The Trial of Krang Ends With A Bite, Not A Bang In TMNT #75

Krang is on trial for war crimes, but the proceedings have been put on hold because the planet is under attack by the Malignoids. The Turtles drop everything to leap into battle alongside the Neutrinos before getting the final verdict. Will Krang be found guilty for his crimes? Or will he be freed to commit further atrocities?  Find out in Law & Order: Dimension X Unit.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #75 is an oversized issue with over 50 pages. It’s unevenly paced, though, as the first half is all action and excitement while the second half is dry, courtroom drama. The battle with the Malignoids feels almost out of place as they come out of nowhere. They weren’t a threat before or if they were, they were only mentioned in passing. All of a sudden, this big wave of bugs is on the Neutrinos’ doorstep and we have to take our focus off of the trial to take care of it.
The epic sci-fi showdown is a strange way to bridge the gap between this issue and the next, which deals with the Triceratons showing up on Earth. It’s almost as if this was tacked on after the fact to connect the two stories. There are some interesting pieces to it, but this entire species is just kind of thrown into the spotlight. We’re not given enough room to care about them as characters before the Neutrinos essentially make them someone else’s problem, specifically the planet Earth’s.

After all the excitement and space-faring adventure of the first half of the issue, the momentum is ground to a halt as the trial resumes. This is a very text-heavy sequence as the remaining witnesses are called and closing arguments are given. It’s a long-winded debate that ends in a satisfying manner, although I wonder if there was a shorter way to get to that conclusion. No one is really changed by the speeches they heard. It’s not like Michelangelo is going to get back to Earth and become a different person.
I wish I could properly credit the artists in TMNT #75, but it’s unclear who did what. Cory Smith, Mateus Santolouco, Chris Johnson, & Damian Couceiro all contributed to the book.  The standout sequences are unsurprisingly during the battle with the Malignoids. The alien creatures are like a strange cross between xenomorphs and wasps, with rows and rows of teeth and sharp talons. These are creatures that are designed to destroy and kill.

The Turtles get some cool space gadgets to help them join the fight including jetpacks, visors, and energy weapons. If these appeared in the 1980s TV show, we’d get action figures of these versions and I would buy every one of them. You will believe a Turtle can fly.
Reaching 75 issues is definitely something to celebrate in today’s industry, and I hope to see many more starring the Heroes in a Halfshell. The Trial of Krang arc has felt a little out of their wheelhouse with many aspects of the story falling completely out of their control. In the end, they helped gather some witnesses that ultimately didn’t do all that much to help or hinder the trial so I question what they really did during this storyline. I’m happy to see them return to Earth (after a quick detour with the Ghostbusters!) and hopefully some more grounded stories.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #75 is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.