TMNT Adventures Special #6

Publication date: Fall, 1993
Cover: Bob Fingerman

Contents:

*"Doomsday Hassle in Banshee Castle"
*"The Darkest Hour II"


Turtle Tips:

*Chronologically, I would place "Doomsday Hassle in Banshee Castle" between TMNT Adventures #8 and TMNT Adventures #9. As it is a continuation of "The Darkest Hour", "The Darkest Hour II" takes place between TMNT Adventures #22 and TMNT Adventures #23.

*The prologue for "Doosmday Hassle", however, takes place in the future era of the series, after the events of TMNT Adventures #44.

TMNT Adventures Special #5

Publication date: Summer, 1993
Cover: Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney

Contents:

*"Yo-Ho-Ho! And a Bottle of Mutagen!"
*"The Darkest Hour"


Turtle Tips:

*Chronologically, I would place "Yo-Ho-Ho! And a Bottle of Mutagen" between TMNT Adventures #9 and TMNT Adventures #10, and "The Darkest Hour" between TMNT Adventures #22 and TMNT Adventures #23.

*Man Ray’s presence in "Yo-Ho-Ho!" means it must take place after TMNT Adventures #5, but Shredder and Krang working together in the follow-up story means it must take place before TMNT Adventures #13. There are only two narrative gaps between issues #5 and #13 that this story could fit; after #5 or after #9. I chose after #9 because it puts some time between the TMNT's first encounter with Man Ray, giving him an opportunity to build his base and sub.

TMNT Adventures Special #4

Publication date: Spring, 1993
Cover: Milton Knight

Contents:

*"Louie's Pasture, Part 1"
*"Pig Heaven, Part 2"


Turtle Tips:

*Chronologically, I would place these stories between TMNT Adventures #22 and TMNT Adventures #23.

*Due to the presence of Cudley the Cowlick, this story cannot take place between TMNT Adventures #38 and TMNT Adventures #48 and must take place beforehand. Considering the TMNT are chilling in their sewer lair, that forces it to take place before the "world tour" arc that began in TMNT Adventures #28, too. But it has to take place after Mighty Mutanimals (miniseries) #3, again, due to the presence of Cudley the Cowlick. Complicated, I know.

The Ghost of 13 Mile Island!

Originally published in: TMNT Adventures Special #2
Publication date: Fall, 1992

Script: Stephen Sullivan
Pencils: Doug Crane
Inks/letters: Donald Simpson
Colors: Barry Grossman
Editor: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)
Managing guru: Victor Gorelick

“The Ghost of 13 Mile Island!”

Summary:

At the 13 Mile Island Scientific Research Facility, a security guard has an encounter with a spooky, vaporous ghost. Panicking, he pulls the fire alarm. April O’Neil and her camerawoman, Linda, arrive on the scene in search of news. As April tries to interview the terrified guard, the complex’s owner, Vance Block interferes. He explains that there’s nothing mysterious going on whatsoever and, by the way, all these strange ghost sightings have absolutely nothing to do with the recent disappearance of Professor Proton. April asks Block to put his money where his mouth is and let her do an overnight investigation in the facility to prove his claims. Block agrees and tells her to come back after dark.



Later that night, April shows up in her WTRL news van. Linda was unable to make the appointment, but April has some substitutes with her: four Ninja Turtles fresh from their recent Hawaiian vacation. Dressed in trenchcoats and fedoras, the Turtles join April in the building where they’re met by Jay G. Paul, the assistant of the MIA Professor Proton. Paul gives them the tour of the heavily guarded and carefully monitored facility. He shows them that there are cameras everywhere, save the labs, as those are privately rented. Regardless, there’s no way Proton could have left the building without being seen. Paul laments that without Proton’s genius, he has been unable to recreate the man’s fusion experiments and that soon their financers will have to abandon the project. As Paul goes back to the lab to finish up some work, April and the Turtles split up to search for clues.

Don is briefly accosted by the amorphous blob of a ghost, but it quickly disappears. Reappearing by a balcony, Mike spots the specter and attempts to tackle it. He passes right through the phantom, nailing Raph by mistake. The two Turtles go tumbling off the balcony and scramble before a guard spots them. Elsewhere, the ghost appears before Leo and leads him down a corridor. Grabbing April, all four Turtles get together and chase the ghost back toward Professor Proton’s old lab.

Entering the lab, they find Paul rummaging through a safe he’s busted open, trying to burn top secret files. The ghost quickly takes form as Professor Proton. Professor Proton explains that he’s not actually a ghost, but merely trapped in a dimension out of synch with our own; the residual experimental energy in the lab allowing him to better manifest himself. The Turtles demand answers and Proton supplies them:



As it happens, Jay Paul is actually Jay Paulson, an employee of Paulson Petroleum. The Petroleum people didn’t care for Professor Proton’s experiments in limitless energy through fusion, so they sent Paul as a spy and, eventually, assassin. While testing Proton’s new fusion force cannon, Paul took the opportunity and blasted the Professor with it; disintegrating him. Proton found himself trapped in the other dimension and began trying to communicate with people in the facility, but they could only see him as a shapeless “ghost”.

Not about to go to jail, Paul tries to blast the Turtles and April with the force cannon, but Proton blocks the ray. The Turtles then beat Paul up and toss him in the safe until the authorities arrive. As April explains everything to Vance Block, the Turtles call in their friend Carol Sagan to see if she can’t restore Proton to this dimension. Sagan is doubtful, as Paul destroyed all the force cannon’s notes; it may take decades to recreate the device (which shorted out when Proton blocked the blast from hitting the Turtles). Proton is in no rush, as while he’s stuck in that dimension he’s essentially immortal. And with no need for money, he offers to treat the Turtles to dinner. Michaelangelo suggests… Chinese!


Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from “The Wrath of the Fire God”.

*Linda will appear again in April O’Neil #1.


Review:

This is more like it.

While there’s definitely some villainizing of Big Oil, it isn’t as overbearing as other messages you’ll find in most environmentally conscious TMNT Adventures stories from this era. “The Ghost of 13 Mile Island” is really just a faux “Scooby-Doo” kind of tale and there’s nothing wrong with that.

This story takes all its cues from the aforementioned Hanna Barbera cartoon. There are a few red herrings pitched in for good measure, but the true culprit is never in doubt (with the red shirt and goatee, Paul might as well be dressed like The Devil). So it’s not much of a “mystery”, just an excuse for the Turtles to run around a spooky joint at night, chasing a phony ghost. Again, real “Scooby-Doo”.

