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A review by easolinas
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutanimals by Paul Allor
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.