The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are essentially what the name suggests. Mutated turtles who learned the way of ninjitsu from their mentor, a rat who was also mutated the same way they were. This graphic novel collects the very first comics in the series, and showcase notable characters like The Shredder, April O'Neil, the Mousers and Baxter Stockman. This is a different animal from the cartoons. It's a bit gritty. A lot less goofy and more serious. More important it's way cooler.
The Ninja Turtles aren't rolling out slang terms and making jokes every few minutes. They are trained assassins who are experts at combat and stealth. Aside from Donatello you don't really see any of the trademark characteristics of the foursome just yet. What you get is all martial arts action and Eastern cultural references.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started out as a black and white comic, so of course many out there want to stay true to that and go for either the reprints of the latest graphic novel collections that are in black and white. However for me this was my first exposure, and after looking at both the B&W and this color version I still prefer the color. For one the color does make the details stand out, and was done in a really good way in my opinion. Many say you lose the finer details from the inking when moving to color, but that's not what I see. Every stroke of the pen and texture is still very present. The color doesn't distract from the original art. It only compliments it.
