Vacation

I'm on my way out the door, so I'll be quick.

On vacation until January 5th.  So if you post a comment, it won't be published until then (sorry, I get a lot of spam-bots).

Have a Happy New Year!

TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #12

Publication date: Spring, 1993


Turtle Tips:

*This issue was preceded by TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #11.  The next and final issue is TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #13.

*This special issue contained only behind the scenes content regarding the "TMNT III" feature film.  It contained no comics.

*This issue was published with 2 variant covers: A lenticular "3-D" photo cover and a movie poster cover.


Review:

Nothing to review, here.  Though thanks to tmnt-ninjaturtles.com for the movie poster cover scan.

TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #11

Publication date: Winter, 1993

Story: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)

Pencils: Brian Thomas

Inks: Dan Berger

Letters: Mary Kelleher

Colors: Steve Lavigne

Cover: Michael Dooney

“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…”

Summary:

It’s Christmas Eve and April O’Neil reports on a rash of Santa Claus muggings that have been plaguing the city.  Bebop and Rocksteady are behind it, of course, mugging every street corner Santa that’s been collecting for charity.

They see a Santa perched on a rooftop and run to hold him up.  They reach the roof and seize his sack of presents.  Before they can make off with the loot, the Turtles arrive and strike a pose.

A fight breaks out and in the chaos, Donatello slips on a patch of ice and goes tumbling off the roof.  Santa catches him and calls him out by name.  Donatello doesn’t know how this street corner Santa could know his name unless he was… the REAL Santa Claus!

Santa gives each of the Turtles a gift and then proceeds to give gifts to Bebop and Rocksteady.  The evil mutants are confused, as they’re pretty sure they belong on the naughty list.  Raphael is irate, too, as why should the villains get gifts when they haven’t earned them?

Santa boards his sleigh, but as he departs he tells the Turtles that the holiday season isn’t just about being naughty and nice, but about forgiveness and compassion.  He suggests that extending an olive branch of peace in the form of a gift can do wonders to mend old wounds and bring even enemies together as friends.

As they all watch Santa ride off into the night sky, Bebop and Rocksteady apologize to the Turtles for giving them such a hard time.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #10.  The next issue, TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #12, does not contain any comic content.  The story continues in TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #13.

Review:

Awwww, what a load of saccharine mush.  Perfect for Christmas!

Actually, this whole strip kind of reminded me of the old Fruity Pebbles commercial they used to run during Christmas for decades (have they retired it?).  You know, the one where Barney dresses like Santa to steal Fred’s Pebbles, but then the real Santa shows up.  Fred is about to justifiably wreck Barney’s shit, but Santa suggests that the old enemies should put aside their grudges for the holidays (because in the Fruity Pebbles offshoot of the Flintstones multiverse, Fred and Barney are apparently bitter rivals).  So Barney gets a bowl of Pebbles even though he’s been an asshole all year and doesn’t deserve them.

That’s essentially what’s going on here, even if it does sort of give the kids the wrong message and defeat the entire purpose of the Santa Claus myth (it’s SUPPOSED to make kids behave year-round under the threat of no presents).  I mean, shit, if you can rob and steal and STILL get gifts every Christmas, then what’s the point of the naughty and nice lists?

Maybe the whole message about forgiving trespasses and quelling feuds would have been better served for a New Year’s Eve comic.  Isn’t that what Auld Lang Syne is all about?

Anyway, hey, this comic was six pages!  And it was by Brian Thomas, too.  Thomas was an irregular contributor to Archie’s TMNT Adventures series, usually working in the seasonal specials, and one of their better back-up artists.  His layouts have much more energy to them than Lawson’s have and they’re pretty elaborate and energetic for what’s essentially just a goofy short in a children’s magazine.  

I love the page 4 layouts especially.  The action on the sides is pretty brutal as the Turtles land some devastating hits on the bad guys, but overlaid on top of that are some diagonal panels showing Donatello comically slipping on the ice with cartoonish visuals.  It’s a nice contrast that offsets the aforementioned violence that on its own might have been too much for a comic aimed at very small children.

All in all, I think I like this comic more for the art than the message.  Not that the message in itself is bad, mind you, it just doesn’t really gel with the character of Santa Claus, whose entire function is to determine which children get gifts and which don’t based on the merits of their behavior.

TMNT Magazne (Welsh) #10

Publication date: Fall, 1992

Story: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)

Pencils: Jim Lawson

Inks: Dan Berger

Letters: Mary Kelleher

Colors: Steve Lavigne

Cover: Michael Dooney

“Trick or Treat”

Summary:

On Halloween the Turtles decide to investigate a weird house they’ve been hearing about.  Evidently, monsters live there and have been stealing the candy from trick-or-treaters all night.

The Turtles ring the doorbell and are roared at by Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy and the Frankenstein monster.  The monsters steal their bags of candy and slam the door, however, the Turtles recognize their voices.

