Leatherhead. Old Hob. Two fanatically idealistic mutants with badass designs and violent tempers. This week, we get to see what happens when one tries to recruit the other to his cause.
Is it good?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe #5 (IDW Publishing)
Observations
- Poor Leatherhead. Being alone during the holidays is hard enough without having to live in the sewer.
- In a battle between sociopathic douchebags, I’ll take Old Hob over Hun every time.
- Leatherhead: Terrifying Animal Rights Activist.
- It doesn’t matter if the bullets are flying—Leatherhead does not like strange mutants pretending to be his friend.
- Hob needs to work on his people/mutant skills.
- FIRE GATOR.
- Maybe these two would be less lonely if they didn’t destroy everything around them.
Is it good?
If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s an overabundance of in-fight, dialogue-based exposition. Unfortunately, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe #5 makes ample use of this vexing narrative device to the point that it almost completely overshadows an otherwise cool fight scene.
Michael Dialynas’ pencils are about the only saving grace here, which is a shame because writer Chris Mowry can normally be counted on for good character interactions. Instead, his script for this one devolves into a dense, circular argument between two of the IDW Turtles mythos’ most interesting characters for virtually the entire issue. What should have been a riveting read turned into a somewhat boring slog.
To the series’ credit, I do like that it seems to be branching off from simply being another TMNT title into an exploration of the many different aspects within the rich universe that Tom Waltz, Bobby Curnow, and Kevin Eastman have created. I just wish that for this particular issue, we’d gotten more than a repeated and monotonous display of what was already expected.
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