After last month’s great issue and arc finale, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have reached their 13th issue. an issue that marks two things: 1- a new story arc and 2- a new artist. so how good is this issue? Well keep reading to find out. (Caution: the review contains spoilers!)

The story picks up after the short battle the turtles had with the shredder. While the boys are chilling at April’s home, Master splinter is meditating and hoping that his children will be ready when Oruku saki, AKA the shredder, strikes back. A silence easily broken when Casey crashes at the door after been beaten up by his abusive father. something that pushed Raph to run to Casey’s home to avenge his friend.

Meanwhile at the foot clan’s hideout, shredder is watching his grand daughter Karai sparring and defeating some of her clan’s ninjas. A show that hardly pleases Saki as he feels that he needs a new second in command that is not his grand daughter, who also happen to be the one who brought him back from the dead.

without spoiling more of the story, the issue ends with two major cliffhangers, as Stockman (who was kidnapped by Krang) open his eyes in a secret facility and discovers that Krang might not be the last of his kind (dun dun dunnn!), and while Splinter stops Raph from almost killing Casey’s dad only to hold his son’s sai at mr Jones throat, telling Raph that he will show him the true methods of the ninja!

Being the first issue of a new story arc, Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles #13 sure does a good job at keeping you at the edge of your seat, especially towards the end. The story is, as usual, written by Tom Waltz who is quite capable of keeping this series fresh, smart, and entertaining. Two thumbs WAY up from mr Waltz.

Unlike previous issues, Issue 13 is not drawn by Dan Duncan (who now has officially left the series) but by Series new comer Andy Kuhn. While it always be fresh to get a new artist on board an ongoing series, i’m afraid to say that Kuhn fails at portraying most of the characters. The turtles, being the heroes of the series, look completely disproportionate with humongous teeth sticking out of their mouth even when their mouths are shut. which bring us to the mouths of the heroes that look completely weird and way too distracting. Casey is beyond recognizable as his head looks completely off. Shredder on the other hand looks cool and maybe even better than the way he was drawn by Dan Duncan.

I hate to be bashing a new artist (who i know, from his Deviantart page, is a great artist) but Kuhn does not fit the Ninja turtles universe, and again it really saddens me to say that while it is a great, great, issue story-wise (and one that will leave a lot of fans shocked and surprised) Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles #13 is the worst looking issue of the AMAZING IDW’s teenage Mutant Ninja turtles ongoing series.

And for the above reason, i will be giving Story and art, each a score, since i do not want my final score to keep fans away from this great issue.