3 out of 5

I’ll admit that my main problem with this arc – that the ‘war’ in the city never really feels like its happening (more that we’re just told that it’s happening) – could disappear if I go back and read this series in one sitting.  But since we just came off of the Krang War arc (which did, by comparison, feel properly anarchic), I’m somewhat doubting it.  However, as usual, should time change my take, I’ll tweet you all an RSS and upload a selfie Facebook update so you can hashtag my… my butt.  And if and when that update happens, I’m sure all of those references will be outdated.  Yeee

Let’s start with the script, and let’s start start with what went well.  For reference, Eastman and Curnow are co-credited with ‘story,’ with Waltz alone on script, so I’m going to give the majority of credit / criticism to him.  One of the most rewarding things in watching this current TMNT series grow has been watching the creators cherry-pick from years of the different publishers and continuities to create their own unique take.  ‘City Fall’ might be an updated ‘City at War’, and might make references to the Archie series, or Image, or, of course, Mirage, but these are not winky retellings – each element has its legitimate place within the IDW world, and this storyline was no different.  While the execution might not’ve been perfect, watching the pieces fall into place in the Micro-series and the Annual has been fun, and the overall direction of this arc (ignoring the gang war) – Shredder’s attempt to destabilize the Turtles by turning Leo to the dark side – was surprising in a good way: I fell for the Raphael / Leo bluff that started things out and I was uncertain as to the extent that the creative team would take things.  Meaning I couldn’t predict where the story was going to go, which is always a good thing… especially when a sense of internal logic can be maintained for a whole tale, which has been the case thus far.  The family bond was really well done here.  The focus of brotherhood has always been, obviously, a strong selling point in every iteration of the Turts, and the machinations of this particular plot gave Waltz and crew great opportunity to individualize the boys and yet make it clear why the team ethic important to them (and thus to us).  Along those same lines of world-building, bringing in almost all of the side characters and story elements in valuable ways solidifies this current world in a way that, truly, no previous version of the Turtles has successfully kept at for so long after having established it from the start.  So at a distance, this was a great idea with some strong character work.

Up close things, of course, get a little wonky.  The scope just never feels right – this massive war, the incredible process of ‘flipping’ Leo, whether using magic or not, I just never really bought it.  Which should be a main focus, of course.  The Shredder vs. Turtles rivalry sits well, so those scenes in particular work, but otherwise… even at 7 issues, it seems to happen too fast.  I understand jamming it all into one arc, but I almost would’ve separated the Leo portion of the story out and then built up the city war for this arc.  It was wise to shuttle Bebop and Rocksteady and Hob and Hun’s stories to the side, but even there, some sticking to the micro format didn’t always work – Hun’s sudden change and rise to power is a rashly handled in his one shot and his presence in ‘City Fall’ doesn’t carry the weight it should.  Waltz also has the, eh, ‘gift’ of excessive exposition.  Which plagues a ton of comic writers, but it was actually to the point of being distracting in this arc, reminding me of the recent Lethal Weapon 6 episode of Always Sunny where Mac frequently recites what’s happening right then convinced that the audience needs a refresher… when it’s him who’s confused.  There are a lot of pieces to ‘City Fall,’ so Waltz seems to constantly need to recite each character’s motivation from scene to scene.  Yes, month long breaks make sequential stories tough on readers, but there are more graceful ways to do this, and it very much interrupted the general flow for me.

At a distance: interesting, but in the gutters, some key elements were missing.

Now to the art.  Santolouco has definitely upped the ante for the book.  While I’m not too keen on his take on Mike, who looks too goofy with his mini-bandana and round head, I really appreciate how unique Santo tries to make each and every character.  He’s also good at creating a sense of space and remembering to move those characters around that space appropriately.  In the last issue, there’s a battle in a theater, and as the players move around from the aisle to the stage, I had no problem seeing the area and how things were playing out, which has as much to do with a good balance of background details (giving the space weight without overplaying the foreground) as it does with designing your panels more from a 3D perspective than just a strict “this shot will look cool” layout.  His paneling sometimes breaks this effect, as I’m not clear on when he decides to draw over the borders (like it doesn’t always lead my eye appropriately or add to an action), but this is balanced by a good balance of stable grids vs. experimentation.  My one problem with his art… is that he doesn’t seem to like to give in to expectations of splash panels or pages, as though demanding that we evaluate every panel equally.  So shots that should be punctuated by giving them more space – an explosion, a running tackle, etc. – are often the same size as more static panels, which upsets the visual timing a bit.  And for some reason I put this on Santolouco and not a tight panel-by-panel script.

But I’m still madly impressed by and enamored with this series.  I love the risks they’ve been taking under a Nickelodeon banner to dirty it up, and the size of what was attempted in City Fall was respectable, even if it ended up being iffy.  I only hope this gives our team of creators confidence to continue in this vein, thus giving them another shot to find a groove to fulfill the potential they’re hinting at.