Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer(s): Mateus Santolouco (Story, Script), Erik Burnham (Script Co-writer)
Artist: Mateus Santolouco
Release Date: 5th November 2014

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Occasionally, it’s nice to take a peek behind the curtain, so to speak, and have a look at the processes that led to the creation of franchise defining, or otherwise significant works. In all honesty, there are only a few books of this nature that would genuinely pique my interest, but The Secret History of the Foot Clan Workprint Edition is one such book, providing the perfect companion to the critically-acclaimed miniseries of the same name by Mateus Santolouco and Erik Burnham.

The story itself has become an important part of TMNT canon, and details the history of the nefarious Foot Clan in an enthralling, action-packed tale that splits the narrative between medieval Japan and present day New York. In addition to providing an insight into how the Foot Clan came to be, it also serves as an origin story for The Foot’s fearsome leader, Oroku Saki, otherwise known as The Shredder.

It’s a pretty substantial tome; weighing in at a hefty 290 pages, so there’s plenty here to get your teeth into. Each page of script features a nice little header and footer image that changes with each chapter, and is printed on what looks like parchment (judging by the digital copy I read), which is a nice touch, much in keeping with the story’s feudal era setting. The final few pages present a full cover gallery, featuring all of the main and variant covers from the original run.

Of course, the book’s main focus is on how story and script were interpreted through the glorious artwork of Mateus Santolouco, whose authentic period detailing and stunning character design has shades of Akira Kurosawa and horror master Kaneto Shindo to it. Minus the colour work of Joao ‘Azeitona’ Viera, it actually becomes very reminiscent of how the older TMNT comics looked in the Mirage days. For me, it was intriguing to see how the artist’s vision complemented that of the writer so perfectly for the most part, but also how it subtly differed on occasion.

The book also includes the entire unabridged miniseries, so first-timers should probably read that first before attempting to wade through the story in its stripped-down format. For those like myself who’ve already been over the course, re-reading the series with a little more background knowledge, gave me a fresh perspective, and I actually enjoyed it more the second time through.

Rather than being purely for fans of the miniseries, or TMNT in general, this workprint edition is a perfect coffee table adornment, and a must for anyone interested in how the comic book medium works.

Rating 5/5.

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The Writer of this piece was: Martin Doyle
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You can check out more of Martins reviews and thoughts on random retro things over at Retromuse

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