The artist, Doug Crane, isn’t one I’m too familiar with and I don’t think he drew a lot of TMNT Adventures issues. Judging by his character models for many of the incidental human characters (Block, in particular), I wouldn’t be surprised if he worked most prominently on the main Archie title. His work isn’t too extravagant, but he does the job well and adds a lot of nice touches to the rooms of the facility; some great little details here and there. Kind of hard to judge him as an action artist, since there really isn’t a whole lot of fighting in this story.

If there’s anything about these first two TMNT Adventures Specials as a whole that I like, I suppose it’s that all four stories flow from one to the other, forming their own story arc. I had originally taken them for just a bunch of random one-shots, so I was pleased to see that they call back to one another and form a consistent narrative. While the first few stories (those published in the previous special) are pretty insipid, they do improve with each installment and the ones published in this second special are mostly pretty good. Nothing great or spellbinding, but some okay Turtle stories for what they’re worth.

Grade: C (as in, “Carol Sagan flew from Hawaii to New York in an evening?”)

The Wrath of the Fire God

Originally published in: TMNT Adventures Special #2
Publication date: Fall, 1992

Script: Stephen Sullivan
Art: Brian Thomas
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Edits: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)
Managing edits: Victor Gorelick

“The Wrath of the Fire God”

Summary:

On the Hawaiin island of Kilaoto, the native chief Jon Sikahema and his councilmen, Aal Smith and Lelani Tuaolo observe the stars through a telescope. Carol Sagan and Cosmo Hawkins of the Scientific Council for Ecologically Sound Development want to build a new ecology research base, natural power plant and observatory at the base of the volcano and hope to convince the chief and his two councilmen to see things their way. After everybody goes home for the night, Aal stays behind to watch the stars and is suddenly approached by a giant flaming Tiki head claiming to be the god Otomo.

The next morning, at their timeshare, the Turtles fool around on the beach, lamenting that Slujj and Emmy had to leave early, but happy they still have two weeks to chill. Never one to have any fun, Leo tells his brothers to stop enjoying themselves and start cleaning litter off the beach because it wouldn’t be a TMNT Adventures special without this sort of shit.



On a cliff-side path overlooking the beach, Sikahema and Lelani try to tell Aal he was dreaming, but Aal is convinced he saw Otomo and that the god doesn’t want them to build the observatory on his volcano. In the heat of the argument, Aal accidentally shoves Lelani, who trips and falls over the cliff. Luckily, she lands in Donatello’s arms. Sikahema and Aal come running down to see if Lelani is okay and everyone gets to know each other. Lelani tells the Turtles that the village is having a vote on whether to build the observatory or a hotel and invites them to sit in.

That night, the Turtles show up to the outdoor auditorium. Dolph Hilife, owner of the Hilife hotel chain, and Ingrahm Volt, owner of Kilaoto’s oil-burning power plant, argue that by building the hotel and expanding Volt’s plant, they will create new jobs for locals and the tourism industry will bring in lots of money. Carol Sagan and Cosmo Hawkins argue that their proposal will create light pollution and most of the best jobs will be outsourced to non-islanders. Their proposed research facilities, natural power plant and observatory will be more expensive, create less jobs and have no tourist appeal, BUT the jobs they do create will all go to locals and there will be less pollution. Aal speaks up, preaching that Otomo does not want the observatory on his volcano and that they must choose the hotel, instead.



Suddenly, Otomo appears out of the sky and attacks, swearing death to anyone who comes near his volcano. Before the Turtles can attack, Otomo vanishes. The villagers are ready to vote for the hotel, but Sikehema tells them to wait 24 hours until their attitudes have calmed and they can think more rationally. This buys the Turtles time to investigate “Otomo”, whom they think is a phony.

Scouring the forest surrounding the volcano, the Turtles discover a secret tunnel. Following it, they end up in a high tech facility full of gizmos and even a parked flying saucer. Taking cover, they spot Hilife coming out of another room, talking to a weird alien. The alien is one of the Grem; invaders who feed on lava. By building the hotel adjacent to the Grem’s new base, the aliens will kidnap all the powerful and wealthy visitors, brainwashing them to do their bidding. Eventually, this will lead to world domination. One tourist season at a time, apparently. Yeah.



As it happens, the Grem have already kidnapped Carol Sagan, whom they intend to brainwash into changing her mind about the observatory, thus keeping their plans unhindered. The Turtles charge, saving Carol and knocking Hilife out. The Grem transform into fire-monsters and put the Turtles through their paces. Carol has a plan and with Leo’s help, lures the three Grem invaders toward a series of pipes. Leo cuts open the coolant pipe, hosing down the Grem and freezing them solid. The Turtles then load the aliens back into their flying saucer and Carol programs it to head back to their homeworld. Hilife, meanwhile, is taken to the proper authorities.

The next night, the villagers vote for Carol’s plan. Aal apologizes for being fooled by the fake Otomo, but no one holds it against him. Lelani asks if there’s anything the council can do to thank the Turtles for their help. All they want is some peace and quiet for the rest of their vacation… and maybe two weeks-worth of pizza! Ha Ha Ha. Pizza. Bet you didn’t see that coming.


Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from “The Last Sea Serpent”. The story continues in "The Ghost of 13 Mile Island!".

*Michaelangelo compared the Grem’s base to the Shredder’s underground hideout. The Turtles visited the Shredder’s hideout in TMNT Adventures #11.

*The Grem will return in "The Fifth Turtle".

*This story was dedicated to the memory of Carol Kalish.


Review:

1992 was a pretty awful time to be reading TMNT Adventures. The ongoing had just finished several one-off stories centering around conservation of wildlife and toxic waste pollution and was heading toward the “Midnight Sun” arc; a three-parter railing against nuclear power plants. Then there’s the TMNT Meet the Conservation Corps one-shot, but the less said about that, the better. And amongst all that, seasonal specials were being published, all containing stories about protecting the environment.

Yeah, 1992 pretty much sucked for anybody reading the book because the environmental messages had completely enveloped every single facet of the series. Between the ongoing, the one-shots and the specials, there was no escaping it.

Thankfully, following this, the specials will start veering toward less preachy and more entertaining storylines (likewise, the ongoing quickly found a way to combine messages with stories that didn’t suck). Until then, however, you’re going to have to suffer through a lot of this shit.

