TMNT Macro-Series: Leonardo Preview and Discussion

AlZarkovski · 11-17-2018, 01:23 AM

First Look:

Spoiler:

11-17-2018, 02:15 AM

Man, that art looks good. These Macros just continue to impress.

***First of Two Latin Kings*** · 11-18-2018, 06:54 AM

I wish they would stick to artists with clean crisp styles like this.

*CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy* · 11-18-2018, 10:35 AM

Whoa, I dig that Sophie isn't doing the usual "cute Turtles" art here!

*Rooish* · 11-19-2018, 08:41 AM

Agreed, the art is really lovely. Nice that Mikey has some interaction with Pepperoni; he has always been the pet guy to me.

bushido · 11-19-2018, 09:18 AM

I like the new style of Sophie Campbell. We can tell by her drawing that the turtles are older than at the time she was drawing Northampton.

*Utrommaniac* · 11-19-2018, 08:03 PM

The thing I love about Sophie's art is that you know what tone you're getting from the way she designs.

Round-shaped characters and bright colors? A fun time for all!
Squared-off characters with cold-palette with watercolor style? Seriousness and mysticism, high likelihood of angst.
Sharp-shaped characters with bright colors? Action time!

And yet even through all the changes in shape and color, you can always identify her style.

Joey Kamikaze · 11-24-2018, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ***First of Two Latin Kings***

I wish they would stick to artists with clean crisp styles like this.

Same. I hate getting issues that look like they colored someone's first draft sketches, like back when the Triceratons were in town a few issues back. This on the other hand looks great.

*Redeemer* · 11-24-2018, 10:41 AM

Best/favorite design I have seen in a while. Cant wait for this issue!

11-24-2018, 03:03 PM

Shouldn't the full preview be out by now? Isn't the issue out on Wednesday? Same for #88.

*Utrommaniac* · 11-24-2018, 05:19 PM

Yeah, I was just wondering about that.

daggio · 11-24-2018, 10:03 PM

I'm extremely curious about the synopsis. The solicitation talks about Leo taking refuge in Northampton, some sort of confrontation with Karai and Koya, and then some decision that will alter TMNT history. Between this and the synopsis for the Raphael Macro talking about a fight with Bishop, maybe the conclusion of Battle Lines is really gonna have a ripple affect on the TMNT.

bushido · 11-27-2018, 01:50 AM

Full preview here.

11-27-2018, 07:08 AM

Looks great so far. Seems somewhat quiet in a way, the fact that they're letting Leo reflect on the events that happened is pretty welcome, lots of stuff is going on so it's cool that they're using this Macro to address it.

AlZarkovski · 11-27-2018, 12:42 PM

Small spoiler. Looking at all, we'll see

Spoiler:

11-28-2018, 12:04 PM

I'm really interested in what you guys think about this issue. I enjoyed it, but, there was something off about it and I just can't put my finger on it. There is some stuff I can say for sure I liked/disliked, but overall there's something to this issue that I'm not sure how I feel about.

Anyway, the art. I think most of it looks great... most of it. Two things I just can't get behind, though, and those two things I dislike immensely. How Turtles look so cutesy and how Karai's face makes her look like Babidi from Dragon Ball Z. The rest of it is pretty stellar, though. The part where they're going back to New York just blew me away, and the fights looked absolutely great. Those two things in particular were what I liked the best about this issue's art.

Now for the actual story elements.

Spoiler:

The spiritual/mystic part felt really off to me. Like, I genuinely don't get the purpose. It wasn't done in any sort of interesting way or whatever. "Look, Leo, we can feel you being in danger now!"...cool? It just feels so dull.

I pointed it out before but I did like that they took this issue as a sort of way to slow things down, let the characters look back to what happened and think about it, let it sink in and stuff. I still like that. I also enjoyed Leo talking about how he sort of wishes Splinter was flat out evil because it'd make things easier for him. It was interesting, though definitely on the nose.

Sort of tying into that, some BIG stuff happens in this issue but it just feels so dull. As I'm writing this, I figured out what's probably one of my main reason for "disliking" this issue and it can be summarized in three words(I don't necessarily dislike it, I just have some pretty big problems with it): show, don't tell. Karai just telling us all about her plans isn't that interesting to me personally. I get why they took this sort of approach and it's not necessarily the wrong way to do it, but, despite how they just dropped what could define the entire story going forward, it just made me think "Cool, I'll just wait to see it happen then." Until we do actually see it in action, I don't really care. Honestly, despite this being such a huge moment for TMNT, it just felt like filler to me. I don't know, I haven't thought this point through too much honestly and I might end up changing my mind.

