Publication date: February 20, 2013
Story: Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Ben Bates
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
"Krang War, Part 3"
"Krang War, Part 3"
Summary:
At the NRF command center on Planet Neutrino, Krang tells
the resistance to surrender the Fugitoid to him within 24 hours or he’ll
execute King Zenter and Queen Gizzla.
Professor Honeycutt offers to give himself up, but Princess Trib wont’
let him. She says that they need to use
what time they have left to complete their weapon to defeat Krang and defy the
odds by rescuing her parents. Donatello
goes with Honeycutt to the lab to work on the weapon while Leo and Commander
Dask brainstorm on a rescue strategy.
Back on Earth, Karai parachutes down to Burnow Island in
the dead of night.
Speaking of Burnow Island, April does some research and
learns that it’s a small island between North America and Western Africa. It was taken over by a dictator named General
Krang decades ago and the indigenous people killed off. Casey wonders why he never heard about that
and April informs him that because the island has no natural resources or
strategic value, no government or news program cared enough to report on the
incident. As the plot thickens, April
ponders just what Baxter Stockman is doing in a place like that.
At the Royal Palace on Planet Neutrino, the King and
Queen defiantly tell Krang that the Neutrino people will never submit to
him. Krang informs them that he doesn’t
want their submission, he wants their exterminations. And after he gets the Fugitoid, he will
complete the Technodrome, terraform Earth into the new Utrominon and the Utroms
shall rule the universe as they were always destined to. Krang tells Zenter that they aren’t so
different, as they both want what is best for their people, however, what
separates them is that Krang is ruthless enough to get what he wants.
On Burnow Island, Karai kills a guard and puts her knife
to another’s throat, demanding he take her to the alien ooze.
Back on Neutrino, Honeycutt is reunited with his old lab
partner, Felix (who now has a robotic arm after he lost his when Krang
attacked). Felix and Honeycutt introduce
Don to the END (Electronics Nullifying Device) Missile which, when completed,
will use microwaves to disable all of Krang’s electronics and cripple his
army. Honeycutt inquires how Felix
finally tracked him down to Earth and Felix explains that after much effort he
was able to track his unique radiation signature. And last but not least, before they complete
the missile, Felix intends to fix Honeycutt’s damaged vocal circuits. Don can help.
Later, Leo and Dask go over their strategy one more
time. While Zak, Raph and the bulk of
the NRF stage an all-out assault on the Royal Palace, Dask, Kala, Leo and Mike
will infiltrate the complex and rescue the King and Queen. Pulling rank, Princess Trib insists on going
too, much to Dask’s dismay (and Mikey’s delight). The Turtles and Neutrinos head out to battle
while Don stays behind and helps Honeycutt and Felix finish the END Missile. And while working on said missile, Honeycutt
tells Don that should they fail, Krang will have the Technodrome complete in
two years. Honeycutt hints, though, that
during his time as Chet, he allied himself with unsavory forces to plot against
Krang. If they fail, those allies may be
their only hope in stopping Krang.
On Burnow Island, the guard leads Karai to the chamber
where the Utroms are being held in ooze-filled pods as a form of stasis. Karai kills the guard then raises her sword,
prepared to drain the pods of their life-sustaining ooze.
At the Royal Palace, Zak and Raph have begun their
assault. Inside, Krang and Captain Tragg
are shocked by such a swift counter attack and order Sergeant Granitor to use
their every military resource to stop the NRF. As the forces face off, Leo, Mike and the rest
sneak into the Royal Palace and come face-to-face with Krang.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (IDW) #18. The story continues in TMNT (IDW) #20.
*Honeycutt remarks with surprise that the Turtles kept
the names “she” gave them. April named
the Turtles way back in TMNT (IDW) #1 before they mutated.
*Felix last appeared in TMNT Microseries #8: Fugitoid.
*Chet was shown working with the Foot Clan in TMNT (IDW)#10.
