No Time To Grieve: Reviewing ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ #147

Time is a fickle, delicate thing. Push it too much and it will bite back, including at those that you love. Unfortunately for Donatello and his friends & family, they’re steadily running out of time.

More futures, more older Turtles, and more secrets are spilled as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #147 continues the series road to issue #150. A heartbreaking tale on every level is brought to us by Sophie Campbell, Vincenzo Federici, Fero Pe, Ronda Pattison, and Shawn Lee.

Boy oh boy, I’m not ready for this ride to end. We’re not only two issues from that big one-hundred-fiftieth issue, but three issues away from the series wrapping. While we know what is coming next, a whole relaunched series in July, I’ll still greatly miss what Campbell, Pattison, Lee, and all their artistic collaborators have done.

An issue like this one, what with all the timey-whimey stuff and all the emotional talking, works for a number of reasons. Chief among them is just the talent involved. Deeper than that, though, is the ability to build things to a point where these moments and conversations just hit even harder for both character and audience alike.

From the time-ravaged elderly Raphael to seeing a grown-up Lita and losing them as Armaggon arrives, it all carries emotional weight built over these almost fifty issues, paying off beats that we saw early in the run. Campbell has crafted a series that is full of action and intrigue and even horror, but at its core, it’s a story about family and love. It’s really a delight to see all these threads — some of them from years and many issues ago — now firmly coming together for the final minutes.

For a run that was not meant to last this long, one would swear it was always meant to be this way with how smooth the ride has been.

Action has a bit less of a place here, with character interaction and heart taking the focus. Federici handles both so well, with the assistance of previous series artist Pe on inks, ensuring that every moment is truly felt. Balancing the moments through smart panel choices, which allow the beats more room to do their thing, and great depth/detail.

Just enough roughness to hit on the story’s overall tone, but smooth enough to let the emotional energy sink in. Pe’s inks add a bit more weight and depth to things, giving them an even heavier feel than they had before. Hope and despair are both palpable as the road to the end becomes clearer, success or defeat both being inherent possibilities.

All of the artwork comes together to create multiple unique spaces, none of them feeling the same. Everything in Northampton feels free and open while the fortress in the 79th Dimension of Null Time feels sufficiently confining. Pattison’s always on point coloring helps with this aspect. Giving each space its own tonal energy from the color palate choices. Plenty of lighter, more natural colors surrounded by the darkness and heavier colors.

Just seeing the moments and events doesn’t complete the package. No, that comes with the work that Lee delivers time and time again with the lettering. Allowing character voices to resonate, dripping with the right emotions. Little shifts here or there to bubbles or fonts can change how we read and therefore hear each voice. There is a distinctive feeling to the work he’s done through all these issues, creating a certain delivery of these characters personality-filled voices.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #147 is now available from IDW Publishing.