Tying back into Leo's thoughts, and just overall the way he acted this issue... I'm not sure if I like it that much. It's hard to write Leo well, I can say that for sure. But the way he acted felt much more childish, so to say. He honestly felt like a more mature version of Mikey. The way he just jumped on board with Karai's plan immediately isn't exactly what I'd call the best idea. Donnie might be the turtle we all associate with intelligence because of his knack for science, but Leo is smart and I'd think he would handle this situation somewhat better. Honestly, the Mikey Macro did Leo better than the Leo Macro did, in my opinion.

The dialogue between Leo and Koya was very well written and I like how they low-key acknowledge that we completely forgot about the old Foot gang... which, wouldn't you guess it, leads into my next problem with it, go figure. The entire conversation kind of falls flat for me because I could genuinely not care less about Koya. If she got hit by a car randomly and just died there or got killed off-screen I wouldn't care. The series didn't give us a single reason to care about the Koya-Leo rivalry, so seeing it be 'resolved' to some degree makes me feel absolutely nothing.

Just to finish off, personally I didn't like this issue (which is something I rarely ever say about issues of TMNT) but I can't say I disliked it either. I feel like I ripped into it way too much with my rant, and there's definitely cool stuff, don't get me wrong. I'd put this at my personal bottom of the ranking list for the Macros so far, though, keep in mind, the Donnie Macro is one of my favorite issues to have been released recently and the Mikey one is outright one of my favorite issues of TMNT of all time. Then again, I might just be overly critical today.

Sorry about the massive wall of text, I know you probably don't want to hear my TED talk on here but there's just so much stuff regarding this that I wanted to talk about.

~~ChosenOne~~ · 11-28-2018, 12:25 PM

Spoiler:

Campbell outdid herself here. The story, the fight choreographies, the new plot points relating to City at War, those last few pages that look like a spiritual successor to Calvin & Hobbes... This is frickin' amazing. At this rate, it'll be hard to single out the best Macro of the bunch, they're all that good!

*CyberCubed* · 11-28-2018, 01:50 PM

Nice art this issue too, especially the fighting between Leo/Koya which was well choreographed. I also appreciate where they went with the storytelling. But as said above, some things felt a bit odd:

1. Natsu (was that her name?), Ocho, and Bludgeon don't even talk, or say a single line. Even when they're all standing next to each other. Am I correct in saying this is the first time Natsu and Ocho have ever met the Turtles, and vice versa? Like..they don't even know who they are. Really strange Natsu didn't get a single line of dialogue.

2. Koya being bloodthirsty to take revenge on Leonardo, to backing down so quickly, felt kinda rushed. Also remember there was a back-up in Universe showing Koya seemingly go more insane with her lust to take revenge on Leonardo, and this didn't really seem to pick up from that plot point as well as it could have.

3. Karai was also a lot more friendly with the Turtles than she should of been, considering the last time they met was issue 50, where Splinter killed Shredder and Karai just seemingly split after Splinter asked if they could be allies. I mean have people forgotten Karai has not been in the main ongoing since issue 50? Her interactions with the Turtles seem far too friendly from their previous encounter, like there was some middle story arc we missed or something.

4. Although this is minor, Bebop/Rocksteady make no appearance even though Karai recruits them again after the end of their last mini. But again this is fine and they didn't have to appear here, we don't know how much time has passed and they're probably in NY still.

Besides that I enjoyed the issue. I mean I'm not sure what they did here will stick given we know the next arc is literally titled, "City at War," but it is nice to see Karai and her minions not want to kill the Turtles immediately.

Then again we have that new cover preview of issue 90+ that shows the Karai and her mutants in villainous poses...so I dunno, maybe there was some miscommunication between plot points...shrug. But otherwise I loved the art and storytelling. Very Mirage-like.

~~ChosenOne~~ · 11-28-2018, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

4. Although this is minor, Bebop/Rocksteady make no appearance even though Karai recruits them again after the end of their last mini. But again this is fine and they didn't have to appear here, we don't know how much time has passed and they're probably in NY still.

If Karai didn't go there looking for a fight, leaving those two behind (assuming she's already recruited them at this point in time) is the wisest thing she could do. Things have a tendency to escalate very easily when they're around.

Cloudrunner · 11-28-2018, 02:03 PM

I think both Koya and Bludgeon had decent character building during Karai's mini, but I still don't care that much about them. I think maybe they just need more interaction with the turtles and other characters to cement themselves. Hopefully we can see more of that in the coming arc. Though I hope they do a better job fleshing them out than they did Alopex, who gets occasional spurts of development before being completely forgotten about (even during plot points she would legitimately be invested in *cough* pantheon *cough*).

