The Ogglympics continue in part two of this three-issue arc. After a round-one victory defeating a dragon, the Ninja Turtles are made to face themselves. Not exactly themselves, but the different iterations from the franchise’s forty year history: Leonardo from the Mirage Studios comics, Donatello from the 2003 TV series, Raphael from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Michaelangelo from the 2012 Nickelodeon series, and human turned mutant turtle Jennika from the IDW series. The first knockout from either of these matches wins the round.
Each of the Turtles is transported to different environments to fight their alternate dimension opponents. Leo tries to reason with aggressive Jennika, while Raphael is finding it difficult to fight a grittier and rougher version of Leonardo. The two Donatellos call a truce as they are too equally matched and conclude a victory will not be decided by them. The same goes for the Michaelangelos who skip the fighting and get pizza instead; however, per Ogg’s rules, if no one wins this round, the alternate dimension Turtles will be erased from existence. A winner must emerge.
People like to complain about how there are no new ideas, but it’s satisfying to see a continuing series done right. One thing that I appreciate as children’s franchises have evolved is that the material grows with the audience. I loved watching this group of Ninja Turtles growing up. Comics similar to this series were always supplements to the adventures in between the ones on TV. The episodes were stuck in the circle of teaching one character a lesson, but they were forgotten in later episodes. It’s great to see a reboot by fans who hear the voices of the characters in their heads and can see them develop even after all this time.
The art is as spot on as it can be, while also leaving room for improvement on the original. This issue is a good time with a cliffhanger that will have you chomping at the bit for its conclusion next month.
Creative Team: Erik Burnham (writer), Sarah Myer (artist/cover artist)
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Click here to purchase.
