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A review by stephen_arvidson
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Volume 10 by Dean Clarrain, Chris Allan, Doug Brammer
4.0
As readers may or may not know, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures started out as dull retreads of the popular Fred Wolf cartoon before branching into original stories. After the series was handed over to Dean Clarrain (Stephen Murphy) and Ryan Brown, readers were treated to a string of hokey one-shots intended to give an added thrust behind a massive line of Playmates toys. But the title was further retooled to make the stories more serious; the palette was darker, and such bumbling mainstays as Krang were eventually put on a bus—to use the classic TV trope—and replaced with the likes of Null and Verminator-X. From that point on, the tone became less humorous.
Collecting Issues #41-44 of TMNTA and #7 of its sister series, The Mighty Mutanimals, Volume 10 of the IDW trades opens with what appears to be a trunk story that was reconditioned as a frame tale told by Raphael after his foxy girlfriend remarks on an advertisement for the Museum of Natural History. Scripted by Doug Brammer and penciled by Ken Mitchroney when the latter was still a full-time artist on the series, “…And Deliver Us from Evil” (#41) sees the return of the mutated mammoth thought to have perished in a prior encounter with Gang Green (see TMNT Meet Archie). After the prehistoric creature washes up in the East River and inadvertently frightens the local homeless population, the Manmoth is somehow apprehended by a pair of stooges working for an eccentric curator. The flaky scientist, Dr. Selena Davis, is revealed to have cloned the Manmoth from hair strands recovered months earlier. The Turtles and April soon catch wind of the creature’s reappearance and race to its aid. A battle erupts between the Manmoth and its engineered doppelganger that literally brings the house down. With Adventures taking on a decidedly darker tone, this awkwardly scripted story feels like a throwback to the series’ sillier, carefree days—even the Turtle Van and April’s signature yellow jumpsuit are back in bloom; a stark reminder of just how much the series has evolved. Artist Chris Allan hands in a hasty prologue in an effort to validate this recycled heap that, ultimately, will sit well with some readers but not so much with others.
The second issue heralds from The Mighty Mutanimals spinoff, in which Man Ray and his fellow Glublubs venture into a purportedly haunted ocean valley. As Ray searches the ruins of Null’s underwater vessel he’s cold-cocked by a cybernetic, shark mutant calling himself Armaggon. With the manta hero subdued, the fiendish thresher appears to have the upper hand. However, a one-eyed French merman named Jacques gets the drop on Armaggon and turns the tides with a timely assist from one of the Glublubs. Armaggon is revealed to be a highly evolved, hyper-intelligent shark from the distant future and whose sophisticated brain allows him to exist in different periods of time. Man Ray reenters the fray but not in time to prevent Jacques from being pulled into a temporal black hole by Armaggon. A brooding Man Ray returns to the surface, uncertain as to the Merdude’s fate. The Armaggon story-arc resumes in TMNT Adventures with no further involvement by Man Ray or the Mutanimals. Despite being as a preface to the upcoming Future Shark Trilogy, this issue seems like a needless addition to the Mighty Mutanimals series and only underscores the title’s dependence on TMNT Adventures. The utterly random appearance of Armaggon and Merdude seems too slipshod, and with the exception of the time-slip that first appeared in TMNTA #36, there’s little to no groundwork underpinning these characters. Mike Kazelah’s whimsical, cartoon-esque style complements the Merdude’s peculiar character, but at the same time undermines Armaggon as a formidable foe. Sparse detailing and nonexistent backgrounds don't make for the best visual appeal, either.
Issues #42-44 comprise the Future Shark Trilogy, an epic story-arc often cited as the launchpad for the best run of TMNTA stories. This unexpectedly dark tale catapults TMNT Adventures to an entirely different level, charting a darker path away from the goofy, ‘cowabunga!’ days and into a daring realm of quality storytelling. Elder versions of Donatello and Raphael materialize before our present-day heroes with grim tidings. Armaggon—the Future Shark with a silly name—has formed an alliance with Shredder and Verminator-X (last seen in TMNTA #36—but you wouldn’t know that from reading the IDW reprints). Future-Raph recounts an underwater street fight against Armaggon that quickly goes to hell in a handbasket. Shredder finally manages to pull off some competent villainy, and in a stunning turn of events Future-Leo and -Mikey are taken captive while Future-Raph loses an eyeball after taking an exploding missile to the face! Chris Allan’s action sequences are shocking in their brutality—and you better believe that’s blood rising out of Raphael’s vacant eye socket! With no time to lose, the younger Turtles, Splinter, and Ninjara are whisked forward in time to a dystopian New York where global warming and a catastrophic rise in sea level depict a terrifyingly bleak future (Because let's face it, no TMNTA script would be complete without Dean Clarrain’s sneaky leftism). Though initially introduced as a feline-cyborg with a pointless axe to grind, Verminator-X is revealed to have once been a brilliant colleague of Future-Don’s, working tirelessly to solve a deadly rat crisis plaguing the flooded cities. And speaking of rats, this three-parter marks the return of Ha’ataan, better known as the Rat King (last seen in TMNTA #11). No longer a neutral player, the Rat King seeks to exact vengeance on Future-Don and uses his telepathic abilities to manipulate Splinter and turn the beloved sensei against his sons. The panels in which Splinter savagely pummels Mikey are a shock to the system. The Future Shark Trilogy is a definite game-changer for the title but by no means flawless. Lapses in time-travel logic ride rough-shod over the Shredder’s continuity, for which serious fans will undoubtedly take issue.
