The ComiQuad: Turtles in Supurbia Review

Boom! Wham! Pow! The ComiQuad is a column dedicated to the spandex-laden world of comics and superheroes. It goes up each Tuesday and will alternate between comic book reviews and other comic book news. Reviews shall try to be spoiler-free. Zam!

Since last week contained one of the few dreaded “unexpected fifth Wednesdays” of the year, there were generally slim pickings from all the comic book companies. To make up for it, this week’s review will feature two advance reviews!

Infestation 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (Advance Review)

Written by Tristan Jones and art by Mark Torres. | Cover courtesy of IDW Publishing

In a massive IDW crossover event titled “Infestation 2,” hordes of creepy, H.P. Lovecraftian-monsters crawl out from the dark to appear in a variety of characters, including everyone’s favorite radioactively-reinforced reptiles amphibians.

What truly makes this comic scary, however, is story’s suffocatingly grim everything. Somehow, a comic centered entirely around four weapon-wielding, pizza-loving, joke-cracking turtles who are led by oversized rat sensei manages to be overly serious.

Don’t get me wrong, the seriousness works in places. The art style, although very edgy and dark, is pretty strong. There’s a reasonable amount of action and the enemies are definitely worth a week of nightmares.

It just doesn’t feel much like classic TMNT. The humor is altogether absent, and it’s pretty difficult to tell the personalities of the turtles apart. Actually, with the incredibly dark art style, it’s virtually impossible to tell the turtles apart just by looking at them. One page, unless I’m reading it wrong, accidentally put the same colored bandanna on two turtles.

The comic’s conclusion leans on the depressing side. It’s something that I’d normally expect out of a Batman title, not a TMNT one.

Childhood expectations aside, the comic is decent. It just made the unfortunate decision of trading much of what it makes it unique (the humor, not the turtles) for the repetitive trend of “grimdark” that seems to be en vogue recently.

Review 6.5/10

Supurbia #1 (Advance Review)

Written by Grace Randolph; art by Russell Dauterman and Gabriel Cassata | Cover courtesy of BOOM! Studios

Take one part Real Housewives, add in another part Desperate Housewives, and stir it all up in an industry that has historically portrayed women poorly and that should be the recipe for a cruddy comic book creme brulee. Heck, the Real Housewives alone should make that dish go rotten.

Strangely enough, Supurbia #1 is absolutely delicious.

Page by page, the story introduces the reader to the various plus-ones of this universe’s superheroes. Many are wives, one is a husband, and another is ex-supervillainess girlfriend. Each of them struggles with their own suburban problems (parole, swine slaying, gay love affairs, etc.) in the wake of spouses’ superheroic responsibilities.

The issue’s primary strength lies in the wit of both its storytelling and dialogue. With just a few pages each, the protagonists all develop their own voices and personalities. This is helped by the fact that many of actual superheroes seem really familiar to anyone knowledgeable of superhero popular culture.

A nearly impervious strong man with perfect hair? A female warrior hailing from a tribe of only women? An animal-themed superhero with a questionable relationship with his sidekick? Something smells familiar.

By playing off of these well-known tropes, the reader is more immediately able to know what each spouse is contending with.

Another winning quality of the comic is the art. In no planet would I ever expect a non-“Big Two” comic starring mostly women to not be busting at the seams with lady business. But somehow I’ve landed on an unknown planet. Not only that, but the art style manages to infuse an extra dose of humor into every interaction.

Supurbia #1 manages to make conversations about taking out the garbage a lot more interesting than fighting supervillain robots. Someone should tell Michael Bay about this book.

Review: 8.5/10

About Jon Erik Christianson

Jon Christianson (COM/CAS '14) is the zany, misunderstood cousin of The Quad family. His superpowers include talking at the speed of light, tripping over walls, and defying ComiQuad deadlines with the greatest of ease. His lovely copyeditors don't appreciate that last one. If for some reason you hunger for more of his nonsense, follow him at @HonestlyJon on Twitter or contact him at jchristianson@buquad.com!

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4 Comments on “The ComiQuad: Turtles in Supurbia Review”

  1. Thanks for the wonderful review, Jon! I’m really glad you enjoyed SUPURBIA and I’ll be interested to see what you think of the title as it moves forward!

    Grace
    Creator/Writer of SUPURBIA

    1. Thank you so much Ms. Randolph! I’m looking forward to picking it up tomorrow in my LCS and I’m terribly disappointed that it’s only a 4-parter. I know I’ll be craving more from these characters.

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