TMNT: Shredder in Hell No. 2 review: Saki versus Zombie Turtles
By Alex Widen
The Soul of Oroku Saki Wanders through the Underworld. Will He Find Salvation, or Oblivion?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder In Hell No. 2
Writer & Artist: Mateus Santolouco
Colorists: Marcelo Costa & Mateus Santolouco
If this series proves anything, it is that age has nothing to do with maturity, or character development. Oroku Saki — known in life as the Shredder — began life centuries ago in Feudal Japan, taking over the Foot Clan by slaying his own father, Oroku Maji. From there via the manipulations of the immortal witch Kitsune, and some mutagen from Dimension X, Saki survived for centuries into modern times. It is only after he was decapitated by Splinter in a final battle against he and his Ninja Turtle sons and literally condemned to Hell that Saki has begun to grow.
Image by IDW Publishing
The clarity of death has thrusted the former Shredder on a path of self discovery through the underworld. He’s learned that his destiny was manipulated by Kitsune for centuries, and she even plays a role in his afterlife. A phantom of his old friend, Hamato Yoshi, is alongside him, reduced to the form an actual rat (rather than a mutant one). He’s squared off against zombie hordes of his many enemies and minions from the Feudal era until now, including the old gang-rival Victor. With that not enough, Saki now faces demonic doppelgangers of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Image by IDW Publishing
“These Turtle Boys Don’t Cut Him No Slack!”
While the Turtles themselves are not dead, they represent Saki’s arch-enemies. It was he, after all, who sought to brainwash Leonardo into his battle-crazed second in command. This time, the Shredder has no quarrel with these Turtles, merely wishing to cross a bridge. However, these are not Yoshi’s sons; they’re monsters assuming their forms and voices. Saki initially tries to flee from them, but winds up being pummeled. It’s only when his rodent pal is threatened does he fight back!
Image by IDW Publishing
The threat to Yoshi leads Saki to grab a sword and lecture the demonic Ninja Turtles about honor — which is ironic at best or hypocritical at worst. Unfazed, the faux terrapins summon an armada of zombies as back-up, including the headless corpse of Victor of the Savate gang. Left with no other options, the Shredder leaps into combat against hopeless odds and begins to slash through the horde. Yet in the din of battle, Saki begins to summon electrical powers which quickly thins the herd!
Image by IDW Publishing
That’s right; the Shredder can apparently manifest lightening in Hell. What is this, the final shell-shock in TMNT: Turtles In Time? For the moment, this inner power only comes out when Saki is desperate, and without much control. Meanwhile, the zombie Turtles and their undead horde all follow the command of a mysterious tentacles demon, merging together to assume a new form. It chooses the form of Masato, Oroku Saki’s old master and the former right hand of his father.
Image by IDW Publishing
Like Father, like Son?
Having failed to defeat the Shredder physically, the underworld has switched gears towards more psychological torment. Masato begins that path, bragging that the Shredder has been a puppet of Foot Clan founder Takeshi Tatsuo for centuries. Saki responds as he always does — with violence. Yet even with his newfound electrical powers, that only allows such a tactic to work against demonic monsters for so long, especially when his enemy can just assume a new form to haunt him.
Image by IDW Publishing
Next, the Shredder has to face a foe who few men wish to — his own father. Unlike Saki, Oroku Maji was a man of honor, who only slew Foot Clan founder Takeshi Tatsuo out of fear of his unholy alliance with Kitsune, not out of raw ambition. Maji systematically lectures Saki about his own moral failings and hypocrisy of his life, as he delivers a jolly-stomping. It is only due to the timely intervention of Yoshi — who has some sort of psychic powers despite his diminished form — that allows Saki to endure. Yet the ghosts from Shredder’s past continue to haunt and attack him.
Image by IDW Publishing
The armada of the dead continues to stalk and attack Shredder, and eventually their slashes find their mark. Losing a leg, it is all Saki can do to escape from his tormentors. He joins forces with another demon, who turns out to be a guide through the underworld. At first seen as an enemy, the boyish looking Hell-spawn is merely fulfilling his duty to lead the souls of the damned along their own path. And as Saki begins to slowly realize, his cursed path was laid out before his birth.
