Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #108
Story by Sophie Campbell with Tom Waltz and Kevin Eastman
Art by Nelson Daniel and Ronda Pattinson
Published by IDW
Released August 26th, 2020
Shipping bi-weekly, the Summer of TMNT starts now! The Turtles are trapped by a fearsome new mutant foe with seemingly no way of escape. Their friends make a last-ditch attempt to save the Turtles, but will secrets in City Hall spell salvation or doom?
Our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are all slimed up in the sewers due to the wrath of The Slithery. April O’Neil finds out Baxter Stockman is up to no good once more fiddling with his mousers. And that brings us to issue 108, which concludes the tale of the Slithery all while opening up a new can(s) of worms on where we go from here. And it seems enticing.
Action and intrigue is balanced quite well throughout the issue, as it becomes less about the actual sewer monster and more about the big picture concerning the aftermath of Old Hobb’s bomb and its effect on Mutant Town. It’s mutating fish into monsters. So what does that mean when it comes to the ocean? The squirrels and racoons in Central Park? Giant jacked aggressive creatures with little intelligence. This could certainly pose a problem. And that’s what the story arc of “The Slithery” has told us.
This story arc has been simple and safe. We’ve traveled back to the sewers. April being more relevant to the Turtles’ adventures again, Baxter Stockman up to his old tricks. It seems Campbell and Pattinson could be building a foundation of this “new reality”. A town of mutant hybrids coexisting because what else can they possibly do? An interesting direction is teased between Alopex and Mona discussing whether there should be a “Mayor” of Mutant Town. Both easily agreeing Donatello would be the best bet, then joking that Raph could try. I’m not sure if that’s a serious direction, but seeing Donatello run for Mayor of Mutant Town and essentially battle Baxter Stockman politically? Do we want that? Not necessarily…but would I like to see that? It would be fun to write. Ripe for satire.
Daniel and Pattinson’s artwork is passable. The linework is nothing to rave about and the colors are very drab. Sticking to an almost khaki spectrum this issue. I’m also not thrilled with the design of April O’Neil this time around. Looking less like April and more like a suburban mom who’d like to speak with the manager.
But, overall, the past few issues have been grounded and simplified. It seems a lot of the staple threats of the TMNT universe have been nullified. And, while I welcome new threats, I’d say it’s time to speed up the direction of the current series. It’s been 8 issues since the big arc. And while a lot has happened (technically) it feels like a lot hasn’t. So while Issue 8 is passable, here’s to picking up the pace in future installments.
