I like how we get a little time to go over what each of the turtles are doing, while still balancing it nicely with action sequences. It's so nice to see the turtles rendered by Jim's capable hands.

Casey being a cop threw me for a loop at first, but honestly seems like the ultimate payoff for his entire character arc. He went from a street thug practicing vigilante justice to a police officer upholding actual justice. It's fun to speculate that perhaps he turned himself around by sobering up in response to his lost night with Karai in Vol. 4.

Speaking of volume 4, I'm quite glad Jim seems to have taken the approach of avoiding addressing it's cliff-hangers. While I'd be all for a conclusion helmed by Lawson, I wouldn't feel right about it unless Pete gave his approval and input. What Jim is doing now is great, the fact that Don and Mike are also working with the police definitely implies continuity with the fourth volume without actually explicitly declaring it.

Raph's family gave me hard 90's movie Foot Clan vibes, which is totally awesome. His character seemed spot-on to me: a fiery compassion willing to commit small wrongs without thinking to address what he perceives as bigger wrongs. It's not surprising, but it is nice to see how well Jim understands these characters.

And the best part? That this is only the first part! We already have two interesting plot threads to follow- Shadow's involvement in crime and the conflict this will cause Casey, and the problem of Raph's mutating sewer orphans. I don't know how Jim plans to release future installments, but I'm excited for them to eventually surface.