Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #38

By Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman, Mateus Santolouco & Ronda Pattison

After the intense story in the previous issue, this book slows down and puts the focus back on the protagonists. The turtle family still can’t all agree which threat to address first. As this happens, Old Hob calls upon Splinter to fulfill his promise in his mutant militia. He presents the latest advances his group has made…and fans will be pretty pumped (at least I was anyways).

Tom Waltz and the rest of the story developers know how to properly pace the storyline. This comic gives the reader a chance to reflect on everything that has taken place, especially after the events of #37. Yet, they keep the story fresh enough by bringing back old characters that have been dormant for a while and the introduction of new ones as well. The past two issues are very strong by themselves, but realizing they are only the exposition, only makes one’s mind race and wonder: If this is just the rising action, what will the heck will the climax be!? All I know is that all indicators point to it being powerful and well executed.

I’ve mentioned before that the only major criticism to Santolouco’s work is his designs for the turtles, especially Donatello, and that still continues to be the case. What he does with the human characters though, especially with April, her family, and Casey, brings emotional weight to the situations written. Even Slash, who now has increased intelligence, is more expressive and interesting. Also, he makes another milestone with the designs of new characters. Pattison continues to be the color tour de force on this title. She has worked with several artists and not once has she been sub-par. The panel backgrounds in the Nobody action sequence exemplify her ability to make minimalistic imagery expressive with the right choice of color.

This is another solid entry in the main Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles run. The book plays catch-up for several subplots and furthers the current story arc to what will no doubt be an extraordinary conclusion. Absolutely worth the purchase.