— • 3.5 • —

I decided to collate my reviews for each volume into this entry and add a summary :)


Vol.1

Been wanting to check this comic out ever since I saw the title and artwork. I’m loving the futuristic world that it’s set in and this volume makes for a cool introduction to our protagonist.

You can quickly tell that the others are in his head through their greyed out colours and speech bubbles coming from behind him, but I like how it doesn’t immediately reveal which Turtle our Ronin is until the end of the volume. I was pleasantly surprised because my initial guess was wrong.

So far there’s an interesting blend between the lighthearted convo that we expect from the Turtles and an obviously more serious tone with the story and circumstances. It doesn’t feel as dark as I was hoping (compared to Hush and Harleen for example) and maybe that’s down to the volume being a little on the short side, but the story is interesting enough that I’m sure when the series is complete we’ll have a decently sized journey.


Vol.2

An excellent second volume to this series. The pieces are being put together of what happened to his family and how he became the skilled Ronin that he is today.

It was again a little short for my liking but I found the pacing much better with the cool flashback sequences between the present day conversations. There wasn’t much in the way of story progression but I enjoyed the conversations with April and her daughter who we are just introduced to.

I really appreciated the amazing artwork in this volume too. The sequence with Raphael had some incredible shots and I liked the different art style used for Michey’s. It makes me excited for any more creative elements to come.


Vol.3

It was really cool to see the brothers and Casey in action in the flashbacks but a shock to see how they died. Casey Marie seems very cool while the villain seems very weird.


Vol.4

Enjoyed the training sequence and the flashback to Japan had some beautiful artwork. Master Splinter is a badass. Another touching death scene. Extra abilities!? Ooo


Vol.5

And so we reach the end. A decent final volume including a cool fight sequence to end it, but I was a little disappointed with the outcome, it all felt very bittersweet. I would have also liked to have seen more of Casey Marie in action after learning she’s a mutant, I guess they’re saving that for a future series.


Summary

Overall this was a pretty cool novel that gripped me at the start, however as you can probably tell by the lengths of my reviews I lost a bit of interest in writing any notes along the way. Not sure if this was because I read the volumes separately due to their releases, or if I’m right to give it some criticisms…

It was far from boring because the concept was very cool and there were many standout moments scattered throughout the volumes, most specifically the flashbacks, that were impactful and even quite sad. The focus throughout was evidently on Mikey being a Ronin, coming to terms with what happened to his brothers and how to move on from it, seeking vengeance in order to do so, while also deciding to do good by passing on what he knows to Casey Marie. It all sounds cool when summed up like that, but from what I can remember that’s about it.

The writing was a little basic at times and the story lacked a bit of meat.

My main criticisms are that there wasn’t much world building other than the first volume which is a shame because it had a really cool futuristic setting that I wanted to explore more. Meanwhile the villain (despite his cool armour at the end) was terrible; his only purpose was for Mikey to get vengeance and everything else he did was cringe. And finally for all the build-up and reveal of Casey Marie having powers because she’s a mutant; she didn’t actually end up doing anything by the end.

Nonetheless, as I already mentioned a few times, the concept, artwork and style were definitely the best parts of it all and I’m glad I checked it out!