Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Allesha Jett

Response template

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

            The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Eastman Waltz Duncan has very sketchy illustrations. The illustrations aren’t realistic and they are drawn very lightly. The overall feel of the artwork is very murky and dark most of the time, this creates a very serious tone for the novel. The illustrations in the novel are also very action packed. All of this suits the novel very well because the ninja turtles do fight mostly in the night, and they always have a battle they must conquer.

            This comic is written as a graphic novel/comic book because there was a lot of inner dialogue among the illustrations. There was also a lot of actions in the illustrations. If the book were to be written differently someone wouldn’t notice that the cat’s army is actually humans. The cat’s body even looks human. There is also a lot told in the characters faces that wouldn’t be easy to explain in a traditional novel. It would also be hard to depict how ornery the turtles are if it weren’t for the illustrations.

            The ethics of the Ninja Turtles are discussed when the turtles mentor tells them not the kill anyone at the beginning of the book. The Ninja Turtles are able to win all of their fights. They are very strong and willing to do what it takes to save people. These turtles are also teenagers and that shoes when they can fight, and respect their master, but then go dig in the trash for dinner. The Ninja Turtles are truly good at the point that this comic is written, but they could easily turn bas since they are at such a young age and finding themselves. This particular comic is a single edition so it doesn’t go into deep details to whether the Ninja Turtles actually get the chance to fight a lot of crime. At the beginning of the book they are in a battle but it doesn’t say why, but you get the gist that the opposing side is up to no good. At the end of the book Raphael walks by a house and hears a boy being abused by his father, and busts in to save him, which requires good ethics.

            I feel that page 12-13are very significant to the story. This is the place that the Ninja Turtles were actually made, they were genetically modified and created. They started out as normal turtles. This is more of a turning point for the audience than for the characters, because we get to make the connection that the rat in the lab is actually the turtle’s master. This also brings into question whether the cat from the beginning of the comic may have come from the same place. This is a turning point because we start to think about what else the scientist have done, and more so what have they brought into the world that we don’t know about yet.