Review by Ian Keogh
As can be seen by the cover alone, Battletoads is designed to resemble Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and it disappeared after a few console games in the early 1990s. Surprisingly, the feature was revived for a new game in 2020, and perhaps even more surprisingly four years after that this prequel graphic novel was issued.
Pimple, Rash and Zitz are the Battletoads, and Simon Furman decides to take the gap between appearances as the basis for his story, explaining what the toads have been up to before their re-emergence. After dealing with the Dark Queen over some action-packed opening pages, the trio set off into space for the battle contest on Protagnia that they don’t even remember signing up for. Never mind. As they’re the most confident battlers around what dangers could it hold for them?
Artist Andrès Genolet is probably best known for drawing Marvel superheroes, but he has a tidy action cartoon style every bit as good as his naturalistic pages. The toads leap off the pages, and the supporting characters are equally notable and well designed. Everything looks as if Genolet is having fun, and that’s what you want from this type of action cartoon.
Right from the start the toads suspect something fishy about the tournament, and they’re right. However, their love of a good fight means they aren’t paying as much attention as they ought to, and things start to go wrong.
Furman and Genolet deliver action, laughs and explanations in a cheery explosion of cartoon violence.