Boy, am I glad I caught up on Volume 9 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Monsters, Misfits, and Madmen. I feel as though all the other TMNT comic books I’ve read as of late make much more sense now. A whole lot of trouble is brewing in New York City, and I can why tell our heroes would be stressed.
In this issue (or volume of issues, rather), Leonardo and Splinter debate who to fight first. Shredder and his Technodrome threat seem to grow stronger every day. They also want to trust that old enemy Hob can help them in this fight, but Raph seems to think otherwise. Meanwhile, Casey has problems of his own with his father, and Donatello seems to be having “technical difficulties” with his scientist friend, Harold. Metalhead makes an appearance in this issue, and let’s just say he brought back old memories of one of my favorite action figures that I played with as a child. Metalhead could be a good guy. He could be bad. One never knows . . .
As always, kudos to Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, and Tom Waltz on a story well written. I’m a huge sucker for watching or reading anything about old enemies coming together to fight one greater evil. I also really enjoyed the art and colors by Mateus Santolouco and Ronda Pattison, respectively. Both artists gave a darker edge to each character in this volume, helping to create the sense that evil was always lurking around each and every turn of the page. And yet, our heroes still looked like young and vibrant teenagers with lots to learn. Well done, team turtles!
If I must say, I am so glad our pizza-loving turtles are alive and well. The recent movie was better than the animated TMNT film from a few years back. The cartoon on Nickelodeon seems to be a huge success. And now, the comic books appear to capture a darker side of the turtle franchise we all know exists. I’m just curious to know what would happen if Shredder and Krang would finally be defeated. Or what if our turtles lost a brother? Dare our creators go down those dark paths? Only time will tell . . .
Until then, #TurtlePower!
