“Baxter Stockman is busy working for Krang on the Technodrome… or so it appears. Little does Krang know that Baxter has secretly been working on his own project that is both mutant AND machine! But when creation turns on creator, Baxter’s trademark smugness might be in short supply! Will Baxter come up with a plan B in time to save himself… and the world?”
In the second issue of IDW’s look at the villains of the TMNT universe, Erik Burnham peers into the past of Baxter Stockman. The story focuses on chess games between Baxter and his Father.
Wrapped around this is Baxter’s work on Burnow Island in the present. Not only do we see a little more of the Technodrome, but we are introduced to Baxter’s latest side project. This particular side project reminded me of Frankenstein’s Monster, with a very sympathetic bent.
Back for art duties after his brief stint on the main TMNT title, Andy Kuhn does a great job on the Father/Son sequences. The faded sepia tones subtly take us back in time. It’s handled well, which I can’t say about the action in the present. The fight sequences aren’t clear. Panels that should have conveyed a real sense or speed and strength fall flat.
It is cool to get a different perspective on things, and see what shaped these TMNT baddies (In both cases it’s their Dad!), but it doesn’t change anything. I don’t now look at them in a different light. If they were well intentioned or somewhat different at first maybe, but both strike me as willing to go down the wrong path even at a young age.
Although each issue in itself is decent, what is the series adding overall? Bar some backstory and a few winks, not much.
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