Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Comics - Reboot - Vol. 1 'Change is constant'

TMNT feels quite 'in' atm... I don't know if this is just me or if it is really that case. The last few months I got so hooked on TMNT even though I wasn't the hugest fan back in the day. I mean, I watched the show on TV and liked it and I saw the movies and liked them, but I never had any figures or other merchandise. IDW started last year a new Comic series, retelling the story from the beginning with many changes, but it really shows that the people working on it love the source material. I'm really open to changes, but of course there will always be things, that I prefer in the original version as well as stuff that I prefer in other adaptions.

At first I got the first two issues and then decided to buy the first tradepaperback when it came out. It collects the first 4 issues, so I didn't read anything from issue 5 and later.

The story deals with how the Turtles and Splinter got mutated and introduces April, Casey Jones and a new enemy, a street cat that got mutated as well. Here April is a scientist like in the original comics, but is younger and works with the not yet mutated Turtles and Splinter. She even gets to name them. So the four boys are not from a pet shop, but held in the labaratory and Splinter is already experimented on. He is not mutated, but has enhanced brain power (or whatever you call it) to explain why is so clever and knows so much to teach the Turtles later.
Another change is that Raphael got seperated from his brothers. I kinda like this idea as it explains his loner status in the group. Like in the original he is also the one who meets Casey Jones. Like April he is younger and has (in contrast to the original) a dark backstory. Now....Casey Jones is my favourite character and I'm not sure if I like this version or not. Here my thoughts on it :

This will be a bit spoilery.

In the IDW series Casey has a father who drinks and beats him, because he can't get over the death of his wife (Caseys mom). I'm a sucker for tragic and dark backstories, but this sounds so very, very clicheed and gets presented so fast and without feeling. Just BAMM dead mother and father who drinks on the first few pages that he is introduced. I know such things exist and it can work in a story, but that needs a bit time and development or anything.
For example it's just told trhough Casey that his father drinks because he can't deal with his wifes death, but it is never showed. There is no sense of sympathy or of his suffering. He acts and is presented just like the 'cannonfodder' thugs that normally appear. Without the dialog I would have thought he is just some guy who likes to fight and would have never guessed that he is supposed to be Caseys father, or that he is supppossed to be a drunk.
It just seems like a uninspired sob-story that way and doesn't make Casey a deeper character nor does it really explains Caseys behaviour. Casey generally appears just like a normal guy , just a clever kid and not more jaded than any other one of that age. The hockey mask and vigilante stuff doesn't really fit him.
You know who he totally reminded me of? Cyclops from X-Men Evolution! Really! Read the first issue of the comics where he is introduced to the X-Men. He has the same way of smiling.
Normally I don't have such harsh words...it isn't even meant in a harsh way. That were only the first few issues and not really time for development yet. Generally I think there is potential to this new version of Casey and I'm gratefull that he has so much 'screentime'.
For now I'm just missing the crazyness. In the original comic he didn't have a backstory, the creaters didn't want any because they thought such dark backstories where so overused. Casey is just some guy who watches to much TV and is kinda crazy, but means well. Like April puts it, he is just like a kid inside. I think that makes him such a fun character.

rant. end.