Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Micro Series, Volume 1
Written by Brian Lynch
Art by Franco Urru, Andy Kuhn, Valerio Schiti, Ross Campbell
IDW Publishing
Release Date June 26, 2012
Cover Price: $17.99

I’m enjoying the heck out of IDW’s new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, but I didn’t pick up the TMNT Micro Series when the issues came out, which turns out to have been kind of a mistake. If you’re reading the main series at least half of the issues in this collection are of some import to the main series as they introduce elements that are fairly important. The other half are stories that haven’t tied in directly to the main series (yet), but are still fun.

There are four issues in this collection, each issue focusing on one of the main Turtles, and if I have to explain who the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are, you may have been asleep for the last quarter century and you probably have more important things to catch up on. Raphael goes out on patrol with Casey Jones and runs into a new mutant who may be part of a bigger threat. Michelangelo goes out on the town and spends New Year’s Eve at a party, until he gets caught up in a diamond heist. Donatello goes to a technology convention and makes a new friend who is kind of a jerk. And Leonardo goes out to kick some ass.

Writer Brian Lynch does an excellent job with the characters and finds each of their unique voices. These are characters who have been around for a while, and most readers are pretty familiar with them at this point through a variety of mediums. Lynch has no problem getting to the heart of who each of the turtles are and shows us who they are and what makes them different from each other. All issues collected here add an extra layer to the main series, while still telling a fun story in itself.

The art is a bit of a mixed bag, which is to be expected with 4 different artists. All the artists do a good job with the characters and the general mood of the series. I really liked Ross Campbell‘s work on the Leonardo issue, but was less of a fan of Valerio Schiti‘s work on the Donatello issue. It’s all decent work, but there’s nothing super distinctive about it. All the art gets the work done, but none of it makes me stand up and say this has to be seen.

If you’re reading IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, you’ll want to pick this up and read these issues. There’s a lot of stuff here that is important enough to the main series that you will want to have read it (although it’s not necessary). If you’re not reading the main series, but are a fan of the heroes in a half-shell, this is a good introduction to the series and may get you interested enough to give the series a shot. I’m going to give this a 3 out of 5, and then I’m going to go out and get me some pizza.