Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 16, originally released November 28th, 2012.
Patrick: Killing. Your comic book heroes don’t like doing it. Famously, Batman has a no-killing policy, but if you look close enough, that mantra applies to just about everyone in a cape. But why? Is it the hero’s morality? Or is it the squeamishness of publishers that keeps their heroes from killing? After all, it’s such a neat dividing line: Green Lantern doesn’t kill, so he’s a good guy; Deathstroke does kill, so he’s a bad guy. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a special case – they are essentially children, after all. But they exist outside of society and mutanes – re-incarnated murder-victims, trained by a ninja master. The psychological profile that background suggests is staggering. So when Leonardo is forced to kill to protect his family, the decision Means Something.
