Picks Of Comic Book Week for 2/22/12: Heart On Sleeve, Brain In Chest!

Book Of The Week - TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #7

IDW's exceptional relaunch of the TMNT comic book series by franchise co-creator Kevin Eastman, co-writer Tom Waltz, regular artist Dan Duncan, and colorist Ronda Pattison continues to produce exceptional issues for fans new and old. This has become one of IDW's best sellers, and deservedly so as it is not a series which merely seeks to re-tell and re-introduce old characters from the 1980's - it seeks to innovate in that re-creation as well as utilize the opportunity to tell new stories and set up new character dynamics even while building a familiar foundation. The previous issue took the opportunity to re-make the Mousers for the 21st century (http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/picks-of-comic-book-week-for-1-25-12-building-a-better-mouser-review), and this issue focuses on a villain that fans of the original Mirage Studios comics sometimes groan at, but fans of the original animated series (circa 1987-1996) would know very well - the intergalactic warlord Krang.

View slideshow: Honorable Mentions for Comic Book Week 2/22/12

Krang is a character who has always found himself in a unique position in Turtle "fandom". In the original Mirage Studios comics in the mid 1980's, the origin of the ooze that mutated the Turtles (and Splinter) ultimately was connected to aliens called Utroms. They were aliens whose bodies consisted of brains with small digits, who got around in mechanical humanoid bodies they piloted from the stomach. The Utroms would ultimately prove to be peaceful creatures despite looking scary and even became allies of the Turtles. When the comic was adapted into a cartoon series in 1986-1987, the Utroms were used as the inspiration of the villain Krang - who was an alien who resembled the Utroms and even had a mechanical body similar to them, but hailed from Dimension X (where he had an army of rock men) and who often led the Shredder around. Krang had originally had an alternate form (a reptilian one) before being "transformed" into a brain-thing once being exiled to earth. Krang served as the reason why Shredder had access to fantastic technology, including the iconic orb shaped mobile base, the Technodrome. Co-creator Peter Laird was never happy with the "compromises", if not blatantly different changes, the original cartoon series did to the franchise. When he attempted to relaunch the franchise in 2001 with a new comic series and especially a new animated series (which ran from 2002-2009 across two networks), Krang as well as other characters from the original show - such as Bebop and Rocksteady - were absent at the sake of being faithful to the original comics from the 1980's. This naturally launched another merchandise empire and that secondary cartoon series was popular (and excellent for the first five seasons), although there were a subsection of mainstream fans who missed the old TV characters such as Krang. While Laird is (or became) a purist with his creations, Kevin Eastman appears to be far more flexible and willing to embrace new characters into the universe, as well as willing to alter the origin to suit those new ideas.

"General Krang", ruler of a mysterious banana republic and the bankroller of Baxtor Stockman's genetic experiments, has been a figure referenced and peaked at since the start of this series. This issue reveals in no uncertain terms that Krang is an alien from "Planet Neutrino" (a reference from the original TV series as well) who leads an army of stone-men (one of whom fans will delight is named Tragg). He has hired Stockman on earth to create genetic innovations which he utilizes in his war against the Neutrinos, and has conquered the island of Burnow as a front for his dealings on earth. He already has a robotic body, which is skillfully redesigned by Waltz to not look as goofy as it did originally. Krang is hardly pleased that Stockman has suffered set-backs at his lab, which resulted in the creation of the Turtles as well as the loss of vital experiments - Splinter in particular. To this end, the mutant cat gang leader Old Hob has led an army of robot Mousers to attack the Turtles in their sewer lair. Meanwhile on the surface, Mikey and Raph meet with Mikey's pizza connection (explaining how Turtles with little cash get pizza and food so often), while April O'Niel and Casey Jones continue to bond over training and tutoring. The revelation from issue five - that Splinter and his Turtle sons are reincarnations of a tragic family from Feudal Japan destined to battle the reincarnation of their enemies from that era - continues to be a weighty issue between Donatello and Leonardo. This makes for some interesting discussions and character development. While it was easy to be skeptical of the massive changes to the origin that this series has had, it has provided a great opportunity for character interaction and conflict. Don being a Turtle of science would hardly be expected to swallow the concept of reincarnation sight unseen, while Leo has always been a traditionalist.

If there is one awkward bit, it is that readers of the series are expected to accept aliens from another planet with no build up to it. On the other hand, the TMNT franchise has always been a franchise which had a foot (pun intended) in both mystical and Eastern philosophical matters as well as in far out comic book science fiction. Denying one without the other leaves the Turtle franchise less than it could be, and limits the potential for stories. The Foot Clan and Krang's forces seem to be rivals in this series, which is not only an interesting development, but a method of having this conflict between sci-fi and Japanese mysticism act itself out on panel. The artwork by Waltz and Pattison continues to please and entertain between gritty action sequences and subtle character moments. Eastman's layouts and influence seem apparent when comparing this against the original series via reprints. This arc pays homage to the fact that the Mousers came in very early in the Turtle saga, but have laid in the groundwork for many more with every revelation and issue. IDW has caught on to a winning strategy here; it isn't merely enough to provide new comics about old franchises, but those new comics have to be innovative and good in their own right to capture the fans' full imaginations. Movement on a new TMNT film has started to lurch forward once more, and if that film is only half as good as this series, movie-goers will be in for a treat.

Honorable Mentions:

AVENGERS ACADEMY #26 - Much like many comics this month and in 2012, Avengers Academy double-ships this month, in Marvel's grand philosophy that one can never have too much of a good thing. The previous issue provided the climax in Christos Gage and artist Tom Grummett's arc, with a lot of action against Hybrid and the resolution of the "Reptil being taken over by his future self" subplot (http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/picks-of-comic-book-week-for-2-1-12-my-future-and-present-selves-liked-this-review); this issue provides a lot of conversations, lectures, and changes to the status quo. The villain from AVENGERS ACADEMY #14.1, the corrupt, murderous and manipulative teenage tycoon Jeromy Briggs, has established himself as an alternative to the Academy in offering the superhuman youths positions in his company in which they can do good without fighting. The entire issue becomes a debate between Brigg's point of view and the Avengers, with the young characters in the middle choosing where they stand practically one by one. Thus, this is the definition of a "talking heads" issue, which some fans become bored with. The biggest problem with Briggs' argument is that because Marvel Comics insists that their universe be "the world outside your window" instead of allowing their super-genius heroes to actually solve problems like autism or global warming, it is not the Avengers' fault as characters why they neglect such things for battling villains. It is akin to a professional wrestler lecturing his brothers about watching their backs during a match when a wrestler being blind-sided by a rival is part and parcel of the entire narrative flow of the "sport". Hank Pym is the one who offers the pro-Avengers argument, in that the team inspires the world as well as it's members to be better people in addition to responding to villains and disasters no single figure can stop alone. In the end this is an exercise to limit the cast in future stories, and get some B and C list characters to have a line or two. Grummett's artwork is great, although a lack of action gives him less to do, and the color work by Chris Sotomayor is very good as usual. The "future" subplot remains to a degree with quite a cliffhanger, and subsequent issues will see guest appearances by the Runaways and Generation Hope kids. This title, as sales continue to dwindle, runs the risk of becoming a dumping ground for other young characters whose titles were axed before this book is itself canceled, but it is good for Marvel to make some attempt to focus on new blood. The founding cast remain the primary focus of this book, even if this issue causes many of them to be lost for pages on end. This is hardly a bad issue, but it seems to be a slow one as it exists to re-arrange the deck chairs on this franchise's ship, which is a shame as this may be one of the last full arcs before the next Marvel crossover. Briggs continues to be a worthy antagonist for the series, a young Lex Luthor type who can never be proven to be a murderer or a crook, but goes about schemes for his own ends just the same; he may seem awkward for those who skipped last year's .1 issue. While this is still an exceptional series, Gage will have a challenge to avoid the perception of spinning his wheels a bit before the crossovers start. More action is to be had in the letter column, where Gage bravely publishes and responds to a critical letter of issue #23, which was where Striker came out. The cover, however, is misleading, as the mystery of "who killed Jocasta" was answered last issue.

SECRET AVENGERS #23 - New creative team Rick Remender (VENOM) and artist Gabriel Hardman (HULK, AGENTS OF ATLAS), alongside colorist Bettie Breitweiser (CAPTAIN AMERICA, WINTER SOLDIER) continue on their strange but entertaining opening arc for this new series run. Captain America has relinquished leadership of the team to Hawkeye, although he does seem to be micro-managing it a bit by recruiting the newest Venom, Flash Thompson, for the squad without Clint's permission. This element works quite simply enough - Thompson has saved Las Vegas along with Beast and Hank Pym coming up with a deus ex machina for him regaining control of the alien symbiote - although it essentially ruins the climax to "Circle Of Four" from VENOM several weeks early. The real meat of the story is on Eric O'Grady, the newest and shadiest Ant-Man. Created by Robert Kirkman, O'Grady was a low level SHIELD agent who literally stole his suit and maimed a man to do it, and often utilized his powers for personal gain. Now he seeks a path of redemption, but it is difficult for him. A Pakistani metahuman and her son were kidnapped by a set of new villains, who were revealed as strange evolutionary offshoots of the Super-Adaptoid, which was an artificial intelligence created by A.I.M. decades ago (http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/picks-of-comic-book-week-for-2-8-12-is-aqua-romita-better-than-coors-lite-review). There seems to be an entire secret city of these mechanical beings, dubbed "homo synthezoidus" by their leader, the mysterious man simply called Father. They believe themselves to be a new generation of evolved life on earth and seek to destroy humanity (and the Avengers in particular) out of fear of being ostracized, attacked, and destroyed as they see the mutant race was. This point of view is actually very fascinating given the direction the X-Men franchise has gone in since 2005, and how little the Avengers or other mainstream heroes seemed to care about mutants when giant robots slaughtered them in broad daylight. Granted, this could also be part of the old Adaptoid programming, which was set to imitate powers and skills from the Avengers and destroy them. Cyborgs appear to be accepted by Father and the Adaptoids, as Lady Deathstrike and her few surviving Reavers allies (such as Skullbuster) are part of the scheme. The last page offers quite a cliffhanger for O'Grady, although the fact that the character is set to appear in future issues of DEFENDERS probably ruins any chance of his ultimate demise. Hardman's artwork is exceptional as usual, and while the strange story is itself worthy of attention, the dialogue between characters by Remender really shines here - the Beast in particular seems to excel here as a character of wit and intelligence, as well as vast team experience on the X-Men as well as X-Factor, the Avengers and Defenders. O'Grady goes through quite a harrowing ordeal, which kicks up a lot of suspense and is very well paced and executed. Some of the other characters risk being lost in the shuffle, such as Valkyrie and Black Widow, but hopefully future issues attend to that. So far, a far better start to an opening arc than Ed Brubaker wrote when he launched the title two years ago, and far more lively than the Nick Spencer run that followed.