Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo one-shot and #10-12

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo one-shot + #10-12

Originally released in 1987

Written by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

Art by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

I had a great time with the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, with the universe that they created feeling like a blank canvas where the creators could include just about anything and it would still make sense.  I've read a few issues since then (including a touching tribute to Jack Kirby and a crossover with Cerebus the Aardvark - that series crossed over with Spawn as well, though all I really know about it is that it started out as a Conan the Barbarian parody before becoming darker and eventually becoming an outlet for the creator's raging misogyny), and I'm picking up where I left off with a one-shot focusing on Leonardo.

The issue seems more like a comedy at first, in a bit of a dark way.  Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter, and April are preparing for Christmas in April's apartment, while unbeknownst to them, Leonardo is being attacked by Foot Clan ninjas.  The contrast between the bright and cheery scenes of the others decorating the apartment and Leonardo fighting assorted ninjas is played up as much as possible.

As time goes on, though, it become clear that Leonardo is outmatched, and that's before the leader of the Foot arrives - the Shredder, apparently back from the dead.  I'm not sure if this is someone else wearing his armour (I don't know when the character of Karai, the Shredder's second-in command and his adopted daughter, is introduced in the comics, or if she ever appears in here), but the issue ends with Leonardo being thrown through the window of April's apartment, a warning shot before an all-out attack by the Foot.

According to the material included in the collection, this is the start of a story arc that's intended to get the Turtles out of New York City.  The creators chose to set the story there because big cities are so synonymous with superheroes, but Eastman and Laird had only ever visited it a few times so they felt like they were faking it by setting the story there.

The action is frantic, with just about every step down to the ground floor feeling like a struggle. Some well-timed interference from Casey Jones, and April's memories of her dad's renovations, help them to escape, but in the process, April's apartment and the junk shop beneath it that her father once ran are burned to the ground, and the experience has clearly traumatized her.

The seven of them spend at least five months away from New York City, which has me wondering what state the city will be in whenever they return, with the Foot Clan having free rein for that long. Even in rural Massachusetts, the Ninja Turtles can't avoid trouble, as they get tangled up in the plot of a bunch of crazy survivalists who want to start a nuclear war.

For all of their talk of rising from the ashes of nuclear war and proving their worthiness, the "Committee to Rebuild American Patriotism" prove to be no match for a group of teenage mutant ninja turtles and their equally mutated rat teacher. Oddly enough, issue 13 is missing from this collection; I'm not sure if it's a similar issue to what happened with Spawn issue 10.

While these issues didn't feel as groundbreaking as the earlier ones, it was interesting to see the Ninja Turtles taken out of their element, and the downtime in issue 11 allowed for the characters to become more fleshed out. The mystery surrounding the Shredder's revival seems like it will have to wait for now, but the change of pace was nice, and it's interesting to see how Eastman and Laird experiment with the format of the comics as time goes on.