Image by IDW Publishing
This Is a Work Full of Heart and Soul!
In a series of visions — laid out in montage format — Saki has a vision of his entire history. He sees Kitsune, who he sees as a lover and ally, curse Maji with baring the reincarnation of Tatuso in his own son. That Kitsune bestowed the same “gifts” upon Tatsuo a generation before she did so for Saki. And even then, her “love” was more out of protecting an investment. It was the evil soul of Tatsuo within him that drove his conquest, and now that his soul is “ready,” Saki is being cast aside.
Image by IDW Publishing
To say that this is a passion project for Mateus Santolouco may be an understatement. The man, whose work redefined the character designs of the main TMNT series for two years across multiple formats, has done nothing but work on this for a year. He writes, draws, inks, and co-colors it. Taken alongside TMNT: Secret History of the Foot Clan, and he’s defined much of his work within the franchise on embellishing the series’ most well-known villain. As always with IDW’s vision, there are traces and homages of the 1984 Mirage version, but many new innovations.
Image by IDW Publishing
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The decision to have Splinter and the Turtles be reincarnations from Feudal Japan was arguably a controversial decision. Perhaps it was always intended to add a lush history and mysticism that the franchise always had in its very origin. Or perhaps it was originally done to explain how a rat could master ninjutsu. Regardless, it left a wealth of possibilities which are being reaped now, which include a centuries long magical struggle against immortal beings like the Pantheon.
Image by IDW Publishing
Can the Shredder Grow?
The Shredder often acts like a warlord from a bygone era, so it wasn’t altogether unwise to make him literally be that. Yet this series is doing more than have Saki fight demons in Hell. It is attempting to establish a redemption arc for him, which is something the character has never had. In virtually every incarnation and adaptation, Shredder has usually been motivated by ambition and dishonor. At best he serves as the ultimate opposite of the teachings of Master Splinter.
Image by IDW Publishing
Yet this IDW Publishing version of TMNT, as edited by Bobby Curnow and written by Tom Waltz and franchise co-creator Kevin Eastman, isn’t so rigidly black-and-white. It’s established that for all of Splinter’s wisdom, he is not incorruptible or infallible. It is a series where alliances of convenience between foes for common goals happen often. It is a series which offers redemption as well as downfalls. In such a series, is the very notion of Shredder being more than pure evil absurd?
Image by IDW Publishing
As Michelangelo eulogized at Slash’s funeral, his is a world where they know death isn’t the end. The Turtles themselves were reincarnated, and their mother, Tang Shen, watches over them. Saki is going through that now, and with the clarity of death, he is realizing that a part of his soul was never his own. His own evil ambitions were merely the gnawing of another inside of him, and he was too busy killing to notice. Now that Saki knows, he can continue to be a puppet or fight back!
Image by IDW Publishing
Can, or Should, Saki Be Redeemed?
The artwork may be much of the draw for many readers and it is worth the money. The way with which Mateus mingles stunning detail with flowing action is masterful. He is at the top of his craft delivering masterpieces in each regular panel. The pace is fast when it must be, with some pages having a dozen or so panels. Yet Mateus also knows when to slow things down for effect, and the entire piece has the flow of a well-storyboarded film. It is violent and otherworldly, yet beautiful.
Image by IDW Publishing
Next. Enter the Pits of Hell with Shredder in No. 1!. dark
It will remain to be seen whether a redemption story for the Shredder will work out. Do fans want to see the ultimate villain reform a bit? Such a reform may not necessarily mean that Saki and Clan Hamato becomes friends; merely that they realize they have a common goal for once. And if the Shredder somehow returned, what would this mean for the Utrom Ch’Rell, who has his own historical history within the helmet? In many ways, this series offers a fluid and organic story without a predetermined outcome, which is how the best comics should read. It may be Hell for the Shredder, but it is much better for Ninja Turtle fans with an open mind and good taste!