Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles New Animated Adventures #9 Review

Can this TV show tie-in work as a monthly comic book? Read on to find out.

The official description from IDW:

This issue features two terrific Turtle tales! In the first, the robot Metal Head starts to act very strangely. When the Turtles try to fix him, an argument between Raph and Don could cause the entire day to go haywire! The second story details the astounding origin of Raph’s new black eye!

Before we get into the details of what did and didn’t work let’s address the fact that there are qualifications for buying into this. Whoever picks this up must have an affinity for these characters and be watching the current iteration of the property. If you meet both of these than this release gets recommended to you, because there’s bound to be some level of joy gleamed from this jaunt.

The script by Kenny Byerly is one that plays up the angst of intelligence versus strength. Two of the brothers, Donatello and Raphael, battle to see which one is more essential. It’s through that discussion and a mistake here or there that the story erupts in full, as the scribe entertains his audience from beginning to end. The written word does suffer due to an over reliance on the television property, which may leave some readers more than a bit confused by a chunk of the material on any given page.

Chad Thomas handles the bulk of the art, and the illustrator does a fine job capturing the look of the Ninja Turtles. Add in the colors done by Heather Breckel and you have a pleasing, albeit a bit chaotic, display. The final four pages are handled by Dario Brizuela and I have to say that the renditions found here are more sure and concrete, yielding a look that just ebbs and flows with the charisma of the small screen adaptation.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles New Animated Adventures #9 is a fun romp that relies too much on being a companion series to really stand on its own. But nonetheless it is very entertaining as it comes recommended.