Image courtesy of IDW
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, IDW has relaunched the ongoing series and launched some intriguing spinoffs. Mutant Nation is the latest spinoff to hit comic book stores. Will it get off to as strong a start as the recently released first issue of another original spinoff series, Nightwatcher? Let’s find out.
In terms of continuity, Mutant Nation flashes back to the aftermath of the Armageddon Games that took place at the end of the previous IDW TMNT series, prior to the first issue of the new serialized comic. With the Turtle brothers separated, the story follows Raphael, who works as a bouncer in a bar. He’s trying to clear his head, but still has his martial arts skills to use, and takes the opportunity to do good. That is, until an old friend/enemy shows up and forces Raphael into a situation he doesn’t want to be involved in.
There’s also a bonus back-up story in this issue, which basically follows Casey Jones working for Karai as an agent of the Foot Clan.
Both stories are pretty heavily rooted in the continuity of the already completed IDW series, but still remain pretty readable: once you know where the story takes place, it’s easy to figure out what happened, and in either case, the current status of each character is more or less explained as the story progresses.
They’re enjoyable enough, but honestly there are enough mysteries and twists to keep track of in the main TMNT series and Nightwatcher without adding more in. They’re pretty enjoyable stories to watch on their own, and Mutant Nation gives us a glimpse into the TMNT world beyond the confines of New York, but we just saw Mikey in Japan in issue #2 of the TMNT reboot, so even that aspect feels like it’s already been done elsewhere.
There’s nothing wrong with Mutant Nation itself (the artwork, for example, is up to IDW’s usual phenomenal standard), but it just feels unnecessary at this point, given that the main series and another spinoff have already explored more than the norm for TMNT. Also, the new flashback series, where we know where Raphael ends up, feels a bit redundant. It’s definitely the weakest link in the new line of Turtle titles, especially since there’s so much more material to cover. Casey Jones’ backup story, for example, gives us a slightly broader glimpse into their world without the feeling that the outcome doesn’t matter. We don’t need a more depressing Raphael. It’s well-trodden territory, and we were just there a few weeks ago with TMNT #1.
Even though we’re in the midst of the 40th anniversary, it seems like IDW is stretching the current continuity a little thinly at the moment, and while Mutant Nation’s main storyline is great, it might be the breaking point.
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