Publication date: August, 1989
Story and art: Rick Veitch
Letters: Steve Lavigne
“Down to the River”
Summary:
Out in a field near the farm in Northampton, the Turtles
practice their lessons beneath the hot sun as Splinter watches and
instructs. Splinter hears the voice of
nature all about him and probes his students to discern if they can hear it,
too. They cannot. Seeing that the sun is taking its toll on
them, Splinter ends practice for the day.
All the Turtles bow to their master, save Raphael, who runs away to cool
off in the river. Disappointed, Splinter
tells the other three Turtles that they are not yet mature enough to learn more
advanced lessons in ninjutsu.
Enraged that their callous and selfish brother has made them all look bad, Leo, Don and Mike chase after him. They find Raph climbing a tree by the
Connecticut River and demand that he come down and take his medicine. The branch he’s standing on breaks and Raph
plunges into the rocky water. His
brothers dive in after him, but while searching the river bed, Raph gets the drop
on them and stomps their faces into the mud.
Now even more furious, the Turtles climb out of the water
and prepare to pulverize Raph. He
successfully distracts them with the sight of a turtle nest where all the eggs
have just hatched. The Turtles are
hypnotized by the sight of all the baby turtles swimming around. Raph finds one that looks hurt and, upon
closer inspection, sees that a leech is attached to it. Raph recoils in horror, being afraid of
leeches, and this revelation gives his brothers the chance to get even. Holding him down, they place the leech on the
bottom of his foot and let it get a few sips of blood. Raph freaks out and pulls the leech off then
chases his brothers back to the farm.
The next day, Splinter continues their lessons, but find
that his pupils are no closer to hearing the voices of nature than before. Listening, he feels a malignant
presence in the nearby river, growing fat off of baby turtles. Raph, pale and weak, collapses in the heat of
the sun and Splinter calls off practice early.
Cooling off in the river, Leo, Don and Mike apologize to
Raph for teasing him yesterday. Raph
reluctantly accepts the apology.
Suddenly, they spot a large snapping turtle get pulled under the way by
a huge, slimy mass. They chase the
creature to a small cave with no exit and discover it to be a humongous leech. Raph blocks the entrance to the cave with his
shell while his brothers fetch their weapons to kill the thing.
The Turtles return to find Raph passed out and the “bloodsucker”
now not only larger, but standing erect with arms and legs. Splinter, having accompanied his sons,
recognizes something strange about the creature and tells them to stay
back. Leo, worried about Raph, ignores
Splinter’s orders and chops the leech up.
Leo apologizes to Splinter, who tells his pupil that he needs to learn
of other ways to solve problems than with his katana.
The next day, at practice, Raph seems dazed and
unfocused. He breaks formation at the
sight of a dragonfly and chases it off into a field. Splinter senses something is the matter with
him, and over the next few days, the others begin to see it, too. Raph gradually becomes more child-like in
nature and loses intelligence, dexterity and focus. Eventually, he begins to shrink in size and
ceases speaking.
Splinter concludes that the leech siphoned off the
mutagen in Raph’s system, absorbing it into itself. As a result, the leech mutated into an
anthropomorphic creature while Raph has begun to devolve into a normal
turtle. Together with April and Casey,
they head to the river to try and find the remains of the leech and see if they
can’t reclaim some of the mutagen and restore Raph. They are suddenly accosted in the dead of
night by a game warden who accuses them of fishing in a game preserve. Seeing the quadrupedal Raphael, the game
warden snatches him in a slimy hand, covered in tiny suckers and drinks more of
Raph’s blood. The game warden is
revealed to be the mutated leech, now reformed from being chopped up, fully
mutated and going by the name “Bloodsucker”.
Bloodsucker escapes on a motorboat, which it stole from
the real game warden (whom it devoured, thus gaining the ability to speak as
well as other humanoid traits). Donning
their bandanas, Leo, Don and Mike begin their swim up river to catch
Bloodsucker and bring him back to the farm.
April and Splinter stay behind to watch over Raph while Casey loads up
his Chevy and promises to meet them at a rendezvous point upstream.
