The Bear Necessities Of Life — Reviewing ‘TMNT: Nightwatcher’ #5

Sometimes the hunter quickly becomes the hunted. Only to turn the power dynamic once more and become hunter once more. Life comes at you quick in the middle of hero and villain face offs.

At last Jennika has come face-to-face with the new evil plaguing Mutant Town. Unfortunately for her, nothing is going as she hoped and a massive change is afoot. Juni Ba, Fero Pe, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Nathan Widick shake things up in TMNT: Nightwatcher #5.

There sure is a lot to digest in this issue.

After a series of more one-off — yet still connected — vigilante stories, this is the big boss fight. Both it and the overall story are still rendered beautifully by Pe. Who has this capacity to not only give things such bold life, but really balance the rough and whimsical tone. So much depth and detail, allowing emotions to run rampant and tug at our minds and hearts.

There is a scene with Sheena at the end that broke my heart. So much care is put into everything on the page that we feel the raw emotions that are being evoked. Every moment of hope and sorrow is clear on the character’s faces, as the moment just really hits so hard. Similarly, all the fight scenes feel just as raw and powerful. Pe’s paneling choices really giving everything even more elevated life than the artwork already was pulling off.

All of these moments and spaces have their own unique colors to them. As Delgado really pulls from the wide array of colors to make moments resonate. Finding those “realistic” levels of lighting which effects what the colors are like in differing spaces. Matching up the heavier darker tones and lighter more vibrant tones with the appropriate subjects and moments. Really giving this series the gritty street-level heroic vigilante feeling it embodies.

I love how Ba really connects this story to much of the history of the line. With Lao Ban being a normal bear affected by the mutagen bomb and a patient of the mad scientist Doctor Barlow (from the previous TMNT series). Not to mention a connection to the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain, District Attorney Hieronymus Hale, and the Foot Clan. It makes so much sense and really plays into why this figure has been steadily able to grow in the background. It keeps the ties of the various line of books close, while still being able to stand alone.

Watching Jennika and Nightwatcher really go out and cut loose sure was something. I love that we get more of Nightwatcher and how this armor is still living and thriving in its partnership with Jennika. There are so many great character beats here as none of the stuff with the villain feels over-the-top. Nor does the hero stuff feel cliché or melodramatic in the wrong ways. Everything works as Ba pulls all the strings that were laid out from the first issue onwards.

I really like how Widick gives each character’s dialogue their own little flairs. From color choices to slight bubble or font changes. At the top is the way that Jennika and Nightwatcher dialogue vastly changes. Allowing voices to resonate and have a unique “sound” to them on the page; giving rise to the emotions on the page in a way that we can digest them even more.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #5 is now available from IDW Publishing.