Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder #3 doesn’t have the same vibe as the past two issues. There’s still espionage elements contained within its story: Oroku Saki, investigating a mysterious conglomerate, takes on a false identity and is in constant contact with the E.P.F. Yet the main threat in this issue isn’t a wannabe gangster or even Saki’s former soldiers in the Foot Clan. It’s a mad scientist who’s seemingly cracked teleportation, though it’s soon revealed that his experiments are bleeding into other worlds.
This is the kind of shift that could turn readers away or sink a series if it isn’t handled properly. Dan Watters thankfully understands that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe is a place where science fiction and fantasy walk hand in hand – especially with the various alien races the Heroes in a Half-Shell have encountered over the years. Watters’ script doesn’t just lean into the sci-fi shift, but also ties it back into the main storyline, further highlighting Shredder’s desire to stop the “Mourner” from completing her plan.
Watters also creates a very disturbing villain in Dr. Gast, the aforementioned mad scientist Shredder ends up fighting. While he has managed to create a rudimentary form of teleportation, it’s pretty clear that the experience has driven him mad – he keeps referring to his macabre experiments as a “symphony”, with the “strings” of the universe moving in a “harmony” that only he can hear. If that sounds insane, that’s the point; Watters makes it very clear that there are some things mankind shouldn’t be interfering in.
IDW
If Watters is handling the shift into sci-fi territory with relative ease, Michele Bandini dives in with abandon. Bandini doesn’t hold back in showcasing the disturbing results of Dr. Gast’s experiments; bodies, looking like they’ve had whole chunks carved out of them, stand motionless in his lab and the not-so-good-doctor apparently welded a teleportation device into his chest. It’s the kind of body horror you wouldn’t expect to see in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles book, yet it fits the grittier world of the Shredder. Speaking of the Shredder, Bandini gives him a sleek black suit that takes on an air of menace once he dons his bladed gloves and mask. Cosplayers will definitely love this look or attempt to replicate it.
The best part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder #3 concerns the tenuous relationship between Shredder and his E.P.F. liaison Agent Avon. Despite her efforts to try and help her, he shrugs her off…and when she keeps questioning him about his assumed alias of “Tai San”, he reveals the real Tai San was one of his closest allies. That story then takes a dark turn, reminding readers that Oroku Saki is a very dangerous man who doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder #3 manages to handle a shift into sci-fi territory and still keeps the brutal edge that fans expect from its main protagonist. It’ll also make you want to see more of “Super Spy Shredder”, which is a sentence I’d never thought I’d be saying.
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