11-17-2018, 01:23 AM	#1
AlZarkovski Mad Scientist Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Russia Posts: 1,017	TMNT Macro-Series: Leonardo Preview and Discussion First Look: Spoiler:

11-18-2018, 10:35 AM	#4
CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy Annalist Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 16,435	Whoa, I dig that Sophie isn't doing the usual "cute Turtles" art here! __________________ *ALL THEIR DAYS ARE NUMBERED*

11-19-2018, 09:18 AM	#6
bushido Stone Warrior Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: France Posts: 708	I like the new style of Sophie Campbell. We can tell by her drawing that the turtles are older than at the time she was drawing Northampton. __________________

11-19-2018, 08:03 PM	#7
Utrommaniac Resident overthinker Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: what is going on.......... Posts: 5,318	The thing I love about Sophie's art is that you know what tone you're getting from the way she designs. Round-shaped characters and bright colors? A fun time for all! Squared-off characters with cold-palette with watercolor style? Seriousness and mysticism, high likelihood of angst. Sharp-shaped characters with bright colors? Action time! And yet even through all the changes in shape and color, you can always identify her style. __________________ DeviantART

11-24-2018, 10:41 AM	#9
Redeemer Technodrome Technician Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: third earth Posts: 4,737	Best/favorite design I have seen in a while. Cant wait for this issue! __________________ GT:Reedeamer *THE TECHNODROME REDESIGN 2015* http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=51594

11-17-2018, 02:15 AM	#2
Igglet Guest Posts: n/a	Man, that art looks good. These Macros just continue to impress.

11-19-2018, 08:41 AM	#5
Rooish Devil's Advocate Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 2,121	Agreed, the art is really lovely. Nice that Mikey has some interaction with Pepperoni; he has always been the pet guy to me.

11-24-2018, 03:03 PM	#10
Igglet Guest Posts: n/a	Shouldn't the full preview be out by now? Isn't the issue out on Wednesday? Same for #88.

11-24-2018, 05:19 PM	#11
Utrommaniac Resident overthinker Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: what is going on.......... Posts: 5,318	Yeah, I was just wondering about that. __________________ DeviantART

11-24-2018, 10:03 PM	#12
daggio Foot Soldier Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Greenwich, CT Posts: 239	I'm extremely curious about the synopsis. The solicitation talks about Leo taking refuge in Northampton, some sort of confrontation with Karai and Koya, and then some decision that will alter TMNT history. Between this and the synopsis for the Raphael Macro talking about a fight with Bishop, maybe the conclusion of Battle Lines is really gonna have a ripple affect on the TMNT.

11-27-2018, 01:50 AM	#13
bushido Stone Warrior Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: France Posts: 708	Full preview here. __________________ Last edited by bushido; 11-27-2018 at 03:06 AM.

11-27-2018, 07:08 AM	#14
Igglet Guest Posts: n/a	Looks great so far. Seems somewhat quiet in a way, the fact that they're letting Leo reflect on the events that happened is pretty welcome, lots of stuff is going on so it's cool that they're using this Macro to address it.

11-27-2018, 12:42 PM	#15
AlZarkovski Mad Scientist Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Russia Posts: 1,017	Small spoiler. Looking at all, we'll see Spoiler: Karai & Koya. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/teena...3/4000-693316/

