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.