Review of TMNT Amazing Adventures #1

TMNT Amazing Adventures #1

TMNT Amazing Adventures is finally here!! With a brand new creative team, and a more continuity driven main story. It also has a back up story at the end. Here’s my SPOILER FREE review of issue #1!

So TMNT New Animated Adventures has been rebranded and renumbered. I’m perfectly ok with IDW doing this, because they hardly ever if never do a rebrand to a new #1. The new series is TMNT Amazing Adventures, and instead of one-off adventures… this title will have a bit more continuity to it. I really do like that. After reading the first issue I can safely say I’m sticking with this series. It’s so fun and interesting! The creative team here consists of Landry Q. Walker on the main stories with James Kolchalka writing the back ups stories. On art we have Chad Thomas with Heather Breckel on colors. Shawn Lee is the letterer, and of course Bobby Curnow is the editor. So new direction and somewhat new creative team… let us jump into the sewers and see what’s going on in these Amazing Adventures.

The Pull Bag did review the first 11 issues of the title when it was TMNT NEW Animated Adventures. You can hear those reviews in TPB 51, 58.5, and 79. Click the episode numbers to get to those podcasts.

Writing: 

Landry Q. Walker and James Kolchalka as the writers here really nail the Turtles personalities. I’m going to be talking about the main story then the backup in this section of the review. Starting with the main story Walker’s dialogue between all the characters is something I really can get behind. Because he makes it feel like it’s the voice actors saying the lines. So the basic story here without spoiling the major plot points is that it seems Dr. Cluckingsworth has come to the big city from the farm. This big brained chicken is after Fishface! This new villain that we meet during this issue is all about collecting the animals related to the Chinese Zodiac signs, and somehow he is able to mind control the animals. I assume he borrowed Monkey Brains’s helmet or something.. I dunno. The cool thing with this plot is that we actually see Splinter and Shredder talking, in order to figure out what the heck is going on. Meanwhile the Turtles just wanna defeat Shredder. Walker really knows how to make the serious and funny moments blend together so well. I’m not sure how much creative leeway Walker has here, but Nickelodeon must love what he’s doing. There’s an amazing splash page shot of all the animals that have been captured, as they are getting ready to fight the Turtles. We end the issue on a pretty decent cliffhanger. I’d have to say just enough was revealed in this first issue to whet our whistles for the future of the series.

I can tell now that these back up stories are going to be where the fun misadventures in turtle-sitting are gonna go. James Kolchalka writes the characters very well. I honestly can’t believe between the two writers how spot on the Turtles are. Usually writers want to imprint a stamp of their own in a comic, but with this title it’s all very continuity and aligning with the cartoon very well. This first back up story is all about Mikey wanting to make a Volcano Pizza! That’s the story…. there’s nothing deeper than the Turtle and his love for pizza dude! Really like the juxtaposition of the serious side of Walker’s story to the fun and funny stuff with Kolchalka’s back up.

Art:

Chad Thomas is on the art for the main story, and James Kolchalka is drawing the backups, with Heather Breckel on colors as I mentioned before. With the main story’s art Thomas does a wonderful job of translating the cartoon designs into the 2-D world of comics. Breckel’s colors are spot on, vibrant, and wonderful to look at. While I enjoy James Kolchalka’s writing in the backup story the art style of his took some getting used to. I don’t dislike it, it just threw me off for a few minutes while I was flipping through the issue. Chad Thomas draws the Turtles very well, and he even gets Splinter’s look right. That is quite a feat honestly. The only complaint I have on Thomas’s art is Shredder on the up close shots….  know his face is supposed to be scarred and all. However it just looks as if there was no definition to his wounds. Other than that the art here is totally tubular dude!

Final Thoughts:

TMNT Amazing Adventures #1 is a wonderfully done comic, and I can’t wait to read more!!  You can get TMNT Amazing Adventures #1 now at your local comic shop, or digitally on Comixology. Can’t wait til issue #2 to see what happens next. COWABUNGA!!!