Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2014 Review

Is there enough meat to the narrative to make this outing worthwhile? Read on to find out.

The official description from IDW:

The Turtles are whisked away to another dimension by a stranger—Renet! Forced to fight for their survival in a tournament featuring the greatest warriors in the universe, the brothers will have to master new fighting techniques and forge new alliances. But with the deck stacked against them, their chance of survival is slim!

It’s a tall order for any franchise to sell me on an annual issue. By their nature they’re simply extra stories and an excuse to milk hardcore followers out of their cash. With that said, this one actually turned out to be highly entertaining as it became a trip worth taking because it cements the pre-history to the currently running Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.

Tom Waltz works with the legendary Kevin Eastman to bring this temporal adventure to life. The literary side of this journey carries a thick body of text but manages to execute the established tone of the franchise with ease. It’s a lengthy body of words to be sure, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a pleasure to just sit back and be absorbed by the shenanigans on display. Even so there were moments where the dialogue turned out to be a bit much and dragged the pace down.

Much like the written word the one and only Kevin Eastman jumps into the visual side offering a blast from the past. It doesn’t matter what page you flip to this talent offers a chaotic palette with just enough pencil strokes to make the action stand out. His illustrations evoke memories of the original comic book series that spawned this franchise, and when you add in the colors by Ronda Pattison this fanboy left the release pleased with what he saw.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2014 offers a lot within the confines of its pages. From beginning to end it manages to yield more than enough material to be an extra issue that I can happily recommend.