Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Joëlle Jones
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Release Date: 24th July 2024

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After an absolutely stellar 150-issue run, IDW Publishing is pushing the soft reset button on its storied TMNT franchise, bringing in industry heavyweight Jason Aaron to kick off a brand new direction with a brand new story. The first four issues of this new ongoing series are each going to feature an all-star artist joining Aaron to focus on one of the four brothers, and up first is the turn of multi-Eisner Award-nominated Joëlle Jones and “cool but (c)rude” Raphael.

The story here is faintly reminiscent of the plot of The Raid 2 as Raph finds himself behind bars, cutting a deal with the belligerent warden to root out the corruption that infests his prison. He’s not there fully willingly however, as the warden is clearly holding something over him and keeping the details of their ‘deal’ completely off the books, but as it provides a useful outlet for his well-documented anger issues, he doesn’t seem to be pushing back against it too much. Aaron does a stellar job here with the characterisation, allowing Raphael’s inner monologue to narrate the issue and punctuating the violence with a brief snapshot of ‘happier days’ with his brothers for added dramatic emphasis.

While Jones is perhaps better known for her sleek, feminine characters like Josie Schuller (Lady Killer) and Catwoman, she proves just as capable of delivering some down-and-dirty mutant prison action here as Raph cuts a swathe through some would-be escapees before being forced face-to-face, somewhat unexpectedly, with a trio of ninja assassins.  The plot thickens, as they say.  Jones’ characters are all wonderfully expressive, and the combat flows smoothly with some satisfyingly visceral violence along the way.

One massively overlooked part of IDW’s TMNT success is the stellar work of colourist Ronda Pattison, who has served as the connective tissue for almost the entirety of the 150-issue run that came before, and she puts in a typically strong shift here in bringing the suitably dull and grimy confines of the prison to the printed page.

The final pages see Raph ending up in some seriously hot water, but also lay the groundwork for the next few issues where we’ll get to see how the other three bothers have fared since their relationship so decisively broke down. Oh, and we get to see what promises to be the next ‘big bad’ villain of the series introduce himself in fairly ruthless fashion.

It’s no secret that IDW have been going all-out for months with the hype for this new series, and I’m happy to confirm this is one of those rare occasions where the final product more than lives up to the hype. I don’t throw the word perfect around a lot, but this is an absolutely perfect first issue. Highest possible recommendation, and I absolutely can’t wait to see what the upcoming artists – Rafael Albuquerque, Cliff Chiang and Chris Burnham – bring to the other three brothers.

Rating: 5/5

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The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson-Adams (aka Ceej)
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