“Wrath of the Fire God” isn’t the worst of the environmentally-charged stories, even if it’s lacking in excitement for the first, er, 20 pages. Its 36 pages long and you don’t get to the Grem, the actual antagonists, until page 22. Prior to that, the story consists of the Turtles righteously proclaiming their enthusiasm for vacation litter patrol and an agonizingly long and wordy debate on ecological research vs. tourist traps. Seriously, the debate lasts six paragraph-packed pages, and while it could have been enlightening, it really isn’t. Hilife is so clearly painted as the villain, and Carol is so clearly painted as the level-headed crusader for environmental justice, that there’s never any doubt as to who is “right” and who is “wrong”. It’s just lecturing for lecturing’s sake. And it goes on and on and on.

What pulls this comic out of the compost heap, however, is the fight with the Grem in the last five pages or so. They’re some pretty exciting adversaries with their fire-powers and all, first hurling fireballs at the Turtles then transforming into demon-faced human torches. Brian Thomas does some great work on the action sequences, and you can tell that’s what the poor guy really wanted to draw; not 6 pages of people sitting in chairs, talking.

As far as the environmental message is concerned, this story centers on one I’ve found myself thinking about quite a bit, lately; light pollution. Living outside of Washington DC, the light pollution is pretty bad here and I can only see a handful of constellations when I look up into the sky at night. Unlike other types of pollution, you can’t really “fight” light pollution, either. As long as there are cities and houses and people using electricity to light them… there will always be light pollution. And unless I move to the middle of the Australian wastelands, I will never get to see a pristine night sky in my lifetime. It is depressing and I do find myself sympathizing with the message presented in this story, even if it offers no realistic solution beyond “Um, turn off the lights… I guess?”

Anyway, this is a pretty damn boring story until the last five pages, when it gets pretty awesome on a visual level. So it’s got that going for it.

Grade: C (as in, “Come on, assholes. Stop bringing glass to the beach. You know you’re not supposed to!”)

TMNT Adventures Special #3

Publication date: Winter, 1992
Cover: Michael Gaydos

Contents:

*"The Night of Monsterex"
*"Monsters are the Rage!"

Turtle Tips:

*Chronologically, I would place "The Night of Monsterex" between TMNT Adventures #4 and TMNT Adventures #5. I would place "Monsters are the Rage!" between TMNT Adventures #22 and TMNT Adventures #23.

*The letters page of TMNT Adventures Special #4 confirms that "The Night of Monsterex" takes place between TMNT Adventures #4 and TMNT Adventures #5, but also claims that "Monsters are the Rage!" takes place takes place then, too. However, in that story, April appears in her ninja-in-training design first seen in TMNT Adventures #23, placing it closer to that issue's timeframe.

TMNT Adventures Special #2

Publication date: Fall, 1992
Cover: Peter Laird, Ryan Brown

Contents:

*“The Wrath of the Fire God”
*“The Ghost of 13 Mile Island!”


Turtle Tips:

*These stories continue directly from those published in TMNT Adventures Special #1.

*Chronologically, I would place these stories in-between TMNT Adventures #26 and TMNT Adventures #27.

*The letters page in TMNT Adventures Special #4 claimed that all stories in TMNT Adventures Special #1 and TMNT Adventures Special #2 take place between TMNT Adventures #4 and TMNT Advetures #5. However, references to issues taking place afterward as well as April working for WRTL instead of Channel 6 forces these stories to take place much later in the timeline.

*This issue also contained two bonus pin-ups by Brian Thomas.

Infestation 2 #1

Publication date: January 25, 2012

Written by: Duane Swierczynsky
Art by: David Messina, Valerio Schiti
Inks by: Gaetano Carlucci, Federica Manfredi
Colors by: ScarletGothica
Letters by: Robbie Robbins, Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow

Summary:



"Good evening, Quahog, I'm Tom Tucker. Now, for Ollie Williams and his summary of IDW's Infestation 2 #1. Ollie?"



"H.P. LOVECRAFT WROTE SOME BOOKS!"



"And?"



"ALL THEM MONSTERS WERE REAL!"



"So what happened next?"



"HE DIED!"



"Then what?"



"ELDER ONES INVADED DIMENSIONS!"



"Any interesting characters exclusive to this comic we should know about?"



"NO!"



"Thank you, Ollie. And now for sports..."


Turtle Tips:

*The TMNT's part of this story will begin in Infestation 2: TMNT #1.

*Covert Vampiric Operations agents Britt, Cross and Bools previously appeared in Infestation #2 (which this event is a continuation of).

*Infestation 2 also crossed over into IDW's other publications, "Transformers", "G.I. Joe", "Dungeons & Dragons", "Danger Girl" and "30 Days of Night".


Review:

I'm not even that much of a "Family Guy" fan anymore, I just thought it would be fun to do this.

Anyway, here is the extent of the TMNT's involvement in this issue:



One of the nice things about IDW's "Infestation" events is that you don't HAVE to buy the bookending mini or the other crossovers if you don't want to; you can just grab the TMNT chapters and get a complete story. All jesting aside: IDW, I really, really appreciate that. Marvel and DC could learn a lot from you guys.

Grade: N/A

TMNT (IDW) #6

Publication date: January 25, 2012

Story: Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Dan Duncan
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow

"Enemies Old, Enemies New, Part 1"

Summary:

On the dark rooftops of New York, the Turtles secretly chase after a pair of ninja who seem to be pursuing something. As Leo suffers Don’s intellectual ego, they round a corner into an alley and find what the ninja are after: a man performing parkour and trying to escape them. They follow the Frenchman to the nearest roof, where he stops to make a stand against the ninja. Raph insists they help, but Leo orders him to stand down. The Frenchman puts up a fight, but is stabbed to death by the two ninja. Raph rushes onto the scene as the ninja vanish in a cloud of smoke. As he lay dying, the Frenchman’s final words are “War is coming”.



At Stockgen, Baxter Stockman is not pleased with Old Hob’s progress, warning him that he’s one strike away from being “out”. Hob defends his position, claiming that he’d need an army to take down the four Turtles. Stockman thinks he may be able to facilitate such a request.

At Casey’s house, Mr. Jones drunkenly laughs at his son’s plans on getting a part-time job. Casey brushes his words off, looking at the note he took from the campus bulletin board and deciding to go through with it.



