“AH! My coat’s on fire!”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villains Micro-Series #1: Krang
IDW Publishing (April, 2013)
WRITER: Joshua Williamson ARTIST: Mike Henderson COLORIST: Ian Herring SELECTED COVER ART: Tyler Walpole LETTERER: Shawn Lee EDITOR: Bobby Curnow
After hearing about one of the Utroms dieing during Curare’s attack (in the regular series), Krang notices that the messenger isn’t afraid of him, which causes the alien to flashback to when he was a lazy loser who tries to prove himself against one of his father’s enemies, an experience that doesn’t go as planned. Krang was forced to survive, making him ready to face his foe and gain his father’s favor. In the present, the messenger resigns himself to his fate, but Krang tricks him so he can murder the man anyway. Yeah, I’m not evil enough to get that.
What they got right: While I doubt Shredder will show up in this series, thanks to The Secret History of the Foot Clan basically being his origin story, giving the villains their own focus shows how they went down the path of evil (if they’re all origin stories like this and I hope they are). I kind of like this idea so long as it doesn’t try to apologize for their wicked ways. And this doesn’t. The Utroms in this version aren’t the nice guys of the original comic, and seeing how Krang became the evil warlord he is makes for an interesting story.
What they got wrong: It’s more like what they could get wrong. The main series so far has had one writer and I don’t know what influence he had here. So hopefully he and future writers stay on board with this, something series writers these days tend not to do if it suits their vision.
Recommendation: Fans of the series should look into this. While no one moment stood out for Best Scene, it’s a very interesting story and one worth reading.
Related articles
- ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villain Microseries’ #1: Krang Features A Runaway Brain [Preview] (comicsalliance.com–see why we need this around, AOL?)
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