Publication date: January 9, 2013
Story: Mateus Santolouco
Script: Mateus Santolouco and Erik Burnham
Art: Mateus Santolouco
Colors: Joao “Azeitona” Vieira
Letters: Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow
Summary:
The past: It is Feudal era Japan, the Muromachi period
(1337-1573). The Daimyo Ashikaga Yuu has
grown in power thanks to his samurai warrior, Tatsuo Takeshi. However, he has grown to fear his soldier’s
power and suspect his loyalty. Due to this paranoia, Ashikaga deploys a small army of soldiers to ambush
him. Tatsuo spends the day slaughtering
the soldiers, but as he fatigues, one of the soldiers manages to strike him
with his blade, chopping off Tatsuo’s right leg at the knee. Tatsuo kills the remaining soldiers, but
collapses. As he passes out from blood-loss,
he is taken away by a mysterious, shrouded person. Tatsuo awakens later to find that his leg has
grown back (though covered in a strange green ooze) and is inspired by the
bloody footprint he leaves behind.
The present: Dr. Patrick Miller relates the story of
Tatsuo Takeshi to an auditorium of fascinated guests. Among them is April, Casey and the Turtles
(who are hiding in the rafters).
Apparently, after Tatsuo was presumed killed in the ambush, the entire
Ashikaga clan, including the Daimyo, were slaughtered by an unknown force. Dr. Miller tells his guests that recently he
stumbled across a hidden temple in Japan and found pages from a book titled “The
Secret of the Foot”. The pages relate
the history of the Foot Clan; a political force during the Feudal Era. More importantly, though, the pages appear to
have been authored by Tatsuo Takeshi years after his supposed death. April, Casey and the Turtles suddenly become
VERY interested in the lecture.
According to the pages, Tatsuo allied himself with a Kitsune witch in
servitude to a being called the Iron Demon.
Tatsuo became more monstrous during this second life, carrying out the
Iron Demon’s commands to ruthlessly slaughter the innocent.
The Past: The Foot Clan burn a village to the
ground. Two Foot Soldiers, Masato and
Oroku Maji, are shamed by their actions as they witness women and children flee
in terror. Oroku Maji wishes to be free
of their psychotic leader, but all of the Foot Clan fear that the stories of
his unholy alliance may be true. The
three soldiers witness the Kitsune (in the form of a three-tailed fox) racing
across the burning rooftops and follow her. They spy on a meeting between her and Tatsuo
(who has finished slaying the infirm Lord Daisuke). Tatsuo tells the Kitsune (now transformed into a woman) that he has taken
the land their master has demanded.
The Present: Leaving the lecture, April insists that she
and Casey try to get some more info on the Foot Clan from Dr. Miller. Casey is suspicious of the guy, but has
nothing better to go on than his gut.
Piling into April’s van, they find the Turtles already waiting. Leo says that they should try to learn what
Dr. Miller knows. Back inside, Dr.
Miller is stopped by Karai (dressed in a business suit). Karai tells Dr. Miller that she represents a
private party who has acquired more pages of the “Secret of the Foot” and would
very much like him to take a look. Karai
leaves Dr. Miller her card.
Back at lair, Splinter fills in the rest of the blanks
regarding Tatsuo Takeshi and his last days as leader of the Foot Clan.
The Past: The Kitsune travels back to Tatsuo’s
castle, carrying a strange burden. Oroku
Maji and Masato call a secret meeting of the Foot Soldiers who wish to
overthrow their brutal leader. Oroku
Maji says that every full moon, Tatsuo locks himself away while the Kitsune
fetches him something. They believe
whatever the Kitsune delivers to Tatsuo is the source of his unnaturally long
life and inhuman strength in battle.
As the next full moon arrives, the Kitstune delivers her
burden to the elderly and bedridden Tatsuo: a bowl of ooze. Tatsuo drinks the ooze and is restored to his
youth and strength, though he finds being the servant of the Iron Demon a
distasteful fate. The Kitsune promises
him that she is searching for a means to restore his youth permanently and that
they must bide their time. By the
window, Oroku Maji watches and, now knowing the source of Tatsuo’s power,
hatches a plan.
On the following full moon, Oroku Maji and the Foot
Soldiers ambush Tatsuo before he can drink the ooze. Masato keeps the Kitsune at bay while Oroku
Maji battles Tatsuo. Oroku Maji slays
Tatsuo and vows to restore honor to the Foot Clan. The Kitsune, enraged, tells Oroku Maji that
he knows not what he’s done and that
Tatsuo shall be avenged.
The Present: Splinter tells the Turtles, April and Casey
that Oroku Maji fulfilled his promise and led the Foot Clan down a noble
path. It was unfortunate, he laments,
that his son (Oroku Saki) turned the clan to evil and malice. April once again suggests that they try and
get more info from Dr. Miller; a suggestion Splinter and the Turtles support. Casey, though, still has a bad feeling about
the guy.
At his apartment, Dr. Miller labors over whether he
should trust the claim of Oroku Karai, Assistant Director of Oroku Inc. As Miller considers his options (or lack
thereof), he fails to notice several Foot Soldiers spying on him through his
window.