Down in the sewer lair, the Turtles relay what happened to Splinter. Splinter is certain that the ninja whom they saw were members of the Foot Clan; their ancient foes from a previous life. Don is less inclined to buy into reincarnation and destiny, as the concepts don’t gel with his more scientific and pragmatic personality. Splinter understands Don’s apprehension, but assures him of the facts. The last thing he remembered as a human was a sword at his neck. When he awoke, he was in a laboratory being prodded by needles. When he saw the four turtles in a glass case, he knew that they were his lost sons and his prayers had been answers. Splinter could also tell that the scientists in the lab were planning something sinister; a form of military domination. He felt there was hope when a good-hearted young woman entered into their lives, but then the Foot Ninja struck again and you know the rest of the story.

At the New York Tech campus dorms, Casey approaches the room on the bulletin advertisement. He’s introduced to April, who offers to give him tutoring in exchange for self defense lessons.



Back at Stockgen, Baxter takes Hob to a vault and ushers him inside. He then closes the door behind him, intent on introducing the mutant cat to his new ‘army’. Baxter then unleashes a horde of tiny, toothy robots designed for clearing minefields: Minefield Ordnance Unarming System Enhanced Robots. Or, “Mousers” for short.


Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT Microseries: Michelangelo #2. The story continues in TMNT Microseries: Donatello #3.

*The Savate Ninja gang will return in TMNT Annual 2012.

*This issue was originally published with 3 variant covers: Cover A by Dan Duncan, Cover B by Kevin Eastman and Ronda Pattison, and Cover RI by Rob Guillory.


Review:

IDW’s TMNT series really does feel like one of Marvel's “Ultimate” reboots and plays to the same sense of pacing, cliffhangers and "startling" reveals. We’re getting all the classic characters and concepts reintroduced to us at a slower pace, which has been exciting, but it’s also all rather telegraphed. For instance the ninja were introduced as far back as issue #2 but an effort seemed to be made not to identify them as Foot Soldiers until issue #6… where they’re identified as Foot Soldiers rather unceremoniously. It wasn’t really important and every half-cognizant reader had already figured that out long ago, so my question is, why keep it under wraps in the first place?

Likewise, introducing Baxter Stockman means inevitably introducing the Mousers. I liked the new concept behind their original function (minesweepers instead of rat-catchers), but again, it’s not really much of a cliffhanger for your climactic splash page when readers knew it was going to be the Mousers all along. A lot of comics these days do this and I’m not sure who they’re trying to surprise. The last issue of IDW’s debut "Transformers" miniseries, “Infiltration”, ended with the shocking splash page of Optimus Prime stepping onto the scene. Was that supposed to be a surprise? What would have really been surprising is if it hadn’t been Optimus.

Likewise-likewise, guys such as Brian Michael Bendis and Geoff Johns do this sort of thing as a matter of routine. You’ll read an issue of Geoff Johns’s run on DC’s "The Flash" where the whole conflict of the story is the weather going crazy, and so the big shock-and-awe final splash page is, guess what, the Weather Wizard! And don’t even get me started on Bendis ending, what was it, Ultimate Spider-Man #5 with the final page reveal that, yes indeed, Spider-Man IS in this book titled “Ultimate Spider-Man!”

You can pick your jaw up off the floor, now.

I’m sounding a bit nasty, I’ll admit; it’s just that it’s become something of a cliche' used in excess these days and I’m kind of wistful for the era when the cliffhanger was used to surprise the audience, rather than show them what they’ve been predicting since they first opened the book up.

Alright, rant over; I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Anyhow, one of the nicer things about this issue that we hadn’t been getting in the preceding installments of the ongoing or the Microseries has been extended interactions between the four Turtles. They’ve very quickly fallen into their recognized relationships, though some new chinks in the armor have been added that I find fascinating. Leo and Don going at it is a brand new dynamic and one I really want to see explored in greater detail. Donatello is the smartest, so it’s only natural for him to have an ego and to challenge authority (“I’m the smartest, so why should I listen to you?”). It’s a nice break from the endless Raph as Wolverine, Leo as Cyclops thing we’ve gotten for decades.

I’m curious as to what the Savate Ninja (as he’s called in the notes section of this issue) was foreshadowing with his cryptic dialogue and precisely what faction he even belongs to. Are we going to be getting into a “City at War” scenario this early in the game? The idea of other ninja organizations out there besides the Foot intrigues me.

Artist Dan Duncan seems to be getting by without Kevin Eastman’s layouts just fine, too. I had a problem with the big “parkour” reveal on the top of page 4; the Savate Ninja doesn’t really look like he’s touching the wall or even hitting it at the same angle it’s extending. But other than that, this was a competently penciled story. The new Mousers seem a bit “over-designed”, but I’m mostly okay with them. I do like that there appears to be variety in their models.

Ronda Pattison, who has been doing a great job on colors so far, needs to adjust some of her palette choices for shading, I think. she appears to use a very bluish shade of purple/lavender for Don in a few panels (page 9 and page 14) to account for lighting/shadow. This has the effect of looking too blue and making him appear to be miscolored as Leo. Then there's a scene where Leo has a red bandana and Raph has a blue one... no excuse for that, really.

All in all, this is another set-up issue, and while I sounded like I was raining hate down on it at the beginning of my review, that was more a matter of getting something off my chest regarding an overused storytelling trope; I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on Waltz exclusively. This issue has what a lot of folks have been dying for since the series began: Foot Soldiers, the Turtles playing off one another, and lots of villains. There are fresh dynamics between established characters and some nice little references snuck in, such as Mike spouting his lesser-known catchphrase from the Fred Wolf cartoon, "Holy guacamole" (beats "mondo tubuloso", at least).

Definitely a good issue, despite the confused bandana coloring and a cliche' splash page at the end.

Grade: B- (as in, “But I won’t be satisfied until Stockman climbs inside a hovercraft that launches tiny Mousers at the Turtles and blinks red when you hit it enough times”.)

The Last Sea-Serpent

Originally published in: TMNT Adventures Special #1
Publication date: Summer, 1992

Written by: Steve Sullivan
Art by: Bill Wray
Colored by: Barry Grossman
Lettered by: Willie Schubert
Edited by: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)
Managing editor: Victor Gorelick

“The Last Sea-Serpent”

Summary:

On Shelton Slujj’s yacht, the Turtles are living it up. Although April and Splinter couldn’t make it, they were happy to accept Slujj’s offer of gratitude for saving his daughter, Emelia’s life: a cruise straight to Hawaii! Suddenly, the yacht is sunk by a rampaging sea serpent and the Turtles scramble to save Slujj and Emelia. Piling into the inflatable life raft, their luck gets even worse as the seas grow violent and stormy.



