“Today’s” Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles FCBD 2024

I’m still working out who Darkman is.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Free Comic Book Day 2024

IDW Publishing (May, 2024)

LETTERER: Nathan Widick

“Nightwatcher”

WRITER: Juni Ba

ARTIST: Fero Pe

COLORIST: Luis Antonio Delgado

EDITOR: Thea Cheuk

“Splinter’s Day Off”

WRITER: Paul Allor

ARTIST: Andy Kuhn

COLORIST: Ronda Pattison

EDITOR: Nicholas Niño

In the first story it appears to be an alternate universe from the previous comics I’ve read. I did hear that IDW was planning a reboot of their Turtles continuity (because that worked so well with Transformers…if you’re Skybound) so maybe this is it. A mutation bomb was dropped on New York, turning some people into animal people, but that doesn’t include the three looking to recover some lost money. However, the Nightwatcher, clearly one of the Turtles or based on them, stops them because that money was already claimed for the animals forced underground. It doesn’t go well for the three would-be crooks.

What was with the speech about animals and being held down, people taking the work they did and claiming it as their own…it just seemed like a lot of commentary that frankly wasn’t very interesting. We don’t know for certain that Nightwatcher is Raphael, who took up the identity in TMNT (the first animated Turtles movie), but it would line up with him more than the others. Without the social commentary it would have been a better story, but I’m not sure I want to read a comic with a concept that didn’t need to be Ninja Turtles to be interesting.

The second story begins with the Turtles arguing as their pastimes interfere with each other and their bickering drives Splinter crazy. Also worried that they were so engrossed in their activities that the Foot could have attacked them, he sends them on patrol to practice vigilance. Instead they start fighting and are nearly taken out by the Foot clan. Now they learn vigilance…but Splinter forgot his own teaching when he decided to goof around with his sons gone. Luckily everyone learned a lesson and had a good natured ribbing with each other before a joint gaming session.

I really liked this one. It was fun, it shows our heroes as a family, everyone learns a lesson, watching Splinter try his sons’ activities when their away and not be as good at it…it was just a fun story to read, a good side story. The art is in the usual IDW character models but in the artist’s own style, and it works as well.

Overall this was a nice comic. I would rather read the second story more than the first story’s world, but that’s personal preference more than anything else. If the first story does represent a new continuity or is where the old one went, I’m not sure I’d be into it on a regular basis, though, and the second story works as a back-up story, but it was a fine read. It’s also nice to see one complete story in a Free Comic Book Day offering, nevermind two. Hopefully some of the others on my list get digital releases over the next few weeks.