4 out of 5

How long did it take for the Archie series to break out of the single-part story concept?  Because I am enjoying the Amazing Adventures re-invention – it does seem like the supposed increased freedom the writers are given with the characters has provided for more fun stories – but there still aren’t stakes, even by comic book standards, and so it hampers the impact.  That being said, ‘Frogs of War’ is proof enough that the stories can still be a good time, and even though it is essentially still just a single tale split between two issues, as this requires the writer to give it at least two climaxes (yeh dirty writers), the silliness isn’t quite so transparently rushed as it was with the previous animated book.

And Manning gives us a plenty silly tale, with Napoleon Bonafrog’s mates kidnapped by The Foot for… something something… and the froggle coming to New York to team up with the Turts and set things a’straight again.  Matt’s take on Napoleon is honestly a lot more amusing than his appearances in the show thus far, and his comic timing (very purposefully pun heavy) throughout these issues certainly earns some chuckles.  Like most Turtles scripters, he has trouble scripting Mikey as something besides The Dumb One, but I appreciate when, at least, Mike’s just used as a comedy counterpoint and not as a “my antics make the plot happen” contrivance, which is how he’s applied here.  More praise for Chad Thomas and Heather Breckel?  Sure.  Every beat Manning scripts is amplified a thousand times by the life Thomas gives to the page, and his balance of foreground / background elements syncs perfectly with Breckel’s pop colors.

Caleb Goellner writer both backups this time, and both are amusing, though dismissable.  Issue #9 is a metalhead tale, and issue #10 could be seen as a nod to the VR trend going on right now.  Ruiari Coleman’s art in 9 is… odd, as though traced from computer models; Ben Harvey in 10 is a better fit, a tad angularly, anime-influenced, although his figures jut out curiously from the backgrounds at points due to a very heavy character outline.

I keep saying it, but I hope these (essentially) one-shots are just warm-ups for moving into longer form storytelling.