Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3 continues to be a grand start to this new relaunch, with Cliff Chiang being brought on to bring this morbid and darker-toned story by Jason Aaron to life. Leonardo's story is the best one yet, bringing in real raw emotion and touching on very sensitive topics that Aaron handles with great care. The strongest issue yet, with a creative team that I'd love to see return in the future. Give Cliff Chiang a TMNT story! Read Full Review

Long story short, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3 is an amazing book. It captures everything great about TMNT, and takes full advantage of the comic book medium to tell a captivating tale. Read Full Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3 is another great reintroduction to this world, focusing on Leonardo and what makes him who he is, regardless of how far down the rabbit hole he goes. Read Full Review

As he has done in the previous two issues, Jason Aaron showed he understands the individuality of each Turtle as he focuses on Leonardo being a spiritual character. How that leads to showcasing what makes Leonardo such a badass was awesome to see. Read Full Review

This Leonardo-centric issue has a lot of navel-gazing with just a pinch of ninja action at the end as Jason Aaron and Cliff Chiang show us what Leo has been up to for the past nine months. Read Full Review

A step forward in a good direction, but has trouble balancing the character's earnest nature with the serious, grim nature of the subject matter. Read Full Review

Another 10/10, this new series has been incredible. The first part with Leo going to the turtles for "guidance" was hokey, but it was perfect characterization for Leo. It was the right kind of hokey because it's the exact kind of thing Leo would do, taking normal behavior like ignoring him as some kind of sign or lesson. When the action picks up it moves quick and brings the three turtles that have been highlighted so far together and gives them a purpose. The writing is impeccable and the art is good. I'm loving the different places each turtle is in and the character building that is going on. One of my favorite books each month now.

Jason Aaron's work on Marvel has been a lot of misses, so I had low expectations. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Jason Aaron just gets each of the turtles, and I am excited to see his interpretation on Donatello.

This was great issue, though it was my least favorite of the first three so far for me. Perhaps I had too high of hopes for it as Leonardo is my favorite turtle as we get our third background story from writer Jason Aaron who is joined by Cliff Chiang on art duties.

I love to see how much Aaron seems to get the individual turtles. Raphael’s sense of isolation while being a loner in prison was spot on. Mikey being an over-stimulated action-star in Japan was true to the character. On paper, Leo isolating himself completely to focus on finding his inner self through meditation also makes perfect sense. Except I was anticipating a slightly different set up than what we got. The fact his story takes place alongside soft-shell turtles who feast on the dead was a bit too on the nose And yes, the Indian government actually did release turtles to try and clean up human remains in the Ganges. Aaron wasn’t completely making up this plot point. Either way, I was anticipating Leo’s journey venturing deeper into mysticism or the supernatural.

With the story he chose, Aaron's narration really got us into Leo's head. Those who read the previous IDW series know how how much baggage he's carrying due to the various traumas he suffered. Aaron doesn’t bog the issue down with overhanded recaps, but provides new readers enough context to understand how much weight Leo has put on his own shoulders. The solitude he now seeks comes from elements he can control on his own — his training and meditation — all while he can’t escape a connection to the family currently torn apart.

Chiang's art is just beautiful. You won't forget this is a Cliff Chiang book as it's seeped in the typical style that’s made him a fan-favorite for years, but he makes it work perfectly for TMNT. It’s moody with thick ink lines yet vibrant with simple, bold colors, which makes for a perfect contrast and complements Aaron’s story well. Any artist on a TMNT title needs to be able to nail ninja action and Chiang's action sequences are animated and energetic.

While this may not have been my favorite issue, I’m still very excited for the direction Aaron is taking us. I can’t wait to see what’s in story for Donnie in the next issue and then where Aaron decides to take things once the turtles reunite. more

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• Toonstrack

Toonstrack - Oct 25, 2024

I just wanna say it is awesome to know that the turtles of India eating the dead was a real thing and not a made up plot point. That shows that Aaron is willing to look to real life for inspiration for a good story which is a great sign.

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