Brother On Brother Time Violence: Reviewing ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2023’ #1

Who doesn’t hate when someone from the future comes back to kill someone from the past to save the future? Sarah and John Connor sure hated it. After their latest adventure, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sure will hate that sort of thing too.

Just like the previous year, this year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual fits into a classic mold for annuals. That being it features a story that has ties to the rest of the ongoing saga without stepping on any toes in a major way. In this case, the issue takes place right after the end of The Armageddon Game event and before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #140. Right in that middle ground of continuity where the creators behind the various titles left some nebulous wiggle room.

Just like the main series (with Sophie Campbell), this annual has a writer who is also an artist. Michael Walsh leaps into the universe with this issue tackling the story, but also a portion of the artwork.

While Walsh handles the final three pages and Vlad Legostaev the first three, it falls to Santtos to deliver the bulk of the artwork. A dark future that begets a broken member of the Splinter Clan would be a rough place with a rough vibe. Good thing that Santtos has a very rough sort of overall energy within their work. At the same time, there is something sort of smooth and light about the package too.

It isn’t inherently like the classic art style of the original TMNT books, but it has a classic sort of energy. Various marks found on the panels give it the appearance of being freshly sketched before our eyes.  Everything flows smoothly as the morphing panel styles and shapes help keep things moving, and perfectly framed. There is also a heavy amount of depth and detail to be found, making the world even deeper.

Both Legostaev and Walsh’s few pages also feature a very unpolished feeling in them. Those first pages have a grittier quality to them, but also very much hit the out-of-this-world science fiction beats. Walsh’s final pages are slightly less detailed, with more of a focus on the feeling and movement. This makes sense within the setting of the woods and with the focus on an attack and fight. An ambiguous ending is bolstered by artwork that leaves certain elements less clear.

The art pairs very well with the colors from Jason Wordie. Those colors shift a bit with the trio of art styles but keep the same energy. There are plenty of brighter moments, but most things are heavier, thanks to the abundance of shadows. Chiefly, I love how there is a reality to the way that the different settings are lit at any given moment. Cool actual dark feeling nighttime right beside the dim but artificially lit underground hangout spot of the Turtles.

TMNT veteran Shawn Lee provides the letters and knocks it out of the park, per usual. Words that are dripping with emotion are key to hitting all the notes in a visual medium like comics. It allows us to perfectly recreate the voices on the page within our head. Lee always hits those notes while adding so much creative energy on top of all that.

On the surface this story has a straightforward hook, that we’ve seen before as noted at the start. Yet it’s not about the hook. That’s just the thing that gets us right into the action. Walsh writes these characters like someone that has been doing so for years. Pulling all the right strings when it comes to their voices and mannerisms. Dropping in solid flashback stories to throw into the mix to really flesh out the overall storyline even more.

I would not mind seeing a follow-up to this story or just any further TMNT work from this creative team. It takes something great to take a hook that we know well and make it even more exciting than it might have been in the past.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2023 #1 is now available from IDW Publishing.