Ghostbusters: Answer The Call – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The team from the 2016 Ghostbusters return for another comic outing following their inclusion in the Ghostbusters 101 crossover event. Whilst we all know how the internet reacted to the newer version of the Ghostbusters the team itself was very entertaining, with some great quirks and character traits, all of which are further explored in Ghostbusters: Answer The Call.

After responding to a call at an old brownstone in New York City, the Ghostbusters find themselves going up against a spirit a lot more powerful than they were expecting, a Schreckgespenst, or Boogyman. The spirit is the ghost of a mad scientist called Dr Kruger who has found a way of invading people’s worst fears and trapping them in their nightmares (yes, the characters do address the fact that the ghost that invades dreams is called Kruger).

This nightmare invaision ability gives the story ample opportunity to explore the psyche of the characters, giving more insight into the characters than the actual film did. We learn about their insecurities, their past traumas, and in the case of Holtzman, what makes her so determined to be strange and different.

We also learn of an event in the past that connects all of the Ghostbusters to a time long before the events of the first film. Whether or not it means there was some kind of fate involved in the four of them coming together is left open, but it does add an extra layer to the characters then there was before.

Kruger seems to challenge our heroes in ways that the villain of the movie didn’t, he makes them doubt themselves, to lose faith in their abilities and even come close to giving up on being Ghostbusters altogether. The stakes feel bigger than anything that the team has faced before, and this makes it feel like a worthy follow-up. If this story was used for a sequel film it would make for a great second movie.

The story has some good action in it, as well as the deeper character beats, with some over the top moments that really are too silly but work brilliantly. The proton whip that can be used to drag spirits out of people they’ve possessed is a particularly cool and inventive device, though the ghost killing zamboni might be Holtzman going a bit too far, especially as it tears a hole in the roof.

Corin Howell’s art is great throughout, and is able to capture the likenesses of the characters and infuse them with energy. It’s not just the Ghostbusters that Howell makes pop on the page, his ghosts are particularly good, and whilst Dr Kruger looks good it’s his spooky ghost child that really steals the scene.

Ghostbusters: Answer The Call is a great follow up to both the original film and Ghostbusters 101. It manages to be full of action, character development, scares, excitement, and even some emotional depth. Whilst I found the film enjoyable it didn’t go too deep into the characters, and this book manages to make up for that. It may even appeal to some of the people who hated the film, though that’s perhaps asking too much.


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Torchwood: The Culling – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

I loved the Torchwood show, I think that it’s a very underrated part of the Doctor Who universe. Yes, the first season wasn’t the best, and started off very shaky, but the series just went from strength to strength. As such, I was excited to read this new addition to the Torchwood story.

Unfortunately, I’ve not read the first two volumes of the Torchwood comic, and as such felt a little lost for ‘The Culling’. The third part in an ongoing story, I was unsure of who every character was, only had half the information on what had previously happened through some of the dialogue, and was left trying to put the pieces together myself.

This isn’t a fault with the book, as I’m sure that they’re writing for an audience that has read the previous parts of the story rather than a casual reader jumping in at this point; but every comic has to feel somewhat accessible for new readers. ‘The Culling’ fails on this point, and would not have been a book that I’d have continued to read if it was not for the need of reviewing it. Hopefully the next volume of the Torchwood comic will make things easier for readers and give them a better jumping on point.

The story of ‘The Culling’ follows on from the defeat of the Vervoids in the Arctic, the result of which being a human/Vervoid hybrid created from the DNA of both Jack and Gwen. As soon as I discovered that the story would be focusing on the ‘child’ of Jack and Gwen I groaned a little inside. THe Jack/Gwen potential relationship was one of the things that I liked least about the early part of Torchwood, and s something that I was glad to see less focus given to. Gwen and Rhys were a great couple, and I loved their relationship; and Jack and Ianto were brilliant together, so I was worried that this ‘child’ story could put these relationships in danger.

Luckily, the ‘child’ in question, called Sladen, is not a real child of the two, and the characters never act as if she is. She’s a genetic accident, made purely by chance. The story doesn’t push the idea of Jack and Gwen as her parents and it stops the story from falling into some poor pitfalls.

Whilst the story manages to dodge the bullet on this point, it’s somewhat lacking elsewhere. There’s little to no character develpment within the story. The only characters that have any real sense of personality are those from the show, and only because they’ve had characterisation in the series, whilst the characters that are new to the comic are fairly bland and one dimensional.

