If you missed the first issue of this mini, here’s what you need to know: There’s a storytelling contest at a mouse bar.  The winner gets their tab erased.

The bar scene is written and illustrated by series founder David Petersen, while the stories being told are done by different creative teams.  In this issue: Terry Moore, Alex Kain, and the team of Lowell Francis and Gene Ha.

All of the stories within the story were entertaining.  And there was never a time where I didn’t think the art looked fantastic.  I felt the Ha art did suffer a little bit from early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Syndrome.  Back in those early issues all four turtles looked alike and didn’t have differently colored eye masks.  So if you weren’t paying attention closely to the way the characters behaved, it was easy to confuse Raphael for Leonardo or Donatello from Norman Rockwell…errrr…Michaelangelo.  The way the coloring and shading was in the last story, I thought the ending was vastly different and confusing until I shook my head and went “Ah. Different mouse.”  But that’s more an issue of vague storytelling (not bad storytelling, just very plain and rather vague) than poor art.

If you missed issue one, but still want to grab this, go for it.  May you enjoy it, and may it drive you to track down the previous issue.