Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #8 – Review

By: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz (writers), Dan Duncan (artist), Ronda Pattison (colorist)

The Story: It’s generally not a good idea to take your girlfriend down a sewer on the first date.

The Review: The hot news this week is Michael Bay, director of the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film adaptation, plans to revitalize the franchise by removing the “Teenage” and “Mutant” parts entirely and making them aliens instead.  In my determined pursuit of objective review, I’ll wait to see how the movie pans out before getting rendering judgment, but even I can’t help feeling like Bay will have a lot of work before him to make this idea work.

I understand the point of these changes is to remove some of the hokier elements from the Turtles’ conception and make them more believable.  But let’s say we revise Superman’s origins so he’s an Earth-born genetic anomaly rather than the last child of a doomed planet who happens to be sent to our planet.  Sure, it’d be more sensible and less corny, but I doubt many people would see it’s an improved story.

The stakes may be lower here, but the changes are no less significant for the Turtles.  The loss of their “teenage” status would remove a major part of their endearing and enduring appeal.  True, their jocky mentality and mannerisms can get gimmicky and a tad annoying, but that’s what make these freaks lovable rather than terrifying.  I mean, how can you be scared of giant turtle-men armed with traditional Eastern weaponry who call you “Bro” and compliment you on the “Cute girl” you have passed out in your arms?

That unconscious girl, by the way, is April O’Neil, brought by Casey Jones to the sewers to meet his turtle buddies, who also happen to be the ninjas she claims nearly killed her some time back.  The intersection between the human and reptile characters of the series means our core cast is finally complete, though it may be a while—especially on April’s part—before they all fight as common allies.  Looking forward to much entertaining exchanges among them to come.

Secret Invasion #7 (of 8) – Review

By Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Leinil Yu (Pencils), Mark Morales (Inker), Laura Martin, and Emily Warren (Colorists)

The Story: The penultimate chapter of the Secret Invasion is all about the action. Heroes and villains from throughout the Marvel universe come together for an epic battle against the Skrull army. But this isn’t just a straight forward fight, the final seeds planted months ago by writer Brian Bendis finally come to fruition.

What’s (very) Good: The action. The artwork here is absolutely phenomenal. Each panel packs a punch and it seems as though every character involved in the fight gets a chance to shine. There is a LOT going on in this comic and the art team pulls it off spectacularly. As far as action goes, this is one epic fight that manages to live up to the hype. Hats of to Leinil Yu for delivering the goods!

What’s Not So Good: The dialogue. I know that I may sound a bit too critical here, but most of the battlefield dialogue just simply doesn’t work for me. The banter and catch-phrases, while (admittedly) fun, take away from the seriousness and scope of the battle at hand. I held on to some hope that the encounter would somehow be able to transcend above its summer blockbuster status, but it doesn’t. It is all very fun, but considering how seriously some of this story has been taken, I can’t help but feel the tone is a bit off. It just seems like some of the characters involved are having way too much fun.

Conclusion: For all out Marvel superhero action, you really can’t get much better than this. It doesn’t try to be something it’s not. Whether that is a positive or a negative is up to you, the reader, to decide.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

A Second Opinion

As short-changed as some might feel, this book doesn’t need the dialogue. Why? Because there’s really not much of a story here. It’s a full blown brawl fest — Marvel porn at its finest. Finally… finally some of those New Avengers and Mighty Avengers stories that were dismissed as “throwaways” make sense and carry more weight. The concept of Wasp being chosen to be the doomsday weapon is a bit silly, though. And why only infect her when you can infect others as a contingency plan? That logic throws me off a bit, but whatever. This once dreaded invasion is showing signs of fatigue. At least I now know why Marvel released that Marvel Boy hardcover a couple of weeks back.

At this point I just want this series to be over.

Grade: C

– J. Montes