Collecting Issues #41-44 of TMNTA and #7 of its sister series, The Mighty Mutanimals, Volume 10 of the IDW trades opens with what appears to be a trunk story that was reconditioned as a frame tale told by Raphael after his foxy girlfriend remarks on an advertisement for the Museum of Natural History. Scripted by Doug Brammer and penciled by Ken Mitchroney when the latter was still a full-time artist on the series, “…And Deliver Us from Evil” (#41) sees the return of the mutated mammoth thought to have perished in a prior encounter with Gang Green (see TMNT Meet Archie). After the prehistoric creature washes up in the East River and inadvertently frightens the local homeless population, the Manmoth is somehow apprehended by a pair of stooges working for an eccentric curator. The flaky scientist, Dr. Selena Davis, is revealed to have cloned the Manmoth from hair strands recovered months earlier. The Turtles and April soon catch wind of the creature’s reappearance and race to its aid. A battle erupts between the Manmoth and its engineered doppelganger that literally brings the house down. With Adventures taking on a decidedly darker tone, this awkwardly scripted story feels like a throwback to the series’ sillier, carefree days—even the Turtle Van and April’s signature yellow jumpsuit are back in bloom; a stark reminder of just how much the series has evolved. Artist Chris Allan hands in a hasty prologue in an effort to validate this recycled heap that, ultimately, will sit well with some readers but not so much with others.
The second issue heralds from The Mighty Mutanimals spinoff, in which Man Ray and his fellow Glublubs venture into a purportedly haunted ocean valley. As Ray searches the ruins of Null’s underwater vessel he’s cold-cocked by a cybernetic, shark mutant calling himself Armaggon. With the manta hero subdued, the fiendish thresher appears to have the upper hand. However, a one-eyed French merman named Jacques gets the drop on Armaggon and turns the tides with a timely assist from one of the Glublubs. Armaggon is revealed to be a highly evolved, hyper-intelligent shark from the distant future and whose sophisticated brain allows him to exist in different periods of time. Man Ray reenters the fray but not in time to prevent Jacques from being pulled into a temporal black hole by Armaggon. A brooding Man Ray returns to the surface, uncertain as to the Merdude’s fate. The Armaggon story-arc resumes in TMNT Adventures with no further involvement by Man Ray or the Mutanimals. Despite being as a preface to the upcoming Future Shark Trilogy, this issue seems like a needless addition to the Mighty Mutanimals series and only underscores the title’s dependence on TMNT Adventures. The utterly random appearance of Armaggon and Merdude seems too slipshod, and with the exception of the time-slip that first appeared in TMNTA #36, there’s little to no groundwork underpinning these characters. Mike Kazelah’s whimsical, cartoon-esque style complements the Merdude’s peculiar character, but at the same time undermines Armaggon as a formidable foe. Sparse detailing and nonexistent backgrounds don't make for the best visual appeal, either.
Issues #42-44 comprise the Future Shark Trilogy, an epic story-arc often cited as the launchpad for the best run of TMNTA stories. This unexpectedly dark tale catapults TMNT Adventures to an entirely different level, charting a darker path away from the goofy, ‘cowabunga!’ days and into a daring realm of quality storytelling. Elder versions of Donatello and Raphael materialize before our present-day heroes with grim tidings. Armaggon—the Future Shark with a silly name—has formed an alliance with Shredder and Verminator-X (last seen in TMNTA #36—but you wouldn’t know that from reading the IDW reprints). Future-Raph recounts an underwater street fight against Armaggon that quickly goes to hell in a handbasket. Shredder finally manages to pull off some competent villainy, and in a stunning turn of events Future-Leo and -Mikey are taken captive while Future-Raph loses an eyeball after taking an exploding missile to the face! Chris Allan’s action sequences are shocking in their brutality—and you better believe that’s blood rising out of Raphael’s vacant eye socket! With no time to lose, the younger Turtles, Splinter, and Ninjara are whisked forward in time to a dystopian New York where global warming and a catastrophic rise in sea level depict a terrifyingly bleak future (Because let's face it, no TMNTA script would be complete without Dean Clarrain’s sneaky leftism). Though initially introduced as a feline-cyborg with a pointless axe to grind, Verminator-X is revealed to have once been a brilliant colleague of Future-Don’s, working tirelessly to solve a deadly rat crisis plaguing the flooded cities. And speaking of rats, this three-parter marks the return of Ha’ataan, better known as the Rat King (last seen in TMNTA #11). No longer a neutral player, the Rat King seeks to exact vengeance on Future-Don and uses his telepathic abilities to manipulate Splinter and turn the beloved sensei against his sons. The panels in which Splinter savagely pummels Mikey are a shock to the system. The Future Shark Trilogy is a definite game-changer for the title but by no means flawless. Lapses in time-travel logic ride rough-shod over the Shredder’s continuity, for which serious fans will undoubtedly take issue.