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gmvader's review
3.0
Unless you’re a purist who just has to read everything you could be forgiven for skipping this book. There’s some kind of really annoying apprentice to a time lord who steals a magic scepter and transports the turtles into another comic book. It’s annoying and makes no sense and is full of silly dialogue and horrible writing.
On the other hand the beginning of the book also features the ending of the arc begun in book one and continued in book two so if you’re heavily invested in that particular story, which, as noted, has its own set of hangups, then you could be forgiven for reading a book with such a pointless and annoying story in the midst of it.
You could also be forgiven for being annoyed at how long the previous sentence was.
However, and here we get to the good part, the reason I bought this book again, was the short story contained at the end. The story is called the 49th Street Stompers and it’s about the Turtles stepping in to defend the projects from a rival gang that is trying to oust them. The story is brilliant because we get to see what the Turtles are about. They aren’t your typical super heroes – they did start out seeking revenge after all. They’re out helping the downtrodden and unfortunate but in a unique way.
Being ninjas the altercation is a bit less violent in outcome than many of their other altercations. I think at this point that the creators are starting to realize that it creates a moral problem if your heroes are willing to kill with impunity when they are in a tight spot.
There is also a story about Splinter trying to help the young son of a local crime lord reclaim his Samurai heritage which is beautifully told, if a bit predictable in it’s execution.
The main story of this book is the weakest of the lot but thankfully it is only a portion of the book and two of the best one-off Ninja Turtle stories follow right after.
It’s like frosting on a cake made of papier-mâchét. So if you like frosting…
Okay bad analogy. I hate frosting, and I’m pretty sure I hate the taste of papier-mâchét as well – though that might be exclusionist of me, I’ve never tried it.
You get my point.
On the other hand the beginning of the book also features the ending of the arc begun in book one and continued in book two so if you’re heavily invested in that particular story, which, as noted, has its own set of hangups, then you could be forgiven for reading a book with such a pointless and annoying story in the midst of it.
You could also be forgiven for being annoyed at how long the previous sentence was.
However, and here we get to the good part, the reason I bought this book again, was the short story contained at the end. The story is called the 49th Street Stompers and it’s about the Turtles stepping in to defend the projects from a rival gang that is trying to oust them. The story is brilliant because we get to see what the Turtles are about. They aren’t your typical super heroes – they did start out seeking revenge after all. They’re out helping the downtrodden and unfortunate but in a unique way.
Being ninjas the altercation is a bit less violent in outcome than many of their other altercations. I think at this point that the creators are starting to realize that it creates a moral problem if your heroes are willing to kill with impunity when they are in a tight spot.
There is also a story about Splinter trying to help the young son of a local crime lord reclaim his Samurai heritage which is beautifully told, if a bit predictable in it’s execution.
The main story of this book is the weakest of the lot but thankfully it is only a portion of the book and two of the best one-off Ninja Turtle stories follow right after.
It’s like frosting on a cake made of papier-mâchét. So if you like frosting…
Okay bad analogy. I hate frosting, and I’m pretty sure I hate the taste of papier-mâchét as well – though that might be exclusionist of me, I’ve never tried it.
You get my point.
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