Black, White and Green: The good, the bad, and the meh

Tatoruzu

So the Black, White and Green mini-series is currently underway. Each issue features four stories by different artists/writers in black and white (and green).

I'm hoping that IDW is using this series as "try-outs" for their in-continuity TMNT comics. To be honest, the series reminds me of Mirage's Turtle Soup, which was also an anthology series featuring different artists and writers, some of whom went on to write, or had written, for the main Volume 1 comic.

In the hopes that IDW will follow the Mirage tradition of picking up talent from their anthology collaborations, I'm going to highlight some of the good, bad, and meh stories in Black, White and Green so far.

But before I do, I just want to say that I'd recommend buying both of the anthologies released so far (as of writing this), even if every story isn't a banger.

The Good

The Brutal Sword of Leonardo - Dave Baker & Jesse Lonergan
Hooo boy, this one is a gem. This one feels like an honest-to-god real TMNT story that you could've picked up 35 years ago. The premise is pretty simple: Leonardo is sent to an alternate dimension filled with dinosaurs, castles, and innocent anthropomorphic peasants. It has everything you'd want in a TMNT story: action, a weird scenario, and... well, I guess that's about all you need.

And I think part of what appeals to me about this issue is the similarities it has with issue #8 with Cerebus.

But story aside, the art is beautiful, and it works really well in black and white. I'd love to see what Dave and Jesse could do if they were given a full TMNT story to work with.

Green Screen - Declan Shalvey
Green Screen is a Donatello-focused story, and yeah, we've had so many Donnie-focused stories recently, but this one has a touching message, which I'm a sucker for. Essentially, the turtles go out to fight while Donatello stays behind and tries to help by giving computer-based support. But in the end, he realizes that his brothers need him to fight in person, or in his own words, "my brothers need a ninja, not a keyboard warrior."

Declan's art is pretty solid, but I'm not sure if I'd say he nailed the black & white style. There is a lot of gray used throughout, and it really takes away from the contrast that black & white comics usually have. And Nathan Widick's lettering uses a lot of light greens in this story, which isn't doing Declan's art in favors in my opinion. But those are just nitpicks. Overall, the art is well done.

Buddycount - Gavin Smith
I believe this is Gavin Smith's debut as a TMNT writer after having his own stint as an artist on the main comic. I've never had any complaints about Gavin's work as an artist, and I always felt like it was a shame that he had to be paired with Sophie Campbell's writing. But with Buddycount, Gavin had a chance to show what he can do as a writer, and he does not disappoint.

Buddycount is, of course, a pun referencing the Bodycount comic featuring Casey Jones and Raphael. Buddycount, on the other hand, features Casey Jones and Mikey taking down some goons. Casey was investigating a gang named the Viper Boys with the sort of vigilante brutality you'd expect from Casey. He called in Mikey to help, who ended up arriving in typical Mikey fashion on a skateboard. The story ends with a fun mutagen-fueld twist.

Deadly Delivery - Mikey Way, Nikola Cizmesija, & Lee Loughridge
The art and coloring in this story immediately stands out to me. It's beautifully well-done. Nikola Cizmesija absolutely nailed the action scenes, but also the humorous/comedic scenes. The panel with Michelangelo "loading" is just so good. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that April looks great in this story. On top of the beautiful art, Lee Loughridge absolutely nailed the colors — he wasn't afraid to use white to let the characters pop when they needed to, but he used different shades of green to appropriately shade when necessary. And no ugly gray shading.

The story is pretty decent. There's a pizza monster plaguing patrons of pizza delivery services. However, the pizza monster seems impossible to defeat. In the end, the turtles concoct a plan to have the monster defeat itself. Yeah, it's nothing crazy, and I'd be lying if I said the art didn't carry this story, but sometimes a good story can be a simple story that doesn't get in the way of good art.

The Bad

Identity Theft - Paulina Ganucheau
Donnie was working on an experiment with some goo, but it went awry and created a couple of turtle goo clones. So the turtles struggle to fight them before finally defeating them.

Honestly, this just doesn't feel like a TMNT story to me. I feel like the story was completely inconsequential, which I guess is understandable for a short story like this, but you could've replaced the turtles with any other group of four characters, and the story wouldn't be any different.

