Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder has been putting Oroku Saki through plenty of trials. Being in Dimension X has shattered his perception of the world to the point where he mostly sees people as wriggling piles of worms. He’s had the Foot Clan taken away from him by one of his disciples, Mourner. He’s been forced to work with the Earth Protection Force, or rather, they’ve been forced to work with him. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder #6 brings most of these threads to their end, as Saki finally comes face-to-face with the Mourner.
But this isn’t just any battle. Mourner reveals she’s been trying to resurrect Kitsune, the goddess that Saki fell in love with. To do this, she’s built a device that will cause a cosmic shockwave, rebirthing Kitsune and other gods while also causing untold destruction. Saki faces a hard choice: does he bring an end to Mourner’s goals? Or will he embrace the possibility of reuniting with Kitsune? The fallout may surprise some readers, while others will remember what makes Saki such a deadly figure.
Whether he intended to or not, Dan Watters’ decision to resurrect Kitsune mirrors the resurrection of Splinter in Gene Luen Yang and Freddie E. Williams’ current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles run. Both the Heroes in a Half-Shell and their nemesis are face-to-face with someone they loved, and in both cases, Splinter and Kitsune have immensely changed. Like Yang, Watters is taking the tried-and-true concept of resurrection in comic books and putting a new spin on it. Saki is determined to kill Mourner and nothing, not even the resurrection of the goddess he loves, will stop him.
IDW
Neither will Mourner’s followers, who learn the hard way just how deadly an opponent Saki is. Michele Bandini doesn’t hold back on the violence, filling panel after panel of Saki slashing through his opponents while blood flies through the air. This leads to an incredible page where Saki is slowly surrounded by Foot ninja, with Marco Lesko drowning the page in reddish-orange light. But that isn’t the thing that stands out the most: that would be Saki’s arm literally bursting up from the page, his blades soaked in blood. That one page serves as a precursor to the carnage to come.
Bandini’s joined by Scott Hanna, who fills in the art with finishes. This has a sort of disorienting effect; sometimes the art strongly resembles Hanna’s own, while other pages are clearly Bandini’s. This actually works in favor when showcasing Kitsune’s takeover of Mourner’s body, but the rest of the issue sometimes feels like it’s struggling to find a certain style. Far stronger is the ending, which promises a new status quo for Saki…and his transformation into an even deadlier figure. Yes, this comic is setting out to make Shredder even worse than he already is, and somehow I’m enjoying it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder #6 ends its first arc with plenty of bloodshed and a surprising new status quo. It’s also a reminder to fans new and old that Oroku Saki is one of the deadliest men alive.
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