fakespy05's review against another edition
2.0
I can see why they ended this miniseries. The stories were really scraping the bottom of the barrel in this collection. The only great story was at the end with Leonardo on the astral plane and a serviceable story at the beginning with Donatello brokering a peace treaty. The middle stories weren’t great with the main one being pretty bad along with an art style that absolutely didn’t work for me.
barry_x's review against another edition
3.0
In this side-arc of the main series our Turtles are whooshed through a series of time periods, each comic entering a separate period. I've a bit of mixed opinion on this one as I felt it started good but then fell away.
I think the first story has more than a nod to the 'Half-Shell Heroes - Blast to the Past' TV special which quite cleverly led to a whole bunch of toys being released. My son loves this special episode. For older people like me I do recall the opportunity to play prehistoric mutants in the TMNT roleplaying game via one of the Sourcebooks so I do have a soft spot for it.
The second story takes the Turtles to feudal Japan and this story is by far the best. It has links with Shredder's past from the main story arc and also draws in elements from 'The Secret History of the Foot Clan' spin-off (which is great by the way!). I love the look and feel of this story, it's brilliant - I love the action sequences here also. It's great!
I was less interested in the third and fourth stories (one on board a pirate ship and one set in the future).
This isn't a great jumping on point but for those who are following the main story in the comics it's worth a look.
I think the first story has more than a nod to the 'Half-Shell Heroes - Blast to the Past' TV special which quite cleverly led to a whole bunch of toys being released. My son loves this special episode. For older people like me I do recall the opportunity to play prehistoric mutants in the TMNT roleplaying game via one of the Sourcebooks so I do have a soft spot for it.
The second story takes the Turtles to feudal Japan and this story is by far the best. It has links with Shredder's past from the main story arc and also draws in elements from 'The Secret History of the Foot Clan' spin-off (which is great by the way!). I love the look and feel of this story, it's brilliant - I love the action sequences here also. It's great!
I was less interested in the third and fourth stories (one on board a pirate ship and one set in the future).
This isn't a great jumping on point but for those who are following the main story in the comics it's worth a look.
doubleokay's review against another edition
3.0
This book was super fun while reading, but nothing really had a lasting impact. Like tmnt cotton candy. You technically could pick this up with minimal turtles knowledge but I think any appeal would come from existing interest in turtles. Super fun alien designs and cute environments
doesmachines's review against another edition
3.0
Another off shot story from the series. While no real consequences it did do some great character building for Donatello in the last chapter. Seeing what the worst future could be like was crazy. In a sick way I want the future of the book to have the world get that crazy. Let’s see where it takes us. Nice of them to use the spectre from the 3rd TMNT movie though.
Also this Renet character. Could have sworn I never seen her before. I’m going crazy thinking I missed her somewhere.
Also this Renet character. Could have sworn I never seen her before. I’m going crazy thinking I missed her somewhere.
easolinas's review against another edition
4.0
Donatello has a lot of personal woes, and two of them are the loss of his friendship with Harold Lillja and the emergence of a robotic doppelganger known as "Metal-Don."
Both of those problems crop up again in the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series: Donatello," a larger-than-usual issue of the IDW series that produces yet more stress for everyone's brainy Turtle. Brahm Revel's sketchy art takes a little getting used to compared to the more polished styles of other TMNT artists, but he gives the right amount of dynamic movement to a tense, poignant little story.
Donatello pleads with Harold to help him create a predictive interface that will allow him to foresee possible futures, and the scientist reluctantly allows the Turtle to keep working on his technology, but refuses to help him. But that night, the lab is infiltrated by his robotic double, also known as Metalhead - and rather than trying to kill him, the robot seems interested in finishing his interface. But can Donnie trust this dangerous foe to help him, or is Metalhead just planning to betray him?
The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series" seems to exist for the purpose of addressing important subplots without disrupting the overall flow of the main comic-book series. And while this one doesn't exactly wrap up the whole Metalhead storyline, it does add some possible conflict for future encounters, while further fleshing out the robotic character and the lingering attachments he has despite his ruthless, mostly-emotionless nature.
The story takes place in a single night and only features four characters (only three actually do anything), but it moves along at a steady clip. Paul Allor's writing has some dryly witty moments ("And the initial conceptual work was... safely within the range of adequate." "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me"), and he manages some gut-punching, literally-explosive personal interactions as Harold, Metalhead and Donatello all end up in the same room together. Without revealing too much about what happens, it promises to have some far-reaching ramifications.
Allor also spins up some good character development for both Metalhead and Donnie. The robot still shows glimmers of the personality he once had, despite trying to purge himself of emotion, showing some anger and even concern. And we see what motivates Donatello - his glimpse of his possible future self, and the fear that he will fail his brothers and that they will be killed. There's not much new development for Harold, but we do see that he cares about Donnie and doesn't want him to be harmed.
Brahm Revel's artwork takes a little getting used to. He draws in a rough, sketchy style (Donatello's head is an almost perfect oval), but he manages to produce some very effective artwork, such as Metalhead's final conversation with Donatello, which underscores the intensity and darkness of Allor's writing.
Without disrupting the flow of the main series, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series: Donatello" does an excellent job furthering some of Donatello's main subplots, and opening doors for more stories in future.
