The concept for Turtles in Time is cool. The Turtles travel to all different places and time periods for a one issue adventure. No doubt that the art is awesome and who would have thought you would see these Turtles in crazy ass places again? I remember all my Turtle toys from cavemen trolls to outer space. It was great. But even though the concept is cool, the comic lacks something for the Turtle universe. Let me first tell you how this all goes down in the right ways. I like how the issues feature a different artist and writer. With so many fans growing up with these mutants, it showcases how each person views the Turtles. And surprisingly, the comic still flows together character-wise with having so many writers. It has always been obvious each character's role within the comics, but still I don’t see a difference in degree. I also enjoy how each comic feels like a one-shot. The story starts and completes within each single issue. This allows for readers to not feel pressured to buy every issue and also can enjoy the different situations that a reader may like more than others. It has positives within the series but as a mini-series, I couldn’t see everyone loving this comic so much that they had to read every story.
Now I hate to rip on the Turtles because I am really trying to get into Turtles in Time, but the stories are cheesy and don’t add anything to the already existing story. When I read new TMNT things, I want them to 1) ultimately relate back to the main comic. That is what got me off the TMNT- Animated comic. It was a repeat of the show. Although tons of fun, it didn’t add that layer. And 2) it has to entertain the hell out of me. I mean these are the Turtles, so if they live up to anything less than awesome, it starts to eat away at you. With just these two reasons, it is reason enough to just focus on IDW’s TMNT series.
This week the Turtles travel to the ocean blue in 1726. They appear when two pirate ships are fighting. Thinking about the Turtles as pirates sounds good in theory, but it didn’t work... at all. Dinosaurs I could see. The Turtles sort of look like dinos. Samurai’s I could see because they are samurais. But pirates, not lame, make the Turtles look awkward and out of place. Maybe that is the point but again, I want to see the Turtles in a place where they can embrace themselves. In no way do the Turtles fit in with pirates. The whole story was jammed together in order to fit the one-shot, so not only was the setting cheesy but the action and plot fell into that category as well.
I think with so many Turtle comics, you have to weed out the unimportant ones. So no matter how much I want or you want Turtles in Time to work, it just isn’t working. Once I see some crossing over with the main comic, I think I will shy away from these mini-stories back in time.
Score: 2/5
Writer: Erik Burnham Artist: Ben Bates Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 8/27/14 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital