After last issue’s gigantic exposition dump, we’re finally ready to watch the Turtles throw down with Pantheon.
First Read Reactions
- …but first, let’s flash back to the Turtles teaming up with Baxter Stockman (?).
- Someone should tell Donnie that offering money to a sociopath does not earn their loyalty.
- The Rat King may be evil, but he’s definitely fun to have at a party.
- Dang. Despite being such an evil/selfish jerk, Stockman’s actually a pretty good operations coordinator.
The Verdict
Well, it was definitely better than last issue, although that’s not saying very much.
Once again, the art by Dave Wachter is great, especially since he gets to cut loose with some excellent fight sequences featuring a delightful array of characters. Rat King in particular shines this time around, making someone I sort of rolled my eyes at into a villain I hope we see a lot more of in the future.
As far as the Pantheon is concerned, Tom Waltz almost does too good of a job establishing their various abilities and personalities. By the time the issue is over, it feels as though we’ve just gone through the world’s worst speed dating round. A few pages get dedicated to each one kicking the Turtles’ asses and/or discussing their generally philosophy on life, then poof…the issue is over.
I’m also not really sure how I feel about the role Baxter Stockman plays here. On one hand, it’s great to see him doing something so different from what we’d expected (i.e. fighting on the side of angels). On the other hand, the dude is still a stone cold sociopath. Was his involvement really necessary (beyond giving the story something different)?
All that being said, however, it was nice to have an issue where things actually happened this time around. Not only did we get some great (albeit all too brief) fight sequences, but we have also firmly established a new and highly potent threat for the Turtles to combat.
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