Turtle Tips:
*The story is continued in TMNT (Vol. 1) #25
*The canonicity of Rick Veitch’s “The River” trilogy is
somewhat confused. Peter Laird has
stated that all issues published during the Vol. 1 “guest era” are non-canon,
with the lone exceptions being TMNT (Vol. 1) #27 and TMNT (Vol. 1) #28, as they
were produced in-house by Mirage.
However, the events of this “non-canon” storyline are referenced in TMNT
#28, a canon issue. Make of it what you
will. Regardless of any editorial
decrees on “canon”, there is nothing in this story to contradict the Mirage
continuity.
Review:
Veitch’s “The River” trilogy defined the post “Return to
New York” Northampton issues for me; whenever I’m reminded of that time period
in Vol. 1, this is the story arc that immediately comes to mind.
It’s a very suspenseful tale, and I recall that when I
originally read it, I legitimately felt worried that Raph “wasn’t going to make
it”. A silly thing, I know, but the
circumstances of the publication probably helped elicit that reaction. Coming out during the “guest era” where
anything could happen, there was no guarantee that “The River” would align with
Mirage continuity and there was always the chance that a main character might
be at risk. Of course, “The River” wound
up functioning as a part of Mirage continuity until Veitch refused to sign the “mandatory
retroactive work-for-hire” contracts and Laird struck this storyline from the
record, but all that came after the fact.
The overarching plot of “The River” is a thrilling one,
as Raph is left in a precarious situation and his brothers have to race to
catch up with the villain that may be the key to saving him. Not the most original set up when boiled down
like that, sure, but one that nevertheless makes for an exciting story. Being the first chapter in the trilogy,
Veitch takes a very slow and deliberate approach to establishing the conflict, as Raph’s devolution
takes several days and the characters, not wanting to accept that there’s
something wrong with their friend, willfully ignore his decline until it looks
them indisputably in the face. While it
may seem a little callous, I don’t think any of us can claim to have never
reacted to a friend’s silent plight with denial. It’s just one of those selfish things people
do, sometimes, and somewhat understandable given how bizarre a malady it is;
one the Turtles wouldn’t exactly know how to treat.
What can make Veitch’s “River” trilogy rather hard to
read is his… less than firm grasp on the characters and their
personalities. None of the Turtles act
very distinctly, particularly at the beginning of the issue, and you really can’t
tell them apart unless they’re calling each other by name. While Raph being a “rebel” is
well-established, the way he brushes off practice and disrespects Splinter so he can goof-off and play around like a child with ADD is really more
Michelangelo’s thing. In fact, Raph’s
and Mike’s personalities seem almost switched in this story. When Raph begins to devolve, Mike is shown
being an aggressive bully, taunting Raph to chase him out onto the roof of the
farmhouse. Raph’s dialogue seems out of
character, too, as he sulks and accuses his brothers of being “mean” to
him. Again, that seemed more like a
reaction Mike would have.
There’s also the narrative boxes, which exclusively refer
to the Turtles as “friends” and never as “brothers”, which leaves me wondering
if, at the time, Veitch was aware that they had a familial relationship (unlike
in the Fred Wolf cartoon, where the Turtles were all indeed “friends” and not “family”). Lavigne’s lettering is also filled with
errors, repeating words or spelling some wrong.
Some campy elements also stick out awkwardly in the script, such as
Splinter of all characters giving the villain the melodramatic name of “Bloodsucker”.
Despite those setbacks, I think “The River” is an overall
excellent storyline that’s marred only by some indistinct
characterization. Veitch’s art is great
stuff and the sequence where the game warden is revealed to be Bloodsucker is a
nice bit of horror. Though it is a
little weird to see Splinter wearing culturally Chinese clothing rather than
the Japanese robes he’s typically seen in.
I wonder if Veitch was aware of the difference at the time or if it was
a mistake.
Grade: B (“But I always got the feeling that Wyrm was a
variation of Bloodsucker, but altered just enough so Eastman and Laird wouldn’t
have to pay Veitch any royalties”.)
