Written by: Jason Aaron
Art by: Joëlle Jones
Colours by: Ronda Pattison
Letters by: Shawn Lee
Cover: Rafael Albuquerque
Published by: IDW Publishing
(There will be spoilers)
We open at Rikers Island in NY, a hard prison full of hard people, one of whom happens to have a hard shell: Raphael. He narrates the day-to-day life inside, picking up on the weaknesses and fears of those around him, insights that only he can discern. For instance, three prisoners have just made an escape tunnel into the sewers underneath the prison. Being a ninja, it’s simple for him to navigate back to the place he called home for his whole life and stop the three from escaping, leaving them as a package to be found by the guards.
If, like me, you’re wondering why he happens to be in prison, we don’t have to wait long to find out. We see that the Warden has struck a deal with Raph: he works the inside, taking down the corrupt elements in the prison, and in return, the Warden will make sure that Raph’s past “problems” go away. The guards are corrupt, the prisoners are worse, and three new inmates who’ve been transferred have been causing chaos everywhere they’ve been placed until they ended up here. The Warden wants these new prisoners watched to find out who they are.
One day, Raph wakes up to find a guard killed outside his cell and knows exactly who did it. Grabbing the police clubs and heading out, he runs into the three new prisoners—yes, Foot Clan members. Fighting them, he barely survives and figures out that the Foot Clan is after him and, more than likely, his brothers as well. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a clue where they are and hasn’t spoken to any of them since the events that led them to go their separate ways.
Rushing to the Warden to relay what he’s learned, he finds the Warden already dead, a pair of sais left in his body, with all the information about Raph being in prison as a favor to the Warden gone, stolen from the safe. So, now he’s in there for good, with no one else knowing he shouldn’t be. Right on cue, the guards come in and find him in the room with the Warden’s body.
Thrown back into his cell, he knows she has to find his brothers and warn them that they are all marked. Being the ninja he is, he simply escapes back into the sewers to track them down.
I’m assuming him now being a fugitive from the law is going to create more than a little trouble as the story progresses.
While this is happening, a possibly new DA of NY has been pulled over by police and taken to meet someone for a little chat: the current DA, who lets him know that it doesn’t look good for his career to be arrested for drugs the night before the election. As the new DA complains that he hasn’t done anything, the “police” toss him off the bridge to,
I’m assuming his death. Maybe not; it could play out differently, but who knows? We won’t know for sure until possibly the next issue. As the issue closes out, the current DA, Hale, tells his ‘police’ to let Kurai know that NY is or will soon be theirs.
So, to recap: Raph is an escaped convict on the run. Ninjas are hunting him and his family. Corrupted politicians and the Foot Clan are tied into every aspect of it. Things are starting off fast, and I’m only guessing that it isn’t going to slow down over the course of this year-long storyline celebrating 40 years of Turtle Power.
Solid storytelling takes on a ‘noir’ feel with the narration. While it’s wordy at times, it works perfectly to maintain that tone throughout. The artwork is wonderful, carrying the story and adding depth with great action and movement, plus the crucial static moments of dialogue and body language.
Just a great start to this brand-new series. I’m looking forward to what’s coming next.
Thanks for reading! Do you have anything to add or want to discuss? Feel free to comment.
Until next time…
Overall: 9/10
Lifelong comic, movie, tv and book fan.