They kick in the door and discover that the Wolf Man and Frankenstein are none other than Bebop and Rocksteady, cleverly using the disguises to purloin candy.  The Turtles attack, but the Mummy and Count Dracula are revealed to be Foot Soldiers.

While they’re busy dismantling the robots, Bebop and Rocksteady beat a hasty retreat.  They don’t make it past the front yard before they’re halted by REAL monsters.  The two mutants promptly faint and drop their bags of stolen candy.

The Turtles catch up with them and wonder what could have been scary enough to make the evil thugs pass out.  Not far away, a gang of little kids in monster costumes recover their stolen candy.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #9.  The story continues in TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #11.

Review:

You know, if I was actually any good at paying attention to the calendar and reviewing seasonal stories on time, I might have done this comic on Halloween instead of Christmas.  Ah well.

Anyhow, here’s another of the “Bebop and Rocksteady are inconveniencing everybody” comic strips that dot the back end of Welsh’s TMNT Magazine.  I love how utterly smalltime this story is; I genuinely believe that stealing candy from children is something Bebop and Rocksteady would stoop low enough to.  Yeah, the ending is dumb but so are all these comics; it’s the situation that’s really amusing.  Not just that, but the fact that they apparently appropriated two Foot Soldiers from the Shredder to aid them in their rascally scheme.

There’s also the matter of Bebop and Rocksteady having to wear rubber disguises to scare people; like their mutant faces wouldn’t be frightening to little children.  But then, if any of the people in this TMNT universe watch April O’Neil’s nightly news reports, and witness the near daily defeats of Bebop and Rocksteady, I can understand why no one would find those two the least bit frightening.

Alright, now let’s see if I can’t get the Christmas issue done today instead of, like, on Valentine’s Day or something…

TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #9

Publication date: Summer, 1992

Story: Michael Dooney

Pencils: Jim Lawson

Inks: Dan Berger

Letters: Mary Kelleher

Colors: Steve Lavigne

Cover: Michael Dooney

“A Knight in the Sewer”

Summary:

The Turtles are walking down a familiar sewer tunnel when suddenly they see an old wooden doorway appear before them.  There is an inscription that reads, “Do not enter.  The king who was and will be again rests within.”  Raphael, being ever curious, forces the door in so they can see what’s inside.

Leo grabs a lit torch off the wall and they all start to notice how medieval everything looks.  They come across a stone lion which suddenly springs to life and attacks.  The Turtles fight back, but their weapons can’t scratch it.

A knight in shining armor then appears and bids the unseen presence of Merlin to calm the lion.  The knight apologizes to the Turtles, recognizing their valor and pure heartedness.  He says that he doesn’t know how they entered his medieval realm, but he’ll use the magic of his sword to send them home.

The Turtles suddenly reappear in the lair.  Raphael wonders who the guy in armor was, leaving Donatello to suggest it was their “lucky knight”.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #8.  The story continues in TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #10.

Review:

Hey, a story written by Michael Dooney?  Now there’s a rarity.  I don’t think Dooney ever wrote a story he didn’t also draw.  I wonder how this opportunity popped up?

Anyway, it fits in with most of the other comics in this magazine, being short and full of puns.  I’m actually a little surprised this story didn’t segue into an appearance from King Lionheart, a character from the 1991 Playmates action figure line.  Hey, with Hothead, Ray Fillet and Sgt. Bananas already having appeared in this comic, can you blame me for assuming that a story themed around lions and medieval knights would feature a medieval lion-knight from the toyline?

The knight with the magic sword resting in the king’s tomb and yammering about Merlin… I think we can all put together who he’s supposed to be.  It would actually be pretty amusing to think that the great King Arthur came back from the grave only to get mutated into a silly-looking lion-guy.  King Lionheart’s toy bio says he was just a Shakespearian actor whom the Shredder mutated, but it DID say that he wielded the blade “Extra-cool Excalibur” and referred to him as the “King Arthur of the city sewers” so there may be a little leeway.

Anyhow, a fun 4-pager but not much else to say about it.

TMNT Magazine (Panini) #19

Publication date: September 18 – October 15, 2014

Script: Ed Caruana

Art: Bob Molesworth

Colours: Jason Cardy

Colour assist: E. Pirrie

Letters: Alex Foot

“Breakout”

Summary:

At Hellsgate Maximum Security Prison, Foot Soldiers spring a gang of 5 notorious cons: Brian “Bulldog” Brooks, Frankie Grimes, Victor Schmitz, Dax “Drive-By” Delany, and Leroy Flack.  The Foot leave them a case of Kraang weapons and a meeting point.  If they can make it to the spot by 9pm, the Foot will remove their GPS tags and allow them to join their ranks.

