Originally published in: TMNT Magazine (Panini) #10
Publication date: January, 9 – February 5, 2014
Script: Steve Tillotsen
Art: Bob Molesworth
Colours: Jason Cardy
Colour assist: E. Pirrie
Letters: Alex Foot
“The Art of Camouflage”
Summary:
In the dojo, Splinter prepares the Turtles for a lesson
in camouflage, as a ninja must be able to thoroughly conceal himself. Mikey whines that they shouldn’t be training
on such a special day, but Splinter silences him and tells his sons they have
one hour to prepare.
An hour later, Splinter begins his hunt around the
lair. With a flashlight, he immediately
spots Raphael, who is painted like bricks and standing flush against a shadowy part of
the wall. Splinter compliments him on
his ability to stay concealed in the shadows, but warns him that his camouflage
will become useless the moment someone turns on the lights.
Rather than hide, Donatello comes marching out to show
Splinter his latest camouflage-related invention. The device projects images over his whole
body, thus rendering him “invisible”.
Splinter is impressed until the device starts selecting images from Don’s
“April” folder, plastering the Turtle in photos of their friend. Splinter compliments him on his ingenuity,
but warns that he should not be so reliant on technology.
Next, Splinter finds Leonardo hiding in the rafters
above. Leo has his arms and legs splayed
out, bracing himself tightly between the beams.
Splinter pokes him once in the head with his stick and Leo comes falling
down. Splinter compliments him on his
exertion of effort, but warns that even when hiding, he should never leave
himself vulnerable to attack.
Lastly is Michelangelo, who comes waltzing into the
living room wearing a pinstripe suit, glasses and a false moustache. Mikey introduces himself as “Maurice
Turtleman”. Splinter informs Mikey that
he may have missed the point of the exercise.
With the lesson over, Splinter dismisses his sons for the day.
Some while later, Splinter returns to the living room to
find it completely empty. He suspects
his sons are around, but can’t find them.
The Turtles successfully sneak up on him with a birthday cake and yell, “Surprise!” Splinter thanks them for the birthday
celebration and compliments his sons on improving their concealment skills.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from “Number One Fan”. The story continues in TMNT Magazine (Panini) #11.
Review:
“The Art of Camouflage” is a cute story and it was fun to see Splinter
find each Turtle, then offer them compliments and criticisms on their
technique. Well, each Turtle except Mikey. It might have been nice to see if he could
have used any of his skills to come up with something creative, but nah, it was
just a dumb joke at the expense of his stupidity and utter uselessness. Hrm.
Beyond the neat gimmick and the ending with Splinter’s
surprise party (a good way of tying it all together), this one’s pretty low key
in terms of humor and art. No gut-busters,
here. Molesworth’s characters look
stiffer than usual and some of the layouts look pretty rough (especially Don’s
near-identical posing between the first panel and the second-to-last panel on page
26). A few pages have some energy to
them, such as page 27 when Splinter finds Leo, but this particular comic is
just a bit blander looking than Panini typically puts out.
“The Art of Camouflage” is the lesser of the two strips
published in this issue, but it does have its moments and I liked the
premise. It just could have benefited
from something better for Mikey to do than embarrass himself and a bit more
energy in the layouts.
Grade: C (as in, “Camouflage is an art most teenagers
should be masters of, at least when it comes to concealing their porn
collections”.)
