Publication date: February, 1994
Story and pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks: Jason Temujin Minor
Letters: Mary Kelleher
Colors: Eric Vincent
Cover: Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman
“Evolution”
Summary:
At the DARPA facility in the Southwest, the guards
finally manage to regain access to the lab Baxter sealed off. As they inspect the seemingly abandoned room,
they find Baxter’s corpse sitting in a chair.
The top of his head has been sliced off and his brain is missing. Suddenly, one of the many robots lining the
walls comes to life and kills all three guards.
The robot approaches Baxter’s corpse and gently takes his glasses before
walking off.
In an attic somewhere, Raph is snooping around. Among the gothic knick-knacks mothballed in
the attic is a huge gargoyle (which Raph hopes won’t come to life like a
previous gargoyle he encountered). Raph
walks over to a shuttered window and opens it.
He’s in the attack of an old church.
Raph remarks to himself that the place is perfect.
Back in Northampton, Don is making lunch in the kitchen of the farmhouse when he sees a cop car pull up. He
ditches as soon as he sees the officer (named Longer) come in through a window,
looking for squatters. Officer Longer
radios dispatch and says that he scared a squatter off and that the owners of
the farmhouse should be notified.
Dispatch tells him that the farm is owned by Arnold Jones, a name
Officer Longer recognizes.
At the apartment in New York, one of the tenants (Mr.
Braunze) steps onto the fire escape to greet the morning. His neighbor, Miss Tillet, isn’t so happy and
complains to Braunze that the new owner (April) has raised the rent. Furthermore, she’s upset that April is living
out of wedlock with a man and raising a child, no less. Braunze waves off her complaints and tells
her that everyone has done something in their lives that others would find
objectionable.
Down in the sewers, Leo leads Mikey to an abandoned and
secluded area he thinks would be perfect for a new lair. Mikey supports Leo’s plan, but says that he
wants to stay in the apartment building so he can be near Shadow (whom he’s
grown very attached to). Leo still
intends to move back to the sewers and Mikey gets bummed out, realizing that
they’re all separating and their old lives are over. Leo tells him that things aren’t over, just
different.
Out in the desert, the robot marches onward.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (Vol. 2) #2. The story continues in TMNT (Vol. 2) #4.
*Raph mentions meeting a gargoyle that came to life. He’s referring to the events of The Savage Dragon #2 and The Savage Dragon/TMNT #1.
*For the record, the address of Casey’s farmhouse in
Northampton, Massachusetts is 42 Burr Hill Road.
*The moving out conflict will eventually reach a head in
Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #57, where the Turtles decide how to divide up their
time between the apartment, the sewer lair, the church and the farmhouse.
*This issue also contained a back-up story, “I.M.P. part
3 of 3” by Jim Lawson and Eric Talbot.
Review:
The main overarching theme of TMNT Vol. 2 continues, with
the Turtles wondering what they’ll do next and all carrying out their plans to
separate. It’s a very somber scenario,
though I’ve already talked about it in my last review, so I’d rather not repeat
myself.
The locations they’ve all decided to branch out to seem
to make sense regarding each Turtle’s personality and priorities. Don is living in seclusion in the farmhouse
where he can focus and work (though he seems to be getting bugged by evangelicals
and police quite a bit). Raph goes to
stay in a gothic and atmospheric church that fits his brooding attitude. Mike wants to stay in the apartment to be
near the kid he loves and because it’s the most “normal” setting. Meanwhile, Leo wants to move back to the
sewers because that’s where the “good ole days” took place and he can’t see
past them. While this issue basically
just amounts to “house hunting with the TMNT”, it’s still interesting to see
how each home reflects the attitude of the Turtle that chose it.
And you know, I’d forgotten all about Raph choosing the
church for a new lair in this issue. I
had always thought the Turtles operating out of a church was something the
Image series made up (though in that book it was the mausoleum near the church and not
the church itself), but I see Carlson was just carrying on the plot point
established in this story. The mausoleum
lair doesn’t quite seem so random, anymore.
Anyway, a couple more exciting story arcs also get
rolling in this issue. Baxter’s on his
way back to New York for revenge, Braunze is introduced (and he’ll have a major
role closer to the end of this volume) and who is this mysterious Officer
Longer who seems to know Casey? Take a
guess.
As you can see, Vol. 2 is a bit of a slower moving animal
than the previous volume, as Lawson takes his time setting up conflicts well in
advance and getting into the heads of the main cast. For what it’s worth, I think Vol. 2 is paced
pretty well, even if it starts out fairly decompressed. If you want a mind-numbingly slow TMNT
volume, check out Vol. 4. The pacing in
Vol. 2 will seem rapid-fire compared to that.
Grade: C+ (as in, “Churches were all the rage in ‘90s
comics. Just ask Spawn”.)
