Publication date: September, 2007
Story: Bill Moulage
Pencils: Jim Lawson
Inks and letters: Eric Talbot
Cover: Ross Campbell
“The Catch”
Summary:
In the penthouse being carried off by the giant barn owl,
Raphal and co. (Shadow, Sloane and Lulu) lament their inability to do anything
about it. The giant barn owl is suddenly
attacked by an unkindness of giant ravens (I looked that one up!) and it drops the
penthouse into the sea. A giant
jellyfish rises from the water and its membrane cushions the impact and forms
an airtight bubble around the penthouse.
As it submerges, the jellyfish emits a knockout gas, putting all inside
to sleep.
When the group awakens, they’re greeted by a beautiful
woman named Oceana. Lulu recognizes
Oceana and realizes that they’re all in her father’s palace. Lulu’s father, Lord Chiton, welcomes the
group to his kingdom of Atlantia.
Inviting the group to a banquet, Lord Chiton vows to use all his
resources to track down Lilith and her Pack.
He then offers Raph some sea anemone whiskey and while the Turtle gets
shit-faced, Lord Chiton sneaks away from the feast. He meets up with Sloane in a dark hallway and
the two continue in their romantic affair in secret.
Later, Raphael wakes up and finds all his weapons
sharpened and ready for him. Lulu greets
Raph, Shadow and Sloane with good news: Lord Chiton’s spies have located where Lilith
is being held captive and he is leading an attack to rescue her right now.
On the surface, Lord Chiton and his armies lay siege to
an island occupied by a tower. Lord Chiton
calls in his giant horseshoe crabs to begin assaulting the tower with
catapult-launched depth-charges.
Back in the palace, Raph wants to join in the attack, but
the guards won’t let him leave. With the guards start to get viiolent, Raph draws his sword and slays them. Reinforcements respond to the noise and Raph
and the group flee. Lulu uses her magic
to barricade them in a room, then creates a magic bubble which they use to ride out
of the palace and into the ocean.
At the battle, Lord Chiton’s forces begin scaling the
tower, but they’re suddenly attacked by giant bats.
Meanwhile, the bubble surfaces and floats up the backside
of the tower to a top floor window. The bubble
pops and the group enters the tower through the window. Raphael takes point in the search for Lilith,
only to fall through a trap door. Down
in the pit, Raph finds himself approached by a trio of beautiful vampire girls,
who mesmerize him with their sultry antics.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from Raphael: Bad Moon Rising #2. The story concludes in Raphael: Bad Moon Rising #4.
*Raph and the other Turtles previously encountered
vampires in TMNT (Vol. 1) #29.
*The Atlantian warriors dressed in lobster armor bear a
passing resemblance to the Malacostra from Casey Jones #1 and Casey Jones #2. Any actual relationship between them is up to
speculation.
*Likewise, the fish-people seen amongst the Atlantians
may or may not share a relationship with the fish-people of TMNT (Vol. 1) #28. I guess we’ll never know.
*Wait… what? Last
issue, Lulu said that her father was Gnostros, King of the Elves, and that he
and Lilith never wed. In this issue,
Lulu’s father is addressed as Lord Chiton, ruler of Atlantia, and he refers to
Lilith as his ex-wife.
Review:
Jeez, if this comic doesn’t care enough to keep track of
itself then I can hardly muster the enthusiasm to do it, myself.
This issue continues with the same shtick as the past
installments, with Raph deadpanning complaints about the supernatural and how
much he hates it. His gimmick seems to
exist for no other reason than to elicit cheap exposition from other characters
so they can explain everything as it happens (for reader benefit, of
course).
And on the subject of explaining everything as it happens, this issue is just a mess of that stuff. Raphael narrates the entire sequence where they’re caught by the jellyfish, describing the images we’re looking at one panel at a time. His observations are stilted and inane. Actual dialogue: “Yeah, and now they’re beginning to let out some sort of smoke. No, not smoke. Gas. But… But what kinda gas…?”
And on the subject of explaining everything as it happens, this issue is just a mess of that stuff. Raphael narrates the entire sequence where they’re caught by the jellyfish, describing the images we’re looking at one panel at a time. His observations are stilted and inane. Actual dialogue: “Yeah, and now they’re beginning to let out some sort of smoke. No, not smoke. Gas. But… But what kinda gas…?”
You know, I’m sure Lawson could have just drawn the room
filling with smoke and the characters falling asleep. We could have figured the sequence of events
out just fine on our own, thanks.
And it’s obvious from one look at Lord Chiton that he’s up to
no good, so there really isn’t any suspense to this issue as the villain and
conflict are brutally telegraphed (not that subtlety was this comic’s
strongpoint, as I’ve previously expressed).
This issue amounts to little more than a whole lot of running around as
characters awkwardly and clumsily describe the artwork to us.
And just to prove that Moulage is already fresh out of
ideas, this installment ends in very much the same way as the first issue of
the miniseries: Raphael getting swarmed by supernatural creatures and
hypnotized by their powers, his fate hanging by a thread.
If it weren’t for the Ross Campbell covers, there’d be
absolutely nothing redeeming about this miniseries at all.
Grade: F (as in, “For what it’s worth, there’re only 2
pages spent on Raph drinking a beverage in this issue. That’s an improvement, I guess”.)
