If you stop and think about it, battles between super-powered beings, whether magical, mutant, extraterrestrial, or multiverse, are terrifying. You’re out having dinner and suddenly Doomsday shoves Superman into the living room. You get in a cab to go to work, and Spider-Man lands on the cab and crushes it. But there are also inherent thrills. Every civilian has a story about seeing Batman take out a gangster or seeing Hellboy in a field.
Why am I bringing this up? Juni Ba and Fero Pe tackle this concept in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #3, which sees Jennika face off against the newly discovered mutant Eliza Leonetti. It is. Eliza was captured within the radius of a mutagenic bomb detonated by Old Hob during the City at War storyline and was transformed into a reptilian mutant. However, it turns out that she is not the monster that people think.
What makes Nightwatcher #3 unique is the structure of the issues. It takes the form of a true crime podcast/YouTube video, then cuts to social media chatter, then cuts to a news report. This allows letterer and designer Nathan Widick to experiment with different lettering formats. He designs letterboxes that resemble Twitter posts, YouTube layouts, or news chyrons, making things feel like they’re happening in a different medium.
It’s also a chance for Ba and Pe to develop their storytelling skills. As anyone who has read The Boy Wonder can attest, Barr is no stranger to playing around with different formats in comics, but modern society has a lot to do with the psychics that live among us. It’s clear he’s thinking about how to react. Burr’s script also jumps between different points of view, showing how people see Eliza. Some see her as a monster, others as a victim. It is Jennica who gets to the truth, and the issue ends with Eliza encouraging the new Nightwatchers to figure out their identity.
IDW Publishing
It’s the same approach Pe takes to his art when playing ping-pong between different video streams or doing Jennica and Eliza’s fights. His design for Eliza also leans into that duality. Eliza’s mutant form has razor-sharp spines, a long whip-like tail and claws, but her eyes are filled with emotions like anger and sadness. This is a very subtle way of showing that she is all too human despite her mutation.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #3 is not only a unique approach to comic depiction of superhuman combat, but also a showcase of the creative team’s unique talents. I’m sure we’ll see more issues leaning towards this concept in the future, but it’s all for the best.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #3 puts a unique spin on comic book tropes
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #3 is not only a unique approach to comic depiction of superhuman combat, but also a showcase of the creative team’s unique talents. I’m sure we’ll see more problems relying on this concept in the future, but it’s all for the best.
Juni Ba continues to experiment with different storytelling formats and it works well for her.
Ferro Pe and the rest of the art team provide a contrasting study in the characterization of mutants.
It takes a unique approach to how superhero battles play out in today’s world.
