Comic Book Review: TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything #1

Jared Leatzow |

Jun 8, 2016

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) comic book is one of the most fun comic books you will read. It has a fairly tight storyline, great characters, and does a wonderful job of combining all the best elements of the various TMNT franchises to create something wonderful and unique. That being said [easyazon_link identifier=”B01GQVL4JC” locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything #1[/easyazon_link] was not a good start to this new series.

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Bebop and Rocksteady are two of the most iconic villains to come out of the 90s era television show and they just made an appearance in the latest film, Out of the Shadow. They are two mutated knuckleheads, one a warthog and the other a rhinoceros, who work for Shredder and The Foot Clan. On the show, their ineptitude sometimes would foil their boss Shredder’s plan. In the comic they are still knuckleheads, but are practically invulnerable and a greater threat to the turtles than they ever were in the show.

In issue one, we find our heros (or rather villains) without a job and without any sort of direction. The humor of these two characters, despite being immensely powerful, is that their only aspirations in life are to be henchman in a gang. Bebop and Rocksteady are stranded in a foreign country, without a job, and the means to get back home to New York City.

Artist Ben Bates has an interesting style. It seems fast and kinetic, but it often times overwhelms the page. The pin up art for this book looks great, but the page layout is a weakness . At times it seems like Bates runs out of room to draw within the panels. It seems overwhelming and is a little bit of a headache at times. The redesign for Renet looks stupid as well, she now has a giant clock on her head.

The plot feels like it is going to be a lot of fun. It involves time travel. Yet, the dialogue is clunky and not very natural.

The connected universe is both a good thing and a detriment. It is great because it is fun to have one coherent universe of interesting characters. Bad in that it can be a strain on the wallet, and when a comic like this one is a clunker it is still a must buy. That and there is no telling how the events of this comic, and the following issues will further tie into the continuity.

Even a novel concept like the TMNT/ Ghostbuster crossover was a must read for the series simply because it is referenced in later issues of the main series.

I am hoping this series improves with the next few issues. I really like the characters of Bebop and Rocksteady, and I also really love the main TMNT series. However, I feel sort of manipulated into reading a new series that isn’t really that good.

The Verdict

This is not a great issue, the direction it is moving in seems interesting, but the art and writing could use improvement. The turtles and their supporting cast have always been great, and IDW has been hitting mostly home runs when it comes to the TMNT shared universe. However, [easyazon_link identifier=”B01GQVL4JC” locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]TMNT: Bebop and Rocksteady Destroy Everything #1[/easyazon_link] is like a foul ball. It’s not totally a failure, but there is room for improvement. Still for continuity sake, this is a must read simply because you never known when the events of this series will be referenced in the main title.