Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #102

You'll be hard-pressed to find a better-crafted comic book being published today. Read Full Review

Final thoughts? I wrote this section multiple times in the hope I could catch what I felt while reading this book, and Im not sure what my final thoughts are. Are they with Raph, Jenn, and Sally or are they with Leo, Donny, and Mikey? What about the torture Old Hob is delivering to innocent people? I guess my final thoughts are this. This was a damn good book that made you sit back and think about humanity and how we deal with each other. Read Full Review

An astonishing aspect of the TMNT series, heightened especially through Campbell's magnificent art, are these fantastic moments of using the art to convey the story. In a myriad of monthly books, it's easy to forget about these characters and rely on dialogue to convey a story.  But Campbell manages to enhance the TMNT story through always having these fantastic expressions within anthropomorphized characters. In every panel, I have felt what I'm seeing. Read Full Review

Ultimately, while the burden of expectation for her run was dizzyingly high, Campbell has done a truly stellar job, not just of continuing the existing story but of expanding it in new and exciting ways. Its never been a better time to be a TMNT comic book fan, and this new arc has all the makings of becoming an all-time classic. Read Full Review

The story in TMNT #102 is starting to grow on me. This issue focused a little more on the four brothers, which the series had kind of gotten away from recently. I think TMNT might need to scale down a little on story and characters and focus more on the core group again for a little while, which it has started to do now. Read Full Review

Diamond and the weasels are both interesting additions to the status quo, the former's angry self-interest and the foreshadowing of the weasel's potential both open new avenues for trouble in Manhattan and a situation potentially large enough to inspire the reunion of family. Worth a look. Read Full Review

I Review Comics

Feb 03, 2020

My last review of TMNT was probably all over the place with equal part praise and concern. I wanted to be nakedly honest about the issue. The book had a lot of good in it but there was some underlying stuff that bothered me. Issue #102 brings the new status quo further into focus and sets up some really interesting subplots for our heroes and villains. The comic opens with Raphael and his pet dinosaur, Pepperoni gearing up to go back on patrol for the evening. They are interrupted by Sally of the Mutanimals. Raph's wearing his Black mask and armor which seems to be homaging his Nightwatch costume from the underrated TMNT movie as well as his black Suit from the old Archie comics. The exchange between the two characters is pretty coo l and layers in some setting building for the Mutanimals as well as the general state of mutants in Mutant Town. The scene is eventually interrupted by the previous issue's cliffhanger. Jennika and the newly introduced Mona Lisa (TMNT 87 Series) were attacked by a group of mutants looking to steal their stuff. The fight scene here is great and seeing Jennika get pinned by a giant mutant porcupine was equal parts hilarious and horrifying. The book also checks in with the rest of the turtles. They are a complete mess and Mickey has my favorite line of the issue. He mentions that no one talks anymore even though they have so much to say. This hit me really hard. Shortly after my mother passed away circumstances led to me being somewhat estranged. It felt like my siblings and I went our separate ways and you sort of see the same thing happening in this issue. The writing for this interlude is amazing and it will be great to see the guys pull it together, find themselves and figure out a path forward. I also really dug the new villains. I really liked the design on Diamond, the aforementioned porcupine. He steals the show in this issue and oddly enough reminded me of Sonic The Hedgehog. The book checks in with Old Hob and he seems a bit more villainous than usual. Prior to this issue Hob always seemed at least somewhat justified in his actions. In this issue, he seems to have crossed a line that he may not be able to come back from. I loved everything about this issue. It looks great, has great pacing and the color contrast Ronda Pattison uses to differentiate Mutant Town and April's farmhouse is understated yet stunning. When you combine the visuals with dynamic action and new interesting concepts and characters you get something special. If you were on the fence about the series post issue #100 I suggest giving it a shot. It's the same book you loved but with a different flavor. more

Micky H

Feb 02, 2020

Tiz alright..... that diamond character is annoying though

myconius

Jan 29, 2020

better than the usual IDW Tmnt comic, but typical issues that usually plague this series. what good is it to deconstruct the Ninja Turtles, when this series honestly never bothered to really construct them in the first place. this series has always been more about supporting cast than the actual title characters.