TMNT: Jennika II #5 Preview and Discussion

[AlZarkovski]

First look:

Spoiler:

[Mutant Ninja Anole]

Thanks for the heads up. I actually really like this character interaction. Raph touches a nerve, but isn't too unreasonable, while I get Jennika's reaction. He is pointing out the obvious dangers in the situation, but given Jenny's personal connection it's easy to think, "Hey, just let me be happy about this at a time when everything tends to be awful." Which is quite relatable these days. And hey, Alopex as the go between with other characters when Raph gets abrasive works. She can actually relate to the former villain turned good guy dynamic.

[lonewarrior20]

so is she making stew or Italian? i do like that al's wearing something other than bandages and a poncho.

[Technogeek29]

Really dig how the Turtles are drawn here

[slashpieturtlemix]

I am very curious how this arc is gonna wrap up.

[lonewarrior20]

Originally Posted by Technogeek29

Really dig how the Turtles are drawn here

I just noticed jennika's got freckles/spots.

[lonewarrior20]

looks like it got delayed until next week and 115 til the 17th.

[hypered1]

Originally Posted by lonewarrior20

looks like it got delayed until next week and 115 til the 17th.

Yup, I've updated the release dates thread.

[ChosenOne]

I'll be honest, the number of typos in this issue kinda took me out of the moment. Otherwise, another great entry in the mini.

[Mutant Ninja Anole]

I feel for the kid in this situation.

Lucia isn't insane, though she's made a gross miscalculation and is clearly being driven by pride and frustration with her situation to act rashly. In addition to being cold and brutal. I can appreciate trying to get out of Mutant Town and wanting to be appreciated. But you know, maybe not as a member of the mob? Her ultimate goal should be to set up a path for Junior to get out of this life. Even Vito Corleone wanted that for Michael, that's part of the tragedy of The Godfather.

Ahem, to be fair, Mutant Town is a pretty rough situation where you kind of have to carve out your own rule of law, and TMNT IDW New York has always had a degree of the wild west anyway. I've spent too much time defending IDW Splinter here to say Lucia doesn't at least have a point.

That said, she can't force Jennika to start killing for her again, and she is unintentionally setting up her own downfall by bringing the Turtles, Alopex and who knows how many people down on her with this action. The tough part is I don't know how Junior responds when he realizes Jennika murdered his dad. I don't see a better than deeply bittersweet ending to this story.

Edit: While I doubt this will play into the final issue, I just remembered that the area crime families are subordinate to the Foot Clan, if Karai hears that one of the mob families under her Foot are being attacked by a ninja turtle, well...Lucia might hope the Turtles get to her first. And if Karai interprets Jennika helping Lucia as the Turtles helping a rival crime family in her territory and possibly interfering with the turf she has already established with her deals with Old Hob, the dojo is suddenly at risk.

Again, I doubt that comes up, given there is only one issue and Karai already factors into the main comic but it did come to mind.

[hypered1]

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

I'll be honest, the number of typos in this issue kinda took me out of the moment. Otherwise, another great entry in the mini.

I could only find two missing apostrophes (pages 9 + 11) and one missing word (page 17), it doesn't seem that egregious? (Certainly not the worst that we've seen).
It was a good issue though.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by hypered1

I could only find two missing apostrophes (pages 9 + 11) and one missing word (page 17), it doesn't seem that egregious? (Certainly not the worst that we've seen).
It was a good issue though.

Sounds about right from what I can remember but that's all it takes for a silly perfectionist like me. Going from 1-2 typos in the whole series to 3-4 in a single issue is a tremendous leap.

[lonewarrior20]

well that was interesting. it was cool to see junior playing with the kids and we got to see the koala vendor again. lucia's making a mistake, she should've known when to quit and something tells me the mutant mafia's about to get some broken bones.

[CyberCubed]

I like the art, but this story really feels like, "filler" to me. Just a random story of gangsters we've never really seen before.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I like the art, but this story really feels like, "filler" to me. Just a random story of gangsters we've never really seen before.

Yeah, the stakes are really, really low. There's street level and then there's this. But it's still a nice story.

I was hoping for IDW Chien Khan, but oh, well... Maybe next time. (Smart money says there'll be a next time.)

[Mutant Ninja Anole]

I’m bored so I suppose I’ll chime in and say these are the sort of lower stakes stories I actually want, “filler” comments sort of make me inwardly rage on reflex, and there are times I think for this story’s purpose bringing in an original character works better than one we’ve seen before because it leaves her actions less predictable and her fate out of this story up in the air. And it’s not like mafia gangsters haven’t shown up quite a few times in this series and in Turtles lore. I actually find Lucia the most interesting of of any of the stereotypical mob bosses we’ve seen so far.

I mean, we have two stories going on in which Jennika deals with her past demons, in different ways, and while I’m not here to dump on the main series, if I had to choose I said this one resonates with me a bit more. It deals with the reverberations of her deeds as an assassin and how that affected innocents. It’s like finding out about the family of the random guard that gets killed in a fight scene and how they deal with it. And I kind of like that.