Down in the lair, the Turtles hear the news about the escaped cons and Don hacks into the police GPS tracking system.  They break up into two teams (Leo/Don and Raph/Mike) and head out after the thugs.

Raph and Mikey encounter Grimes first.  Armed with a Kraang freeze ray, he tries to zap them with it but can’t get it to work.  Inevitably, he zaps himself and the Turtles leave him to the police.

Leo and Don take on Flack, who has stolen a motorcycle and figured out how to use his energy blaster.  Leo throws his katana into the wheel of the motorcycle, sending Flack crashing in time for the police to pick him up.

Meanwhile, Rahzar and Fishface wait at the meeting point for the initiates.  They grow paranoid, fearing that the Shredder might be trying to replace them for all their recent failures.

As for the Turtles, Raph and Mikey are pursuing Schmitz, who has stolen a cab.  They jump on the roof and the distraction causes Schmitz to drive the vehicle into a sharp sheet metal fence.  The fence slices the cab in two right down the middle and the Turtles tie Schmitz up.

Bulldog and Drive-By make it to the meeting point in time, but before Rahzar can remove their tags, the Turtles arrive in full force.  A fight breaks out and Bulldog and Drive-By prove formidable with their Kraang tech.  Suddenly, Rahzar and Fishface bonk them over the head and help the Turtles tie them up.  They explain that destroying the Turtles is THEIR job, but before they can go at it, the police show up and both sides scram.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT Magazine (Panini) #18.  The story continues in TMNT Magazine (Panini) #20.

Review:

It’s amazing how much story Caruana can pack into 12 pages.  The pace is hectic, but not quite rushed.  Each escapee gets their moment to shine and there’s even time for the Foot mutants to trade paranoid jabs at one another.  It’s an impressive bit of economic scripting.

The dialogue is perhaps a bit pun-heavy, but that’s pretty typical of these one-shot comedy relief strips.  Mikey spends the issue quoting a TV show called “Back to the Slammer” (presumably a parody of “Cops” if that show even still exists) and his antics can get a little irritating.  But it’s Mikey; his antics are almost ALWAYS irritating.

I liked seeing Rahzar and Fishface trade barbs.  The cartoon has sort of forgotten about their dynamic ever since the cast became bloated with evil mutants and this issue was a fun reminder of their earlier relationship.  I guess if there’s one thing these IDW and Panini comics are good for, it’s going back to ideas that the Nick cartoon left behind seasons ago.

Bob Molesworth provides some serviceable art and Cardy's colo(u)rs are as awesome as always.  Once again, I’d really recommend picking up the trade paperback collection of Panini TMNT comics (you have to get it from Amazon UK).  If you haven’t been digging IDW’s cartoon-based comics, then Panini’s stuff might be more up your alley.

Grade: B- (as in, “But if you’re gonna have a villain named ‘Drive-By’ in your comic, then maybe he should’ve been the one driving the motorcycle and shooting at everybody”.)

TMNT (Vol. 4) #9

Publication date: April, 2003

Writing, lettering, inking, toning: Peter Laird

Layouts, penciling: Jim Lawson

Inking: Eric Talbot

Cover painting: Michael Dooney

Production assistance: Dan Berger

Summary:

An Utrom scout ship arrives at the tepui in the Guyana highlands of Venezuela.  They’re in search of something that crashed there and the material it contained.  The trio of Utroms exit the ship but are immediately attacked by raptor-like creatures that all talk like Gollum from Lord of the Rings for some reason.  They devour Navigator Thurak and Science Advisor Shuthon, but Captain Glonar makes it back to the ship.  He sends an emergency message back to base, warning of the danger, before the raptors breach the hull and devour him.

On the streets of New York, Donatello wanders around, stopping by an electronics store long enough to compliment Macintosh products for their superior design.  A little girl runs up to him, excited to meet an “alien”, and Don chats with her for a moment before telling her to stay in school.  He then descends into an open manhole.

Don navigates the sewers until he reaches a secret room he hasn’t been to in years.  Opening it up, he is greeted by the remains of Baxter Stockman in his robot body, having been disabled and stored in the dark since their last battle.  Don kept him alive as he felt Baxter’s genius was too valuable to waste, but now he’s come to ask for answers regarding the nanobots Baxter infected April with.  Don pleads with Baxter for hours, but the evil genius won’t budge.  Finally understanding what a monster Baxter truly is, Donatello takes a Triceraton blaster and kills him for good, telling Baxter to “rot in Hell” as he leaves.

On the moon island, the Turtles, April and Shadow are all anxious for Don to get back so Glurin can start his demonstration.  Don arrives, but won’t say where he's been.  With Dr. Klynor’s approval, Glurin begins his proposal on how to save April’s life.

He explains that there are one million nanobots in her system and they’re eating her alive like a cancer.  They have tried different types of treatments, but these nanobots were built for industrial use and are too resilient; extreme treatments would prove fatal to April.  With no other recourse, Glurin suggests they fight fire with fire by injecting her with their own counter nanobot force.

