Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #60 Review: Turtle Vs Turtle

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ongoing series officially reaches its fifth year! But will the heroes in a half shell kill each other on the eve of such an event?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #60

Writers: Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman & Bobby Curnow

Artist: Dave Wachter

Colorist: Ronda Pattison

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One of the crowning jewels of IDW Publishing‘s library of licensed comic book titles ever since 2011 has been their main Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series. After having outmaneuvered Dark Horse Comics to obtain the license from Viacom, IDW united writer Tom Waltz with original franchise co-creator Kevin Eastman to craft an utterly brilliant recreation of the Ninja Turtles’ world from top to bottom. The pair have paid homage to the past while embracing the future.

Much has happened over the course of the past 59 issues. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been united with Splinter and their human allies April O’Neil and Casey Jones (among others) and managed to defeat their longtime enemies. Dimension X general Krang and Feudal Japan era warlord Shredder have both been defeated, and Splinter has sought to reorganize the Foot Clan by taking control of it. However, there has been a fox seeking to retake control of it from within!

That fox is Kitsune, a member of a race of immortals whose game of rivalry and survival has made pawns of virtually the entire cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Having been the creator and adviser of the Shredder, Kitsune waited until Splinter’s sons were away (dealing with the emergence of a new mutant named Leatherhead) to strike. In short order, Kitsune has taken control of several of the Turtles (and the mutant ninja fox Alopex) and tried to kill Splinter!

Seeing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fight each other isn’t as rare as it seems, but Waltz and Eastman manage to utilize it as a tool to showcase Kitsune’s power, as well as allow Splinter to showcase what a kick butt rat he really is. Jennika, a former elite Foot assassin, continues her development towards redemption as Splinter’s newest pupil. When her attempt to revive Shredder fails, even Kitsune has to acknowledge Splinter’s cunning.

If the issue has one flaw, it is April’s sudden appearance with a magical MacGuffin device to ward Kitsune away. Her meeting with Aka (another of that race of immortals which includes the Rat King) is a nice shout out to the Casey and April miniseries from last summer, but it is an awfully convenient mechanism for forcing Kitsune’s retreat, rather than the Turtles or Splinter prevailing.

Dave Wachter, flanked by longtime series colorist Ronda Pattison, produces a terrific looking issue in terms of visuals. Given a lot of action from the script, Wachter delivers on offering a lot of fast paced action between the characters. Jennika versus Alopex, the Turtles versus Kitsune and ultimately, the Turtles versus each other were all memorable. The little Feudal era parable showcasing Kitsune’s temperament also helped set the stage for the issue extremely well.

For sixty issues, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has proven to be a series which appeals to fans old and new. There is plenty of inspiration taken from the original 1984 Mirage Studios comic, the 1987 cartoon, the 2003 cartoon, and even the Archie Comics series of the mid-1990s. Alongside that is also plenty of innovation in terms of new characters as well as some of the best progressively serialized sagas in any major franchise comic book.

Few comic book series have made consistent excellence look as easy and visually stunning for the past five years as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has. This latest issue is merely the latest chapter in a momentous epic. Anyone who hasn’t added it to their pull list should catch up via the IDW app or some trade collections post haste. This is one comic book series that is full of Turtle power!

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