Publication date: March, 1993
Story: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
Script: Jim Lawson and Peter Laird
Pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks: Keith Aiken
Letters: Mary Kelleher
Tones: Eric Talbot
Cover: A.C. Farley
“City at War, Part 8 of 13”
Summary:
In New York City, Donatello calls the phone number left
by Karai and arranges a meeting with the Foot Clan. Raph presumes that she’s setting a trap, but
Mikey has the strange hunch that they can trust her.
At an abandoned plant, Leonardo comes to. Karai dismisses her Foot Soldiers then frees
Leo from his bonds and returns his swords.
The other Turtles arrive and she introduces herself as the leader of the
Japanese branch of the Foot. The Turtles
demand answers and Karai explains that the death of the Shredder has left a
power vacuum in New York City. Toward
the end of his reign, the Shredder began to cut ties with the Japanese branch
of the Foot and the New York branch became gradually more independent. Upon his death, the New York Foot fractured
into factions: those loyal to the Shredder’s cause (led by the Foot Elite
Guard) and those still loyal to the Japanese branch. Karai had hoped that the warring factions would wipe
each other out and allow the Japanese branch to start fresh, but after months
of waiting, she has determined that their organization’s secrecy has become a
risk. Karai proposes a bargain: The
Turtles help her defeat the Elite Guard and restore Japanese power to the New
York Foot and in exchange the Foot Clan will cancel their feud with the Turtles
and never bother them again. Karai
leaves, telling them to consider her offer, but to consider it quickly.
In Colorado, Casey and Gabe look over the classifieds in
the hopes of finding a bigger place to raise their upcoming child (who looks to
be on the way very soon). Gabe worries
about the expenses of a house, but Casey promises that they’ll make it work.
Elsewhere in New York, April and Robyn attend the funeral
of their father. After the service
concludes, April tells Robyn that she doesn’t want to return to California with
her, but that she intends to stay in New York.
Robyn asks why and April explains that moving to California was just an
excuse to run away from her problems and that she’d rather not abandon the life
she used to have.
In the abandoned smokestack, Splinter has a vivid
nightmare in which the Rat King transforms into a giant rat-monster and demands
that Splinter swear obedience to him.
Splinter awakens and, finally, succumbs to the Rat King’s urgings and
catches, kills and eats another rat.
Having seen this, the Rat King laughs and tells Splinter that he has
made his destiny clear.
In New York City, Karai’s Foot Soldiers continue
monitoring the abandoned water tower.
They’re attacked and slaughtered by the Elite Guard, who seize their
files and learn that the Japanese Foot have been monitoring the Turtles (in the
hospital, the old man receives physical therapy). The Elite Guards crumple the photos and
disappear.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (Vol. 1) #56. The story continues in TMNT (Vol. 1) #58.
*For those keeping track, according to Karai, one year
has passed since TMNT (Vol. 1) #21.
*Though it isn’t stated, I would like to think that in
Splinter’s nightmare, the Rat King was taking on the form of the Adversary from
TMNT (Vol. 1) #37.
*This issue also contained a bonus 1-page comic, “New
York ComiCon: A Trip” by Chuck A. Dillon, Jim Lawson and Stan Sakai.
Review:
Ah, progress.
You can bisect “City at War” pretty neatly down the
middle. The first half of the arc
features everybody being miserable or lost (well, except Casey) while the
second half is where things rather abruptly begin to turn around. It began last issue, but you really start to
see the changes with this installment.
April decides that she’d rather live a life running from
scary ninja and blood-thirsty monsters than spend another minute in LA,
Splinter finally swallows his pride and then swallows a rat, and the Turtles
get a much needed opportunity from a very unlikely benefactor. If anyone in the audience was starting to
think that “City at War” was spinning its wheels, the storyline really gets
underway starting here.
And all of that is best encapsulated in the one story arc
of “City at War” I’ve yet to comment on whatsoever: the old man. He’s basically a personification of the
attitudes and spirit of the main cast during this entire ordeal and we’ve been
watching him get hurt and heal through one-panel chunks since this thing
started. When the story began and the
cast separated and the “family” was broken, the old man was injured and placed
in a body cast. When the cast found
their new situations disorienting and felt lost, the old man was shown staring
out a window or plodding around the hospital with a hopeless look on his
face. Now with this issue, as the
characters are beginning to take control of the situation and fight back, the
old man is shown engaging in physical therapy to help heal his wounds and get
on with his life.
While the symbolism might seem more than a little trite,
I think he also serves to illustrate how the titular “City at War” affects your
average bystander that has nothing to do with the conflict. Being hurt, lost and then gradually
recovering isn’t some situation unique to the Turtles or their supporting cast,
but something that EVERYONE goes through during a crisis in their lives. It brings the matter down to earth and in a
way makes us all feel a little closer to the heroes.
Grade: A- (as in, “And I dunno if it’s Keith Aiken’s
inking or what, but Lawson’s Karai in this story arc really looks like a Dooney
Girl”.)