Glurin then reveals the Nanoturtlebots (nanobots designed to look like the TMNT).

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT (Vol. 4) #8.  The story continues in TMNT (Vol. 4) #10.

*The explorers of the Venezuelan tepui disappeared in TMNT (Vol. 4) #3.

*Baxter’s robot body was destroyed and his brain went “missing” in TMNT (Vol. 2) #9.

*Depending on which continuity you ascribe to, Baxter Stockman was last seen either in Donatello: The Brain Thief #4 or TMNT (Vol. 3) #25.

*This issue also featured a “cover story” rundown on Michael Dooney’s layout process for this issue’s cover.

Review:

This issue is such a mixture of good and bad I find it maddeningly polarizing.

To get the good out of the way, it finally picks up on the lingering story arc with the creatures in Venezuela.  That cliffhanger almost felt like a non sequitur, having not been so much as mentioned for five issues.

Then there’s Donatello’s discussion with Baxter Stockman.  When this issue first came out, it was truly thrilling to see Baxter again in the comic, even if only for four pages.  It sewed up the question of where his brain disappeared to from Volume 2 (though “The Brain Thief” miniseries would elaborate on that) and gave him a more personal sendoff than what he originally got.  I do wish the interrogation had gone on longer, but well…

God that scene is so bad.  You know the one.  Some readers suggested that I do a counter article to my “25 Greatest Moments in TMNT History” piece, showcasing the WORST moments in TMNT history.  I felt that would be way too negative a thing to write, but assuming I HAD penned such a vitriolic missive, I assure you, this scene would have been #1.

Donatello cold shilling for Mac.  It’s just random and stupid and takes a whole page away from the comic (a page that could have gone to his discussion with Baxter).  Laird loves Mac products and he often shilled for them in the letters page.  That’s fine.  It’s the letters page.  But when the characters stop what they’re doing and go out of their way to walk to an electronics store, look at a Mac product and tell everybody that it’s the best thing ever?  Holy shit, that’s just awful.

Later on in the issue, Casey is inexplicably wearing a Moto Guzzi t-shirt, representing for Peter Laird’s favorite motorcycle company.

Then there are the raptors on the tepui, all randomly talking in Gollum-speak, as Laird was on a serious Lord of the Rings kick after the Peter Jackson movies came out in '01.  It’s dumb and pointless and exists only because that was something else Laird liked and wanted to promote.

I get that this is Laird’s comic and he’s going to do what he wants.  That’s fine.  It’s his right as the creator.  But I still think pages like that fucking suck.

You’ll also notice a change in the attitude of the letters column.  This is the point where I think negative criticism had really begun to wear Laird down and he starts to take a very combative and irritated tone in his responses.  He hasn’t yet adopted the “don’t like it, don’t buy it” rhetoric that would become Mirage’s slogan in the 2000s, but he’s certainly not cheerful.  

He dedicates a pretty long essay at the end of the 7-page (!) letter column with a message that boils down to “shut the fuck up”.  It’s pretty funny, though I think he missteps when he directs that message at not just the people who send him critical letters, but at the people he sees discussing his work on the internet.  Yeah, if someone directly sends you a message that insults you, then go right ahead and tell them to fuck off.  But really?  Saying that people having private conversations that you’ve gone out of your way to find and read should hold their tongues and keep their opinions to themselves?

Alright, man.  Whatever.  But if you’re allowed to shill for Mac and Moto Guzzi and Lord of the Rings in your comic, then people are free to trash talk shitty comics on their message boards and blogs and websites and whatever.  It’s a two-way street, dude.

But not to end this review on a negative note (I started out by saying that I didn’t WANT to get too negative!), I will say that I liked the stuff AFTER Don shilled for Mac.  The talk he has with the excited little girl.  One thing Volume 4 introduced that I really liked was the idea that the Turtles can walk the streets alongside humanity for the first time.  I love seeing them acclimate to that new lifestyle change and Don is basically tickled at the opportunity to talk to a little kid without them screaming and running away.  The mom wiping her daughter down with disinfectant was a little much, but I get that the point was to show the differing openness of the older and younger generations in regards to major social change.

Overall, this issue is a baffling mixture of the absolutely terrible with the pretty damn cool.  It’s kind of a rollercoaster.  “Alright!  We’re going to see what’s going on with the tepui subplot!  What the fuck?  Gollum-raptors?  Hey!  Don’s walking around in broad daylight; that’s awesome!  Wait, why is he stopping to tell the audience they should buy Mac products?  Holy shit, Baxter Stockman!” and so on and so on.

