For my weekly comic picks write-up, I will talk about a few different titles that are now available.
First up is IDW’s TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN #1 which after a delay of a few months is finally out…and it was worth the wait! The story in the issue is by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and Tom Waltz with the script credits going to Tom Waltz and Kevin Eastman. The layouts are by Eastman with pencils and inks from the duo of Esau and Issac Escorza. Ben Bishop provided art for one of the pages, while coloring was handled by Luis Antonio Delgado, lettering by Shawn Lee, color assistance by Samuel Plata. It does take a village to put together a comicbook, and the final piece of that is the editors, who in this case are R.G. Llarena who handled the Assistant Editorial Coordination role with the Editor of the issue being Bobby Curnow.
I had a hard time finding the right words on this one, but here goes. This book is absolutely amazing. To start off let me say I fell away from TMNT a while ago but IDW made this book worth picking it back up. Once again we are brought to a not so distant dystopian future. This book shows us a grim future world where the Turtles are no longer welcome. The criminal underworld is mostly out of the shadows. As it shows the turtles moving across town we get a glimpse of what’s actually happening. I don’t want to give out too many spoilers but I will say this book is well worth the read, plot twists, amazing art, the panel structure and so much more. If you’re a Turtles fan and you haven’t read this you’re missing out, if you aren’t I’m sure this book will make you into one. I will be looking forward to any new TMNT even if it’s non-canonical to the Ronin story line. The issue has a lot of variant cover, but I’m a fan of blank ones.
Next up is Absolute Comics‘ I MAKE BOYS CRY #1 from Creator and Designer Jamie Tyndall, Co-Creator, Writer, and Letterer Benny Powell, Penciler and Inker Ronilson Freire, Colorist Fahriza Kamaputra, and Editor Jenna Powell.
The description almost says it all. “This is the finale in a two-part cross-over event that began in White Widow #5” Well I’ve got a lot more to say. First, if you haven’t read White Widow #5 be warned their are spoilers. With this book I’d like to start with the art and panel structure. The art style in the book make you feel like you’re watching it, it’s very fluid. It’s a great story, amazing art, and very well put together. It starts with a “previously on” style panel. On that panel they give a spoiler alert and it’s magnificent, possibly my favorite part *wink wink*, ok onto the good stuff. We know from White Widow #5 that her father left her clues that led her to IMBC. IMBC is an all women assassins group that use technologically advanced weapons and have a strong knowledge of martial arts. Their training starts at a young age, and this story has you follow along as White Widow trains and goes on a mission. The focus is to see if White Widow who hasn’t had as much experience can hack it as one of these badass ladies. Is this the beginning of a powerful team up or the doom of White Widow?
Last up for this week will be Image Comics’ CROSSOVER #1 from Writer Donny Cates, Artist Geoff Shaw, Colorist Dee Cunniffe, Letterer and Designer John J. Hill, Story Edits by Mark Waid, with Cover Art from Geoff Shaw w/ Dave Stewart, and Wertham Was Right shirt design by Christopher Sebela and Ibrahim Moustafa.
Last but certainly not least Crossover. Where to begin? The story is one of a kind, I have already ordered two variants of #1 and #2. This is one of those books I can go on and on about. I’ll dive right in, Crossover takes place in a very strange universe. It all starts in Colorado on January 11th 2017, the fictional world of multiple universes pour into real life. Super humans, heroes and villains flooded our world and caused wide spread chaos. Skip forward to present day Utah. Ellipses, or Ellie works at a comic book store that sells the “real” comics. That’s right, stories of the very people who undoubtedly destroyed Colorado. Like I said I could go on and on about this book but I won’t spoil the story. This book is one of the best books I’ve ever read, it’s extremely creative, and has everything a great story could possibly have. The entire creative team did an amazing job on this book. Don’t take my word for it though get a copy and see for yourself.
Have you read any of these issues? What did you think about them? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
