ComicsReviews

Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Issue #42 (Spoilers)

COMIC SERIES: IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

ISSUE: #42

WRITERS/ARTIST: Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman/Cory Smith

PLOT:

On the eve of the Foot’s attack on the Technodrome, which coincides with the Doomsday device’s activation. The final pieces are put into play as revelations come to light about certain individuals and their true allegiances and motives.

VERDICT:

We are nearly there, but not quite yet…

This second issue of ‘Attack on the Technodrome’ is certainly in no rush to give us the action that it’s title promises, as the writers instead take their time to give us more drama and build-up for the main players and that is something I have no quarrels with at all (as Tom Waltz and Kevin Eastman know exactly what they are doing, as they have shown time and again with this spectacular series), as this is another excellent addition and well worth reading.

The story shows the three main parties making ‘final’ preparations for their respective plans (the Mut-animals attack on the Foot, Shredder/Donatello’s attack on the Technodrome and Krang’s readying of his Terraforming machine), with things looking like they are beginning to fall apart for the first team as the Turtles suddenly have to leave (but this will get explained in the second half of the issue), which makes Hob worry while Splinter is completely fine with it (makes you scratch your head to see him so fine with his sons not taking part in Shredder’s downfall).

Meanwhile the Fugitoid and Stockman inform Krang that the Foot will be attacking the island (I love Krang’s expression as he is told this, priceless), but then Stockman proves what a complete turncoat he is by stabbing Honeycutt in the back and revealing that the Turtles will be also be attacking at the same time. He does this in the hope that Krang will spare his life, but the Ultrom Commander instead has them both locked up and prepares to meet his enemies head on.

Now this issue doe start to get confusing by this point (makes you wonder if you missed a comic between this and the previous one) as things have been frosty between Donatello and his brothers lately (with them not seeing eye to eye on a number of issues), so to have them turn up at Harold’s lab and use his dimensional gateway to reach the Island is somewhat baffling. And it still appears that they don’t know the full facts as mere moment after they embark, Shredder and his army arrives. And the Foot Leader proves he is no fool as he leaves Rocksteady and Bebop (who are far more of a threat in this series than they ever were in the cartoon) to watch over Donatello and kill him at the first sign of betrayal, showing that Shredder is keeping tabs on all parts of the plan.

Then we get a quick scene between April and Professor Miller (who appeared in the mini-series ‘The Secret History of the Foot-Clan’, another excellent addition to IDW’s TMNT), where he decides to help her and the Turtles bring an end to Shredder and the Foot.

And that is when we get to the very beginnings of the overarching attacks, with Hob, Splinter and the Mut-animals discovering that the Foot HQ is not as heavily defended as they originally thought as we get a flashback as the Turtles Father remembers a meeting he has with his Sons. And this is where we finally get an explanation on all the events and actions leading up to this issue’s end, as it is revealed that Donatello has been working on a plan with Leonardo to take out Shredder and Krang at the same time (using Shredder’s own tactics against him as he did to Leonardo in City-Fall).

It is a relief to see that the former had not betrayed his family and that they instead came up with an ingenious plan to end the threat posed by their enemies. It shows just how much Leonardo has grown into the leader he is, and even Splinter acknowledges this as he lets his sons take the lead in the plan too, even admitting that his hate for Saki was blinding him to everything else that was happening around them.
So it is unfortunate that despite how good Leo and Donnie’s plan is, that it is slowly falling apart as they unknowingly go ahead with it.

And that leads us to the final pages of this instalment as the battle starts between Shredder and Krang’s forces, which is brilliant to see while also tragic in knowing that despite the Turtles looking successful in their attempt to get their enemies to take themselves out, that the preverbal is about to hit the fan.

Art-wise and Corey Smith does another good job with this issue as he did with the previous one, with all the characters and their expressions well done (like Krang’s shocked look) and the battle at the end was a tantalising glimpse at the mayhem we will be seeing in the next.

In Waltz and Eastman, we trust.

Review Overview

overall

Another worthy addition to this brilliant series, setting up the coming battle perfectly.

Another excellent issue that through some really sophisticated story-telling, sets up the final pieces of this massive battle into place and answers a number of questions along the way.

User Rating: 4.9 ( 1 votes)
Show More

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button