TMNT (Vol. 4) #8

Publication date: February, 2003

Writing, lettering, inking, toning: Peter Laird

Layouts, penciling: Jim Lawson

Inking: Eric Talbot

Cover painting: Michael Dooney

Production assistance: Dan Berger

Summary:

Robyn, Don and Dr. Klynor arrive at the grave of Robyn’s and April’s parents to collect a DNA sample.  After doing so, Don suggests they pay the O’Neils a moment of respect for desecrating their graves.

In Northampton, a mysterious man on a motorcycle races through the streets, carrying a package.  He’s familiar with the town and is grateful to be back.  He arrives at Stainless Steve Steel’s farmhouse and takes off his helmet, revealing himself to be Mr. Braunze.  Steve greets him, as apparently they’re old friends, and he thanks him for coming out and for bringing the item of precise specifications.

Braunze greets Metalhead and Splinter (though his mental powers can’t get very far through Splinter’s psychic defenses) before sitting down with Jay.  He tells Jay that he’s an excellent judge of character and asks him to repeat his story once more from the top.

At the Utrom moon island, Casey, Raph and Mikey are blowing off some steam in the gym.  Mikey notices that Cha Ocho is keeping a watchful eye on Leo, who is practicing with bokken.  Ocho approaches Leo and challenges him to a sparring match and Leo accepts.  The two duel with their bokken, but as soon as Leo starts to get the upper hand, Ocho resorts to fisticuffs.  Leo responds in kind and eventually defeats Ocho.  He tells Ocho that he’s skilled but, pointing to the scar on his face, reminds him that he’s overconfident.

Before things can escalate further, Karai steps in and reprimands Ocho for his shameful behavior.  As she leaves, she tells Casey that she hopes April will make a full recovery.

Back at the farmhouse, Braunze concludes that Jay’s telling the truth.  Satisfied with Jay’s character, Braunze decides to finish the interrogation and hypnotizes Jay.  Jay awakens later in the woods with what looks like his intact rifle.  All he remembers is going out to do some hiking and target practice and decides to head home.  Watching in secret, Steve compliments Braunze on the exact replica of Jay’s rifle that he brought with him.

At the moon island, Casey, Robyn and the Turtles gather in April’s hospital room to hear the DNA results from the Fugitoid and Klynor.  The tests prove that Robyn is the biological offspring of Mr. and Mrs. O’Neil, but April is not.  Robyn asks if this means April is adopted, but Klynor says that anomalies in the results indicate it may be something more serious.

Suddenly, April starts to spasm and shriek in pain.  A bio-scan quickly concludes that Stockman’s nanobots have switched into disassembler mode and are tearing her apart from the inside out.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT (Vol. 4) #7.  The story continues in TMNT (Vol. 4) #9.

*April and Robyn’s father died in TMNT (Vol. 1) #56.  Their mother was mentioned as being dead in the same issue.

*Chronologically, Braunze last appeared in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #49.

*This issue also included a TMNT-themed crossword puzzle created by Peter Laird, and a bonus pin-up of the TMNT by Peter Laird and Norman Lee.

Review:

Hey, Braunze is back!  That was… a fruitful subplot.  Maybe.  It’s been a long time since I read through all of Volume 4, so this is a bit of rediscovery for me, but does Braunze ever do anything of substance in this volume?  I mean, I don’t remember him doing anything worthwhile after his big reintroduction.  So with that in mind, this arc with Jay was nothing more than a lead-in to Braunze, but what does it matter when Braunze never does anything? 

It’s sort of like all the hype for Cha Ocho (another subplot in this and the past couple of issues).  Ocho doesn’t do a damn thing in this volume (now THAT I remember), so what was the point of all the build up?  It peters out and goes nowhere.  While it’s nice to be reminded of the rich and colorful characters that populate the Mirage TMNT universe, it doesn’t really do them any justice when they show up for no other purpose than to say “Hi.  I exist!”

And there isn’t much more to say about this issue.  April’s subplot is spent verifying information that was already revealed to us last issue.  So while it’s vital in a, er, realistic sort of way (gotta check, doublecheck and triplecheck the facts) it doesn’t do much for the reading experience.  Being made to watch the Utroms fact-check themselves is about as thrilling as watching Michelangelo eat a bowl of cereal for 8 pages.  “Realistic”, sure, but exciting and suspenseful?  Not really.

There’s a 3-page segment in this issue, where Braunze rides into Northampton and remarks on the landscape and local businesses.  It feels very authentic and I imagine it was; the Mirage crew were often in and out of Northampton so I’m guessing each namedrop and every street corner was true to life, circa 2003.  While it was neat, it was also a little self-indulgent, as aside from the Mirage crew, only a small minority of TMNT readers are going to “get” all those references.

But I’ll cut it some slack, since as far as Volume 4’s self-indulgence goes, this was nothing.

Finally reviewed TMNT Magazine (Panini) #12

My review for TMNT Magazine (Panini) #12 was a stub for the longest time since I was missing that issue.  But, thanks a recent trade paperback collection of Panini's TMNT Magazine comics, I was finally able to read it.

