Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #27

By Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Mateus Santolouco

The City Fall storyline has been the strongest arc of IDW’s TMNT series yet. Not only are there raised stakes and a genuine sense of danger within every page, but the overall quality of storytelling has vastly improved from past issues. Issue 27 continues this trend of progress, with some intense moments and comic book awesomeness. If only it could be a smidge better.

Mikey, Raph, and Don have discovered the location of a secret meeting The Foot is planning. Splinter sees this as their chance to act and get Leonardo back from the clutches of Shredder. With a little help from their friends, it’s action out the wazoo. The action is spread out wonderfully and written with intelligence. It’s never bogged down and you always know exactly what is happening. Some comics get ahead of themselves and battles can seem like a giant mess. Praise to the creators is in order for avoiding that.

The only problem with the issue and with the arc in general is the quality. It’s good, maybe even great. However, you still get the sense that it could be better. Things like childish dialogue continue to plague the title to the point that you start to think it might not ever get any better. City Fall is certainly a step in the right direction, but we need more from this series.

Mateus Santolouco really grows on you. I’m sure that I have said that before, but it bears repeating. He manages to draw the Turtles differently for certain situations and blending all of the styles in quite well. When there is slapstick going on, the Turtles appear cartoonish. When they are fighting, they look more mature and the style is drawings are much more aggressive. It’s a nice little touch that goes a long way towards enhancing the storytelling dynamic.

With all of the action and drama of this issue, it’s hard not to get swept away in it all. This sense of peril also tends to cover up some flaws in the writing. It’s easy to ignore these shortcomings, but that may not always be the case. That being said, City Fall is still mindless entertainment that is quite enjoyable.