Publication date: October, 1989
Story and art: Rick Veitch
Letters: Gary Fields
“Old Man River”
Summary:
In Northampton, Splinter follows the course of the river
with his spirit until at last he finds Bloodsucker, stomping toward a presence
who sits at the source of the river… waiting…
On the side of a dirt road, Casey and April struggle to
fix the transmission of their Chevy.
Luckily, their car just happened to break down right where a canoe has
been stashed. Abanak says that the
entire situation was orchestrated by the old man whom they seek. In all the commotion, the Turtles lose track
of Raph. They find him in a bush,
confronted by a weasel. Despite being
devolved into a normal pet shop turtle, Raph still has his fighting spirit and
scares the weasel away with a few sharp bites from his beak. Boarding the canoe, the Turtles and Abanak
continue upriver while Casey and April stay behind to fix the Chevy.
Following the river through a course not on any map, but
guided by Abanak’s dreams, they come to a huge lake which Abanak claims is the true
source of the river. Their canoe is
overturned by a school of fish and they are all carried to the base of a
waterfall by them. The fish then carry
them up the waterfall and they find a large stone in the middle of the
river. Taking position in the center of
the stone, they are overcome by a powerful surge of energy.
Splinter, his mind and spirit still free from his body,
is also overtaken by that surge of energy and feels himself being trapped by
it. The energy coalesces into a wizened
old man. The old man explains to them
that he is of a race that dominated the Earth in the time of the dinosaurs, but
their civilization was destroyed by nuclear war. The survivors turned their backs on
technology after that and began communing with nature in search of knowledge and true power. Their spirits soon merged with the rivers of
the world and the Connecticut River is his river.
The Turtles ask the old man if he can restore Raphael and
he says that he could, but does not wish to.
Bloodsucker then comes stomping up the falls and takes his place at the
old man’s side. The old man explains
that he sent the leech to feed off of Raph’s mutagen-laced blood so that he
could study the effects of mutation. He
intends to likewise devolve the other three Turtles and learn about mutation through their blood. The Turtles ready
themselves to attack, but the old man is prepared. Having already snared Splinter’s
consciousness in his trap, he uses the will of the rat to paralyze the
Turtles. He then sicks Bloodsucker on
them to drain them of all their mutagen-laced blood.
Raphael swims up to Bloodsucker’s feet and bites down on
his toe. Bloodsucker then tumbles over
the falls with all the turtles still in his clutches. Abanak takes up Leo’s fallen katana and
attacks the old man, accusing him of forsaking the Native population and
encouraging industrialists to pollute the river simply so that he could
increase his own perverted knowledge (and thus become more powerful). The old
man blasts Abanak into the forest with a bolt of energy. The momentary distraction is enough for
Splinter to free his mind from the old man’s trap and, with a total surge of
will, sends a psychic counterattack upriver.
At Booders Falls, the three kids are busy chiseling their
dream symbols into the rocks by the river, intent on fulfilling their promise
to Abanak. Suddenly, a huge glowing claw
comes surging up the river. A few miles
further, April and Casey are still dealing with the Chevy
when they see the claw come rocketing by.
And finally, at the top of the falls, the old man registers the
counterattack a little too late and is struck by the huge glowing fist. Splinter’s attack has cut the old man off
from the energies that have sustained him for millennia and he quickly begins
to decay.
At the base of the falls, Leo is freed from his paralysis
just as Bloodsucker attacks. Mike and
Don come to his aid and they dogpile on the leech-man. Bloodsucker is still too strong and throws
them off, but his attack is momentarily delayed by Raph, who takes another bite
out of him.
At the top of the falls, the old man begs Abanak to help
him. He says that Abanak is capable of
the same powers as he is, but Abanak does nothing. The old man attempts to heal himself but
begins de-aging rapidly, eventually turning into a baby before vanishing
entirely.
With the old man gone, Bloodsucker begins to steadily
weaken. At the same time, Raphael is
growing larger and larger thanks to the blood he continues to slurp from the
leech-man’s throat. Raph wrestles
Bloodsucker behind the cascade of water and the two disappear. Don and Mike want to go in and help their
brother, but Leo says Raph has to fight this battle on his own. A moment later, Raph comes stomping out, demanding
a beer. He says he pulled a turnabout on
Bloodsucker, sucking the villain’s mutagen-laced blood and restoring himself in
the process. Bloodsucker, now just a
normal leech, is spared a squishy death by Raphael and simply flicked back into
the river.
