Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret History of the Foot Clan #2

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Shredder find themselves after the same thing, the man who knows the "secret history of the foot clan," the one who has the ability to grant the Shredder secret power that could allow him to defeat his ancient enemies once and for all and have the most powerful ninja force on the planet at the tips of his fingers (or perhaps the tips of his toes, because they're called the Foot Clan, not the Hand Clan).

Much like in the first issue, the art is great when we're looking at people and not so great when we're looking at turtle-people, the narrative is strong, and the climax is interesting. It is hard to say much past that without either giving away the plot of the mini-series or being entirely redundant. Instead, I'd like to do something that I don't normally do, a digression on the character of Alopex.

Alopex is a mutant fox who was introduced in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series issue about Raphael's solo mission. As far as I know, she is an entirely new character, not present in the original comics, the Archie comics, or the cartoon. She's popped up here and there, but it is not entirely clear why she was introduced. Prior to the introduction of Alopex, a mutant alley cat named Old Hob was brought into the origin story of the Turtles and Splinter. It is pretty clear what his future is for the series, but Alopex remains a mystery.

Meanwhile, in the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret History of the Foot Clan, we learn the story of an ancient witch who made contact with a magical force from beyond the stars and sold that power to the ninja clan. This figure is surrounded with much of the same mystery as Alopex. My thought is that Alopex, who keeps popping her head up in this mini-series despite not being pivotal to the plot in any way, is the reincarnated witch. If Splinter can be the reincarnated Hamato Yoshi and the Turtles his children returned from the dead, then there is certainly room for more rebirths. I'm sure Splinter wishes he could see his own wife again, but maybe not until after the threat of the Shredder is defeated. Why would Alopex be a reincarnated figure and not others like Old Hob or Slash? I can't answer that question, but I can mention that Alopex had latent ninja fighting abilities that neither of the other mutants possessed.

Originally, I mentioned that this second issue is exactly the same as the first issue in terms of quality, but after this tangential discussion I think this one might be better. After all, one quality of great art is that you think about it for some time afterwards.

I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.

The High Ways #1

One of my biggest disappointments came this week when I realized that The High Ways by John Byrne is a four-issue miniseries rather than a full-blown series. In a month where Superior Spider-man #1 had not been released, I believe The High Ways would have been my most acclaimed comic of the month.

The High Ways is a continuation of the relationship between John Byrne and IDW Comics that brought you Trio a few months earlier. The High Ways follows the story of a young man named Eddie Wallace as he dives into a new job opportunity, one which is hidden from both the reader and Wallace by quirky co-workers. While IDW occasionally gets a good series handed to them - Angel: After the Fall and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles come to mind - they're in dire need of some good well-written stories to put them on the map of Indie comics which is currently dominated by Image and Dark Horse. Even more than stories, they need a web site that makes a lick of sense and actually displays organized information about their books, but I digress.

Byrne's old-school art style is immediately pleasing. It makes me wish that he were penciling just about every good comic book that I'm reading right now. And the story is fantastic as well. The reader sees everything from Wallace's perspective, and to tell the truth Wallace doesn't seem to know much about what's going on until it happens. He just dives in, meeting a woman who serves as his tour guide, a wild and unpredictable boss who charts their journey for unknown territory, and an intriguing situation on a moon base. The reader knows nothing about the characters, the world, the time, about anything, but information simply unravels. Byrne keeps you wondering and then effortlessly gives you just enough information to keep fresh questions in your head. Before you know it, you care for the characters without any overt attempts to humanize them. They are simply human, and Byrne seems like he is more than.

The only down side is that there will only be four issues. I could imagine this book going on endlessly and without a goal for the story to work towards. As long as Wallace is still alive and stories unravel around him, I want to read it. On the other hand, I trust Byrne's vision because he hasn't lead me astray as far as the first issue.

If you thought The High Ways was going to be Cheech and Chong in space, you will be disappointed. But once you crack issue one, your disappointment will evaporate. It will be replaced by happiness.

I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret History of the Foot Clan #1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret History of the Foot Clan #1 tells the story behind the ninja army lead by the Shredder through historical lecture and Master Splinter's recollection of his prior life with simple literary flashback filling in the gaps that neither could have possibly known. These truths are revealed because the turtles and their allies wish to gain any possible knowledge about their adversary and also because the Shredder wishes to restore an incredibly mystical power to his followers.

I went into this book skeptical of how it would turn out. I have been really impressed by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ongoing series and the various mini-series installations to date. The only thing I found hard to digest was the annual, which read like a Legion of Super-Heroes of thugs, spending every panel and every page introducing a new villain. What I've been impressed with the most is how the mini-series tend walk the tight rope between giving you too little useful information (seemingly unimportant and disconnected from the main story) and giving you too much useful information (making it so you need to read the mini-series in order to understand the main story). These books are written incredibly well. Normally, I'd be skeptical that the writers can continue walking that tight rope with the bomb that is dropped at the end of this first issue which will definitely affect the main story in many ways, but after the flawless delivery of the Fugitoid story among others I trust that these guys know what they're doing.

Mateus Santolouco's art is really impressive. For a ninja-based back-story, the Manga-style drawing works fantastically. My only problem is that the turtles themselves do not look as good. But the people look great, especially in the flashbacks.

It is very difficult to read this issue and not reveal the ending. I just want to talk about it. What I can say is that this issue teases a great source of power that a shape-shifting ninja delivers to the foot soldiers in the distant past. At the very end of the issue, in what felt almost like a really good episode of LOST, the source of that power is revealed. I think the repercussions of this one panel are likely to define where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics proceed from this moment forward. It will add excitement to this year, but also to the entire run.

The book wasn't flawless, but it was awfully close. Give it a read.

I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.

Angel: After the Fall

Angel: After the Fall is a comic book series published by IDW Publishing, a canonical storyline that picks up on the storyline from the WB television series Angel. It exists in lieu of a sixth season, and it is doing everything a sixth season ought to. Seriously, check this out, and while you're at it pick up Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight, published by Dark Horse.