The Rise Of The Losers — Reviewing ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus’ #4

Multiversal crossovers are the perfect excuse to crack open the toybox and grab everything and anything to slam them together. So many children’s dream was for their scattering of toys to exist in one universe all together.

We get a great bit of that with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus #4, which unleashes some big time Turtle energy. The penultimate issue of this tournament clash comes from Caleb Goellner, Tom Waltz, Paul Allor, Sophie Campbell, Erik Burnham, Omar Francia, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Tom Napolitano.

Now we’re cooking!

I was a bit tough on the first two issues of this event. There was a slow build that wasn’t feeling like it really set the tone or upped the stakes. It took a lot of time to lay the stones that became a path that we can dance along now. It was a slow burn, so that the rest can blaze as much as possible.

Having more information and more context as the Turtles face off against Savanti Romero and his mad dash for vengeance and control.  Goellner gets to handle the scripting here as the Turtles become quite wise to Romero’s game. Donatello’s call out and battle against Metalhead was quite fun. Even more fun was seeing the handful of variant Turtles who popped up in the banishment void.

I knew I got a real kick out of 2003 animated Leonardo for sure. It’s a bit of a long info dump with only one issue left to go, which is something to note. The slow burn did mean that this issue was left trying to catch us up on a lot before the doors close. This does not hurt the issue too much but it’s worth nothing for sure.

Can’t forget all the varied mutant cameos peppered into the start with the Metalhead battles. Some I was only familiar with because I remember their toys back in the day. Oh, those were the days.

I was not familiar with Francia’s work before this, but I’m definitely intrigued. It’s very dynamic and slick, with plenty of depth and intricate details. Each bit of action captured feels tangible and authentic. Emotional energy is loud and clear at every turn, which is always a great thing. Such sweet paneling choices just add so much to the overall story.

I mean, look at those slash panels and the funky or dense or dark only color backdrops going on. Everything pops and wants to leap right off the page. Perfect for a story of this nature.

Part of that pop is the really vibrant color tones that are in play. Delgado’s palette choices continue to be spot on with every issue, building up a lot of the more neutral to middle level tones in order to create that solid foundation. Building upon it are the darker and flashier vibrant colors which befit a superhero epic type of story. It’s really saturated and dense without being too over the top in most cases.

Oh, and I have to speak about the cameos again. I love how Francia and Delgado are able to seamlessly create those characters in their particular animation style within the scope of the world they already built. They stand out, but for the right reasons. Authentic to their source material but still being able to stand alongside their IDW peers without being too outlandish or painfully inserted.

Plenty of fun gets to be had with the lettering as the SFX and dialogue offer up plenty of space to visually cut loose, which is something that Napolitano always jumps at and excels with; creating a language for the world and characters that are hefty and impactful. He immerses us into the moment with accurate tone, energy, and emotion at all times.

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