Leo'Jet Ski Fuel'nardoCampbell's art is seriously the most personality and atmosphere these books have ever had.
#tmnt
Just...yeah? After a lot of rushed looking or generic cape comic art, IDW TMNT is being made by someone who cares about things like clothes, postures, attitudes, what side characters are doing, even making sure to include details like pets sleeping by the fire. This is the exact opposite of everything people kept telling me was supposed to be great about these comics, -that's- great.
God, and what's happened to what little progress we've made here in the real world
The Klunk stuff is slightly undermined (EDIT: for me) by the implication it was Saki who found him and brought him back. It's a decent use of the character but only because IDW insists he be there and having a redemption storyline, any of those panels of him standing outside the farmhouse in the dark would've accomplished the same thing.
This is maybe gonna become a Transformers/Marvel thread for a bit. Sorry...?
The short version is, Redemption Arc Shredder's got nothing on Redemption Arc Megatron. A big part of why being that, even for all James Robertson's creative cheating with his version character, you are allowed to believe it's not really a question and that it isn't possible. Handy Dostoevsky quote at the bottom there.
Actually, no, let's get the important stuff out of the way first. The Turtles finally settling on a plan in a post Splinter and Shredder world. "A clan anyone can be part of."
And after years of IDW giving the team more soldiers and other martial artists, with the only non combat role being tech support, I am more than down with the idea of the Turtles opening a dojo and letting non-Designated Special People learn how to defend themselves.
And giving them a community of actual people to join, not just surround themselves with fellow fighters.
And for all the editorial mucking about that's gonna make the book drag, I do like Campbell's honesty about the difficulties of community, how centres do not inherently hold, and that she also never let's it get in the way of the joy of a community.
So, these guys. Why I think they're the holy trinity of Marvel villains and why IDW Megatron is closer to them than IDW Shredder is. Because we share their rage, but they're irreparably shaped by the tragedies that made them. And the most tragic thing about them is that they -could- be the heroes of their stories, but for various reasons they're still the villains of everyone else's.
It's not just the tragedies that shape them, Killmonger and Doom's traumatic childhoods, to say nothing of Magneto's, but I think you need an element of this All Star Superman moment to really make it work.
All these men have every reason to hate the status quo and burn it to the ground. But that's as far as it goes, for Doom especially. "You could have saves the world YEARS ago if it mattered to you." Which highlights what -is- important to Luthor.
Magneto's the big example of this for me, because of where Chris Claremont was initially taking his arc, complete with renouncing his ways and leading the X-Men. An arc that was ultimately short circuited because Roger Stern really hated the idea and wrote a miniseries to undo it, but hey.
And this stuff was the basis for X-Men '97, the biggest Marvel anything of this century since the first Avengers movie.
And thing of it is, I prefer '97 Mags a lot more. We never doubt that he's right, his enemies are bigots, but he starts off being wonderfully smarmy when he assumes command, claims live on TV at the UN that he's trying to be better (and it's a threat to humanity, don't give him cause to regress) and ends the show doing something that will wipe out all life on Earth, because his people were murdered for a second time.
It's impossible to condone this version of Magneto's actions, but it's impossible to condemn him. He has every right to his rage, his rage does not give him the right to do what he does. He doesn't have to keep his hands clean of his bigoted enemies' blood, but it's impossible to declare war and not bloody your hands.
Versus IDW Shredder's origin in secret history of the Foot Clan, where Saki is seen as some kind of pre-destined demon child by his superstitious clan and this is a reasonable assumption because superstitions are real in this world. But also you're supposed to feel sorry for the wee fella, and maintain that feeling as you watch his centuries old adult self be gleefully evil.
Speaking of mutants, y'know how '97 has at least two X-Men join Magneto because they're righteously (and rightfully) furious at what the world has done to them? That's the exact opposite of Shredder and Kitsune using magic to turn Leo to the dark side.