The book instead relies upon the story to grab attention and to entertain rather than the characters, but the story moves way too quick in places, jumping from event to event within the space of a few panels. In one scene Jack and Gwen say that they are a few hours behind Sladen, yet are confronting her in the very next scene. The pacing just feels off in a lot of places, and this works to the detriment of the overall experience. The conclusion is also somewhat of a let down, with a very brief confrontation that doesn’t feel like it has any real stakes before suddenly being over.

Torchwood: The Culling feels less like a competent follow-up to a beloved series, and more a rushed and ill defined story. It could have been a lot better, and probably would have been if it had six issues to tell it’s story rather than just four. It could have made things more accessible to new readers, taken time to explore its characters, and could have paced things much better. As it is, Torchwood: The Culling feels lacking in a lot of ways.


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TV Rewind… Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×02 – ‘0-8-4’

Originally published on Set The Tape

The second episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes a different approach to the first, swapping the city locations and ticking time-bomb threat and instead opting to move the action to the jungles of South America, with tense shoot-outs and high altitude action.

One of the main criticisms about the first episode was that it was a little slow paced and didn’t have enough action (not something that I’d agree with myself, but can see why some people would come away thinking that), and it would appear that the show runners were aware that the first episode wasn’t the most action-packed, and intentionally made ‘0-8-4’ different.

This shift is apparent in the very first scene, where the events jump forward several hours to show a dramatic explosion on the Bus, before then going back and showing the events that led up to this point. Personally, I always find it annoying whenever a episode opens with something dramatic before showing a ‘XX hours earlier’ title, but I can understand the decision to do it here. The last episode was good, but slow, so ‘0-8-4’ needed something big to open on.

‘0-8-4’ focuses on a mystery artefact discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D., and Coulson’s team are sent to investigate. The mystery of the episode centres around what the 0-8-4 actually is, with Coulson (Clark Gregg) dropping MCU connections by pointing out that the last 0-8-4 they found was a hammer. It turns out that the object this time is an old Hydra device (more movie connections) lodged into the wall of some old ruins.

Things get complicated for the team with the arrival of Peruvian authorities, who also wants the device, led by Camilla Reyes (Leonor Varela), a former girlfriend of Coulson’s. Despite some rebels causing a stir, it’s Reyes and her men that are the real threat to the team, taking control of the Bus and locking everyone but Coulson in the cargo hold.

This is where the episode tries to bring the team together, with the help of Skye (Chloe Bennet) who is still trying to find where she fits in. Despite the message that each of the team has their own strengths and that by working together they can overcome their challenges Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) remain underdeveloped, and still come across as interchangeable. Whilst the two of them will develop over the rest of the season they feel more like the same character at this point, and would probably be a singular science/tech character in another show.

Fortunately, the episode does give Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) the opportunity to shine as the lone bad-ass hero breaking her way out of her bonds and freeing the rest of the team. She’s still very underdeveloped at the point, with stern silence being her main character trait, but she plays it so well that she manages to remain entertaining.

The episode also takes a moment to address the youth of half of the cast, something that some people complained about before the first episode even aired, by having both Reyes and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) pointing out that half the team are young and inexperienced. I can’t help but feel that these moments are specifically aimed at those people who complained about the cast before filming had even begun.

The scene with Samuel L. Jackson is also important because it’s further grounding the show within the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the inclusion of one of the most iconic characters (though not the biggest). It makes sense that he’d be the actor that they’d bring onto the series, not just because he’s the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., but because as soon as Jackson puts on that eye-patch he’s instantly his Marvel character.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has definitely improved with its second episode, but still hasn’t managed to meet its potential. It’s nice to see the show moving forward, but hopefully it will be able to improve it’s character development fairly soon.


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Go Go Power Rangers Volume One Details Released

The details for the first collected volume of Boom! Studios 'Go Go Power Rangers' has been released. The book collects together issues 1 - 4 of 'Go Go Power Rangers', written by Ryan Parrott.

'Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and Billy have just become the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, after just starting high school. Chronicling their formative days as teen heroes, the Rangers will have to balance the responsibilities of growing up with defending the world from the threat of Rita Repulsa. Rita plans to the defeat the Power Rangers, and it is one they will never see coming.'

'Go Go Power Rangers' is set for release 20th September 2018.


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Power Rangers Ninja Steel Complete Season DVD Announced

The complete Power Rangers Ninja Steel 3 disc DVD set has been revealed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Power Rangers Ninja Steel follows a new team of Rangers as they battle the evil space tyrant Galvanax in his quest to control the mythical Ninja Nexus Prism. Using the powers of the prism, this team of teenagers transform into the Ninja Steel Power Rangers as they defend the Earth.

