Well I was impatiently waiting for this issue to hit. I mean this issue hones in on the villains of all villains; Shredder. If I had to pick my top villain, Shredder would be very close. He leads an army, is indestructible, and has one of the coolest outfits out there. Seriously love this getup. And not to mention that jealousy is what drives this man. Maybe some think it is greed, but Saki doesn’t want to own the world simply because he wants it. No, I think Saki wants the world, because his jealousy of someone who will before he can. He has this obsession with needing things that others have. Saki wants to be God. I find this interesting considering his roots. One ruler above all. And that leads right into our story about Shredder. This issue could have gone two ways. A story about his relationship with Yoshi or Karai or a story about his challenges; we discover that the issue spends time on the latter of the two. I almost wish that Shredder could have a double issue or take over next month’s. It could have explored the relationship part of his life as well. Knowing the villain’s perspective is so much fun and can be way more exciting than some rising hero story. Anyway, we met up with Shredder about a week after Leo has gone back to his brothers and father. Very much like Karai’s issue, Shredder starts off having a conversation with Kitsune. Even though he narrators the whole story, this is the most we hear Kitsune talk in any TMNT issue. It was different and slightly out of character for her. I like how she is this impartial voice in the background who secretly is partial and seems to always get her way. She is very different here and unsure of what the future holds. So I didn’t particularly like this addition with this Micro.
Shredder tells about his time spent when he was waiting for Karai to rebirth him. No one really has any idea, so he finally opens up to Kitsune. This is where the story mimics Karai’s with him narrating a flashback. He was in this hell-like place where he wanders for the most of day in search of hell’s kingdom. If there is a kingdom out there, Shredder is sure to find it. Along the way, he meets these soldiers. Like any power-hungry guy, he tries to rule over these people in order to hunt down the king. The story is very telling about Shredder’s personality. It wasn’t ground breaking though. Most of the things we learn are things we all knew. BUT the story is done so well here, that I was intrigued with the story the whole time even if I did suspect what was happening. His story tells of an epic battle between him and the king. When brought back to reality, Kitsune has a better understanding of the man she is serving.
I still think Alopex and Hun are my leads for best Micro-Series here. I will admit that I was hoping for more with Shredder’s issue. It was predictable. He has such a long history that can’t be summed up with one issue, so I was left wanting more.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Paul Allor Artist: Dan Duncan Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 12/4/13