As promised here’s our continued coverage of “City Fall” which has proved to be one of the biggest Turtles storylines in years and even better it’s been one of the better “event books” of the comic year. Each of the writers/reviews of Comic Bastards will give the issue a score of: Buy, Borrow or Pass along with a short reason for the score. Here’s a blurb from IDW before we begin: While Leonardo and the Foot bring the fight to the Savate ninjas, the other Turtles call upon all of their allies to prepare for War. City Fall continues to escalate when Splinter crosses a line by helping Old Hob get his revenge!

Samantha: BUY

First thought, woah how badass does Donnie look on this cover?! Second thought, why the hell did they ruin it with Mikey’s cracked out face on the bottom? Samantha’s two sense for the day.

I ate this issue right up. Buy the shit out of this issue. I fell in love with its action sequencing right from the start. Leo and The Foot crashing the party was a total badass representation of what makes great comics.

Lots of different stories going will no doubt add up to an intense conclusion. The intensity is already so tight. The Purple Dragons becoming evil once again, Old Hob being crazy, Karai planning her revenge, and so on. It is all so good that when I got to the end I wanted more of it. Karai and Alopex are leading into some interesting stories, so I think theirs is the most anticipated for me. But hands down Splinter is taking the award for the coolest. The gang is worried about him, and frankly, this makes his character more involved than ever before. I think this is the best issue yet. It had everything a comic needs; my only downfall about it is that the next issue already looks better.

Steve: BUY

Even though we’re still being cock-teased here with the absence of Bebop and Rocksteady, TMNT #26 continues “City Fall’s” resounding success, at very least, in getting me hugely interested in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title. On the downside, I did find this one very exposition heavy, with the three still-good turtles shoring up their resources for the coming battle. But once this book gets to its inevitable collision, it comes heavy and with fury, and I love how it further feeds its looming war.

The art - particularly in some of the backgrounds - does come across a bit lazy here, but the look of the Turtles themselves is finally starting to grow on me. This is especially true of Dark Leonardo, who remains the best thing about this story. The action is fluid, fast and damn fun, perfectly befitting something with TMNT in the title, but with a heartier punch than you might expect. It may have a slow middle (after a nicely done, feel-heavy intro), but this issue’s robust derrière is luscious enough to keep me coming back next time.

Adam: BUY

I didn’t enjoy the last issue too much, but I loved this one.  The story was great and intertwined different plot points together extremely well.  This issue for the Turtles was all about trying to find out who’s really on their side and sticking together through all the crap they’re going through.  I loved the books’ art-especially during the action sequences.  I was definitely wow-ed by it and found myself examining the different panels for subtleties that the artist threw in.  I like the dark nature of the issue, but I would’ve liked them to push it a bit further.  I guess they can’t do that since they’re under license to Nickelodeon, but it got old all of the times they said ‘crap’ or ‘damn.’  It just isn’t believable that these evil characters would talk like middle schoolers.  It goes without saying that it would’ve been cooler to see more gore in the fight sequences as well, but overall I’d say this is an issue well worth buying.

Dustin: BUY

This issue wasn’t as amazing as the last, but it was still a “buy” in my book. It reminds me of the third issue in the arc which built the plot more than anything else. I do wish that Bebop and Rocksteady made an appearance as it was teased in the last issue, but I’m guessing that won’t happen until their solo issue explaining their origin. One thing is very clear about the story from this issue though, they really are gearing up for something big. Personally I think that they’re going to pull an “X-Men” and have the Turtles leave Master Splinter’s side feeling that they can’t trust him, but we’ll see. It’s going to be a very different series after this arc and I’m looking forward to that as much as I am the conclusion. This is the most interesting the Turtles have been since I first discovered them as a kid and that’s just an awesome feeling to have.

Score: Buy It!

Story: Kevin Eastman, Boby Curnow & Tom Waltz Writers: Tom Waltz Artist: Mateus Santolouco with Charles Paul Wilson III Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 9/25/13