11-28-2018, 12:04 PM	#16
Igglet Guest Posts: n/a	I'm really interested in what you guys think about this issue. I enjoyed it, but, there was something off about it and I just can't put my finger on it. There is some stuff I can say for sure I liked/disliked, but overall there's something to this issue that I'm not sure how I feel about. Anyway, the art. I think most of it looks great... most of it. Two things I just can't get behind, though, and those two things I dislike immensely. How Turtles look so cutesy and how Karai's face makes her look like Babidi from Dragon Ball Z. The rest of it is pretty stellar, though. The part where they're going back to New York just blew me away, and the fights looked absolutely great. Those two things in particular were what I liked the best about this issue's art. Now for the actual story elements. Spoiler: The spiritual/mystic part felt really off to me. Like, I genuinely don't get the purpose. It wasn't done in any sort of interesting way or whatever. "Look, Leo, we can feel you being in danger now!"...cool? It just feels so dull. I pointed it out before but I did like that they took this issue as a sort of way to slow things down, let the characters look back to what happened and think about it, let it sink in and stuff. I still like that. I also enjoyed Leo talking about how he sort of wishes Splinter was flat out evil because it'd make things easier for him. It was interesting, though definitely on the nose. Sort of tying into that, some BIG stuff happens in this issue but it just feels so dull. As I'm writing this, I figured out what's probably one of my main reason for "disliking" this issue and it can be summarized in three words(I don't necessarily dislike it, I just have some pretty big problems with it): show, don't tell. Karai just telling us all about her plans isn't that interesting to me personally. I get why they took this sort of approach and it's not necessarily the wrong way to do it, but, despite how they just dropped what could define the entire story going forward, it just made me think "Cool, I'll just wait to see it happen then." Until we do actually see it in action, I don't really care. Honestly, despite this being such a huge moment for TMNT, it just felt like filler to me. I don't know, I haven't thought this point through too much honestly and I might end up changing my mind. Tying back into Leo's thoughts, and just overall the way he acted this issue... I'm not sure if I like it that much. It's hard to write Leo well, I can say that for sure. But the way he acted felt much more childish, so to say. He honestly felt like a more mature version of Mikey. The way he just jumped on board with Karai's plan immediately isn't exactly what I'd call the best idea. Donnie might be the turtle we all associate with intelligence because of his knack for science, but Leo is smart and I'd think he would handle this situation somewhat better. Honestly, the Mikey Macro did Leo better than the Leo Macro did, in my opinion. The dialogue between Leo and Koya was very well written and I like how they low-key acknowledge that we completely forgot about the old Foot gang... which, wouldn't you guess it, leads into my next problem with it, go figure. The entire conversation kind of falls flat for me because I could genuinely not care less about Koya. If she got hit by a car randomly and just died there or got killed off-screen I wouldn't care. The series didn't give us a single reason to care about the Koya-Leo rivalry, so seeing it be 'resolved' to some degree makes me feel absolutely nothing. Just to finish off, personally I didn't like this issue (which is something I rarely ever say about issues of TMNT) but I can't say I disliked it either. I feel like I ripped into it way too much with my rant, and there's definitely cool stuff, don't get me wrong. I'd put this at my personal bottom of the ranking list for the Macros so far, though, keep in mind, the Donnie Macro is one of my favorite issues to have been released recently and the Mikey one is outright one of my favorite issues of TMNT of all time. Then again, I might just be overly critical today. Sorry about the massive wall of text, I know you probably don't want to hear my TED talk on here but there's just so much stuff regarding this that I wanted to talk about.

11-28-2018, 12:25 PM	#17
~~ChosenOne~~ Banned Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 3,951	Spoiler: Oh, Leo, such naive optimism... Like Splinter would ever give up his position peacefully. Campbell outdid herself here. The story, the fight choreographies, the new plot points relating to City at War, those last few pages that look like a spiritual successor to Calvin & Hobbes... This is frickin' amazing. At this rate, it'll be hard to single out the best Macro of the bunch, they're all that good!

11-28-2018, 01:50 PM	#18
CyberCubed Overlord Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 41,031	Nice art this issue too, especially the fighting between Leo/Koya which was well choreographed. I also appreciate where they went with the storytelling. But as said above, some things felt a bit odd: 1. Natsu (was that her name?), Ocho, and Bludgeon don't even talk, or say a single line. Even when they're all standing next to each other. Am I correct in saying this is the first time Natsu and Ocho have ever met the Turtles, and vice versa? Like..they don't even know who they are. Really strange Natsu didn't get a single line of dialogue. 2. Koya being bloodthirsty to take revenge on Leonardo, to backing down so quickly, felt kinda rushed. Also remember there was a back-up in Universe showing Koya seemingly go more insane with her lust to take revenge on Leonardo, and this didn't really seem to pick up from that plot point as well as it could have. 3. Karai was also a lot more friendly with the Turtles than she should of been, considering the last time they met was issue 50, where Splinter killed Shredder and Karai just seemingly split after Splinter asked if they could be allies. I mean have people forgotten Karai has not been in the main ongoing since issue 50? Her interactions with the Turtles seem far too friendly from their previous encounter, like there was some middle story arc we missed or something. 4. Although this is minor, Bebop/Rocksteady make no appearance even though Karai recruits them again after the end of their last mini. But again this is fine and they didn't have to appear here, we don't know how much time has passed and they're probably in NY still. Besides that I enjoyed the issue. I mean I'm not sure what they did here will stick given we know the next arc is literally titled, "City at War," but it is nice to see Karai and her minions not want to kill the Turtles immediately. Then again we have that new cover preview of issue 90+ that shows the Karai and her mutants in villainous poses...so I dunno, maybe there was some miscommunication between plot points...shrug. But otherwise I loved the art and storytelling. Very Mirage-like.

11-28-2018, 02:03 PM	#20
Cloudrunner Foot Soldier Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 220	I think both Koya and Bludgeon had decent character building during Karai's mini, but I still don't care that much about them. I think maybe they just need more interaction with the turtles and other characters to cement themselves. Hopefully we can see more of that in the coming arc. Though I hope they do a better job fleshing them out than they did Alopex, who gets occasional spurts of development before being completely forgotten about (even during plot points she would legitimately be invested in cough pantheon cough).