The box set features exclusive art work from comic artist George Caltsoudas, who has previously produced cover art for Boom! Studios Power Rangers comics.

The complete season boxset is scheduled for release on 14th August.


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The Synapse Sequence by Daniel Godfrey – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

In a future London, humans are watched over by AIs and served by bots. But now that justice and jobs are meted out by algorithm, inequality blooms, and protest is brutally silenced.

Anna Glover may be the most hated woman in the troubled city – the media’s scapegoat for an unpopular war. Now she hides from the public eye, investigating neglected cases by using the mind-invading technology of the synapse sequencer to enter witnesses’ memories. When a PI brings her a new high-stakes case, Anna sees a chance for atonement. But soon she is drawn into a plot that threatens to upend her hard-won anonymity and put everyone in danger – even those she hopes to save.

Publisher: Titan Books
Author: Daniel Godfrey
Pages: 384

Science-fiction is a genre that is oftentimes used to comment upon issues faced by society at the time of its production. Star Trek showed a future where the whole world had come together at a time when the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement were in full swing; Godzilla was about the horrors of nuclear war and the fear of those weapons; and The Synapse Sequence tells a story about the reliance on automated industry and the effect that it can have upon the population.

In a world where people seem to be in constant fear of losing their livelihoods, whether to cheaper labour or being replaced by machines and computers, The Synapse Sequence feels like a book that speaks to many of these fears and worries. It may not be the central drive of the book, but it’s the world that the characters inhabit, and one that doesn’t feel too far away from a potential real future.

At its core though, The Synapse Sequence is a mystery story, one that has more layers and twists than the reader is initially led to believe, and that plays out in ways that you’re not likely to expect.

The book centres on Anna Glover, a former air crash investigator who now works for a firm attempting to create artificial realities drawn from people’s memories. These simulations are initially being used for recreation and entertainment, but Anna is exploring whether they can be used to help investigate crimes through the memories of witnesses. At first it feels like very familiar territory, with people going inside artificial environments very reminiscent of The Matrix, or the holo-decks from Star Trek.

The Synapse Sequence quickly shows how different it is, however, using the concept of reality built from memory to set out some interesting and unique rules for its world, before turning these on their head as Anna and the reader find themselves in dangerous new territory.

Anna and her firm are hired by a private investigator to help look into a disappearance that the police aren’t interested in, mainly because the police is now run by AIs, and soon finds herself part of a bigger mystery, and possible conspiracy. Travelling into the memories of coma patient N’Golo, she enters a race against time to find the answers they need to solve the case.

Interspersed within this central mystery story are flashes forward in time to Anna as an old woman, living in a nursing home in the final years of her life. Here she recounts the story of her time as an air crash investigator to a young student, who is looking deeper into her final investigation in Tanzania, one in which her findings led to a bloody war.

These sections shift in both tone and perspective from the rest of the book, being told by Anna in the first person, whereas the rest of the book is written from a third person point of view. Whilst these sections at first appear to have only been included to provide deeper insight into Anna and the demons of her past, there’s more to them that plays into the main story.

The world of The Synapse Sequence is a grim one, with the population unhappy and unable to work. It feels like an England where progress is being made to the detriment of the individual, where people are placed on UI (Universal Income) so that the elite can stay on top whilst robots and AIs take over the jobs. As mentioned earlier, this doesn’t feel like a future too far removed from the world we live in now. Add into this the constant monitoring via computers and social media, and it feels very relevant.

Daniel Godfrey has managed to craft an entertaining story that has a very flawed and human heroine, a woman who is haunted by her past for having simply told the truth and done the right thing. It’s a story about her attempt at redemption, both from her own demons and in the eyes of the public. But it’s also a mystery story that manages to keep you guessing, and will end in a way that you’ll not see coming. A wonderful and engaging read.


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Throwback 20: Mulan

Originally published on Set The Tape

Mulan is a film that took a bold leap from other Disney films that had come before it, leaving behind a central focus on romance or cutesy animal sidekicks, and instead crafting a well executed story of self-empowerment, courage, and challenging conventions, all within an entertaining war story.

Based upon the Chinese myth, Mulan tells the story of Fa Mulan (Ming-Na Wen), a young woman who feels out of place within her family and society. Wanting nothing more than to be herself, she’s expected to find herself a husband and have a family, being the demure and quiet wife that society says she should be.

