TMNT: Villain Micro-Series: Old Hob Preview

[TomWaltz]

And for those of you who may think we're fibbing when we say the Old Hob micro picks up directly in issue #23, well, check out this little tease from TMNT #23 (in stores next week!). It's a wee bit of a spoiler, so don't look at the pic if you don't wanna know...

Talk soon!

Tom W.

[DrSpengler]

Here's my review of TMNT Villains Microseries #3: Old Hob at TMNT Entity.

This one was a bit of a dud for me, I hate to say. I was never really taken with Hob during the ongoing, and while this microseries takes measures to pep him up, it didn't really succeed in changing my mind.

The issue essentially takes all his appearances in the ongoing and sews them together, answering any lingering questions that may have been left over. While that's much appreciated, it was a lot of answers but not a lot of *story* (or, rather, story we hadn't read before, at least from one POV).

I was mostly taken with the 4 page flashback to his pre-mutation days. But I'm a sucker for animals, so everyone else's mileage may vary.

Wachter's art was great, though. If the credits are complete, then he did the whole shabang by himself and he's quite good at the full gamut of pencils, inks and colors. That retailer incentive cover was an especially great piece of art (kinda wish it hadn't been the hard-to-get, expensive cover).

So while this one didn't win me over, I WILL say that I'm curious as to what Hob and Slash have cooking. So even if Hob's character isn't impressing me, I'm definitely excited about the possibilities of his story arc.

[CyberCubed]

Old Hob and Slash are cooking up the Mutanimals. Just watch when Leatherhead is introduced, he'll probably join up with them.

[boywonder26]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Old Hob and Slash are cooking up the Mutanimals. Just watch when Leatherhead is introduced, he'll probably join up with them.

I hope so,this would be sweet!

[oldmanwinters]

Ah, but why is Hob referred to as "Old?" He seems about middle-age to me!

[Matches Malone]

Originally Posted by Cipher

I feel like I've just been a negative nelly on these micros as of late, but:

Does Old Hob really need a sympathetic backstory? Does he even need a backstory at all?

I guess I'd just be enjoying these a lot more if they were just one-off character-building stories that featured these villains, a la the four Turtles' micros. Krang's was interesting, Baxter's was all right, but this just feels a little disingenuous.

Judgement reserved until I read the actual issue, of course. Hob is also a really fun character, so there's that.

I kind of have the same feeling, especially when it came to Baxter Stockman's Micro which was just so-so. I wouldn't say it's disingenuous, though. Maybe a little lazy. As if the only way to make a character and interesting is to show his "interesting" back-story! Why not just make him interesting now instead of waiting for the back-story?

Having said that, I actually still enjoyed this Micro, but maybe that's because this attempt to make Old Hob interesting doesn't have much to compete with since there really hasn't been any made at all up to this point.

[Heather Breckel]

Oh man, that looks great! As a cat owner, I don't think my heart can take that intro

[Plasticplayhouse]

i enjoyed this book. it added some back story and tied up some loose ends. sure it wasnt a knock out issue like #22, but it's not suppose to be. this issue had a support roll and i thought it did that rather well

[Crabfight]

I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. Old Hob has the potential to be a pretty cool character, and I'm really interested to see what this plan of his that will terrify the city is. Right now he's an army of two, which makes him seem like the underdog. On top of that, while this issue does show him to be a bit more competent than he's otherwise been portrayed, I'm still not convinced that he has the intellect to be much of a threat. We'll see though!

Two other things:
1) Anyone else getting a George and Lenny vibe from Hob and Slash? I really hope the writers delve deeper into this relationship and allow Hob and Slash to really care for each other.

2) Anyone else love the way these turtles were drawn?! I'd be totally okay with this guy coming back to draw another issue. (Sorry, I don't have the issue in front of me, and I can't remember who did the art in this one...)

[Redeemer]

I actually didn't care for this issue.... They made old Hob a sympathy character and there just wasn't much action.....

[Red Mask]

This look at Hob may be more informative than poignant-- but the way he went about things (playing dumb, etc) sort of defines his "street smart" approach in an appealing way, and presents him as more of a threat than a screw-up (as he kind of seemed before now). That aspect plus the ending has built up my anticipation.

[Crabfight]

I am starting to wonder if Hob is trying to put together some sort of Mutanimals type team. If so, who might his sights be on? Alopex? The rumored Bebop & Rocksteady? Maybe there'll be a second turtle betrayal other than Leo? Hob's methods might seem a bit more appealing to Raph's impatient side...

[LH]

Leatherhead may even empathize with Hob's backstory should they go with the "flushed pet" origin...

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Heather Breckel

Oh man, that looks great! As a cat owner, I don't think my heart can take that intro

You definitely shouldn't read the origin of the Red Lantern Dex-Starr, then.

[Mr_riddler]

For a moment old hob reminds me to Nick Fury, a eye patch a jacket and a cigarette.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Mr_riddler

For a moment old hob reminds me to Nick Fury, a eye patch a jacket and a cigarette.

Heh, I knew something seemed oddly familiar about that page!

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by Heather Breckel

Oh man, that looks great! As a cat owner, I don't think my heart can take that intro

I agree the intro was a little disturbing

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

Originally Posted by TomWaltz

And for those of you who may think we're fibbing when we say the Old Hob micro picks up directly in issue #23, well, check out this little tease from TMNT #23 (in stores next week!). It's a wee bit of a spoiler, so don't look at the pic if you don't wanna know...

Talk soon!

Tom W.

Is Hob smoking a cigar?

Does nobody else see that he is clearly an homage to both Jagwar AND Verminator X?

[Tazi]

Originally Posted by ***The One True Shredder***

Is Hob smoking a cigar?

Does nobody else see that he is clearly an homage to both Jagwar AND Verminator X?

I go further: If they ever introduce a future turtles/future shark kinda storyline, it would make a lot more sense to turn Old Hob into Verminator X, instead of introducing Manx. In case they introduce Baxter's (or Cyborg Donnie's) "biometal" stuff somehow, there's a pretty obvious way how it could happen.


About the issue it was nice, but the first part with the new info was definitely more interesting than the last pages, yet it was nice to watch a recap of Hob's affairs with Stockgen and the turtles, but drawn by a different artist in a different style. I hope he (sorry, can't recall his name) will draw more TMNT in the future.

One thing tho, I don't exactly understand is

Spoiler:

how exactly exactly Hob survived the gun shot. I mean, does he put the testtubes under his t-shirt, because he definitely knew that Baxter will shot him in the upper body? Or was it luck?
Another thing: Did the tube with Splinter's blood broke? Cuz Hob had it unbroken at the first time he met with Slash.

[CyberCubed]

Old Hob becoming Verminator X has been speculated for some time.