By Chris Tresson

TMNT Universe #2 is out this week from IDW. I reviewed the first issue and it was a pretty good start from the creative team, so I’m heading into the second issue expecting more of the same… Let’s see, shall we?

The issue starts off with the turtles running away from The Earth Protection Force, having tried to get out of Baxter’s lab at the end of the last issue and failing to do so. Donnie is still unconscious (and remains conked out for the entirety of the issue, poor sod) and the EPF are ramping up their efforts to get the turtles and their scorpion pal. The scorpion seems to take every opportunity to kill people and is generally just a bad person throughout the issue. There’s a lot less action and more chatting in this one than the last issue but I didn’t really mind because it all moved along quite nicely at a steady pace. I really liked the ending to this one and it seems I’ll be sticking around for issue three to see what happens next in this story. The back-up story was great again, too, though a little slower than the previous installment.

Writer Paul Allor continues to do a great job with the story, I can’t complain about anything he’s done in the issue. It had good pacing and although there was less action than the last issue, it was a solid issue. Given the two issues I’ve read, I’ve noticed he knows how to write great endings to issues, the sort that make you want to know what happens next. That’s a great skill (considering you want people to what to know what happens next.) Damian Couceiro continues to impress with the art, I'm still really liking it and the quality hasn't dropped any. And Ronda Pattison, who's done the coloring again, it's a great job from her, too. The series is filling that turtle shaped hole in my heart.

Although this was a great issue (and it seems like a great series so far), I do have one gripe which has nothing to do with the story… The only thing I take issue with here, and I didn’t really notice it last time I reviewed the title, is the price of this book vs the page count. The worst part about it being that if you search for the covers on Google or whatever, you’ll find all the covers have $3.99 on them i.e. someone must’ve decided to bump up the price after it was solicited. I get that the turtles are super popular and fans will pay $4.99 for this book regardless, but price is a big deciding factor for most comic fans, especially these days when people don’t have as much money spare to blow on comics… If I’d actually bought the issue from a retailer, I might not be able to justify picking it up again… the price would be the deciding factor there. I'm not singling out IDW here because it's not uncommon for companies with popular characters to bump up the price (Deadpool did it not too long ago with that issue that was $10 and fucking garbage, remember?)

Anyways, all I'm saying is that $4.99 is a bit pricey for some. Luckily for me, I read this for nothin’! And when I pick it up from my comic shop on Wednesday, I’m only paying cost for it. So regardless of whether it’s a good story or not, that might not matter to some people. It might just be too pricey for what it is. Vote with your wallet, eh?

Score: 4/5

TMNT Universe #2
Writers: Paul Allor, Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz
Artists: Damian Couceiro, Kevin Eastman & Bill Sienkiewicz
Colorists: Ronda Pattison & Tomi Varga
Publisher: IDW Publishing