When an army of Huns led by Shan Yu (Miguel Ferrer) invades China, the Emperor (Pat Morita) orders that men from each family must join the Chinese army. With Mulan’s father old and injured, she cuts her hair, steals his sword and armour, and takes his place.

What ensues is an uplifting and humorous story as Mulan tries to keep her true identity of a woman secret, whilst trying to forge herself into a soldier. The training sequences are some of the more fun moments in the movie, with Mulan and her three fellow recruits Yao (Harry Fierstein), Ling (Gedde Watanabe), and Chien-Po (Jerry Tondo) trying desperately to become more than the four losers they start off as.

They’re fun moments, with the four characters going through some fun changes as they go from enemies to fast friends, in a bond that feels believable and well forged by the time they actually come to fight in the war.

The four songs in the film are well made, and quite memorable, the training montage song ‘I’ll Make A Man Out Of You’ is the best music piece in the film, and coupled with Mulan using her brain to overcome her challenges and begin to become a competent soldier, is a great, inspiring moment.

Despite having a lot of humour in it, Mulan also has some surprisingly dramatic moments, such as Mulan donning her father’s armour and escaping into the night, and the new recruits finding the remains of the defeated Chinese army. But the best has to be the dramatic confrontation between Mulan and the Hun army as they charge down a snowy mountaintop on horseback. Not only is the scene visually dramatic and executed with sweeping camera shots, but it showcases how smart Mulan is, all but destroying the entire Hun army with one rocket.

What really makes Mulan great, however, is that it’s a story about female empowerment. Whilst people may say that Frozen is a great example of a Disney film with a strong female hero in Elsa, Mulan did it first, and did it better. She fought against the shackles of her society, she put her life in mortal danger, she defended her country from destruction, and saved an Empire, all without magical powers. Whether you’re female or not, you can’t help but watch Mulan and be both impressed and inspired by the story.

It being a Disney film there is a romance element to the story, as Mulan falls in love with her commanding officer, Captain Li Shang (D.B. Wong), but this isn’t a huge part of the story, and is more of a background element than something that’s pushed in your face. So even if you’re not into romance in any way it won’t interfere with your enjoyment of the film.

The one thing that might let the film down for some is the inclusion of the almost mandatory ‘comedy’ sidekicks, this time in the form of a lucky cricket, and the tiny dragon Mushu (Eddie Murphy). Whilst the cricket is bearable (as it doesn’t talk or really do a great deal) Mushu is very annoying in most of the scenes that he is in, and feels more out of place than anything else.

Mulan is a Disney film that is more than just a fairytale or love story, it’s an ancient epic that inspires and impresses, that shows that people can break free from rigid roles or expectations and be the people that they really are inside. It shows that bravery can come from more than just heroic military feats, but from the courage to stand up and be yourself.


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Looking back at… Jaws 2

Originally published on Set The Tape

I feel a little sorry for Jaws 2. Most people will agree that sequels tend to have a hard time living up to the original movie, and with a few exceptions, tend to fall short. Whilst I’m not going to turn around and say that Jaws 2 is better than the original, I am going to say that it’s a lot better than people make it out to be.

It’s easy to make fun of the Jaws movies as a whole because of less than stellar sequels, just look at the Jaws 19 joke in Back To The Future 2 (and if you’ve not seen it yet, go and watch the fake Jaws 19 trailer that Universal Pictures released to celebrate Back To The Future as it’s brilliantly funny). Jaws 3D is an awful, awful movie, with a ridiculous plot, and Jaws: The Revenge is just dull and lacklustre. But Jaws 2 really tries to be a good movie that lives up to the original and recaptures some of that magic.

The film brings back many of the things that make you think about the original Jaws; the locations from the first film were reused here and helped to recapture the qualities of Amity Island and all of the main characters from the first film (apart from Richard Dreyfuss’ Hooper) were back.

Jaws 2 manages to use these assets well, carrying on a believable story for the survivors of the first film yet taking the story in its own direction and not just rehashing the events of the original. One of the ways that it struck out on its own was by changing the tone of the film somewhat. The long mystery and slow burning tension of the first film was gone, replaced now with the shark being seen from the very beginning.

I know that this is often something of a complain for some viewers, saying that the film was being lazy for not trying to create tension, or that the filmmakers just wanted to show off their shark straight away. But you have to remember, audiences were aware of what to expect the second time around. A slow burn that held the shark back until the end of the film wouldn’t work the second time around. The decision by director Jeannot Szwarc to show the shark, instead using the desperate race to save the teenagers to increase tension, was a smart move.