Shredder doesn't have a legit position beyond "Evil!", and so Leo has to be cultishly brainwashed. He can't hear Shredder's point of view, realise he agrees with it, then discover what's screwed up about and reject it, but leave knowing that he's susceptible to bad shit.
Killmonger and Doom are more similar to each other, and arguably simpler than Mags, because they're tragic fairy tale characters. Doom was hunted from birth because the old world Europe he was born into hates travellers, Eric was kidnapped by people paling around with Klaw, a confirmed white supremacist. Both lost everything, both have every reason to hate the parts of the world that hate them.
But neither stop there.
Doom's the closest to the Morrison take on Lex, the man who COULD have saved the world, and didn't, because what's really important to him is conquering it and being LOVED for that.
Eric is a truly next level hater who wants to destroy everything the Black Panther is, because the Panther was supposed to be there for him and -wasn't.-
Major difference between them and Mags, and an important distinction to make? All of them are leaders, who truly could make something great. But there are multiple roles Magneto could adopt to lead his people. Teacher, general, philosopher, statesman. He's first among equals, with cause to be arrogant when he is.
Doom and Killmonger want to be -kings.- Which is why I think fairy tale is an apt description for them. You know what a man who kills to become a king is.
Should clarify, talking about the comic version of Killmonger here. Christopher Priest's take.
Oh yeah, also worth mentioning. Killmonger and Doom? Both capitalists. Absolutely aware of what it does to the world, Killmonger especially having suffered for it. Both of them perfectly happy to use it.
There's also the setting all three were built to work in, although Eric came along in the 70s and it'd take until around then for Mags to start becoming the multifaceted character we all talk about. The Marvel Universe begins in the Cold War, it's heroes powered by (cartoonish) radiation, often in the form of an accident. Hulk and Daredevil are mutilated victims of (cartoon) radiation.
That's the text. That this stuff isn't beneficial even when it -is- empowering.
DC's heroes were power fantasies. What if just for once strength, darkness, nature, science, fetish (in the case of Wil Marston) were on YOUR side?
Marvel's heroes lived in the atomic age, were powered by it, and didn't want to be here. The Fantastic Four are already kinda the all American ideal, and after their shuttle crash they become superheroes out of self defence, because now America will hunt them down with pitchforks if they don't market their radioactive mutations properly.
Peter Parker doesn't turn Spider-Man into a superhero just because Uncle Ben said a thing, it's because A) doing parkour and beating up muggers is fun, B) because J. Jonah Jameson pays for photos to run for his smear campaigns and Aunt May needs heart medication. And there's a lot you could say about the promises America makes Peter Parker's generation.
Point being, you have all these heroes who never asked for the power and obligation to do anything, and have an ongoing conversation about whether they -can- use those things to affect their society, the one invading Vietnam, never mind if they have the right.
So y'know who'd be a great foil to an uncertain hero? Someone who's utterly convinced he's right and the world owes them for their special pain.
Not every Marvel villain was that, of course. Any in-depth conversation about Magento should include the fact he starts out as a pretty stock mastermind type.
It's also interesting that Doom's first appearance only specifies his interest in black magic and the hubristic accident that scarred him, the fact he was orphaned (and he's Romani!) not revealed/invented until the FF's second annual, published two years after his first appearance.
This is where Doom graduates from simply hating Reed Richards to a man shaped by hate, -because- he was hated. Warts and all, we likely don't get the Magneto we know without this backstory.
Sorry for the delay, part of what weighed this down is this was in danger of just becoming an IDW Megatron thread. And it's hard to know where to start but I do know why I like "Megatron the Autobot" more than I liked "IDW Shredder Feels Guilty Enough to Become the Surrogate Dad", so I've narrowed it down to the issue I think summarises why, if MTMtE Megs works for you, it works.
This version of Megatron seeking redemption works because his redemption is a series of questions, from if it's even possible to whether he deserves it and where would he even begin.
