Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
Secret History of the Foot Clan #1
Story by Mateus Santolouco
Script by Mateus Santolouco & Erik Burnham
Art by Mateus Santolouco
Colors by Joao “Azitona” Vieira
Letters by Shawn Lee
Edits by Bobby Curnow
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 9, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret Origin of the Foot Clan #1, you get about 3 issues worth of story. I mean it. It’s REALLY packed with the history of how the foot clan came to be. After reading it, I can’t help but think, “Is there any more story that they can tell?” I guess we’ll find out.

With a story by Mateus Santolouco, and a script by Mateus Santolouco and Erik Burnham, this is a perfect blend of humor/history/mystery/suspense and action. Now, I don’t know who exactly scripted what, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Burnham was brought in to provide dialogue for the Turtles and contribute that unique brand of humor that he brings to Ghostbusters on a monthly basis. This issue is, simply put, a great story. You’re really gonna enjoy this book. I’ll even go so far as to say non-Turtle fans will get some enjoyment out of it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Micro-Series #2: Michelangelo
Global Conquest Edition
Written by Brian Lynch
Art by Andy Kuhn
Colors by Bill Crabtree
Letters by Shawn Lee
IDW Publishing
Release Date: March 7, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

The weird part about this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles renaissance we’re going through is seeing that word ‘Teenage’ still attached to them. Sad, but true, in just a couple years the franchise will be hitting 30. It’s not like there have always been great reasons to stick around as a TMNT fan, either. Many of us who grew up with them (Is anyone reading these books who didn’t grow up with TMNT in someway?), to various degrees, look back to the cartoons and movies and video games and breakfast cereals and Coming Out of Our Shells tour and wince a little out of embarrassment. What I suspect the folks at IDW understand is that we see the Eastman and Laird books as the high water mark, and while we accept the ADD kid-friendly stuff that came afterwards it’s time to move forward.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7
Story by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz
Script by Tom Waltz
Art by Dan Duncan
Colors by Ronda Pattison
Letters by Shawn Lee
Covers by Dan Duncan, Kevin Eastman & Mark Torres
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 22nd, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

My greatest fear for this book finally hit this issue, but on the whole, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7 was surprisingly the best issue of the series so far! By a long shot!!

While I’m a huge fan of the Turtles, I’m not a fan of their science fiction stories. I’m a fan of them, on Earth, in the sewers, fighting ninjas. Every time they’ve lapsed over into “Turtles in Space” I have immediately lost interest completely. So, you can understand my disappointment when this issue opens in space, with a sci-fi battle. But, writer Tom Waltz quickly turned my worst fears into one of the COOLEST plot points (that I will NOT spoil here) so far in this book.