The Ninja Turtles have been around for quite awhile now. They have totally become a part of American history and pop culture. What is most amazing is how each new cartoon series. movie, or comic book has enhance and updated the origin for each generation. This volume is the beginning of some new tales and it is really good. Tom Waltz has really added some interesting ideas to this mythos but has kept the core about what makes the turtles such a great idea. The book is all about family. Raphael here is lost and his brothers have been searching for him but along the way he befriends a boy who has a bad example of fatherhood in his life. I like where the story is headed. This is great series to jump into for those curious to see what Ninja Turtle mania is all about. I was actually pretty apprehensive about picking this up. I knew the tv series from when I was a kid and I knew the movies were out there, but had never really been a huge fan of the franchise. After seeing how gorgeous the book is with City Fall and Northampton in the later volumes, I had to give this a try. I'm so glad I did. This is everything I could have wanted in an origin story and then some. Pieces are put into play and at first it's just "ok, this is TMNT so that's supposed to be here," until 2 issues later you find out the villain of the day actually is fighting them for a reason and has a connection to the story. It's an interesting opening act and I liked how certain characters were brought in. I'm not sure how traditional all of that was, but I enjoyed it. I almost had to take off a star for an editor and a writer and who knows how many other people letting it slip that someone said "then" instead of "than" in an early issue. Your job is writing, don't mess up the basics. But the book was too enjoyable to actually dock anything for that. My only other hesitation with the score came from Casey and his vigilantism. The way he introduces it would have fallen at the end of an issue and totally gave the impression he was about to torture someone as a psychopath. Luckily, the trade format lets you immediately keep going, but it was just a weird way to approach the situation. Also, there's a joke that somewhat addresses this in the following issue so maybe Eastman and the others were aware of it. Finally, the art is actually pretty good. It's not the same gorgeous style that later issues have, but it's still very clean and well-executed. I was actually quite impressed with various character designs and elements. One thing I loved was that each turtle is a unique shade of green. They apparently always started with the same color bandana so the different shades force you to recognize them based on more than their "uniform" color right off the bat. They have identities and postures and looks that are all unique. Bottom line, this has a lot of talent behind it and is an excellent entry point for this title. Get on board early.
What do You think about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Vol. 1: Change Is Constant (2012)?
Good variation on the origin story, this reboot is a must for new or old fans!
—barbijo9