Best will in the world, IDW Shredder just not being evil any more because magic or something I don't even know, is not that.
So many words to say I don't like Shredder leaving a cat on a stoop, good God.
Alright, had dinner, let's get on with it. This is gonna be the Splinter Clan dojo, our main setting for Campbell's run. Characters, backgrounds and detritus, three of Campbell's greatest artistic strengths!
Also, what song do you imagine this montage being set to? The Jason Segal Muppet movie has cursed my brain into playing We Built This City on endless loop.
Continuing the theme of The Most Sophie Campbell Panel Ever.
Spent most of the past year moving into a flat, so I relate very hard to this image.
Guess he can't wear his Batman shirt from vol 1 #17 because IDW Mikey has actually met the big guy and it'd be tacky.
EDIT: No, wait, he wore a Superman shirt a couple of issues ago, so are Clark and Bruce both fictional characters in IDWT-verse and they were just too polite to mention it to Bruce or...?
Should probably have something to say about this moment, one of several that cause a disturbing amount of middle aged white men who allegedly like this series to flip their shit, but Jen and Mona's outfits are eating up a lot of my attention span.
If you're wondering why these men felt that way, despite TMNT's long history with 80s music and endless visual gags of them doing mundane things, let me save you some time: because woke.
And no, not every aspect of Campbell's time at the helm can be accounted for as either having to adapt to the pandemic or having to pander to the Armageddon Game. You also can't pretend that a tans woman writing TMNT was only facing differences of opinion.
The metal show/battle of the bands storyline is usually held up by this kind of person as an example of what's wrong with this run. Putting aside a lot of inherent bad faith behind that sentiment, I think a good comparison is if you don't like it you probably have a good idea how I felt being told that the preceding 100 issues were going to contain the most epic moment of anything ever I'd ever see.
It's almost as if TMNT began life as a very idiosyncratic thing derived from it's creators' interests and should continue to be so.
Let me put this in terms the TMNT wiki'll understand: yOu'Re nOt oN nIcK tOoNs aNyMoRe!
Music by Sebastian Evans II.
The covers for this portion of the run are great. So distinctive after a couple years worth of generic cape comic covers of the characters just standing/posing/gurning.
1) It is amazing how Campbell both makes every single mutant in this crowd and on stage distinct and keeps their positioning consistent across this whole page.
2) Story of my life; I'd -like- to be Leo in this situation but I know I'd be Raph.
#tmnt
2) Story of my life; I'd -like- to be Leo in this situation but I know I'd be Raph.
#tmnt
God, lookit 'im. Standing there in the most normcore sweater possible yet utterly at peace with this sea of leather and fishnets.
#tmnt
#tmnt
Almost made a "future liberals want" joke but those panels are too perfect to need text, and, like, does the irony even work? Feel confident most people seeing this would be onboard with everything about this situation.
Need to commit to a better bit than how much the first 100 issues suck, at least until the Armageddon Game comes along, but to tide me over, because I'm that petty, and because the opportunity is too good to resist: Raph and Al after reading the first 100 issues, boom, did it.
JEN & DONNIE: In the crater after the bomb love begins to tentatively bloom
MIKEY: I'M ALIVE! FOR THE FIRST TIME I AM ALIVE
RAPH & AL: Fuck everyone and everything (not complimentary)
Solid conversation, these poor kids are going to try their best. Also: possible neurodivergent Raph? "You're always so literal" and he doesn't twig when Al's kidding.
The above post was unironically composed to Barenaked Ladies' "Call and Answer" playing in the other tab.
Picking this back up because I can't sleep and am angry at the news. Meet Bludgeon and Koya! Two Foot clan mutants created along with Alopex, now working for Karai. You may remember Koya from earlier with Hob and Weasels and have grokked that she's a nasty piece of work. Bludgeon's thing is being more contemplative and diplomatic, despite serving, y'know, Shredder. I liked him well enough from what I read of him in the first 100 issues, glad to see he's still around.
