Has there ever been a Ninja Turtle comic storyline as beautifully illustrated as "City Fall?" There's a lot to be said for the classic series and its Frank Miller-inspired aesthetic, but it's tough to beat Mateus Santolouco in terms of sheer energy, detail, and style. Santolouco has bumped this series into the stratosphere thanks to his lively pencils. That alone makes "City Fall" worth all the hype surrounding it.
Aside from the dynamic fight scenes and emotionally rich facial work, it's impressive to note just how much Santolouco is able to differentiate each Turtle. It's not merely a matter of color, but now anatomy and even body language. Coupled with the effective use of past TMNT artists during the various mindscape sequences, and the visual highlights just keep coming.
The story doesn't disappoint in this third chapter either. Issue #23 wrapped with Leonardo's emergence as a newly brainwashed minion of Shredder. So what other logical next step is there but pitting him against his brothers for the first time. Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz exploit that emotional showdown to full effect. Less flashy but still gripping are the scenes featuring Casey Jones fighting his way back to consciousness and dealing with the aftermath of his near-fatal stabbing. Meanwhile, Old Hob and his partner Slash emerge as X-factors in the conflict, adding a bit of fun, levity, and moral ambiguity to what is otherwise a deathly serious tale as far as TMNT goes.
My only real complaint with the execution of "City Fall" thus far is the lack of focus on the gang war element. Hob alludes to it, and we even see images of ninja battling gang members on one page, but the whole thing feels very divorced from the rest of the conflict. This is still very much a battle between the Turtles and the Foot Clan right now, and I'd like to see the scope open up and the gang war show more of a tangible impact on the rest of the book.
Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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