It may be a bold thing to say, but I sometimes prefer the final act of the second film to that of the original. Now, I’m not saying that the original is bad in any way, I absolutely love the film, but the tension of the final act is interrupted by long moments where nothing much really happens. Whilst I love the drinking scene where the three hunters exchange stories and compare scars I can’t help but feel that it breaks the pace a little. Jaws 2 has, in my opinion, a much tighter final act, setting everything over a much shorter time-span. This works well because it feels like the shark isn’t just something out in the ocean that is being looked for, but an active predator that isn’t leaving the defenceless teens alone until it kills them all.

When you also factor in the extremely troubled production, it’s an absolute miracle that the film is even as good as it is. The script was rewritten several times, with the original concept being completely different (this version of the story focusing on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the subsequent shark attacks that Quint (Robert Shaw) witnessed) and had several variations to the final act.

Coupled with this was a change of director part way through the production when the original director, John D. Hancock, was replaced when Universal Executives were unhappy with the tone of the film. Whilst the new director, Jeannot Szwarc, was delivering the film more to the liking of the studio, he didn’t get on well with Roy Scheider, and the two of them even came to physical blows at one point.

Despite these troubles, the film hold up surprisingly well. You would never guess that Scheider had issues with the director due to remaining completely professional throughout and still giving the project his best, even though he didn’t really want to take part in the project.

Jaws is an absolute classic, and there will never be a sequel to it that will beat if for quality, but Jaws 2 comes close, and is easily the best of the three sequels, and a damn good movie in its own right.


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TV Rewind… Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×01 – ‘Pilot’

Originally published on Set The Tape

When the Marvel Cinematic Universe began a decade ago with Iron Man no one would believe where we would end up today. The dozens of films, several television shows; it all seemed like a wild dream. But then anything began to feel possible when Avengers Assemble arrived, bringing together several superheroes into a team for the first time in film. Avengers changed the way that people looked at comic book movies, and how the MCU could work.

Whilst the next step seemed to be to tell more stories with these characters, expanding their worlds further before bringing them together as a team once again, the next big step wasn’t another Avengers film, it was expanding into television. Thus, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. made it’s way onto screens, proving that Marvel could exist on television as well as film, paving the way for shows such as Daredevil, and Jessica Jones.

With a cast of characters that wouldn’t be able to draw upon costumed heroes in order to draw audiences in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to rely upon the surprise mystery of Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) being back from the dead following his death in Avengers at the hands of Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

This was one of the biggest draws of the series, a character that had run through many of the Phase 1 films and had become a fan favourite, alive once again. People wanted to know how he was back, they wanted to see what would happen when or if the Avengers found out, and they just wanted more Coulson.

The pilot episode side-steps many of the questions that audience members would have about Coulson. None of the characters make a big deal about his death and resurrection, with Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) being told that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) simply faked his death to motivate the Avengers. This is easy for Ward to accept, but the audience actually saw the injury Coulson received (and if you saw it in the cinema, saw the spear go all the way through him), and as such this explanation just doesn’t ring true. Thankfully, we get a little tease that there’s definitely something more going on here, but this is a mystery that is going to last a long time.

Fortunately, the episode doesn’t rely on Coulson to carry the show, and introduces its new characters in some interesting ways. Ward is very much the typical action movie spy. His first scene shows him using his tech and stealth skills to break into a secret safe, whilst then also giving him a fun action sequence to show off his combat skills. Whilst the episode does its best to paint Ward as the cool hero, it doesn’t do much to make him terribly likeable. I know that this is something that will change over coming episodes, but with where the character will end up by the end of the season it’s interesting to see him start out slightly more antagonistic. The episode also had an interesting moment with Ward when he’s given a truth serum; whilst this is played for laughs in the episode I was shocked by how compromising a situation this put him in, especially with the types of secrets he’s hiding.

Joining Coulson and Ward are the science duo Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge). Incredibly smart, but inexperienced in the field, the two of them give a lot of energy and humour. They bring an adorable level of synchronicity and playfulness that makes them an instantly lovable pair. Whilst they didn’t get much time to shine during the episode, it’s clear that they’ll be an entertaining duo going forward.

Rounding out the team is Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), who is brought on board to be the pilot of the team; though it’s clear from her first scene that’s there’s a lot more here than is first shown. Ming-Na is perfect in the role, believable as the woman with pain in her past, as well as the tough field agent.

