Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #85

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• 9.5
  

  I Review Comics

  Oct 19, 2018

  Tom Waltz (Author) Brahm Revel (Artist/Cover Artist)   Ronda Pattison (Colorist)
  
  
   
  Of all of the books that I read monthly the one that tends to have the best character development for its leads is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The series also has some of the best written & motivated villains of any ongoing series. 
  
  What's frustrating as a critic is that you see books constantly being rebooted and events coming and going. On the other hand, you have a series like TMNT chugging along and getting next to no attention from the mainstream comic press. 
  
  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #85 is a great single issue. The turtles get a call from April regarding a disturbance at a museum. One of Baxter Stockman's mous ers has been destroyed and when the turtles investigate, they find an injured security guard and Leatherhead. They try to reason with Leatherhead. The turtles offer friendship and understanding but he is besieged by visions of Krang. This initiates a PTSD event. Leatherhead was tortured by Krang for hundreds of years and although krang dead  he's is still not over the trauma.
  
  The visage belittles him relentlessly. As Leatherhead tries to destroy the vision he begins destroying the museum and accidentally injures Mikey. The turtles finally begin defending themselves and fight back. After being put down, Leatherhead escapes into the night still being tormented. 
  
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  Tom Waltz kills it in this issue. Leatherhead isn't a bad guy. He's been driven mad by torture and the unnatural state of simply being a mutant. We also get cool moments between the turtles. Raph telling Leatherhead to get over himself because they all have issues was great. All of our mutants have experienced trauma but the difference between the turtles and most of the other mutants is that they have each other. This is what allows them to overcome their enemies. 
  
  They aren't the biggest or strongest but they have each other and as long as that remains the case they can overcome anything. In another life, they could have been just as damaged as Leatherhead.
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  I'm not a huge fan of the art style for the turtles this go around but it still works because Brahm Revel is a dynamic artist that can layout a fight scene. The art is has a lot of energy especially when the pace pics up. The fight/confrontation is appropriately epic. Although I have preferences for how my turtles look the art and colors here complement the writing well. This is a great team.
  
  Rating A.
  
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• 7.5
  

  myconius

  Aug 22, 2018

  the things i enjoy about this series-
  i really like how Waltz is finally focusing more on the Turtles.
  there are finally fun moments again, Michelangelo is getting to be light-hearted and fun loving.
  humor is steadily coming back to this series, and that's a very good thing.
  the Turtles are also finally getting to see some action, though not enough for my taste.
  
  the pacing on the other hand is slowwwww.
  Donatello said in issue 70 that was thinking of turning their old van into a battle vehicle. we finally catch back up with that concept in issue 85 and he's not even made any real progress with that.
  this is very slow burn storytelling, with a series of lukewarm anti-climaxes sprinkled here and there.
  >
  and the melodrama-
  the series focuses less on exciting action and adventure, and more towards soap opera.
  like the budding relationship of Vigilante Casey Jones and Ninja Clan Chunin Jennnika. not what i really want to spend time on in a Tmnt comic.
  
  "hope you like vanilla, Jennika."
  
  in that line of dialog, it had finally occurred to me what this IDW series is. Vanilla Tmnt.
  
  the confrontation with the Turtles and Leatherhead was fascinating. too bad more time wasn't spent there.
  Leatherhead is still haunted by his demons and his actions from issue 75. but here we are 10 issues later and we're finally getting back to that. and who knows how long it'll be before we see Leatherhead again?
  
  Brahm Revel's art is progressing mildly.
  it's not my all-time favorite art, but it is serviceable.
  i'll put it this way, it's not art i'd want to frame and hang on my wall, but it tells the story it needs to tell.
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• 6.5
  

  Hislight

  Mar 07, 2021

  Slow...more setup...

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• 6.5
  

  Gizmo

  Feb 05, 2026

  Turning the Foot headquarters into a daycare is pretty funny. I like the expressions of Leatherhead but he's pretty smart, I feel like he'd pick up on an illusion pretty quick.

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• 10
  

  ÃœberGinger

  Aug 23, 2018
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