So check out my summary and review of "Space Captain Leo".  It's actually a lot of fun, with a frantic script by Landry Walker and Ed Caruana and some great pencils from Cosmo White (in addition to Jason Cardy's awesome coloring).

Also, if my reviews have left you wanting to read some of these comics (I actually like them more than IDW's cartoon comics), then I'd recommend nabbing the trade paperback.  It's only available from Amazon UK, but they do ship to the United States.

Secret Santa

Originally published in: TMNT New Animated Adventures #18

Publication date: December 17, 2014

Story: Matthew K. Manning

Art: Paulina Ganucheau

Colors: Heather Breckel

Letters: Shawn Lee

Edits: Bobby Curnow

“Secret Santa”

Summary:

Christmas is just around the corner, and down in the lair, that means “secret Santa”.  Mikey draws Raph’s name, much to his chagrin, as Raph is impossible to buy gifts for (since he hates everything).  Mikey tries to swap names with his brothers, but Don and Leo won’t budge.

Later, the Turtles are out patrolling Chinatown.  When no trouble can be found (much to Raph's disappointment) they head home.  Along the way, Mikey peeks into the skylight of a warehouse and notices the perfect gift for Raph.

Christmas.  The Turtles exchange gifts: Don gives Leo a mint-on-card ultra-rare Super Robo Mecha Force Five action figure, Raph gives Don a box of high tech scrap he found in a dumpster, Leo gives Mikey a year’s supply of pizza coupons (which will last a month), and Mikey gives Raph… a piece of paper with an address on it.

The Turtles go to the address and Mikey tells Raph to take a peek through the skylight.  Raph does so, becomes absolutely giddy and dives through the window.  The other Turtles decide to take a peek and quickly see why Raph is so elated: It’s a Kraang facility.  As Raph joyously busts Kraangdroid heads, Mikey declares himself the winner of secret Santa.

Turtle Tips:

*The story continues in TMNT New Animated Adventures #19.

Review:

This is one of the better one-shot short strips to appear in TMNT New Animated Adventures in a while.  It concerns a dilemma I hadn’t thought about before (what DO you get Raph for Christmas?) and the character pairings were all great matches.  Of course Donatello would get Leo the nerdiest sort of present (that appeals to Leo’s nerdy hobby in this incarnation), and of course Raph would get Don a box of trash he found (which just happens to be what Donatello wanted).  Even the pizza coupons, obvious as they might be, were done with some fun banter between Leo and Mikey.

It was paced really well, had some great payoff and, well, it was just a solid short strip.  Good one on Matthew Manning!

Ganucheau is an artist I don’t think we’ve had before in the book.  She’s got solid fundamentals and emphasizes the “cute”, which is perfectly fitting for this sort of saccharine Christmas comic.  Motion is a little stiff (like the panel of Raph hugging Mikey with glee), but otherwise it isn’t bad.

Overall, I think this was the winner of the issue.

Grade: B (as in, “But perhaps Ganucheau does resort to the Turtles making the ‘awesome face’ a little too much”.)

Deep Below, Part 2

Originally published in: TMNT New Animated Adventures #18

Publication date: December 17, 2014

Story: Landry Q. Walker

Art: Dario Brizuela

Colors: Heather Breckel

Letters: Shawn Lee

Edits: Bobby Curnow

“Deep Below, Part 2”

Summary:

Down in the ruins of the Kraang facility, the Turtles and the evil Foot mutants are going at it.  Leo momentarily calls a truce, insisting that if any of them want to make it out alive, they’ll need to work together.  Tiger Claw is against the idea, since he wants revenge for his not-missing eye, and Raph is against the idea, since he doesn’t trust Leo anymore.  Regardless, Stockman-Fly and Donatello get to work adjusting the Kraang power source to act as a teleporting feedback loop that will get them all to the surface.

Suddenly, a mass of toothy, eyeball-riddled tentacles bursts up from the rising water and attacks.  One of the Kraang’s mutant experiments, Mikey dubs it the “Tentaclops” and the two groups quickly flee.

As they make their way to the highest point in the ruins, both sides reluctantly help the other survive various pitfalls and attacks from the Tentaclops.  They eventually reach the highest point and finally get a signal with the power source.  Naturally, Tiger Claw uses this opportunity to betray the Turtles.  Rahzar snatches the power source and they carry it to higher ground.  Raph pursues them and knocks the power source back down to his brothers, seconds before it activates.  Raph then falls backward off the ledge, trusting that Leo will catch him as the device activates.  And he does.

The Turtles arrive safe and sound on the surface and begin swimming to shore.  Raph and Leo make amends, though they’re curious what will become of the evil Foot mutants.  Donatello assures them that he programmed in a delay that will teleport them to safety, though he’s unsure where they’ll wind up.

