Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The IDW Collection

I'm very much a 90s kid, but didn't really follow comics until I married my husband. I of course watched the TV series with my younger brother and remember playing the arcade game with him, and I of course had a favorite turtle (Leonardo, don't @ me), but this is my first time reading TMNT comics. Writer Kevin Eastmen has started things off really well with a great reimagined origin story, setting the stage for future fun to come. Things seemed pretty fast-paced throughout the collection, and I appreciated that there was clearly time taken to tell a story (with lots of dialogue) alongside the great visuals. Eastmen even takes the time to develop April and Casey, two people who have a presence in the old cartoons but not much else. I don't even have a lot to quibble about, except maybe a minor quibble about the Michelangelo one shot included in the first third or so. The artwork was a huge step down from the rest of the book, in my opinion. Still, can't wait to pick up volume two!

3.5 stars Rereading turtle comics! I love this reboot so much. Honestly my favorite series for TMNT. It blends nostalgia and classic Ninja Turtles with the updating and refresh it needed. The good: Beautiful art of course. All the characters are themselves. Shouldn’t have to be said, but given the most recent tv show where Raph is the new Leo and Leo is the new Mikey and who knows what Mikey is — just. thank god. I love how April and Casey are brought together through April wanting self-defense classes and Casey needing tutoring. So. Much. Casey development. So. Much. Raph development. So much Casey & Raph bromance. I freaking love the microcomics dedicated to a character sprinkled throughout the main narrative and how it holds a place in pushing the story forward. The bad: The pacing/format used to try and tell present and past story simultaneously in the beginning doesn’t work imo. It’s clunky and confusing without basic TMNT knowledge beforehand and perhaps a touch too cheesy even for Turtles. I will also say I don’t buy the reincarnation aspect introduced to tie Splinter and the boys more closely with Shredder and the Foot and give them more agency. It feels a forced explanation to make sense of a story born out of a joke between friends. Sometimes something is nonsensical at its heart and doesn’t need reasoning. I’d say Ninja Turtles is one of those things.