TMNT New Animated Adventures #1

 Originally written by Paige with Thoughts from Mark

After the Free Comic Book Day issue, it was cool to see that an actual series would be made based on the 2012 show. The story by Kenny Byerly and art by Dario Brizuela. Number one has all the turtles and April on the cover, and along with this standard cover, there are four alternative covers shown on the back of the front cover.

Let's get started!

The comic starts out with April and her latest training, the stealth of a ninja, making her way around the lair, high up hidden in the shadows. Eventually she gets caught by one of the turtles, Mikey to be more precise. As usual Raph is mad that he didn't catch April and that Mikey had to be the one to tag her first. Splinter praises April's hard work for successfully making it across the lair without being detected.

While hanging with Donnie, April explains that she's tired of training and wants to attempt to  find her father. She continues to ask when could she help with actual missions and not train all day. Donnie asks her to go to the junkyard with him, but not just an ordinary junkyard, a top-secret military junkyard (this is the place Don where got the parts to make the t-pod). Raph and Mikey make fun of Donnie, calling this a date. Leo hears about the plan and tries to stop it before it happens. Leo explains that April is still not ready to go out on an actual mission. April and Donnie attempt to convince Leo otherwise. April chimes in saying she did really good at being stealthy, but Leo reminds her that she was caught by Mikey. April burns Leo with saying that she wasn't caught by HIM though. Despite Leo's final objection, April and Donnie leave the lair together anyway, not caring about the fuming leader.

Look at Raph's smile in the background, he loves it when Leo is put in his place

Donnie and April arrive at the top secret military junkyard. Before they ascend the wall of the junkyard, April puts on an extra disguise (besides an all-black ninja outfit)...which is just a wig...Anyway...they climb the wall and sneak inside the junkyard. Donnie finds a military laser cannon that might have the part he is looking for. While he prepares to remove the piece he needs, April hears something. It's a guard. Donnie is confused about the amped-up security since the place is usually unguarded. The two attempt to  escape, but April gets caught while Donnie gets away. Donnie calls Leo saying he was right.

Now April is in a room getting questioned about who she was and why she was there. April tries to convince the man that she's just a typical teenager and she was only there because of a dare from her friends. The man doesn't believe the lie, since of course she has several ninja weapons with her and the suspicious looking t-phone. The turtles arrive to save April and Leo reminds them to not hurt the guards since they aren't bad guys. Mikey mentions he has a blog and turtles yelling at him bring the attention of the guard.

Leo breaks the lights, but that doesn't stop the guards from spotting them. The turtles decide to use a distraction to stop the guards. The man continues to question April about her intentions. April remembers what her sensei has taught her, which is sometimes the best lie is the one the other person wants to believe. She lies that she was there to steal the laser cannon. The man sends all the guards to protect the cannon allowing the turtles to have a free path to save her.

With the help of smoke bombs, the turtles get inside the building. As all of this is happening, April fights her way out of the room and makes her t-phone self-destruct. Turtles are fighting their way to April using their smoke pellets and Mikey's infamous Booyakasha. However, the turtles get stuck at a dead end. They decide to kill the lights to be able to sneak out undetected but it didn't do much good. April makes her way to the maintenance rooms and completely shuts off the electricity making the building completely dark. In the darkness, the turtles were able to defeat the remaining guards and walk into each other...They run into April...well more like April ramming the door into Donnie... and they all get away in the Shell Raiser. While heading back home, April hands over the prize, the component Don was looking for.

At the lair, Splinter tells April that he is disappointed in her for sneaking off on such a risky mission, since she thought she would have more common sense. She apologizes, saying that she needs more training, agreeing that Leo was right all along. Leo steps in and explains that if Splinter saw how skillfully and clever April acted, he would be proud. Interrupting this touching moment, Donnie calls everyone around to see the latest invention, the reason to why they risked being caught at the junkyard. The invention...the laser pizza slicer. But as he activates the laser, the pizza explodes (as well as the table it was on)...ending the comic there with a happy ending...sorta.

This reminds me of the 80's TMNT when Donatello's inventions would blow up

Paige's opinion:

I really liked the first comic of the series. It definitely has the fun and excitement of the TV series. Has it's goofy moments like Mikey and Raph teasing Donnie and the serious fighting moments. The comic shows more of April's training to be a Kunoichi. Oh and surprise! She mentions her father!! She hasn't completely forgotten that her father has been kidnapped...She expresses that she wants to help the turtles save him. I wonder if they will actually save him...in the TV series or comic series...At the end of the comic, there is a preview of the cover, I'm guessing, for the next issue and it shows that SnakeWeed is going to be in. I think eh, I'm just anxious to see the big bad guys already...and it just already started! lol So as the series continue I'm anxious to see how the writers will take the turtles through this comic adventure.

Mark's opinion:

I'm enjoying the series so far. I do see the effort with not trying to go beyond what's currently happening in the show. I know last time they went with the 'Turtles switch weapons' thing that was also dealt with in 'The Pulverizer Returns' which aired a week after Free Comic Book Day. But I seriously doubt the show is gonna suddenly air a random episode about Don and April in the military junkyard any time soon, so this issue should be ok. I like how the comic still mentions hints and references to the TV episodes. Mikey basically names off most of the villains they faced so far on the show, and April yelling the voice command for 't-phone self destruct' is referencing the 'Mousers Attack' episode. I guess my only nitpick was I wish the Turtles fought the Foot or someone else in this issue instead of just random army guys that we'll probably never see again. And I kinda wish the artist would get the hang of not drawing's Don's head look so weird. His head is drawn very pill-shaped, even more than in the cartoon. Other than that, it was a fun issue.

A big plus is seeing April actually use her ninja training to the fullest. We've seen her dodge a few moves and survive a fight with Karai, but in here we see her be stealthy and cunning too. I'm surprised for the first issue the focus mostly on April (and Don a bit) but it worked. I have to admit, I'm curious as to what Mikey's blog would have looked like though. LOL I'd follow that.