Review: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #8

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #8
Written by Tom Waltz & Kevin Eastman
Art by Dan Duncan
Release Date: March 28, 2012

I think the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles book I ever picked up was issue 8 of the original series, so it seems rather fitting that I should start with issue 8 of this series. I was impressed by the fact that I was able to pick up the story so quickly, which is something that doesn’t happen in many comic books today.

The story itself is quite interesting. Many of the characters from the original series are back, with some new ones that fit within the same vein. The dialogue by Waltz is where this book gets a bit dicey. Virtually every character speaks in the exact same manner. It’s a good thing the turtles have different colored masks, otherwise you would never be able to tell them apart. Even the villains seem likely to start saying “dude” every now and then. If this is intentional, then it doesn’t work for me.

The art by Duncan though, is a perfect match for the book. While I feel like it might be better in black and white, the heavy inking lines definitely evoked Eastman in his heyday. And with the limitations of the script, having color to illustrate which turtle is which is definitely a good thing. It might be nice to see a bit more backgrounds in the panels, but as this is an action book, you don’t tend to notice their omission that much.

I enjoyed the story, but wonder if the dialogue problems will be too much for me in the long run. The art style is effective and action-packed, leaving this one as a solid pick-up by fans of the original Turtles run by Eastman and Laird.

Verdict: 5.5/10

Brett Co-hosts the We Talk Comics podcast.

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