Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret History of the Foot Clan #4 – Review

By: Mateus Santolouco (story & art), Erik Burnham (story), João “Azeitona” Viera (colors)

The Story: It’ll be a long time before anyone gets this violently passionate over a book again.

The Review: Call me a nut; call me a crazy dreamer; but I believe that at bottom, humans are malleable creatures.  We’re more open to change than closed off to it.  So while some people might look at a person with problems, shake their heads with either pity or disgust, and think there’s no hope for him, I still hold out for that always present (if miniscule) possibility that he can turn his life around.  What I’m trying to say is I love a good redemption story.

So yes, it’s a little disheartening for me to see that, given a literal second chance at life (and a third and a fourth and…), Oroku Saki squandered it.  Instead of responding to the love of his father or the guidance of his friends, he went back to the crazed power-tripping that got him killed in the first place.  I have mixed feelings about this, frankly.  On the one hand, we avoid any sappy, preachy sort of conclusion to Shredder’s story; on the other hand, it does suggest that Shredder was born an evil conqueror and that’s how he’ll stay.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret History of the Foot Clan #3 – Review

By: Mateus Santolouco (story & art), Erik Burnham (story), João “Azeitona” Vieira (colors)

The Story: Shredder, I am your father—technically.

The Review: It’s always a little awkward when the second feature tops the main event, isn’t it?  While Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, and Ben Bates have done great things for the Turtles in their ongoing series, Santolouco and Burnham’s mini has been the truly dazzling TMNT title.  I don’t mean to imply that there’s a huge difference between the two; I’m just saying that if you want to turn someone onto this franchise, you’ll be more inclined to hand them this mini.

Part of that comes from the accessibility of a mini.  Within a few issues, you get a fully-fleshed story with little to no distraction from other titles or plotlines, which nowadays is becoming increasingly rare.  You also usually get a neatly-wrapped introduction to all the characters and basic story elements, which makes for an excellent primer if you’re new to the property or simply curious.