As for the art, it's just your typical Tumblr blobby style. It might be cute for something like a webcomic, but seeing it in a "real" comic just feels cheap and low-effort. It's just soulless digital slop. And it's just exhibit #546321 why the comics industry should gatekeep better.

The Meh

The Flame That Fuels You - Gigi Dutreix & Lorenzo Hall
In this story, Raphael stormed out after having a fight with his brothers. Raphael went to bed, and he was sent to his soul (or something) and was visited by a creature calls Opie, which I guess is supposed to be the demon child from Shredder in Hell. But then Raphael encounters the Thieving God (who was from the Mirage universe). Raphael is only able to defeat the Thieving God after learning something about himself, and in the end, he reconciles with his brothers.

The story is okay. It's weird to have cameos from both the demon kid and the Thieving God, who are from different TMNT canons, but I can let it slide for a non-canonical story like this. My main problem with the story is really that the action scenes are kind of weak, the message is kind of flat, and the dream world/soul world wasn't made interesting at all. On top of all of that, the art isn't anything to write home about and it suffers from the same downsides as Declan Shalvey's story with the heavy reliance on gray and the failure to use contrast well.

If By Feast or By Famine - Tyler Boss
This '87-inspired story features Michelangelo parodying a private investigator or detective trying to get to the bottom of a missing pizza. In the end, it's revealed that Splinter was the culprit all along — he assumed the pizza was a birthday present from the boys.

If you're a huge fan of the '87 turtles, I could see you really enjoying this story. I don't necessarily have a problem with stories about the '87 turtles, but this one in particular just wasn't very exciting or interesting to me.

However, I will say that the art is strong in this story. The way different shades of green were used for different lighting and shading was well done. And the use of bold black outlines made the art very readable.

The Green Dogu - Javier Rodriguez
In this '87 story, an evil real estate developer bought an ancient mind control relic off eBay, which he used to buy up property from local businesses in the city. The turtles beat the shit out of the real estate developer and stole his relic, the Green Dogu, and then used its mind control powers to command the foot clan to go to jail.

Honestly, it's kind of funny when you consider the fact that the real estate developer didn't commit any crimes or anything. He legally bought an old relic off of the internet and was using it to purchase property — I'm not sure if there are any laws against using ancient mind control relics to purchase property off of others.

But regardless, the story is just meh to me. And the art, while it isn't bad, isn't good enough to compensate for the meh story. There's nothing bad that stands out, but nothing good stands out either. It's just an all-around meh story.

Tatoruzu

Going to update this thread when I get around to reading #3

Tatoruzu

I know it's not quite as interesting when I'm just repeating "oh yeah, this is good, and this is good, and this is good" over and over again. But honestly, guys, I can't help it. Issue #3 of Black, White and Green is just good. All four stories were delightful in their own ways. It's probably the best one so far. I don't really have anything too detailed or critical to say, but I'll leave my thoughts here anyway.

The Good

The Beast That Bleeds Green - Jock & Dom Reardon

This art in this one is really nice, dark, and shadowy. It's exactly the type of vibe you'd want in a TMNT story. And to make it even more like a quintessential TMNT story, the setting is a sewer and the conflict is about mutation.

I really feel like this story could have went somewhere, but it ended on a cliffhanger with no "to be continued." If I look at this as 1/3rd of a story, it's fantastic. But even despite the cliffhanger, I still think it was an enjoyable read.

Sin Sewer - Dave Wielgosz & Riley Rossmo

Alright, this one goes hard. I didn't know anything about this story going in except for the picture of Raphael in a trench coat. I thought it was going to be another boring detective or private investigator story. Turns out, it's an homage to Frank Miller's Sin City!

The art is very much like Sin City — it is very black & white, with a lot of white space used much like how Miller used it. No complaints here from me.

This story has a lot of text, as you'd expect from a Miller homage. Raphael soliloquizes throughout the entire story. A woman, Esmeralda, tells Raphael that she needs her help saving her sister from the control of her parents, who are crime bosses or something like that. As it turned out, Esmeralda was just using Raph's anger so she could take her parents' loot for herself. Raph, being humbled, went to his brothers to help him clean up the mess he caused.

