5 out of 5

Most insanely batshit comic ever written: the trophy now goes to Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything.

This is exactly what I want in my TMNT Universe.  And yes, I agree that the madness of a title like this is better in small doses, but combined with the god blessed genius of the Batman mini, what we’re seeing represented here is the smart B-movie variant of our half-shelled heroes; the Ice Pirates or Buckaroo Banzai of the Turtles.  It’s an approach that the Mirage crew more or less latched on to with the second Tales volume, although that was a bit more family friendly in a lot of ways, whereas the two IDW titles I’ve just highlighted have a glorious sense of abandon fueling their actions which makes them feel a bit more “adult.”  I mean, yes, I like dealing with the lore “seriously,” but there’s always been an element of comedy and silly to the concept, and so it feels slightly off the mark when the main IDW gang goes all weepy-eyed Don died / Mike’s sad, etc.  Just give me some ridiculous yuks already.

And it’s like Ben Bates and Dustin Weaver felt the same, and, both having arted on the series, had to jail their desires behind the narrational bars of other writers.  Unleashed on their own mini, all that built up craziness has vomited onto every goddamned page, and it is glorious.

I mean, also: it’s really, really dumb.  But the best kind of dumb.  The dumb that’s not pointing dumb fingers at itself every five second, but also not the really dumb that foregoes any plotting just bcuz whatevs y’all I’m jes goofin’.  So Donatello tries to explain to us the time-travel hijinks that allow B & R to steal Renet’s time wand and, uh, destroy everything (indirectly, of course): he has some jibber-jabber with his mates about crossing realities, and plans are formed for tamping those down and getting back to the right one and whatever else, but Bates and Weaver (the script is credited to the latter, story to both) know not to hit pause to make sure this all makes sense to everyone.  Everything’s getting destroyed after all, so, yeah, you get it, time, right? and now let’s get going to the next page.  And everyone got in on this freaking party, in part because it works with the different dimension gag – one artist per timeline, and I actually think it’s worth some extra props to note that Ben and Dustin did seemingly stick to this concept by having artists return for pages here and there when we jump back to that particular stream – but also because this must’ve been a blast to do, letting loose every Elseworlds concoction and joke and TMNT random characters onto the page, and not being limited by a house design because its an alternate world so whatcha gonna do.  And then here comes Bill Crabtree, giving all the non-color themselves artists their own vibe, and letterer Shawn Lee finagling a pretty hefty script into crowded pages without making the reading miss a beat.

The Turtles have an in-built B-movie ethos.  Fans are fans, and sometimes that results in grim and gritty interpretations, or more “mature” attempts, but I’m always going to be for bringing in a bit of goofball to the series.  ‘Destroy Everything!’ wants this also, and embraces it, and its characters embrace it – I love that they’re constantly laughing at their own dumb puns and jokes – and it results in a completely insane experience that was, first and foremost, one of the best Turtles series I’ve read, but secondly, one of my favorite comic experiences.

Here’s hoping the upcoming TMNT Universe allows for more of this kind of style.