A Japanese vessel, the Shiumi's Justice, appears through the storm and the deck hand, Kai Nezumi, welcomes the Turtles aboard. Once onboard, however, they are berated by Captain Agamatta, who blames them for the loss of his prey: Umihaha, the sea mother. Agamatta explains that many years ago, he was captain of the Shiumi, a Japanese whaling vessel. One day, they were attacked by Umihaha and Agamatta’s nephew, Gisei, was killed. Agamatta returned to Japan and used his family fortune to replace his lost limbs with bionic prosthetics and construct a self-automated, technologically advanced ship: the Shiumi’s Justice. Agamatta then dedicated his life to gaining vengeance on Umihaha, with only his deck hand, Kai, to keep him company.

Agamatta locks the Turtles, Slujj and Emelia up in his quarters, promising to drop them off at the next port only after he kills Umihaha. After several fruitless hours of struggle, the Turtles cannot break out of their cell. They won’t have to, though, as Kai appears and releases them. Kai explains that he’s not saving them from the Captain, but wants them to save the Captain from himself. As it turns out, Agamatta’s entire quest for vengeance is his way of running away from the responsibility of Gisei’s death.

As the whole story goes, Agamatta insisted on letting Gisei join his whaling crew, even though the boy was too young to legally join. When Agamatta spotted a school of sea serpents, he and Gisei immediately tried to catch one to bring back to Japan and make themselves rich. They managed to harpoon and kill one of the serpents, angering their mother, Umihaha. Umihaha then destroyed the ship and you know the rest.



Upset that the Japanese still engage in whaling even though the rest of the civilized world has made it illegal, the Turtles agree to subdue Agamatta and bring him home, where he can get help. Agamatta doesn’t want help, though, and unleashes his ship’s mechanical defenses to detain them. The Turtles destroy the security controls, shutting down the robotic tentacles, then head for the bridge. Before they can make it, Umihaha appears and sinks the Shiumi’s Justice.

The Turtles are thrown from the ship and become separated from their human friends. Luckily, one of Umihaha’s offspring finds them and, being friendly, helps them stay afloat. They meet up with Umihaha and use their telepathic rapport with Splinter to speak with the sea serpent. Knowing that they are friendly, she takes them back to the remains of the Shiumi’s Justice and offers a tow to port. On the ship, Slujj, Emelia and Kai have weathered the danger intact, though Agamatta has been gravely injured and left unconscious.



Arriving in Kilaoto, Hawaii, Kai helps his Captain into an ambulance, promising to try and cure him of his thirst for vengeance. With their vacation back on track, the Turtles ask where the nearest pizza parlor is.


Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from “If a Tree Falls…”. The story continues in "Wrath of the Fire God".

*Bill Wray draws Slujj and Emelia with entirely different character models than in their previous appearance.

*“Umihaha” (海母) does indeed translate to “sea mother”.

*The Turtles used their telepathic bond with Splinter before, in TMNT Adventures #17.

*Slujj will return, in a flashback story, in TMNT Adventures #72.


Review:

Well, that was better than the first story in this Special. Still rife with environmental undertones, but at least this one had some basis in reality (the Japanese do consider themselves exempt from international whaling laws and continue killing endangered species to this day). Unlike “If a Tree Falls…”, however, the lesson was wrapped up much better in the story and we got a lot of action and adventure to move things along. The agenda was still transparent, but at least the story was fun.

“The Last Sea-Serpent” is just another “Moby Dick” parody and those are practically a dime a dozen. I think they could have developed Captain Agamatta further in the ongoing series as a decent villain, but TMNT Adventures was reluctant to acknowledge very many characters and stories exclusive to the seasonal Specials. At the very least, Murk Mariner could have been Captain Agamatta and no harm would have come to that later story. And he’s still a better villain than Captain Mossback.

Bill Wray’s art is this weird middle-ground between “silly” and “not too silly”. Emelia is absolutely ridiculous-looking and the Turtles are constantly making bizarre faces and poses, like their bodies are formed of gelatinous goop. At the same time, though, there’s a lot of heavy inking, creating a dark atmosphere and the action sequences are rendered in a much less jovial fashion. The style is sort of all over the place, but at least it gives the story its own personality.

Altogether, this is a pretty average story and it does little to balance out how awful the preceding adventure was. TMNT Adventures Special #1 was not a particularly good publication, being too preoccupied with soap-boxing some environmental agendas than making, well, a fun comic kids would enjoy.

Grade: C- (as in, “Could Slujj’s sudden lack of hair be related to radiation exposure from the previous story, or just uncommunicative artists?”)

If a Tree Falls...

Originally published in: TMNT Adventures Special #1
Publication date: Summer, 1992

Script: Steve Sullivan
Art: Brian Thomas
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Edits: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)
Managing edits: V. Gorelick

“If a Tree Falls…”

Summary:

In a national forest somewhere in the pacific northwest, the Turtles, Splinter and April wake up to a beautiful new morning. Their camping trip is going well until they notice a horde of robots clear-cutting the forest. Contrary to Splinter’s orders to observe the situation and not act rashly, the Turtles leap into action, destroying the robots. They are quickly approached by Sheldon Slujj, a billionaire philanthropist and owner of the Slujj-bots. Along with him are his young daughter, Emelia, and his assistant, Percy Brice.

Slujj explains that he owns the land next to the national forest (where they’re trespassing) and even has a permit from the government to develop the area. He plans on building a toxic waste storage facility that concentrates the waste so it takes up less space before burying it in an uninhabited environment. April apologizes for the Turtles’ rash actions and offers to help make amends. Slujj takes them back to his construction site and employs the Turtles as guards, hoping they’ll catch a saboteur that’s been making trouble for his crew.



That night, the Turtles split up and patrol the site. Raph immediately catches the saboteur, whom April and Splinter recognize as Victor Fosse, a famous environmentalist who went missing in the pacific northwest a year ago. Fosse explains that by concentrating the toxic waste for disposal, Slujj has only succeeded in making it deadlier. Even worse, he has been storing it in a ravine until the disposal site could be completed and his clumsy robots have broken several of the waste containers. The Turtles aren’t sure why they should believe him, but Fosse has convincing evidence: A Sasquatch!



