze of twists and turns, pulling Raphael into her struggles before leaving the mutant turtle behind. TMNT Best Of Alopex #1 showcases her struggles with change and her unending search for a home.

 

Rating 9/10

 

To preview TMNT: Villains Micro-Series #4: Alopex, the first story in TMNT Best Of Alopex #1, see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.