Harsh Bloody Love — Reviewing ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’ #6

Oroku Saki is a kind of force of nature, determined and focused enough to always finish whatever mission he begins. As the former protégé the Mourner moves forward with her world devastating plan, the Shredder stands ready to bring it all crashing down.

An explosive ending arrives for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder #6, as the issue brings the series first arc to a close. Dan Watters, Michelle Bandini, Scott Hanna, Marco Lesko, and Darran Robinson deliver the latest bloody chapter in the story of the Turtles enemy turned ally turned something else.

There are a number of intriguing notions that Watters is playing with in this issue, and truly the whole series so far. Painting Shredder into space where the mystical and godly no longer intrigues him, as he’s seen the true face of it all now. He’s not a hero by any means, but a figure who will save humanity no matter who he has to slash through in order to do it.

Honestly, this is a pretty solid space to take the character. It keeps away from nostalgically casting him back into the classic villain role, but also neatly builds upon the previous work done with him as the Turtles’ ally — A natural progression for a character is something we love to see in this day and age of comic books.

Taking the Kitsune of it all off the board kind of gives the character a fresh start in a way. Again, It allows the progression and wider focus that this whole piece appears to offer up by the issues ending. Where Shredder and (former agent) Avon go from here can lead so many different ways.

What a beautiful comic book to really behold.

Bandini has been doing an amazing job with the story and really cuts loose here in a few places, such as the beat where Shredder is fighting out of a pile of cultists, and the paneling is beyond stellar. There are panels of him being piled upon, only to have his bloody claws come out of the bottom corner triumphant…damn that’s good.

Hanna is on board to do some finishing on the work that Bandini is laying out, and their combination works very well.

Everything has presence and depth at first glance. How the panels are laid out and utilize all the available space is a large part of how that comes together. Love the usage of gutter white space and figures even looming over other panels at times. Visually appealing stuff like that, which eschews classic paneling sensibilities, is very much my jam.

Emotions, where they come into play, and the action are smooth and tangible at all times. Quick motion that befits the tone and speed of this issue and the overall series. All of it is cloaked in a very standard natural sort of tonal range from Lesko’s color palette choices, making this space feel very much like a natural part of the world we can see ourselves at any point.

This allows the more fantastic and magical elements to stand out even more. It pops with more vibrant and stark coloring in their own powerful right. I love specifically stuff like the juxtaposition of the lush-feeling purple for the Mourner/Kitsune clashing with the violent sharp reds of the Shredder. Backgrounds fade away to be replaced by these complimentary yet clashing color schemes in powerful and engaging ways.

Characters have much to get out at this point, both emotionally and verbally, and Robinson delivers. He creates solid voices that flow through the pages in the most logical and atheistically pleasing ways. There is also good usage of color and style here as Robinson shifts the style of font and bubble colors as things change for characters, such as giving Kitsune an otherworldly style of voice appearance wise, which sets her apart from the humans that she is facing.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder #6 is now available from IDW Publishing.