Apparently, a year ago, Fosse was hiking in these mountains when he broke his leg and nearly died. A tribe of Sasquatch found him nursed him back to health and he has been living amongst them ever since. Slujj’s toxic waste has been poisoning the Sasquatch and his clear-cutting has been destroying certain herbs they need to survive. Suddenly, Slujj shows up with his Slujj-bots and they seize Fosse. A fight breaks out, as the Turtles fight the Slujj-bots and the Sasquatch fights everybody. In the chaos, Emelia wanders away into the poisoned ravine and collapses.



With the fighting defused, April convinces Slujj and Fosse to talk it out. Slujj claims that his canisters in the ravine are perfectly safe, but when he goes to prove it to Fosse, he finds Emelia clinging to life. Emelia has only moments left to live, so Fosse sends for more Sasquatch, who return with the herbs necessary to counter the toxic poisoning. Emelia survives and Slujj vows to spend money building a facility that breaks down toxic waste into chemical components, rather than hide it underground. With the promise that he’ll also end his clear-cutting, the Sasquatch wander back into the woods.


Turtle Tips:

*Chronologically, I would place this story after TMNT Adventures #26. The story continues in “The Last Sea Serpent”.

*Slujjco will appear in a flashback in TMNT Adventures #71.


Review:

Once, just ONCE I would LOVE to read a TMNT Adventures story where one of the wealthy industrialists is actually disposing of toxic waste, or cutting down trees, or developing land, or whatever RESPONSIBLY and honestly. But much like the universe of “Captain Planet”, those sorts of people simply do not exist. Every billionaire in TMNT Adventures with a business plan that affects the environment is either flat out villainous (“Mwa ha ha! I won’t rest until I have destroyed EVERY tree! Mwa ha haa!”) or misguided and concerned only about the bottom line (“Plant saplings to replace the trees we’ve cut down? Do you have any idea how much saplings COST!?”).

This is every environmentally-themed TMNT Adventures story ever written. Every. Single. One.

It is patently dishonest and antagonistic, creating this alternate reality where every person in charge of overseeing environmental development is either fundamentally incompetent or a flat-out super villain. And of course it takes life-threatening raids from an eco-terrorist to teach these criminal masterminds the error of their ways.

Look, I don’t support deforestation or dumping of trash into the ocean or any of that sort of stuff. But the very idea that businessmen whose income relies on maintaining renewable resources, would clear-cut whole forests and not plant saplings to RENEW that resource… is just the worst level of strawman bullshit. I am certain that there are unscrupulous corporate head honchos out there, dumping radioactive waste underneath puppy orphanages, but TMNT Adventures presents a world where EVERY person in charge is a Mr. Burns or a Hoggus Greedly or a Lex Luthor, never being fair-enough to offer a counterpoint or so much as a glimpse at individuals trying to do things right. Everyone who isn’t Steve Murphy or Steve Sullivan is a greedy asshole out to destroy the planet because, I dunno, money or something.

Then there’s the bit about the Sasquatch having a natural remedy for radiation poisoning. So what you’re telling me is that a cure for cancer was growing there the whole time? Famed environmentalist and protagonist of our story, Victor Fosse, knew of an herb that could instantaneously cure all forms of radiation sickness just be eating it off the stem… and spent a year hanging with Bigfoot and raiding construction sites rather than share this with humanity? What a swell guy! Also factor in the fact that his main gripe was the toxic waste sitting in the ravine, waiting for the storage tunnels to be built to house it. But by impeding the progress of the site’s construction with his sabotage tactics, all he was doing was prolonging the amount of time the waste would be sitting exposed in that ravine!

And jeez, does Steve Sullivan even know how the government disposes of toxic waste? They encase that shit in concrete then bury it in salt mines in the middle of unpopulated wastelands, keeping the area fenced off and guarded indefinitely and, get THIS, they even include signs written in dozens of languages warning of the toxic material stored on location, SO THAT JUST IN CASE CIVILIZATION COLLAPSES, generations thousands of years from now will know to keep away.

Yeah, that was a run-on sentence, but it was worth it.

These stories by Murphy (under the pseudonym Dean Clarrain) and Sullivan are all about educating kids on environmental matters, but it’s not education when you only present half of the story. It’s a biased man-handling of the facts, warping reality until it fits your agenda. So instead of teaching kids how toxic waste is actually disposed of by strictly regulated government operations, they create a fantasy world where greedy billionaires stuff it under forests just to save money and then present that as educational material. It’s dishonest, shameful and completely transparent.

There are plenty, PLENTY of genuine environmental failings in human history for these writers to use as solid examples and plenty of environmental successes in human history to use as a source of hope. Rather than resort to such honesty, we get shit like this, resulting in a generation that whole-heartedly believes the government is clear-cutting forests full of cancer-remedies and driving bigfoot to extinction just to save a couple of bucks. Because the Ninja Turtles and the Planeteers told them so when they were seven, which means it must be true.

Grade: F (as in, “For what it’s worth, Brian Thomas’s art was alright”.)

TMNT Adventures Special #1

Publication date: Summer, 1992

Cover art: Bill Wray

Contents:

*If a Tree Falls…
*The Last Sea Serpent

Turtle Tips:

*The stories in this special continue directly into TMNT Adventures Special #2.

*Chronologically, I would place the stories in this special between TMNT Adventures #26 and TMNT Adventures #27.

*The letters page in TMNT Adventures Special #4 claimed that all stories in TMNT Adventures Special #1 and TMNT Adventures Special #2 take place between TMNT Adventures #4 and TMNT Advetures #5. However, references to issues taking place afterward as well as April working for WRTL instead of Channel 6 forces these stories to take place much later in the timeline.

Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 1) #6

Publication date: August, 1988

Story: Ryan Brown
Pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks: Ryan Brown
Letters: Steve Lavigne
Frontispiece: Ryan Brown and Eric Talbot

“Leatherhead”

Summary:

Frontispiece: While fishing in a gator-infested bayou, one of the Turtles compares the swamp to the sewers of New York. Seeing all the gators crowding his boat reminds him of a legend whispered by the homeless vagrants that take refuge in the sewer tunnels. A legend of a giant man-eating gator called Leatherhead…

In Madagascar, a big game hunter shoots down the last of the blue elephants. Bagging it as a trophy, he tells his assistants that he’s sick of such typical game and wants something more challenging. Looking at a newspaper clipping about a large alligator in the sewers of New York, Marlin climbs into his helicopter and takes off. Shortly after he leaves, a military officer curses that once again, the poacher has escaped. Finding the newspaper clipping, though, he vows to give chase.



