Turtles… IN SPACE! Weird new characters, places, and events abound!
Krang is set to go on trial in Dimension X but he has hired the cybernetic assassin Hakk-R to eliminate the witnesses set to testify against him. Meanwhile, the Turtles race to different planets in Dimension X to escort the witnesses to safety before Hakk-R gets to them first!
Written by Paul Allor, Ulises Farinas, Erick Freitas, Aubrey Sitterson, Ryan Ferrier, and Devin Grayson with art by Pablo Tunica, Michael Dialynas, Khary Randolph, Chris Johnson, and Craig Rousseau.
This felt like it should have just been part of the regular run. Spinning out of volume 18, The Trial of Krang, the Turtles gather all the witnesses against Krang. Each issue is by a different creative team, but still has the same feel of the main book. Solid but nothing special.
You can't have a trial without witnesses, which is exactly what General Krang is banking on when he sends Hakk-r, a horrible assassin, out into Dimension X to slaughter the people that plan to testify against him. Enter the Turtles, who have to travel around the dimension rescuing these witnesses before Hakk-r can take them out for good!
Each of these issues has a different writer and artist; I think it was probably a weekly series when it was released, otherwise it would have been totally out of sync with the main series. The writing is surprisingly consistent, even if the art's a bit less so.
Issue 1 is by Paul Allor, who seems to be the secondary Turtles writer, with art by Pablo Tunica (who did that awesome Toad Baron two parter over in TMNTU). This one's probably the funniest; Hakk-r's complete despondence at how badly his life has taken a turn is hilarious, and the idea of empathic physics is both a) insane and b) very cleverly done. Ulises Farinas and Erick Freitas tackle issue 2, which has a surprisingly big heart and a nice twist midway through, plus lovely artwork from Michael Dialynas.
Meanwhile Aubrey Sitterson writes issue 3, which unfortunately relies on one joke all the way through, which is funny the first two or three times and then quickly becomes an eyeroller. The art from Khary Rhandolph is a bit looser than I'm used to, and the colours get very blocky by the end of the issue, which is a shame. Issue 4 is written by Ryan Ferrier with art by Chris Johnson, is pretty solid as well. The art is very good, and I was just thinking about how Johnson would be a good fit for the main title when I spied his name on the interiors of Trial Of Krang, so foreshadowing!
Issue 5 rounds everything off with a retro creative team of Devin Grayson and Craig Rosseau, which is surprisingly good. Both of them have updated their styles to fit more modern comics. I was a little disappointed that there was less of a conclusion here than I expected - it just kind of ends, with a TBC in Trial Of Krang. Not sure what I expected, really.
This is fine. Entirely skippable, but fine, which - given how dire some of the TMNT supplementary series have been, I'll take and take happily.
To some degree, this was a big part of the "meat" of the Trial of Krang arc in the main TMNT books that they annoying decided to spin off into its own mini-series. In the main books, the turtles are dispatched to secure several witnesses whose testimony was crucial to winning the case against Krang. But in the main books, things jumped forward to the turtles coming back with the witnesses and we don't even get their testimonies.
This book covers their efforts to find the witnesses and end up hearing their individual testimonies of Krang's atrocities against their different planets and peoples. The comic was also used as an opportunity to have different artists draw the individual issues, resulting in some pretty colorful art styles and interpretations of the different planets. But I still don't feel this deserved its own series.
This is a midquel to Volume 18 where the Turtles are gathering the witnesses for Krang's trial. The annoying part is some of the issues were actually good but overall the story is just meh. I wish I knew if or when these characters were going to be a big deal to know how closely I should catalog their escapades.
Probably the first IDW TMNT I rate under a 3 star. It wasn't terrible, but the pacing of each issue on its own was a bit too rushed. I did like the inclusion of Ace Duck though. I guess we'll see how it all pans out in the actual trial of Kraang.
This book was super fun while reading, but nothing really had a lasting impact. Like tmnt cotton candy. You technically could pick this up with minimal turtles knowledge but I think any appeal would come from existing interest in turtles. Super fun alien designs and cute environments
An entertaining read with some fun callbacks to the Archie Comics series and the original Playmates toy line. However, this is a story without a beginning or an end. It's very much the middle chapters of something larger and, as a result, not an entirely satisfying experience.
Very simple story about travel through the universe. Turtles visit some planets, meets some different allien races, fight with one annoing assassins and eat pizza. Nothing special if really.