Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Enemies Old, Enemies New
Author: Kevin B. Eastman, Tom Waltz, Dan Duncan (Illustrations), & Mateus Santolouco (Illustrations)
Publication Date: May 24th, 2016
Synopsis: The Turtles learn the amazing story of their previous lives, and begin their journey as a true team of brothers! Meanwhile, Baxter Stockman unveils a deadly new strategy for capturing them, just as General Krang arrives in New York demanding results!
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Review: Backstories are my favorite types of stories, regardless of genre. They could be novellas in my favorite novel series, spin-offs of TV shows or movies, or comics based on my favorite characters. I love seeing old enemies and friends and old stories mixed with new characters and worlds. This comic had all of that, and it was about my favorite crime-fighting Turtles to boot!
At the beginning of this volume, Leo, Mikey, & Donnie have finally found Raph (I guess they were still in the process of assembling everyone, because it doesn't really seem like he ran away). They all start out wearing the read headbands, which I thought was pretty neat - hello, throwback to the original comics! - but they do eventually end up with the colors that most fans know and love. Watching Raph become adjusted to the team was really cool, and I'm kind of surprised I hadn't ever read a story like this one before.
We also get a peak into the lives of Splinter and the Turtles before they became a rate and four turtles. They were human at one time, and I really enjoyed how the family dynamic remained the same even after all the centuries and many lives they must have lived before they found each other again. It was actually a really sweet story, albeit violent at times.
Some of my favorite enemies are also running around in this volume. There's Baxter Stockman, who is working for Krang and trying to develop mutants for him. There's Old Hob, who is working for Baxter trying to capture Splinter. There's the Foot Clan, as always, and even Alopex makes an appearance, although she isn't mentioned by name. On the Allies side, Casey Jones and April O'Neill are introduced to each other, and there's a pretty hilarious scene where Casey tries to tell April about the Turtles.
I just really enjoyed this comic, and I think most fans of the TMNT universe will too. THe artwork is kind of dark and harsh, and there is a little bit more violence in these comics than in the Nickelodeon ones, so I probably wouldn't recommend this one for a younger audience. I'm really excited to read more comics like these (which I hope there are more!). They've also inspired me to look into the origins of more of these characters, so I'll probably dive into the backlist sooner rather than later! A solid 4/5 on this one.
--Ashley
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