The Foot mutants are subsequently teleported to a sewage treatment plant where they fall into a vat of feces.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from “Deep Below, Part 1”.

Review:

Reading this story, I couldn’t help but feel that it seemed very familiar.  Then I recalled TMNT New Animated Adventures #5.

So in that issue, the Turtles are trapped in a sinking ship and need to escape to the surface before the water rises and drowns them all.  Along for the ride is a bad guy who Leo says they have to help, but Raph is throwing a hissy fit and doesn’t trust Leo's leadership.  Along the way, they’re all menaced by Fishface.

“Deep Below” is pretty much the same story.  Instead of a sinking cruise ship, it’s a sunken Kraang lab.  Instead of a generic bad guy they have to help, it’s the evil Foot Mutants.  Instead of Fishface harassing their attempts to escape, it’s the Tentaclops.  Raph refusing to trust Leo remains identical, though.  Hell, even the covers to #5 and #18 are similar at a glance.

It’s a little disappointing, seeing the comic retread one of its own stories so shamelessly and there’s very little new content to discuss as a result.  I mean, I enjoyed seeing more of the Foot mutants, though even their subplot of having to form an uneasy alliance with the Turtles to escape certain doom too closely echoed the Nickelodeon TMNT episode “Baxter’s Gambit” for comfort.

While I’m all for TMNT New Animated Adventures implementing multi-part stories in addition to their one-shot plots, I would definitely like to see something more original in the future.  “Deep Below” winds up being nothing more than a mish-mash of ideas we’ve already encountered both in the cartoon this comic is based off of and in this comic-itself.

Grade: D (as in, “Did Leo remember Stockman’s name on page 7?  I don’t know if that’s an error or if he’s just been deliberately teasing Stockman for the past 3 seasons”.)

TMNT New Animated Adventures #18

Publication date: December 17, 2014

Contents:

*“Deep Below, Part 2”

*“Secret Santa”

Turtle Tips:

*These stories are continued from TMNT New Animated Adventures #17.  The story continues in TMNT New Animated Adventures #19.

*This issue was original published with 2 variant covers: Regular Cover by Dario Brizuela, and Subscription Cover by Jeffrey Cruz.

TMNT III, Manga Adaptation: Chapter 4 translated!

Bet you thought I forgot about translating the rest of the Japanese manga adaptation of the third TMNT live action movie, huh?

Well, actually, yeah.  I sorta did.  But thanks to some prodding from Cryomancer and the talented folks at the Optical Internet Translation Gang, I finished up Chapter 4!

You can download TMNT III, Chapter 4: "Infiltration! Castle Norinaga!!!" in a nice .CBR over at the OITG site!

This chapter is pretty much 100% original material and is the point where the manga and movie go their separate ways.  It sees the TMNT negotiate a subterranean labyrinth while doing battle with manga-original villains Iron and Silver.  Meanwhile, April and the villagers keep Walker distracted by putting on a faux magic act.

It's some weeeiiirrrddd stuff, but I had fun translating it.  I'll try and get Chapters 5 and 6 done early next year to complete the whole adaptation.

Enjoy!

TMNT 30th Anniversary Special (Convention Exclusive Editions)

In 2014, IDW published 4 different versions of the TMNT 30th Anniversary Special anthology.  The Direct Market version is the standard, containing 5 stories as well as bonus pin-ups from artists new and old and a brief introduction summarizing the history of the franchise.

However, 3 alternate versions of the Special were released as convention exclusives, each boasting different bonus content in addition to all the material from the Direct Market edition.

Here, I’ll make an effort to catalog those differences for posterity’s sake…

Capital City Comic Con Edition

Publication date: July 11 – 13, 2014

Cover: Paolo Pantalena (pencils), Nei Ruffino (colors)

Additional contents:

*Unique introduction by Kevin Eastman

*Reprint of “You Had To Be There”

*15 pages of artwork by Eastman (pin-ups, posters, but mostly just comic pages)

Turtle Tips:

*There was also a blank cover variant for convention sketches.

*The reprint of “You Had To Be There” is listed as a “rare story” on the inside cover.  It’s actually one of the most-reprinted of Eastman’s short TMNT comics.

*This run was limited to only 1000 copies.

Alamo City Comic Con Edition

 Publication date: September 26 – 28, 2014

Cover: Mike DeBalfo (pencils), Ula Mose’ (colors)

Additional contents:

*Unique introduction by Kevin Eastman

*20 pages of artwork by Eastman (mostly old sketches and promo pin-ups, some IDW cover layouts)

Turtle Tips:

*There was also a blank cover variant for convention sketches.

*The inside cover credits Eastman for a “rare story”, but there is no additional story in this version.

*This run was limited to only 500 copies.

