A Prison Of The Mind: Reviewing ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ #4

One turtle traveled. Another became a star. The third sought solitude. Their final brother had things just a bit tougher.

After dipping into the fate of Donatello back in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Alpha #1, it’s time to check back in with the turtle who does machines. A rough and gritty tale unfolds in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4, courtesy of Jason Aaron, Chris Burnham, Brian Reber, and Shawn Lee.

Since it began, this reborn volume of TMNT stories has not shied away from how tough things became for the four brothers on their own. They were each caught up in various issues that really pulled at their minds, hearts, and souls. For Donatello though, it was all the above plus his body that greatly suffered in the year gap between volumes.

A story that features the word grit in the title was assuredly not going to be an easy one. It’s fitting that Burnham and Reber were present to bring both glimpses of Donnie’s story to life (in this issue & Alpha). Artistically, there is a heavy rough texture already baked into what Burnham puts on the page. Just looking at Donatello, we feel his pain and recoil at how much his body has deteriorated. Our emotions are on high alert as we watch his mind fading, talking to a rat that he has decided is the reincarnated Splinter as he tries to cling to reality.

Alongside that roughness is a fluidity that allows the action to just breeze through the panels. Even with that state, it still feels heavy and deep, every bit of feeling and power very clear on the page.

Darker colors are king here, as Reber really pulls the shadows and harsher colors to the forefront. This allows some vibrant beats grow to offset them and keep some lightness through the whole thing. Roughness permeates the colors as well, as they are toned-down and very much leaning towards a more neutral state at times. In many areas this allows the backgrounds and natural spaces to feel authentic, including the way that the lighting affects each scene.

Heaviness finds its way into the lettering at every turn as well. Lee has been providing the voice to the various Turtles as long as they’ve been in the IDW playground. Every bit of their unique personalities screams out of every letter on the page. Letting the words flow around where they work the best, making sure that it really bolsters and stands hand in hand with the other artwork.

It never ceases to amaze me how simple things like the shift of a bubble or font, where it’s placed, or how it’s placed instantly changes tone of volume in the mind. These tricks allow us to read things as they are meant to be heard, from loud to soft to barely holding on. Every bubble from Donnie showcases how much pain he is and how much a strain everything has become.

Back in that Alpha issue, I spoke about how the story with Donnie there sold me on the potential that Aaron’s run was going to have. While there were some moments in the previous issue that made me blink a bit, that feeling has lasted through these first four issues.

I was worried that this idea of returning to the grim and gritty nature of the old comics would wipe away a lot of the great character development the series held. Which, in a way, was a little silly. The two things are not mutually exclusive, but at the same time was a legitimate concern that was pretty much silenced once we got that story, and is a long gone feeling especially now.

I appreciate how he spaced this story out, allowing each Turtle room to be explored. Their feelings dissected and their concerns laid bare. Nothing was “fixed” by the end of this issue, even with the brothers together again. Healing the rifts and pains they have endured is not an overnight situation.

While I groan about the Foot Clan being their foes once more, the angle of the corrupt DA and the way that mutants are being targeted at least offers a different hook. Either way, I’m not going anywhere.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 is now available from IDW Publishing.