Both of those problems crop up again in the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series: Donatello," a larger-than-usual issue of the IDW series that produces yet more stress for everyone's brainy Turtle. Brahm Revel's sketchy art takes a little getting used to compared to the more polished styles of other TMNT artists, but he gives the right amount of dynamic movement to a tense, poignant little story.
Donatello pleads with Harold to help him create a predictive interface that will allow him to foresee possible futures, and the scientist reluctantly allows the Turtle to keep working on his technology, but refuses to help him. But that night, the lab is infiltrated by his robotic double, also known as Metalhead - and rather than trying to kill him, the robot seems interested in finishing his interface. But can Donnie trust this dangerous foe to help him, or is Metalhead just planning to betray him?
The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series" seems to exist for the purpose of addressing important subplots without disrupting the overall flow of the main comic-book series. And while this one doesn't exactly wrap up the whole Metalhead storyline, it does add some possible conflict for future encounters, while further fleshing out the robotic character and the lingering attachments he has despite his ruthless, mostly-emotionless nature.
The story takes place in a single night and only features four characters (only three actually do anything), but it moves along at a steady clip. Paul Allor's writing has some dryly witty moments ("And the initial conceptual work was... safely within the range of adequate." "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me"), and he manages some gut-punching, literally-explosive personal interactions as Harold, Metalhead and Donatello all end up in the same room together. Without revealing too much about what happens, it promises to have some far-reaching ramifications.
Allor also spins up some good character development for both Metalhead and Donnie. The robot still shows glimmers of the personality he once had, despite trying to purge himself of emotion, showing some anger and even concern. And we see what motivates Donatello - his glimpse of his possible future self, and the fear that he will fail his brothers and that they will be killed. There's not much new development for Harold, but we do see that he cares about Donnie and doesn't want him to be harmed.
Brahm Revel's artwork takes a little getting used to. He draws in a rough, sketchy style (Donatello's head is an almost perfect oval), but he manages to produce some very effective artwork, such as Metalhead's final conversation with Donatello, which underscores the intensity and darkness of Allor's writing.
Without disrupting the flow of the main series, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series: Donatello" does an excellent job furthering some of Donatello's main subplots, and opening doors for more stories in future.
christajls's review against another edition
3.0
Originally reviewed on Women Write About Comics
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are getting back to basics with a new “macro-series.” In this series, one issue will be dedicated to each turtle, digging deep into who they are, starting with Donatello. I have to admit I’m not the biggest TMNT fan. I must have watched the cartoon when I was younger because the theme song is burned into my memory (how else would I know Donatello “does machines?”) but I could tell you very few details about the characters and the world outside that song. This new macro series seems like the perfect opportunity to get to know these classic characters a bit better and it succeeds in that endeavour, to a point. We meet Donatello as he’s beginning work on a new and potentially dangerous invention and you get a close look at what makes him tick, but ultimately I still felt like this series expected to me to have a basic understanding of the TMNT universe, so some parts were more confusing for me than they will be for other readers.
This issue still makes my top picks, though, because of the art. There is a rough style to the characters and their movements, but it worked with the high energy storyline. There are a lot of action sequences in this issue and the art was fluid and easy to follow, setting it apart from some of the other action comics I read this past month. The colour palette was also different than I would expect to find in a TMNT comic. Chris Peter did the colours for this issue and chose a bright palette of greens, blues and purples that really jumped off the page. I will happily continue on with this series if the art team stays the same.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are getting back to basics with a new “macro-series.” In this series, one issue will be dedicated to each turtle, digging deep into who they are, starting with Donatello. I have to admit I’m not the biggest TMNT fan. I must have watched the cartoon when I was younger because the theme song is burned into my memory (how else would I know Donatello “does machines?”) but I could tell you very few details about the characters and the world outside that song. This new macro series seems like the perfect opportunity to get to know these classic characters a bit better and it succeeds in that endeavour, to a point. We meet Donatello as he’s beginning work on a new and potentially dangerous invention and you get a close look at what makes him tick, but ultimately I still felt like this series expected to me to have a basic understanding of the TMNT universe, so some parts were more confusing for me than they will be for other readers.
This issue still makes my top picks, though, because of the art. There is a rough style to the characters and their movements, but it worked with the high energy storyline. There are a lot of action sequences in this issue and the art was fluid and easy to follow, setting it apart from some of the other action comics I read this past month. The colour palette was also different than I would expect to find in a TMNT comic. Chris Peter did the colours for this issue and chose a bright palette of greens, blues and purples that really jumped off the page. I will happily continue on with this series if the art team stays the same.
shiregreen's review against another edition
5.0
These were all interesting times to see the turtles in. We should see more of Pepperoni.
tmntfan's review
4.0
Fun read in the TMNT realm based more on anti-heroes. Like all the characters. Funny how you can map different parts of the turtles to these guys (granted i do that with all most all charters in everything) old hob = %50 leo, 40% raph and 10% micky, pigeon pete is the dumb part of miky and the mondo is the smooth side of miky, etc) lots of motion in the story which means lots of action. But the quiet scenes have some emotional impact because seeing the group care for its own builds the relationships with out tonnes of dialogue. Prefer this slash to the 87 and 03 show's rendition.
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