My exposure to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics is fairly limited—I was more than a fair-weather fan in the 80s and 90s when the turtles were at their commercial peak. Recently, after having bought my five year old nephew some toys and (vainly) looking for an all-ages Turtles comic for him, I was intrigued to try out IDW’s take for myself and decided to give this issue a try. I’ve been meaning to try some Turtles comics for a while now, and like most of us, I’m a sucker for a #1 issue.

Granted, this is not a Turtles comic, per se. As the title suggests, it’s a history of the ‘foot clan,’ the shadowy criminal organization now under Shredder’s control. But that to me sounds just as good as any villain origin story, and it seems the origin story of an entire criminal organization would have endless story possibilities. Mix epic Japanese samurai sword battles, clandestine organizations, and the Turtles, and I’m in.

This first issue involves two stories, really—the medieval history of the foot clan, and the present day story of a professor with a suspiciously complete history of the organization. His lecture on the history of the footclan (which serves as voice over narration for the flashback action) has drawn the attention of both the Turtles and the modern day foot clan.

Unfortunately there are too many needless steps and characters to get us from the former to the latter. Santalouca’s art punches best in the action sequences set in medieval Japan, but unfortunately wordy captions and crowded, panel-heavy pages minimize the action. Also, the Turtles’ facial expressions (and the other characters) seem a bit off.

Of course the Turtles are not the main focus of the book, as the title would suggest, but to include them and not to really utilize them seems a missed opportunity. In the story set in the present time, the Turtles, Shredder and the other characters are literally sitting down and talking for most of the issue.

Though I wasn’t into this, I’m looking forward to checking out the regular Turtles title at IDW, of which I’ve heard good things.