In the alleys of New York, the Turtles fight against a unit of Foot Soldiers. The ninja retreat, but Leo knows that they will return in greater numbers. The Turtles retreat into a sewer pipe, not knowing where it will lead them. As they traverse the unfamiliar tunnels, they fail to notice a creature observing them from beneath the murky water.

Outside another sewer pipe, Marlin packs his gear and orders his assistants to await his triumphant return at the hotel. After Marlin enters the tunnel and the assistants drive away, the military officer comes out of hiding and follows.

In the sewer tunnels, the Turtles make the mistake of bumping into Marlin. Deciding that four giant turtles would make for an even greater trophy, Marlin opens fire with his machinegun. Knowing the arena is too cramped for them to make a stand against automatic weaponry, the Turtles make a break for it, only to round a corner and find themselves looking down a unit of Foot Soldiers. Leo orders Mike to watch their rear and look for a means of escape while they deal with the Foot. Inadvertantly, Mike springs a trap door in the wall, leading to a hidden room. As Marlin arrives, gunning down the Foot Soldiers to secure his prey, the Turtles flee into the secret passage.



They find themselves in a small room where lots of Utrom technology appears to have been salvaged from the TCRI building. Before they can figure things out, Marlin comes bursting through the wall, ready to kill them. Suddenly, a hulking mutant alligator springs from his hiding place and causes Marlin to faint. The gator introduces himself as Leatherhead and explains that he means the Turtles no harm. In fact, he has been watching them since they entered his sewers and, not being humans, he had hoped to speak with them.

Leatherhead lays down his origin; that he was once a pet gator that was discarded into the sewers. He was exposed to mutagen from the TCRI building and found by a pair of Utrom guards. They took him in and, as he mutated into an intelligent anthropomorph, kept him around as an equal. Leatherhead would take lengthy trips into the forgotten depths of the sewers though, often leaving for days, and it was during one of these trips that the TCRI building was destroyed and the Utroms escaped from Earth. Leatherhead salvaged what tech he could and has been working on a communication device so that his friends might return for him.

Wanting to put some distance between themselves and Marlin, Leatherhead leads the Turtles to a forgotten cave beneath the sewers. Suddenly, Marlin appears behind them, still brandishing his gun. Leatherhead leads the Turtles to an ancient stone bridge spanning an underground river. After crossing, Leatherhead demolishes the bridge with his tail. Unfortunately, the bridge collapses before he can finish crossing and Leatherhead is left dangling on the ledge. Marlin takes aim, but before he can pull the trigger, a throwing knife severs the tendons in his hand and he drops his gun. The knife was thrown by the military officer, who orders Marlin to surrender and come with him into custody for poaching. Marlin tries to back away, but inadvertently stumbles off the cliff, falling into the river below. The officer glances across the destroyed bridge and catches a brief glimpse of the Turtles and Leatherhead.



Later, the Turtles lead Leatherhead to their old sewer lair. Since Leatherhead’s home has been compromised, they offer to let him live in their former digs. Leatherhead thanks them, as it is a perfect place to continue his work. As the Turtles leave, Mike wonders if they should have made Leatherhead sign a renter’s agreement. Leo sighs.


Turtle Tips:

*This story takes place sometime after TMNT (Vol. 1) #21.

*The TCRI building was destroyed and the Utroms fled Earth in TMNT (Vol. 1) #7.

*The Turtles will meet Leatherhead again in TMNT (Vol. 1) #45.

*Unbeknownst to the Turtles, they met Leatherhead as children in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #38.

*A decompressed look at Leatherhead’s origin can be seen in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 1) #50, in the back-up story “Threads”.

*Marlin and Officer Emil will return in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #50.

*For the Tales of the TMNT Original Vol. 1 Series Treasury Edition trade paperback collection (whew!), the original frontispiece was swapped out with a new one by Jim Lawson, tying into a larger story arc going through all the new frontispieces created for that collection.

*Leatherhead’s introduction to the Turtles was adapted for the 4Kids TMNT episode “What a Croc”, while the whole “chased by Marlin” plot was used for the episode “Hunted”.

*This issue also contained bonus pin-ups of Leatherhead by Jim Lawson, Steve Lavigne, Eric Talbot, Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and Steve Bissette, as well as a bonus pin-up of Leonardo by Michael Gaydos.


Review:

The Sensational character-find of 1988: Leatherhead!

Or that’s what the issue would have you believe, anyway. Mirage was really, really excited about this guy, who got his own five-page pin-up gallery at the end of the issue. And hey, they should be excited, because Leatherhead would end up being one of the most popular recurring characters of the series, appearing in just about every incarnation of the TMNT franchise (in various degrees of faithfulness).

While he isn’t my favorite new character to come out of Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 1), as that honor belongs to the Rat King, I do like Leatherhead quite a bit. His first appearance, though, suffers from some of the same problems I had with the first appearance of Nobody in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 1) #2. That is, he doesn’t really do anything. He pops out from behind a curtain, causing Marlin to faint, then he talks a lot, then he falls off a bridge, then he goes to live in the old sewer lair. Leatherhead looks awesome and has a fascinating origin and the idea of making him hyper-intelligent instead of a hulking brute was a great twist… but he doesn’t do anything!

But even though Leatherhead doesn’t involve himself in much of the issue’s action, there’s still plenty of it to go around. The Turtles getting pinned between Marlin and the Foot Soldiers creates some great tension, and I love the scene where Marlin comes bursting through the wall, shuriken all sticking out of him. A great way of visually showing that he had to gun his way through the Foot Soldiers to get to the Turtles, but without having him tell it to the audience.

There are also some superb set-pieces in the issue. I'm fascinated by the idea of hidden caves and forgotten architecture beneath New York’s sewers, something issues like Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #1 have explored. The ancient stone bridge would, in a way, become synonymous with Leatherhead in other offshoots of the franchise. The Turtles fight him on one in TMNT Adventures #6 and his boss battle in TMNT III: The Manhattan Project takes place on the same bridge.

As a total nerd, I have one problem with this issue and that’s to do with a contradiction it presents. The Turtles give their lair away to Leatherhead at the end, which creates a huge headache as to just when this story can take place. At a glance, one would think it takes place during the years they lived with April above the antique shop, but the Turtles return to their sewer lair in “Return to New York” with Leaterhead nowhere to be found. And they continue living in their lair for several issues after the fact, again, with Leatherhead nowhere to be found. The only answer is that this story must take place somewhere further down the line, after they leave New York again for an extended stay in Northampton. But even then, the lair is shown to still be trashed by the Mousers.

