Heya folks, Crooker here again, with another issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus. This is issue #3, written again by a giant list of folks – Tom Waltz, Paul Allor, Sophie Campbell, Caleb Goellner, and Erik Burnham – with artist Vitor Cafaggi on pencils. What a crop! Makes you wonder how they managed to pull all this together, but hey, results speak for themselves.
This issue is continuing on from the previous, but we spend a good chunk of the issue delving into this version of Ninjara, a character adapted from the old Mirage-era Archie comics universe who happened to be Raphael’s love interest, and one famously in legal limbo, leading to a lot of pastiche characters, like Alopex. So, the setup makes you think she and IDW Raph are gonna fight, but twists it into actually BEING Alopex instead. The fight is well written as a reunion of their characters after a previous spat (this entire issue has Tom Waltz all over it like that – this feels like mostly his script work, if I were a betting man), and it does a good job with the two, but that also has me a bit less interested right off the bat. Doesn’t this feel like something that could have been done, and given more focus, in the main book?
IDW
It’s a good fight, but that honestly almost feels like a waste of the whole “Battle Nexus” idea of pairing them off against counterparts they don’t know. I think it would have been a much cooler and more interesting idea to actually have Ninjara be Raph’s real opponent, and perhaps have that spur him on to confront Alopex for real down the line, giving the best of both worlds. It’s still cool, but a bit lacking compared to how crazy good the first two issues were.
IDW
There’s plenty of other fun lore stuff to pick through, like the reveal of Big Mama from the 2018 Rise of the TMNT series, a proprietor of her own version of the Battle Nexus. Showing her alongside the other mysterious masked figured captured by Savantii reveals that all of them are likely characters who have had their own version of the event in other continuities, leading me to conclude that the one who looked like the Daimyo from the 2003 series probably is the very same guy! And those who know the know will probably be raising an eyebrow at the mirage-style masked figure much like I with this information. Hmmm! Much to think about indeed.
IDW
The art by Cafaggi is quite good, and the quality of the fight scene is very much owed to the talent on display. The flow of the fight is perfect, with great wind-ups, payoffs, and natural feeling movement that really makes the drawings come alive. Great stuff – an even better fight visually than the last issue. It’s also due to Cafaggi’s artstyle that the identity of the “totally not another turtle” guy becomes, well… pretty obvious. So eagle-eyed readers, keep ’em peeled.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus #3 is fairly good, I’d say! I don’t think it reaches the height of excitement the last two did, which really felt like they were fully utilizing the unique framework that the Battle Nexus offers. I mean c’mon, this is the first time it’s ever been used for inter-continuity crossover fights! Not to let the meatheaded fight night lover side of me overpower the intellectual, narrative loving side or anything, but save the lover’s spat for the main book, y’know? Gotta balance your drama AND your action. This is a great book, and I really liked it, but I think that’s a fair criticism.
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