Abanak, speaking from the top of the falls, says that he
has found his destiny and must take the old man’s place as the spirit of the
river. He then commands the fish to
carry the Turtles back home. Riding the
fish, the Turtles pass April and Casey (who have fixed the car and sparked a
romance in the process) and assure them that Raph is back to normal. Passing Booders Falls, they see the kids finishing
their carvings and tell them that Abanak sends his regards. Finally, they reach Northampton where
Splinter sits, waiting. They each bow
respectfully to their master (and that includes Raphael).
Elsewhere, a human embryo floats helplessly in the river
current. It is quickly inhaled by a
small leech with vague memories of tasting mutant turtle blood.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (Vol. 1) #25.
*Raph will be seen dealing with the psychological fallout
of this story arc in TMNT (Vol. 1) #28.
Review:
Despite a weak middle, Veitch’s “River” trilogy manages a
strong finish with one of the better battles in Volume 1. Though he turns out to be nothing more than a
pawn in the old man’s game, Bloodsucker still made for a powerful enemy; one
that actually gave the Turtles a run for their money. Many of the most memorable villains of the
Mirage series weren’t particularly great threats. Leatherhead was never really a bad guy to
begin with, Savanti Romero and Complete Carnage were comedy relief stooges and
Rat King sort of just operated from the shadows, not being a physical
equal. There were plenty of disposable
thugs and the occasional monster here or there but, looking at Volume 1,
Bloodsucker is probably the most serious threat the Turtles face aside from,
obviously, the Shredder.
In a way, he’s almost too powerful. He can’t be killed no matter how you chop him
up, he gains the knowledge and skills of whatever he eats and he has the
ability to devolve the Turtles by sucking their blood. From the TMNT’s point of view, he’s a pretty
terrifying enemy and easily one of Volume 1’s most memorable foes. He is, of course, “off limits” due to rights
issues between Mirage and Veitch, which is a shame, as I’d like to see him
revived in another medium, be it the new cartoon from Nick or the new comic from
IDW. Of course, they could always do a
run-around and use Wyrm, the leech mutant with all the same powers (can reform
himself after being chopped up; feeds on mutagen-laced blood) that Viacom owns
lock, stock and barrel. But that’d be
kind of a dick move toward Veitch.
“Old Man River” suffers from some… “what the fuck”
moments, to put it vulgarly. Veitch
rather nonchalantly throws the existence of Atlantis or whatever that ancient
civilization was out there in a brief flashback and it just seems so random and
weird. And, of course, it’s never
referenced again by any other writers.
Even ignoring the whole “off limits” status of “The River”, the fact
that every river in the world is home to some Atlantean sorcerer would seem
rather important. But that’s always been
my biggest grievance with the Mirage universe as a whole; a lack of cohesion.
On the other hand, a really small moment in this issue is
actually really important to the ongoing narrative of Volume 1, and that’s the
blossoming of April and Casey’s romance.
Before now, they’ve only ever been shown just coexisting with each other
with maybe a romantic undercurrent just beneath the surface. This is the point where they actually start
to show affection toward one another (April gives Casey a kiss for the first
time, I think). If you purge “The River”
from continuity as Laird has, you amputate an important chapter in the
development of their relationship which really undercuts the tragedy of their
breaking up during “Shades of Grey”.
Regardless of editorial (and legal) mandates, “The River” is not only a
good story arc in TMNT Vol. 1, but an important one, too.
Veitch also seems to have hit his stride with the
characters in this installment, too. I
mentioned in my review for the first chapter that he didn’t really have a solid
handle on their voices and seemed to mix up their personalities and traits. Here, the Turtles are all unique in their
speech (save perhaps Don, who never has anything technical to say) and Raph
stops acting like a whimpering crybaby like he did in the first chapter and
behaves like his beer-swilling self.
Mike even yells “cowabunga”, which probably pissed off a few readers in ’89. Casey’s dialogue about giving up on Raph as a
lost cause can either be interpreted as macho bluster or mischaracterization,
depending on how forgiving you are as a reader.
“The River” is one of my favorite arcs from the guest era
and one of the better storylines from Volume 1 in general. The middle section is a bore, but the
bookending chapters more than make up for it.
This finale is the strongest installment in the arc and Veitch’s art
sells it even moreso. The bit where Splinter
sends a psychic sucker punch barreling upriver is a great example of how to
build momentum in storytelling.
Grade: A- (as in, “Although we may never see this storyline
collected again, the original issues are pretty easy to come by and pretty
cheap, too”.)