New York City Comic Con Edition

Publication date: October 9 – 12, 2014

Cover: Mike DeBalfo (pencils), Juan Fernandez (colors), Adelso Corona (inks)

Additional contents:

*Unique introduction by Kevin Eastman

*18 pages of artwork by Eastman (cover layouts, sketches, comic pages, and lots of rare odds and ends)

Turtle Tips:

*There was also a blank cover variant for convention sketches.

*The inside cover credits Eastman for a “rare story”, but there is no additional story in this version.

*This run was limited to only 500 copies.

Review:

A special thanks to TMNT fan “Enscripture” for helping me sort out all these different con exclusive editions of the Special.  I actually attended the Alamo City Comic Con as a vendor (working the Ninjaink booth), but I didn’t pick up a copy.

Looking over the contents of the con editions, some seemed to get a better deal than others.  The credits for “rare story” appearing in each edition while only Capital City got the actual “rare story” is a bit troubling.  I’m guessing they used the same layout template for the credits/intro page and didn’t properly adjust it to reflect the actual unique contents of each edition.  “You Had To Be There” isn’t actually that rare, though, having been reprinted at least 3 different times in the past, so it’s an easy find if you missed out on it in your edition.

The bonus art galleries vary between them, but are mostly made up of the same stock of stuff.  While Capital City got the actual bonus story, I think they received the weakest assortment of bonus art.  The majority is just scans of pages from issues of the comic; nothing rarely seen or surprising.  Alamo City and New York City have assortments consisting mostly of sketches and IDW cover layouts with a few promo pin-ups thrown in for good measure.  I think New York got the coolest stuff out of them all; mostly cover sketches but also some little odds and ends you don’t see too often.

All in all, if you own the Direct Market edition like I do, then I wouldn’t really recommend you go out of your way to pick these up.  Most of the content can be found in Eastman’s Artobiography and Heavy Metal’s TMNT 25th: A Quarter Century Celebration (both of which are currently in print via IDW).  Eastman’s unique intros, too, don’t speak specifically to each convention and are just rewordings of the same promotions (“There’s a movie coming out!”  “Watch the Nick cartoon!”  “I’m not married to Julie Strain anymore!”).

Still, for collectors, these might be of some interest, especially with their scarce print runs.

TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #8

Publication date: Spring 1992

Script: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)

Pencils: Jim Lawson

Inks: Dan Berger

Colors: Steve Lavigne

Letters: Mary Kelleher

Cover: Michael Dooney

“Fashion Bashin’”

Summary:

Bebop and Rocksteady have just robbed a bank and the Turtles arrive to stop them.  Unfortunately, the evil mutants use their laser guns to pin the TMNT down.  Leo takes their weapons out with some well-thrown shuriken and the two disarmed mutants make a break for it.

They decide to hide in a department store and do a pretty good job at first, as the Turtles can’t seem to find them.  So Leo decides to evacuate the store and the Turtles look for anyone suspicious trying to clear out.  They spot Bebop and Rocksteady in drag and another fight breaks out.

Eventually, Bebop is subdued by a bottle of perfume and Rocksteady gets his skirt caught in the revolving door, knocking himself out when he hits the glass.  Recovering the money, the Turtles mock the fallen bank robbers, with Michelangelo in particular remarking that they were “out of style”.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #7.  The story continues in TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #9.

Review:

I actually kind of like this cycle that runs through the end of the Welsh Publishing TMNT Magazine series.  When the book started out, it was either promoting or pitching action figure characters from Playmates.  That segued into an arc about deforestation and pollution.  Now, in this last stretch, a number of stories revolve around the Turtles foiling Bebop and Rocksteady.

I personally like Bebop and Rocksteady, so the focus turning onto them doesn’t bother me.  More than that, they received scant few comic appearances back in the day (getting written out of TMNT Adventures rather early), so any new material with these two is a gift.  What’s even more amusing is that they’re presented in these comics as being ne’er-do-wells completely independent of the Shredder.  Their schemes range from small time (bank robbing) to VERY small time (as you’ll see in the Halloween issue) and it’s an interesting look at the characters.  Like, if they weren’t henchmen to a pair of super villains, this is probably what they’d be doing with their lives.

What’s also nice is that Murphy (Clarrain) steps off his soap box for 4 pages and just tells a goofy story (not funny, but goofy).  No ulterior motives about sending a political or environmental message to the kids; just the Turtles fighting Bebop and Rocksteady who are in drag.  Like I said, it’s not funny, no, but it is a breath of fresh air from all the “special messages” that were suffocating these comics.

Anyhow, these comics start to get a little more fun from this point on, possibly at the behest of Welsh’s editors.  MOST of the magazine content was educational articles and puzzles; the comics were supposed to be the respite from all that learning.  I’m betting they asked Murphy to stop filling them with environmentalist mumbo jumbo and just let them be about fighting and sight gags.  Good call.