Since we're literally only one issue away from the big #150 finale/line reboot I sent off an email to TMNT's letter column. No idea if it'll see print, but it's been a ride, Sophie Campbell's run is some of the most moving stuff I've ever read in this glorious, stupid franchise and the most rancid people alive hate it, so what the hell, this is now a Sophie Campbell TMNT thread.
One my biggest problems with the series pre-Campbell is how it equates escalation with stakes and monologuing with depth. The result is a near endless barrage of pages like this, talky fight scene after talky fight scene, broken up occasionally by characters standing about in rooms discussing the last few weeks. Continuity without content.
Also you're asked to take at face value that the entire series so far has been leading up to Splinter sacrificing himself to kill a dragon.
Hun's the biggest eyebrow raiser, but also shout out to the death of Agent John Bishop in the same issue, which isn't supposed to be tragic despite Waltz giving him the same mandatory Deep Tragic Backstory™ as everyone else in the comic.
Bishop, despite the fact we're supposed to find him complex, gets stomped to death by Slash in righteous revenge (for killing a child abuser who's as "racist" as he is a few panels ago).
Bishop debuted in the 2K3 cartoon, an Agent Smith type running the Earth Protection Force, an anti-alien/cryptid/mutant black ops government unit, spinning out of his own traumatic abduction by aliens during the civil war. (Their experiments granted him longevity, you see)
Bishop, to be blunt, has the personality of a cardboard box, but he does get an interesting enough little arc in the "Fast Forward" 6th season/soft rebrand.
And sure, this is only a rung on the ladder above that Static Shock episode where they solve racism forever by convincing Riche's racist dad that black people are human beings, but...that's decent enough, right? Time and a pivotal experience turned this MIB asshole into someone the Turtles could begrudgingly respect.
Naïve? Sure. Convincing? Not about to argue with anybody who thinks otherwise. Good baby's first inclusivity episode? It's serviceable.
Guh, this is turning into a tangent, so to sum up:
For me, that's IDW TMNT's pre-Campbell definition. Dissonance. Where, in the issue where
A) Hun, a racist child abuser, dying is supposed to be tragic.
B) The conceit of this whole thing is that Shredder has actually been possessed by a dragon (Or SOMETHING?) this whole time and actually isn't that bad, but needs to seek redemption because that's sexy
C) Kitsune, the literal demon fox woman who turned Leo evil isn't all that bad--
--Bishop, who's supposed to be as complex and compelling as all of these other assholes (and like EVERY character Tom Waltz ever wrote, if you believe some circles), who is THE EXACT SAME KIND OF MUTANT RACIST HUN IS...is supposed to be so bad he -deserves- being ended by Slash stepping on him.
THAT'S supposed to be complex? "This racist got his, but this one over here is tragic."
And by contrast, Sophie Campbell made Wet Moon and Shadow Eyes. Both about growing up different, both about your body, both about the question of identity, both about the uncertain future the 21st century is dragging us into, whatever our role in it is.
You do not get "But the child abusing one is okay" from either of these, and I highly recommend reading them wherever you can. Iron Circus had the reprint rights, last I heard.
Also, just saying right now, Campbell handles Alopex, the only character in IDW to put their money where their mouth is, the best, including having her leave the group for a spell when they decide to partner up with Shredder, the guy who kidnapped her, killed her family, and mutated her.
Because TMNT editorial really, really wanted redeemed Shredder to be a thing.
And page 2. I like how tempered and quiet the mourning is, not overwrought (which so much of the previous 100 issues were, -especially- when it came to death, y'know, that thing the reincarnation concept neuters immediately), while still being like, yeah, Mikey WOULD be the one taking it this hard.
And we end on a beat that's going to pop up over and over throughout the run: for better or worse? Raph's the one who knows when it's time to leave.
@LeoJetSkiFuelnardo It's gone from her deviantart, but you can still read it on tumblr here: https://secretsoftheooze.tumblr.com/post/145766109567
(and I agree, it's good shit, the title page was my phone lockscreen for a long time)
Leo'Jet Ski Fuel'nardo
👩🦯The Blind Fraggle
Euan