Picture the scene. A TV flickering in the corner; pizza boxes strewn around the room. DVD's of the 87' cartoon stacked up alongside copies of the old Mirage turtles comics. In the middle of it all is Tom Waltz.

This is how I imagine he manages to include so many callbacks to previous incarnations of our heroes, and the myriad characters that inhabited those worlds.

I've had to visit TMNT wikis on several occasions to see if a new character is an old one, and I'm always pleasantly surprised by not only the reference, but the fresh spin that seamlessly integrates them into the IDW universe. Of course Mateus's strong designs and artwork helps things.

But are these guys also clairvoyants? Two weeks ago (Wooo for not waiting a month!) I mentioned how I'd like to see more Mikey. Well hot dang, here he is, and wearing his ushanka!

Red and Orange is a pairing you rarely see, so it's nice to see Mikey's empathy and idealism come up against Raph's pessimistic/realistic view of the world. They are definitely looking at the liquid in the glass in different ways.

This issue continues the set up of previous issues, with more pieces making their way onto the board and taking their positions. What's cool is I have no idea what's going to come of it all! Will there be any double-crosses? Probably. Any surprise characters? No doubt.

This isn't a simple battle of good vs evil. We have multiple factions with their own agendas. When everyone has their own well developed reasoning who do you prioritise as the biggest threat? Who really is evil?

I'll tell you who is for sure. That bastard Hun. With Krang and Shredder you know where you stand. But he has definitely turned to the dark side. The progression from alcoholic, to gang boss, to near right hand man willing to kill his own son, is fantastic. If I were keeping a points score I'd be awarding a few there.

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