It’s just… a continuity hiccup. Nothing to be done about it.

Leatherhead is a character that shines brighter in his subsequent appearances. This issue seems too preoccupied in trying to introduce him that it forgets to allow him to actually do anything but deliver exposition. Be that as it may, I love the set pieces of the story and I can’t hate on anything that includes a battle with the Foot.

Grade: B- (as in, “But I CAN hate on Marlin’s rat-tail. Every kid in my school had one of those in the '90s…”)

Furrlough #52

Published by: Radio Comix
Publication date: April, 1997

Story: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)
Art: Chris Allan

“Chapter Three: Seed of Destruction”

Summary:

Sneaking into Seirankai Laboratories in the dead of night, Ninjara finds entrance through a ventilator shaft. She locates the gilgamesai seed hovering in a stasis field, but before she can snatch it, several armed guards show up. She kills one with a pair of shuriken, while the second opens fire. A third leaps at her from behind, but she judo-flips him into the second guard’s line of fire, killing him.



Ninjara and the second guard are at a standoff. Ninjara offers him the opportunity to leave with his life, as it is only a seed he is protecting. The guard refuses, fearing the repercussions of his employer, and opens fire. Ninjara dodges the bullets and slices off the guard’s leg.



She then approaches the stasis field with the seed in it, wondering what could possibly be so important about the thing. As she plucks it out of the field, the silhouette of a female cat-mutant appears behind her, ready to pounce...


Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from Furrlough #48.

*Page 4 was mistakenly printed as Page 2 in this issue.

*Due to various other professional obligations, Murphy and Allan were never able to complete the serial and it remains unresolved.


Review:

And Ninjara’s furry serial comes to a cliffhanger conclusion. I hope you weren’t too interested in the thing, as you’ll likely never see it completed. Viacom owns Ninjara lock, stock and barrel, now (Murphy and Allan have revealed that they no longer own the character rights) and I doubt a family-friendly multinational corporation would fund continuing a blood and nudity-filled serial originally published in a furry stroke mag. And you’ll probably never see these three chapters reprinted anywhere, either. Lacking a conclusion means they’ll never be collected on their own, and the adult material means they could never be included in a TMNT Adventures collection as a curiosity.

No, these things are pretty much doomed to be forgotten outside scans that get passed around online.

It’s sort of a shame, too, as I rather liked the story and the setting and especially Allan’s art… I just thought the “adult” tones were really gratuitous and unnecessary, adding absolutely nothing to the comic.

This third and final chapter is probably my favorite of the bunch, as it excludes the nudity and juvenile cursing, sticking to the action. Ninjara is a bit too ruthless for my tastes, killing the first two guards without hesitation (the first guard offered her a chance to surrender and she “fired” first, while the third guard tried to subdue her without killing her). She offers the second guard a chance to leave with his life, and through his dialogue we learn that he works for some unsavory characters, so I guess we’re supposed to forgive her as she was only killing “bad guys”.

No idea who the cat-woman at the end was going to turn out to be. I’m assuming it’s a cat-woman, as that’s what the silhouette looks like, but who can be sure?

Anyway, I think the Ninjara serial had a good story at its core that got ruined due to the medium it was being published in. The preoccupation with being “adult” undermined its positive qualities and put it in such a narrow niche that there’s no way we could ever see the chapters reprinted. All in all, I appreciate the gesture, but the end result was just a bad idea.

Furrlough #48

Published by: Antarctic Press
Publication date: December, 1996

Story: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)
Art: Chris Allan

“Ninjara, Part 2”

Summary:

At the mansion of Tetsu Kono, Ninjara is having trouble with the ninja doorman. She says she’s been summoned to do a job, but the doorman won’t let her in. They trade insults and prepare to trade blows, when Tetsu orders Ichiro (the doorman) to stand down. Ninjara enters the mansion to find the elderly man trimming a bonsai. He sicks three of his ninja on her as a test of skill while he dictates his mission. He wants her to steal the last remaining seed of the gilgamesai orchid; as a collector, it is priceless. Ninjara handily defeats the ninja and accepts half her usual fee upfront. She then leaves to steal the seed from Seirankai Laboratories. After she exits, Tetsu orders Ichiro to follow her, find her weakness and then bring her back to him.



Outside a Buddhist temple, Ninjara leaves her daughter, Moko, with one of the priests. The priests of the temple are friends of Ninjara’s and happily take charge of her child. Ninjara bids Moko farewell, though the little girl wants to go with her, citing that she wants to be just like her mother. Such a notion doesn’t sit well with Ninjara.



By a torii, Ninjara meditates. She considers how she used to be known as the greatest thief in all of Japan, but is now nothing more than a hired burglar. Still, she concedes that she needs the money in order to track down those who killed her husband, Mokoshan, and get her revenge.


Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from Furrlough #47. The story “concludes” in Furrlough #52.

*Mokoshan last appeared in TMNT Adventures #70.

*The insults the doorman lobbies at Ninjara translate to: “dorobo” (thief), “hirogeru onna” (fat woman) and “jorou” (whore). Ninjara’s retort translates to: “chimpoko no atama” (penis-brain) and “chiisai chinchin” (tiny dick).


Review:

The second installment in Ninjara’s furry serial has precisely the same ups and downs as the first. I have nothing negative to say about the story or the characters or the setting. I’m actually interested to see future-Ninjara walking around in the world a few decades prior to “The Future Shark Trilogy” with her daughter, tracking down her husband’s killer. All that stuff is pretty cool.

No, what I take issue with is just how sloppily Murphy (Clarrain) is forcing the “maturity” into each strip. And of course, I’m defining “maturity” at its absolute most juvenile: gore, nudity and cursing. We haven’t gotten to the gore yet, but you can strike the other two off the list.

The trading of verbal barbs between Ichiro and Ninjara was like watching a pair of 7th graders trying to one-up each other. It was stupid, not just for the immature crap the insults translate to, but because it reads like some fanfic author with an online Japanese-English translator trying to dig up whatever “hilarious” bits of name-calling they can find for their Ranma ½ epic. Even if you don’t know Japanese, it reads very amateurishly.

Chris Allan’s pencils are as good as ever and though there isn’t much action in this installment, there’s still a lot of life and energy to the characters. He’s definitely drawing Ninjara more… buxom, than in TMNT Adventures, but at least she keeps her shirt on for this chapter. Furrlough is a furry stroke mag, after all, so he has to fulfill the mandatory allotment of “animal-based sexiness” somehow.