Where’d Raphael Go?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2
Story: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Layouts: Kevin Eastman
Artist: Dan Duncan
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Published by IDW Publishing, 2011.
The Characters:
The Good: Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, Splinter, April, Casey Jones
The Bad: Ninjas, Casey’s Father
In the previous issue, we saw the Turtles take on Old Hob, and from what we see in this issue, Hob may have been created at the same time the Turtles mutated.
So at the end of the last issue, we saw Raphael breaking down the door to a house. That door happened to belong to Casey Jones’ father, and Raph was busting it down because he heard the old man beating on his son…not cool! Our hero and the father have a knockdown, drag-out fight that ends with the dad taking off to drown his wounds in a bottle. Casey is pretty glad to have had help from Raph, and the two head out to grab a bite to eat.
Meanwhile, we learn that Raphael was missing from the fight in the last issue with Old Hob – what an observant reader I am that I didn’t even notice. Further, he’s been missing for what seems to Mikey feels like a year.
Like good story-tellers, though, we soon see a flashback where I’m pretty sure we get an allusion to what happened to Raph. It seems that some Ninjas attacked April in the lab she was working at…the same lab where the Turtles were being studied. The Ninjas were after some turtle armor formula but were thwarted by the nifty moves of Splinter, who showed that he could deal out some punishment even as a normal rat. I think one of the Ninjas might be pretty significant in future issues as we see Splinter scratch his left eye pretty seriously.
In any case, in the fight, the formula and the Turtles crash down to the street, and we see everyone getting bathed in a green glowing fluid before a cat takes off with one of the Turtles. I’m pretty sure the cat is Old Hob and that the Turtle turns out to be Raphael, but we’ll have to wait to find out in future issues.
Verdict
Regardless of what happens in future issues, this one was a lot of fun. Good fights, interesting storylines, well-drawn panels, and world-building that has made the Turtle Universe so much fun for decades.
I easily find myself rating this issue a Must Read as things just keep getting better.
This issue can be found on Comixology (it’s even on Comixology Unlimited right now), or at your local comic book shop.
Comic Corner | Reading Recommendation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2