TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #99 REVIEW – Are You Ready to Rock? (WALTZ, EASTMAN, WACHTER, CURNOW, PATTISON, LEE, IDW PUBLISHING)

Tom Waltz (Author) Kevin Eastman (Author, Cover Artist) Dave Wachter (Artist, Cover Artist) Bobby Curnow (Story) Ronda Pattison (Colorist) Shawn Lee (Letterer)

Thanks to IDW Publishing for the review copy!

In its last issue before what is sure to be a jam packed 100th, the City at War arc is finally living up to its name. Old Hob detonated a bomb (in the City) during Baxter Stockman’s mayoral victory speech that turned people into mutants. Pay particular attention to the creatures the crowd mutated into, as clearly a lot of effort went into each mutation.

The arc’s many disparate storylines have been moving closer together with each issue, as Bishop’s EPF forces (who have enlisted Hun), Old Hob’s mutants, and Stockman and April’s campaign all collide at the speech. As the issue progresses, the Turtles, Metalhead, Karai, and the EPF hurtle closer to each other. 

While bringing all the main characters together is great, the real highlight of this issue is … the return of Rocksteady and Bebop! Everyone’s favorite mutant warthog and rhino are introduced at Karai’s victory rally and they are just as goofy and awesome as ever. One returning character I was less impressed with was the Rat King, whose return was teased at the end of issue 98. His interactions with Splinter were, in my opinion, the weakest part of the issue, as I am not sure what purpose his return served. It also seemed unnecessary to throw in another character into an arc already jam packed with them, especially when the issue already boasted a successful return of Rocksteady and Bebop.

Having effectively developed its characters over the course of the arc, this issue leans on action, with some nifty fight scenes across all of the story lines.  While there is a lot of fighting, this issue actually has a pretty low body count compared to prior issues. One of this series’ strengths is how it depicts action and movement and this issue is no exception. I particularly enjoy how the artists depict the Slash clones mirroring the moves of the humans they are connected with.

For new TMNT readers, this issue has enough fighting to entertain, even if it may be unclear who is aligned with who and why everyone is fighting. If possible, I recommend going back an issue or two to see how everyone got to the rumble, which promises to explode in issue 100.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #99 is now available.

Check back tomorrow for my thoughts on TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #100

Have you read the issue? What are your thoughts? Feel free to chat with me on Twitter or leave a comment below!