At Foot HQ, Karai tells the Shredder that she believes
they’d be better off just killing Dr. Miller before he learns too much. Shredder silences her, saying that he’d
rather preserve Miller’s intellect and utilize it for a project he has
envisioned. Alopex asks why Dr. Miller’s
talents are so valuable and Shredder hints to her that he may be getting close
to rediscovering a power long thought lost; a power he wishes to possess.
The Past: The Kitsune arrives at a strange, high-tech structure and bows by the entrance. She tells her
master that the Foot Clan has been overthrown and she cannot procure what her
master desires. However, she swears that
their bargain will be honored. From the
temple steps the Iron Demon: an Utrom in a lumbering robot body.
*This miniseries takes place between TMNT (IDW) #20 and TMNT (IDW) #21.
*Looks back into the Feudal Era history of the Foot Clan
have been seen previously in TMNT (IDW) #5 and TMNT Microseries #5: Splinter.
*This issue was originally published with 8 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Santolouco, Cover RIA by Rafael Grampa, Cover RIB by
Kevin Eastman and Ian Herring, Rover RE – Hastings by Eastman, Cover RE –
Dynamic Forces by Eastman and Herring, Cover RE – Jetpack Comics by Eastman and
Herring, Cover RE- Jetpack Comics blank sketch cover, and Cover RE – Jetpack
Comics black and white cover.
Review:
If you go back and read my reviews for IDW’s Ninja
Turtles comic, you’ll find that I wasn’t particularly generous or enthused for
some of the earliest issues. It was TMNT#5 that acted as the turning point; truly drawing me into this fresh incarnation
of the TMNT. I loved the ties back to
Feudal Era Japan, the sweeping mythology that IDW was forging and, dude, Mateus
Santalouco’s art. Holy cow.
“Secret History of the Foot Clan” takes us back to the
time and place first glimpsed in that issue, filling in narrative gaps both
past and present. More than a year later, there are still an armful of questions waiting to be answered and it looks
like this mini is the one to finally give them to us. How did Oroku Saki come back from the
dead? What’s up with the Foot Clan and
Krang being enemies? Is Alopex ever
going to do anything interesting?
We may just find out.
The Foot Clan have had origins dating back to the Feudal
Era in nearly every incarnation of the Ninja Turtles. In the Mirage comic, we witnessed their
formation in TMNT (Vol. 1) #47. In the
Fred Wolf cartoon, we got the back story in “The Legend of Koji”. The 4Kids animated series covered it across
the “Secret Origins” multiparter and much of season 5. And in most of those incarnations, the Foot
Clan was always depicted as an “honorable” organization up until the Shredder
got his greedy mitts on it. So for those
put off by all the Feudal Era stuff, it really isn’t anything new to the TMNT
universe.
Burnham and Santalouco write a really tight script where
the jumping back and forth between past and present don’t disorient as much as
my summary might imply. The present
portions segue into the past portions smoothly and the piecemeal nature of the
information being deposited, while it does feel like a tease, is enough to get
one hooked. There’s plenty to guess
about, such as if Oroku Saki somehow used the mutagen to affect his “survival”
across the centuries. And I have a hard
time believing that the Kitsune and Alopex just both coincidentally happen to
be fox-women, particularly with all the reincarnating going on in this
book. When Karai questions Shredder, he
gets very short with her, but when Alopex questions him, he’s far more accommodating
with his replies. It makes me think that
Alopex holds some greater significance than “lame mutant hench-woman”.
Then there’s the matter of Krang; or at least I’m
assuming that’s Krang. It could be
Quanin, Krang’s predecessor as General of the Utrom army. Of course, that archaic-looking “Iron Demon”
robot body just screams “Krang”, brandishing so many aesthetic cues lifted from
Krang’s old robot body of the ‘80s cartoon.
In TMNT #5, Santolouco didn’t get to draw the Turtles, so
it was exciting to see his take on them with this issue. He gives them all “unique” bandanas which,
well… It prompted flashbacks to Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, and
flashbacks to Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation are never a good thing. On the other hand, Santalouco takes a cue
from Ross Campbell and draws the bandanas looking like actual fabric resting on
their heads and not skintight spandex that magically conforms to their brow’s
every minute expression. And Leo’s
bandana looked like the Batman logo, which made me laugh. Bandanas aside, his art is really stellar
stuff, from the layouts to the details and it feels especially lavish when
compared to the competent-but-economical art consistent across the TMNT
ongoing. The colorist, Vieira, has a unique interpretation of April that's
probably the most “ginger” version of the character I’ve ever seen; she now has
pasty white skin and a smattering of freckles to compliment her red hair.
It was a very different take on her look and I sort of dug it.
As the first issue, we’re only really glimpsing the tip
of the iceberg, but “Secret History of the Foot Clan” has gotten off to a
furious start. It’s steeped in this
universe’s mythology and is doing some heavy duty world-building, so if you’re
really into that sort of thing, then I imagine you should find it
entrancing. If you’re not so much a fan
of back story dumps, well, it’s full of action and it’s beautifully rendered
by Santalouco. Something for everyone!
Grade: B+ (as in, “By the way, I loved the origin for the
Foot Clan’s footprint symbol. Little
things like that are the best”.)