I like Esmeralda character. She reminds me of the Old Town prostitutes from Sin City (but obviously without the prostitution). I dunno, she just has that same scrappy, self-interested, female criminal vibe that the Sin City prostitutes have.

Overall, good story, good art.

Miami Vacation - Alexis Ziritt & Carlos Giffoni

In a sharp contrast to the previous two stories, Miami Vacation is much less serious, much more zany, and much brighter.

It's hard to pin point why, but there is something so satisfying about the smooth cartoony art by Alexis Ziritt. Additionally, the turtles had so many hilarious facial expressions throughout the story.

The story itself is about Mikey encountering Leatherhead on a boardwalk in Miami. Hilarity ensues.

Green Means Go - Cameron Chittock & Michael Shelfer

I'm usually not a fan of car chase stories, but this one isn't bad. It's very reminiscent of the original issue #3, where the turtles and April were whipping around in her van. Only in this story, it's in pursuit of Stockman.

The art appears to have a lot of gray, which I criticized other stories for, but it's not the same. If you look closely, you can see that the artist used black & white screentones (I'm not sure if these were added digitally or not). They did a fantastic job using this for shadows and April's hair. And speaking of April, she's gorgeous in this story!

Tatoruzu

Aw shit, here we go again.

The Good

The Book of Splinter - Patrick Gleason

Alright, I'm going to be honest with you guys. I'm only categorizing this one as "good" because of the art. April has huge boobs, which automatically bumps this story up in my eyes. No, but seriously, the art is really good. The turtles look really badass and the story ends with a great two-page splash of the gang. I also really like the page where the turtles are at the ranch (which was falsely identified as April's farm, but it's okay).

The story isn't amazing, but it's passable. It's from the perspective of some Foot Clan A.I. robot or something, and Splinter and April were somehow captured. I dunno. Look, I already told you this one is good for the art, okay?

The Meh

Legends - Lee Garbett

Master Splinter and... gasp! A BLACK WOMYN! Both tell a bed time story about four Kappa (Japanese mythological turtle creatures... who are depicted as normal turtles) who defend a forest from some evil weasel creatures. The moral of the story is that it's important for the turtles to be protectors because "not all creatures have shells."

I guess it's a cool little story, and it might be touching to some people. But for me, personally, it doesn't really pull on my heart strings or anything. I don't really like it when the turtles are written with a moral imperative to be protectors or some shit.

For what it's worth, the art is passable. Most of the story is about the fable of the four Kappa, so it's in an ancient Japanese-esque style. Nothing to write home about though.

Shredder Gets Caught on Things - Chris Condon & Carson Thorn

The premise of the story is that Mikey is some sort of news anchor and he's reporting on all the different times Shredder was "caught on things." There are cameos of the Mirage, 1990, 87, and 03 turtles. Wait, that's all of the GOATed versions of the turtles. Hmmm, maybe this story should be promoted to the "good" section. The problem is that this really isn't much of a story. It feels like a "clip show" episode. You know what I mean by that, right? It's like when a TV show dedicates an entire episode to showing old clips of the show.

The art isn't bad. They nail the visual style of some of the older iterations. But other than that, there's nothing particularly special about the art. No fancy layouts or splashes or anything like that — just basic panels.

Overall, it feels a bit... lazy... despite the fact that it's a good homage to older iterations of the turtles.

The Bad

Does This Android Dream of Electric Sheep? - Jeremy Holt & Sebastian Piriz

I was originally going to classify this as "meh," because I didn't hate the story that much. It's about Donnie as a cyborg and coming to terms with his superior intuition and the inevitability of a future without his brothers after they die out. The premise is okay enough. But is this supposed to be Image Donnie? Raph only has one eye. So I'm going to assume it's in the Image continuity. So that's cool, I guess.

But the reason why this story is not "meh" and has been downgraded to "bad" is because upon reading it a second time, it really hit me how fucking awful this story looks. Most of the story is illustrated from Donnie's perspective and his fucking retarded ass cyborg vision. And it's a fucking diarrhea explosion of gray. You realize it's supposed to be BLACK, WHITE AND GREEN? Not fucking gray. It's fucking awful. It's trash. It's garbage. It's fucking unreadable. I hate it from the bottom of my heart.