Jennika, aka the Nightwatcher, is in trouble, having been captured by some very dangerous mutants. Can she escape their clutches? And if she does, can she repair her relationship with her girlfriend, Sheena?

There’s a lot going on in Nightwatcher #5, despite the action and drama being mostly confined to two distinct scenes. Yet Jennika’s personal struggles, in both her vigilante and civilian life, are sharply covered by writer Juni Ba; despite her being a powerful and disciplined mutant, she has difficulty balancing the different elements of her life, if not her personality, regardless.

And despite her being an armoured, vigilante, mutant turtle, her personal difficulties are still relatable. There’s a lot of heart in Nightwatcher so far with lots of tragedy and, ultimately, hope, but this is perhaps the first time that we’re really getting to grips with Jennika herself, rather than the mutant-of-the-week that she’s sacrificing her personal life to save.

IDW’s TMNT comics have been particularly strong for some time, but the latest relaunch has done a great job of stripping back a lot of the layered continuity, without ignoring it, and making each series a lot more accessible for new readers; this may be a hot take, but on an issue by issue basis, the underrated Nightwatcher might just be the best of the current bunch.

IDW use their new logo for the first time on this issue, which concludes with an editorial about just how cool and forward thinking the design is; the thing is it’s been widely mocked and ridiculed for looking terrible since its unveiling last year, and the editorial just smacks of someone trying to convince themselves that they’ve done something good and useful. It’s fairly embarrassing. Still, it doesn’t detract from the quality of the comic overall; I just thought, given all the fuss around the ill-considered logo design, it was worth a mention.

Hi! I’m Jason, and I write for midlifegamergeek.com, every single day. If you’re interested in supporting original, regularly published, human created content (which has never been plagiarised or otherwise copied from the hard work of other writers), you can donate and help me to keep this site running.

Not only do I earn no income from my writing here (though I may earn small fees from affiliate links posted on my pages; as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from these links), but it seems that my work has, at times, been stolen and re-used by lazy, morally bankrupt idiots.

There’s no pressure of course, but I’d be truly grateful for any support that you could offer – and it’s easy to do so at either of these links: Ko-Fi.com/geekmid or PayPal.

Any donations are truly appreciated – and I also appreciate you taking the time to read my articles. Remember: this whole article was by Jason Brown, and appeared on midlifegamergeek.com. Take that, Skynet!