Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, & Green #2
Writers: Gavin Smith, Tyler Boss, Mikey Way, and Javier Rodriguez,
Artists: Gavin Smith, Tyler Boss, Nikola Čižmešija, and Javier Rodriguez
Colorist: Lee Loughridge (for the Way/Čižmešija story)
Publisher: IDW (June 2024)
Spoilers Ahead
Anthologies are part and parcel with the world of comic books, and this particular series by IDW offers readers continuity-free tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles featuring creators who haven't yet made their mark on the venerable franchise. The previous issue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, & Green #1 was headlined by Declan Shalvey while this one's lead is Javier Rodriguez. Rodriguez, for mainstream fans, is likely going to be most recognizable for his work with Mark Waid on Daredevil back in 2011. He has sort of a modern retro style not unlike Marcos Martin.
Rodriguez is a fine artist, and his work here is splendid. The visual gimmick of the series is right there in the title: everything is colored black and white, like the original Eastman and Laird Mirage books, but with hints of green thrown in. It's a lovely look, and Rodriguez uses it to excellent effect in his story Green Dogū. In this adventure, the turtles are on the hunt for a mysterious statue with mind control powers. There's a huge clash with the Foot Clan and Shredder that makes for a nice double-page spread towards the end that you can tell Rodriguez basked in drawing. There's also a nice callback to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze where the Dogū statue is being passed around from one person to another.
Gavin Smith, meanwhile, has done some TMNT work in the past, but never his own story like this. In Buddyscout, we get Casey on the hunt for some snake thieves, with Michelangelo eventually joining him to help take out their leader. I enjoyed the mutation at the end and thought it was also cool to see Mikey joining up with Casey for a change instead of Raph. Smith's take on the turtles is a bit skinny, for my tastes, but the art here is great. It's realistic without looking like over-referenced, traced 3D models.
Deadly Delivery is the only story not made by a single creator, combining the talents of writer Mikey Way (of My Chemical Romance fame), artist Nikola Čižmešija (a bunch of DC projects including Future State). and colorist Lee Loughridge. Pizza Face is attacking anyone in New York who calls to order a pizza. Mikey gets struck by inspiration and realizes is they can overwhelm Pizza Face with too many phone calls at once that he'll be defeated. Like the other yarns in this issue, it's a neat, fun, goofy story that provides plenty of action and doesn't take itself too seriously.
Finally, If by Feast or Famine is Tyler Boss's offering, and it's a noir adventure starring Michelangelo. Mikey's pizza has been eaten and he's dead set on figuring out who ate it. The gumshoe angle is fun, particularly as it's a great excuse to get a turtle in a trench coat and fedora—nice. Boss's style meshes well with both the type of story and the look of the brothers. And the twist at the end is wholesome and cute, which is perfect for the Saturday morning cartoon vibe that his (and most of the other stories) this tale goes for.
In fact, I would argue that virtually all of the artists in this crop for issue two are a solid fit for TMNT. Rodriguez in particular captures the round, wide look that I tend to associate most with the turtles from a design standpoint. Still, the leaner, meaner look by Gavin Smith works, too. If I have any real complaint to levy here, it's that the bulk of the stories focus on Michelangelo and pizza. Mikey's my favorite turtle, but hey, who doesn't like a little variety? I feel like between editors Nicolas Niño, Jamie S. Rich, Thea Cheuk, and Maggie Howell that there could have been a conversation about what each of the creators they were working with were crafting and then they could have coordinated moving some of the stories into different issues of the series.
Outside of that, this was good and worth picking up.
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