Publication date: June, 1994
Story and pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks: Eric Talbot
Letters: Mary Kelleher
Colors: Eric Vincent
Cover: Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman
“Death Race”
Summary:
Deep down in the forgotten sewer tunnel, Leo confronts the
fish-woman. She attacks, but Leo can’t
dodge her speedy movements. The
fish-woman lands several strikes with her claws before Leo scares her off with
a strong kick. Furious, he attempts to give
chase, but the toxic resin he was encased in earlier has made him weak and
woozy. Suddenly, the giant turtle, still
alive, crashes its head through the wall and snaps its beak at him.
A few levels up in the new sewer lair (under construction), Mike shows Raph
and Casey around. For Raph, the concept
that he and his brothers will be splitting up is finally sinking in and he
feels less excited about it. He’s
surprised Leo even let it happen. Mike
tells Raph that after their recent ordeal from the past year, Leo has lightened
up on the hardened leader shtick and come to accept that “chaos is the natural
order”. Raph scoffs at Leo’s so-called
nugget of wisdom. As Casey tests out the
new basketball hoop, the ground shakes beneath them. Sensing that Leo is below, Mike, Raph and
Casey follow the tremors deep into the tunnels.
Meanwhile, Leo is running for his life with the giant
turtle hot on his heels. The giant turtle
plows into a gas line which explodes, sending Leo tumbling down a drainage
pipe. He crashes into a subterranean
landfill and amidst the steaming pile of filth, finds a large egg. The fish-woman confronts him, fearing for her
offspring. Leo wards her away by raising
his katana over the egg. Enraged, Leo is
about to destroy the egg when Mike, Raph and Casey show up, yelling for him to
stop.
Just then, the bloody heap of the giant turtle comes
crashing through the ceiling. Leo jumps
out of the way just as it lands and finally dies. Mikey and the others help Leo up and carry
him home. On the other side of the giant
turtle’s corpse, the fish-woman cradles her precious egg, protecting it from
fallen debris with her body.
In New York harbor, a figure surfaces from the
water. It’s Baxter Stockman, having
finally arrived at his destination.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (Vol. 2) #4. The story continues in TMNT (Vol. 2) #6.
*The fate of the fish-woman and her egg will be revealed in "The Cure".
*The fate of the fish-woman and her egg will be revealed in "The Cure".
*This issue also contained a bonus story, “Of Muck and
Men, part 2 of 2” by Ryan Brown, Matt Roach, Frank Moreno and Tim Toffoli.
Review:
The out-of-freakin’-nowhere two-issue story arc featuring
the fish-woman and the giant killer turtle concludes. Man, what the hell was THAT all about?
It’s a weird diversion that doesn’t amount to a whole
heck of a lot regarding the overarching narrative of Volume 2. However, I get the feeling that this random
two-parter was meant to be the setup for something bigger down the line which
Lawson had plotted out. Keep in mind
that Volume 2 was ended early and abruptly, killing a number of Lawson’s
planned stories. Honestly, I’m just
guessing here, but this story was so completely out of the blue that it
HAD to have been meant to have a bigger impact later in the series.
But since those plans never panned out, we’re still left
with… this.
If you can get anything out of this arc, though, I think
it’s that we get a brief glimpse of Leo “snapping”, so to speak. Mike says that Leo has become more laid back
following “City at War” and that Leo seems to be loosening his grip as the “leader” now that his team is breaking up. But we
see here that what Mike sees on the surface is merely Leo putting on a front to
stay strong in the eyes of his brothers.
Deep down, he’s confused, he’s scared and he’s FURIOUS.
I’d like to think that Leo, when in a better mood, wouldn’t
have chased the fish-woman after she retreated.
Here, though, he angrily gives chase, citing “unfinished business” as
his motivation. The fish-woman clearly
no longer intended to hurt him, but he just wanted payback.
Then there’s the bit with the egg at the end. At first it looks like Leo is just trying to
scare the fish-woman away by lifting his katana over the egg, but his rage gets
the better of him and he sincerely swings for the kill out of petty spite. Leo knows that these fish-people are
endangered (in fact, when last he saw them, he thought they’d gone
extinct). He knows this egg may very
well be the last in existence. And yet,
he gets so angry that he nearly commits infanticide and dooms an entire race to
extinction.
In that instant, you see that Raph was completely
right in his appraisal of Leo's attitude. Leo tries to hide how much the
dissolution of his family and team is bothering him with fortune cookie
rhetoric such as “chaos is the natural order”, but the fact of the matter is he
HASN’T truly accepted his fate and he nearly lashes out in the worst possible
way.
So this fish-woman/giant turtle storyline really is a
give and take situation. I don’t like
how it undermines “Sons of the Silent Age” and the whole thing just pops right
out of the blue, vanishing from the narrative as quick as it came. However, the conclusion shows us what’s
lurking beneath Leo’s emotional surface and it’s a real shock. You can divide Volume 2 into four major arcs,
with this being the second, and I’ve always found it the least
interesting. Still, even in terms of
being the “least” interesting, it is not without merit.
Grade: C (as in, “Can’t help but wonder how Mikey found
Leo way the hell down there in a forgotten part of the sewer, though”.)