With the team in place Coulson begins to investigate into the mysterious super-powered person that has recently appeared in the media (a figure that many fans thought could have been Luke Cage before the series aired) in order to get closer to The Rising Tide, an online activist group. The investigation leads the team to Skye (Chloe Bennet), a hacker that’s fascinated by superheroes, but suspicious of government organisations such as S.H.I.E.L.D..

Skye is important due in large part to being the audience’s method of discovery for this episode, and much more of the rest of the first season. Yes, we follow Ward as he learns Coulson is alive, and Fitz and Simmons talk us through the science stuff, but Skye us the character who can ask what protocols are, or what acronyms stand for because S.H.I.E.L.D. is so completely alien to her.

Those familiar with the work of Joss Whedon will feel very at home here, with his trademark blending of drama, emotion, and sharp wit throughout the script. Whilst many of the Marvel shows that would come later would take a dark tone Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. embraces the lightness and sense of fun that permeated Avengers. There are one liners, visual gags, and the characters actually feel like they’re having a lot of fun.

Part of the reason why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t grab a lot of viewers straight away is because people were expecting the Marvel films on television. This was never going to happen. But the pilot episode does prove that the universe can exist in a much smaller way, that you don’t need flying suits or alien invasions in order to tell an entertaining and compelling story within the Marvel Universe.


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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Invasion of the Triceratons – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Following the events of the Trial of Krang story line, as well as the TMNT/Ghostbusters 2 crossover mini-series (both great stories and well worth checking out), the Turtles finally return home ready to finally relax and take a break. Unfortunately for them, this is just a few hours after the Triceraton arrive on Earth hoping to make the planet their home once again.

Despite being a race of soldiers that were literally bred for war the Triceraton are a very peaceful people, and simply want to come back to the planet that gave birth to their ancestors millions of years ago, but thanks to the evil Agent Bishop of the Earth Protection Force, the Triceraton are forced into a fierce battle.

With so many science fiction stories having aliens come to Earth wanting to conquer or enslave humanity, bringing violence and war with them, it’s something of a refreshing change to see the aliens as the peaceful party for once; with humanity being the warlike race that causes the violence to ensue. It makes the ‘Invasion of the Triceraton’ story feel somewhat fresh and different.

This isn’t a story of an invading force coming to Earth to do us harm, it’s about a people that were stolen away from their home, experimented on, enslaved for longer than human history, having finally winning their freedom and having the peace they’ve long desired denied them. Despite the Triceraton fighting fiercely throughout the book, and causing a lot of death and destruction, you can’t really see them as the villains of the book. If anything, they’re victims. Victims of human hatred and fear.

Agent Bishop, the mutant hating cyborg, is the perfect antagonist for this story, as he represents every hateful prejudice and fear that humanity has. He hated those that are different, he wants to destroy anything that isn’t like him because he sees them as a threat, and will go to extreme lengths to do so. Yes, he’s a cyborg with an army behind him and an enslaved mutant turtle at his command, but he feels like a very real antagonist because of his views and beliefs.

‘Invasion of the Triceratons’ isn’t just about conflict between the Triceratons and the Earth Protection Force, however, as the story has some amazing moments for the ever deteriorating relationship between the Turtles and their father, Splinter, who now commands the Foot Clan.

One of the best things about the IDW run on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the relationship within the family, and how Splinter has changed over the course of the stories, going from a beloved father to something of an antagonist. He believes that he’s doing the right thing, and that he is doing it for the benefit of the Turtles, but it’s leading him down a very dark path.

The moment when the Turtles finally stand up to him, refuse to let him kill the leaders of the Triceratons, and put their lives on the line to defy him is an amazingly dramatic one. The scene is full of tension and emotion as both sides know that this will forever change their relationship, but refusing to back down from their beliefs. This is the Turtles at their best, and it elevates an already great story to fantastic heights.

The artwork throughout isn’t the neatest and most detailed, and certainly not my favourite that I’ve seen on a Turtles book, but it’s sharp angles and somewhat messy style work very well for the story presented. It gives the story more energy and a sense of movement and speed to the panels, especially in the action sequences. Despite the art changing in the last two chapters the two styles work well together, and the change isn’t the most noticeable or distracting.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Invasion of the Triceraton tells story that on the surface appears to be a very straight forward and violent story, but has a lot more going on than you’d first think, with some incredibly well layered characters with more complex motivations than first apparent. With some great action sequences and some downright brilliant character moments, this is easily a contender for one of the best volumes of the series yet.


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