3 out of 5

Because they need to star together in a mini-series, Donatello and Leatherhead are hanging out together, fixing up something or other – LH sort of acting as a Casey Jones stand-in from the TMNT movie – when a rocketship lands nearby, and an old man steps out, requesting help.  Sure!  But first: old man kicks our duo out into the Hollow Earth, to ‘test’ their abilities.  Sidestepping that turtle-o’-science Donatello goes with the whole Hollow Earth thing, the premise gives writer Stanley Wiater and artist Garret Ho the opportunity to offer up various bits and pieces from lost civilization media and myths: Land of the Lost; Amazons; giant bugs; El Dorado.  The three issues, though featuring lively art from Ho with bright color work from Barry Grossman, never really do much with the quirky setup, besides having Don and Leatherhead bounce from place to place, always against somewhat generic ‘jungle’ backgrounds.  There are also odd inclusions, such as a jungle dweller who helps them out but doesn’t have much more of a role in the story, and a constant reminder that the Amazons’ horses can’t fly, even though they clearly do.  The ending is also of the same “I guess we’ll end here” caliber as the opening’s lack of any real rhyme or reason for our leads to be hanging out, but none of this is wholly sinful.  It’s an entertaining three issues, Stanley Wiater doing the same kind of light world building he’d do in the TMNTA specials, which is promising, but would’ve been cooler if we could’ve seen more done with it.  That stands as a general review of this mini, as well.