*Among the Neutrino and Rock Soldier war machines you can spot Starmobiles, Flying Foot Skis, Turtle Blimp Gliders, Mutant Modules, Turtle Tanks and Sewer Dragsters (all, of course, were vehicles in the 1980s Playmates TMNT toyline).
*This issue was originally published with 3 variant
covers: Cover A by Bates, Cover B by Eastman and Pattison, and Cover RI by Nick
Pitarra and Megan Wilson.
Review:
Having to wait two months to get the next issue of TMNT
sucked, but getting two issues of TMNT in one month rocked! I am conflicted.
“Krang War” heats up as this issue primarily consists of
getting all the players in place for the big finish. What I enjoyed most was seeing all the
Neutrinos, who all shared a singular personality on the 80s cartoon, given more
distinct characterization. Not *deep*
characterization, but something’s better than nothing. A few of them even act as a counterpart to a
particular Turtle, with Zak being the hothead (who immediately finds a soul-mate
in Raph) and Dask being the no-nonsense leader that gets along well with Leo.
Alas, Kala falls into the scenery during this issue and fails to receive
any glimpse of a personality, but there’s still hope for next issue.
Also, the way April is handling the disappearance of the
Turtles here in IDW offers a great counter example to how she handled their
disappearance in the Mirage series. When
the Turtles were teleported across space in the Mirage book, April reacted by
curling up in a fetal position and crying for three issues. Here, even though she knows she’s powerless
to bring them back, she uses all her skill and resources to try and accomplish
as much as she can in their absence; hunting for clues about Burnow Island and
General Krang. It shows a useful, independent
side of her that isn’t defined by her relationship to the TMNT. Even when they’re out of the picture, she
stays sharp and keeps moving forward. Meanwhile,
Mirage April was completely crippled once the Turtles were removed from her
life because her entire existence revolved around them. Thank you, IDW, for this awesome, awesome
April O’Neil.
Those accomplishments aside, I found this installment in “Krang
War” to be more of a drag than the previous episodes. I guess you could qualify it as “the calm
before the storm”, but there was a lot of exposition and set-up huddled into
this one issue that really weighs it down.
We get exposition explaining Burnow Island, exposition explaining
Honeycutt’s connection with the Foot, exposition explaining the magic missile
(which is TOTALLY not an EMP weapon because that would be cliché), exposition about how Felix tracked down Honeycutt and a big long ramble as Leo and
Dask explain what has to be the simplest strategy in the book (“You distract
the bad guys while we slip in and rescue the hostages”). I felt like the issue was talking *at* me a
little too much rather than trusting me to pick up on the plot elements on my own.
Mikey’s crushing on Trib was cute and Krang going bonkers
was wonderful (particularly for Bates’s art, but I’ll get to that), but some of
the dialogue was a little… hammy. Krang
whips out the old “We aren’t so different, you and I” villain standard, while
Zak belts out a Tough Guy 101 “Who wants to live forever?” The dialogue was one “Stay frosty” away from
reading like it was the output of an Action Movie Script Generator.
Bates keeps on a-rockin’ the art and his animated touches
just pep this comic right the hell up even when the script is a little
sleepy. The cartoony effects, like
Honeycutt whistling a note after getting his voice box repaired or Krang
elastically erupting when the Neutrinos attack, aren’t the half of the charm,
either. There are great little details to the staging, such
as the cat-like look on Karai’s face as she lays in wait for the Burnow
guards. Bates’s Karai in general is my
favorite rendition of the character from IDW and he really makes her look
subtly formidable. And the way he
renders the facial expressions on the Turtles really gives me a Stan Sakai vibe
(they both draw the heads on the TMNT and their exaggerated expressions
similarly).
All in all, I enjoyed getting this issue so soon after
the last one (delay and all) and I’m digging where the Krang War is going, but
this penultimate chapter saved way too many details for next-to-last.
Grade: C+ (as in, “Cannot picture any other artist making
those silly Neutrino hairstyles work this well”.)
