Old Hob created Mutant Town – much against the will of its residents. Separated its citizens from their families, possibly for the rest of their lives, and policed all who fell beneath his purview, and after a rally turn riot, the old feline fascist has finally been taken down. The question now is: what next? TMNT #121 Written by Sophie Campbell, drawn by Jodi Nishijima, colored by Ronda Pattison, and lettered by Shawn Lee.
I’m not sure how I feel about TMNT #121. I certainly haven’t come away from it completely satisfied. Why that’s sitting with me more than most unsatisfying comics, however, is that it feels like this exact flavor of dissatisfaction in my gut is entirely by design.
As someone who goes through issues I’m reviewing several times before reviewing, I enjoy when an artist leaves enough detail in the background to be able to deepen the story every time I read through it again.
I can’t imagine how much of a pain crowd scenes in a comic are, and TMNT has the extra challenge of having its crowds mostly be mutant animals, no two alike aside from our titular turtles themselves. I think the thing that sticks out to me most in this issue is on the second page – the moment a child stops an enraged mob from beating up a defeated Hob. There are some who are, of course, appropriately guilty, ashamed at having been caught up in the moment, unable to quite look anyone else in the eye. A few of them, though? They just look mad that they can’t just go back to kicking Hob while he’s down. If you can get that kind of emotiveness from an ant in a little black dress, you’re going to impress me – but more to the point, it’s a moment that shows just where this comic is at. Old Hob may be out for the count, but in terms of the Splinter Clan building up a safe community? Their troubles are only just beginning.
There aren’t many things that are satisfying about this TMNT #121. It wasn’t the community victory of removing Hob from power through free and fair elections, and a last-minute betrayal from Ray means that Hob isn’t even completely the villain of this piece. The Mutanimals home base is nothing but drab, dreary walls, making multiple reads of this comic a somewhat tiring affair. There’s a chase scene, yes, and some action – but the stakes are nothing. Hob was never going to get away.
What we get is Raphael growing increasingly frustrated as Hob throws multiple irritants his way. A knocked-over bookcase, spray from a fire extinguisher, suppressive fire from a hermit crab with major artillery for a shell – Hob does not go down easy, even after he’s lost. The enmity between Raphael and Old Hob was always personal, right from issue one of this revamped series, and Raphael nearly runs the old cat through with his sai as he quite literally pins him to the wall.
This is not the violence of an action comic. This is the violence of a directionless community robbed of a clean win. None of this is satisfying – as the little pink-masked weasels keep popping up to remind us all, the violence here is tragic, and when the adrenaline fades, more than a little exhausting.
Tragedy and exhaustion are certainly things that Sally Pride is feeling. She’s stepped up to be the leader of Mutant Town, but she never meant to win like this. Her old friends have betrayed her and tried to have her killed. There are people in her community who would like to kill the Mutanimals right back. Mutant Town has been abandoned by New York, leaving it without a justice system, and in the space of an afternoon, Sally’s gone from simply running for Mayor to having to design a justice system from the ground up. Old Hob may be bitter, but he’s right – Sally and her allies are in over their heads.
However, as uneasy as things are, it’s definitely still a win. Some mutants, like Donatello and Mona Lisa, are able to recognize it as such, reminding the reader that there’s still hope ahead. This riot was a messy step towards something new. Old Hob’s Enforcers are no longer terrorizing mutants in the streets. I’ve gotten used to TMNT playing the long game, and this feels like the start of some real change.
All conflicted feelings I have about this issue, though, are thrown right out the window in its final scene, as Hob manipulates the weasels’ love for him with the rosy promise of family, to get them to assist in his escape. The weasels are children – children who have been used by Hob, and drawn into conflicts they are much too young for because of him – and here Hob is, drawing them right in again. Right, okay, writing this paragraph out? I’m with the ant in the black dress – I want to kick him right in the stomach all over again. Some choices are just evil no matter which way you cut it. It’s a good reminder that when a villain does something despicable after almost making you feel sorry for him, it’s so, so much worse than a villain who was just terrible all along.
TMNT #121 is a messy, unsatisfying epilogue for an arc that feels like it popped out of the background, half baked. It may be an issue that stays with me more than most, though – for nothing else but as a snapshot of how uncertain things were for this community at this point in time. Dissatisfaction when done well in a story can be a powerful tool, and I believe it’s one that’s been used effectively here – because I am now that much more invested in seeing things set right.
