Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 is written by Jason Aaron and published by IDW Publishing. Artwork and colours are by Juan Ferreyra and letters by Shawn Lee. Main cover art (left) is by Jorge Fornes.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 is available from January 29, in print and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your digital copy from Amazon Comixology UK right here.
Synopsis
Superstar artist Juan Ferreyra (Batman & Robin, Green Arrow) makes his debut as TMNT’s new ongoing artist! The Turtles are back together, on the run, and at one another’s throats. Navigating a New York City that used to be their home but is now a hostile territory, the four brothers try to get things back to normal, but Donatello is deeply scarred following his captivity. Will the four brothers be able to rally? Or will they find themselves at the mercy of the Foot Clan?!
Review
”… four busted knuckles where a first should’ve been.” That’s one hell of a way to perfectly encapsulate the state of our Heroes in a Half-Shell at the beginning of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6. The brothers may be back together. They may be back in New York. But Jason Aaron’s impassioned new interpretation of the long-running series.
Plenty of creators have worked to separate the brothers before. It’s only natural to separate the core cast of the book only to bring them back together for a blockbuster finale. But none in recent memory has done such an incredible job of packing the emotional punch of Aaron. This latest issue consistently gives with one hand whilst taking with the other. Fans who have been longing to see them together are finally given a reward for their patience. There’s plenty of classic TMNT action as they re-acclimatise to life in the city. A fact which also makes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6 a great jumping on point for new readers and for new series artist Juan Ferreyra.
But there’s still a huge emotional chasm which exists between the four. Pushing them further apart just as soon as they have found themselves close together again. New York is now something of a death trap thanks to D.A. Hale’s anti-turtle vendetta. The city’s reluctance to re-embrace its heroes forms a great centrepiece for Aaron to build this issue around. Raising the stakes through a series of escalating situations which bring the issue a rather tantalising conclusion. It’s an exercise in concentration for the reader as we dart between following the action whilst keeping up with just who is arguing with who and why. Aaron cycles through the circumstance we found each turtle in as the series began, using them as points for conflict. But if you were hoping this would be the moment to reveal what drove them apart then think again. The mysterious of the TMNT break up remains in tact.
Ferreyra does a great job jumping on and helping create a new onboarding point for the series. The revolving artist setup worked so well for reintroducing each of the four leads. But now we’re reaching a turning point in the story, bringing those characters together, it feels like the right time to have an ongoing artist with the book. Ferreyra brings a sense of life to New York City which this book needs. The action all lands with brute force which keeps things ticking along nicely. With a new story arc beginning next month Ttenage Mutant Ninja Turtles couldn’t be in a better place.
Verdict
Jason Aaron’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continues to carve a unique path for itself in the history of the franchise. With Juan Ferreyra now on board as series artist, TMNT #6 finds the pieces of the puzzle coming together in dramatic style but with a long way to go before our heroes emotional scars are healed.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
