Occasionally, I like to talk about things other than myself. It’s hard to do because I know that y’all only really care about me. I realize that all you men see me as a role model and all you women see me as a big hunk of sexy manliness so I feel a certain amount of pressure to talk incessantly about myself. But, I feel that it is my duty to show my otherside… not the back side… the intellectual side. Which is why I want to talk about the TMNT!!!

Because of this creative freedom, I picked up “Tales of the TMNT Collected Books Vol. II “ which reprints issue #5 of the series and all four issues of "Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight" with story and art by Jim Lawson. While Tales of TMNT focused on higher profile creators, it also gave lesser known creators a chance to play with the Turtles concept.
The premise of the story is deceptively simple. Leonardo, one of the Turtles, battles an opponent from his past who is blind. It turns out, Leonardo blinded the Villain but doesn’t remember doing it. In revenge, the Villain blinds Leonardo. The Villains revenge is made even sweeter as he tricks Leonardo into killing an innocent man. Leonardo now must come to terms with his killing of an innocent and being blind.


Beyond the art, the story is quite good. At it’s core, this is a tale of redemption. Leonardo is a perfectionist who channels his anger into his fighting. And more than that, as he strives for perfection he channels his emotions into all his actions. He distances from his emotions so the he can’t see the things happening around him. Leonardo must come to grips with his actions regarding the death of an innocent person and with his blindness.
Overall, this is a very enjoyable read. It isn’t Watchmen by any means but it’s light years ahead of Civil War in terms of good, old fashion story telling. The trade is only $12 and I highly recommend it!
Preview pages can be seen at http://www.ninjaturtles.com/comics/mirage/talesvol2/collected/02/02.htm
I thought the Zulli issues were in the first series run, not in Tales.
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