TMNT: The Armageddon Game #1 Preview and Discussion
 

Preview here.

Thank God the art is good.

I have a hard time with Jennika still. Not because she's a female (pains me that I have to clarify that), but just because it feels like such a forced way of having a token-female ninja turtle.

Not to make a stink of it. That's "just, like, my opinion, man."

Actually, I'm not even 100% sure why it doesn't jive with me. As a kid, I sort of liked Venus. I don't know if that's just changing perspective or if there is something specific about Jennika that doesn't work for me. Needs more thought.


I agree that the art looks pretty nice.

Aqua, could it be because she's basically hijacking Alopex's role in the team and family dynamic?

Love the art and Karai/the Foot being relevant again.

Alopex was cool, and I'd love to have her there instead, but I'm not sure that's why.

It seems like Jennika being a turtle doesn't serve any purpose that couldn't be served by her being human.
At least in terms of the story or character dynamics. I'll admit it can be fun to see art with five ninja turtles on it, and comics are a visual medium, so I won't act like that's for nothing.

Glad to have the updates as always!

Fun fact: this is also the 250th issue in the IDW chronology.

It's a weird thing to commentate here since she's barely in this preview and doesn't even say anything @.@

She speaks at the bottom of the last page: 'Go easy with the Kuji-kiri. Copy that.'

Eh, hopefully they just use the Turnstone to get rid of her along with Mutant Town by the end of this story or something.

This is a new artist? Seems to be a good fit, although the Turtles seem to be drawn slightly too tall. Better than the cutesy look they had in the main ongoing though for a long time.

Also it's kind of funny they consider Baxter a formidable foe, he's just a normal human, any one of them could bust into his mayor's office and just knock him out on the spot. :lol:

That and Karai knowing about Null (am I forgetting something?) took me out of the moment, but then again, consider what will happen IRL to anyone who tries or even succeeds in taking out the Mayor of NYC...

It's like... Good and bad that the art on the Opening Moves and Armageddon Game proper has such good art and the main book doesn't, no offense to that person. Like it shows that this is a big event, bring your A Game to these books, but it also makes the main book feel like an afterthought.

I guess Jennika feels like an afterthought since she has no real personal stake in this or any previous interaction with the Rat King and such. At least Alopex has beef with both Shredder and Kitsune and it would be more interesting to see her having to be forced to trust them now.

Like is there any beef between Jennika and Karai seeing that Karai almost killed her and any mutant angst she's feeling is pretty much her fault?

No, but there is clearly a beef between Karai and Kitsune, which further cements Jennika's status as an afterthought.

Jenny and Karai dealt with their issues during the 'Tokka & Rahzar/ Battle of the Bands' arc.

I don't think so. This is a comic preview featuring Jennika, so I brought up Jennika.

I think the reality is that it's just a touchy subject and people get weird about it.

Sorry, I unironically forgot about that. You're right, of course.

Oh hey, nice cameo!

Wow, this was really good. Some actual plot! Really puts into perspective you can use the same exact characters but have a different writer handle them and it makes a world of difference.

I won't spoil anything but this was the best issue in a long time. I'm really excited for this arc now,

Congratulations, Tom Waltz!

Glad you are back with a bang! Greatest issue since 100. Finally I can return to being a fan of TMNT - I have something to feed my appetite on!

As far as wokeness goes - Campbell's run on comics and Rise of TMNT on Nic, enough is enough!

In this issue so many of our favourite "pawns" are back into play, and not Rat King, but Waltz is the mastermind behind it. I've spend an hour reading and appreciating the beautiful art, especially April's face! I love waiting for the next issue and exited for "Aliance" by Burnham - he was amazing on Ghostbusters.

By the way, please continue the Ghostbusters series, get the rights to Jurassic Park and kill off Jennika in the 8th issue of Armageddon Game!

Another dream would be if you'd de-mutate all humans turned mutants, except for Bebop & Rocksteady, along the road!

Amazing work and huge thank you, Tom!

I agree that this has been one of the best issues since 100! This is also one of the few issues I have reread in a while since It was actually interesting besides the last ronin series. I’m very excited to see where this storyline goes and can’t wait for the next issue. Hope mutant town gets destroyed. Not only has the story’s taking place there has been horrible. I think it would really heighten the intensity of the story.

Honestly wiping out mutant town would raise the stakes. It would clearly show that Rat King isn't playing around. It would be his version of Null having the Mutanimals murdered but on a grander scale.

As much as I hate just purging characters for the sake of "stakes"... I find myself in agreement.

Yeah, just get rid of them, they've been a drain on the series for over two years.

I mean I imagine creating a cure to de-mutate all of them would make more sense, just killing an entire population seems unlikely. Once you turn most of them back into humans besides the ones that were animals before mutation then it's the same thing.

I would agree, but if we pretend the false dichotomy of "Kill them all to raise the stakes or just let them stick around" is valid, then clearly I'd pick the former option.

I think the big problem is some of the more important characters will likely stick around in some form. They're not going to kill off Jennika or Mona Lisa or whomever as much as people would want it. Turning them back into humans is an easier way to write them out. I think the weasel children and Lita were humans before mutation too, right? So just turn them back into human kids. And Sheena that lesbian pig can be human again and go off with Jennika.

Of course we know Sally and Herman were animals before mutation, I think Man Ray too, so I see all the old Mutanimals sticking around.

But what if it was the pig whom Jenny was attracted to? That means no more bacon-tasting kisses.

Mr Waltz has a teaser for issue 2: https://twitter.com/TomWaltz/status/1575206379891044352

Ewww... I bet everything tastes like bacon.

Man, Waltz's writing was sorely missed

The dude really knows how to write all the different characters and actually make them distinct from each other

I literally forgot Natsu existed for awhile. I wonder what the plan is for her, she always felt out of place. I'm surprised they had her stick around.

Wouldn't Sheena have to be a smoker with bleeding gums for her kisses to taste like bacon?

I will kill the turtles and conquer the world and then i will kill rat king too!

Do we know if Mateus Santolouco is ever returning?

The only problem with the art is Leonardo's head reminds me of the Supermutant toy/Magna.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/action...8388264943699/

Only some covers as far as I've seen.

With the weird cloning thing and Darkwater returning, do ya'll think Bishop could return? Have him cloned as a normal human instead of mini-Bishop that looks exactly the same but isn't a robot

EDIT: They could throw in some line about being genetically manipulated with the turtle clone DNA and that's why he can fight or something

I'd like to see the return of Agent Ravenwood from the B&R mini series.

I sure hope so! He could come back as more of an antihero, too.