Publication date: January 22, 2014
Writer: Paul Allor
Artist: Andy Kuhn
Colors: Bill Crabtree
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Summary:
The present.
Burnow Island. As his head is
hooked up to numerous probes in a laboratory, the Fugitoid (alias Chet Allen,
alias Professor Honeycutt) reflects upon the family he lost at the hands of Krang
and fantasizes about killing himself.
The human scientists working on downloading the Fugitoid’s data in order
to complete the Technodrome decide to close shop early for the night, as a
major storm is about to blow through. In
his office, General Krang orders other technicians to make sure the storm does
no damage to the Technodrome project.
They assure him that everything has been accounted for. Little do they know, Baxter Stockman is
outside, fooling with a power box.
The past.
Prehistoric Earth. A pair of
Utroms take a DNA sample from a triceratops.
Many years later, on the planet Utrominon, General Krang throws a
banquet for the Triceratons, the enforcers and “Fighting Lizards” of the Utrom
army. Emperor Quanin breaks up the
festivities and asks his simpering son Krang what’s going on. Krang explains that they have successfully
conquered the D’Hoonib Empire and nullified the Praxoid Alliance, placing the
Utrom Empire in a state of peace.
Some years after that, in the Molta VI Asteroid Belt, an
Utrom expedition for more ooze is wiped out by a rebellion comprised of many
alien races, including Neutrinos and Triceratons. Back on Utrominon, Senior Member of the High
Council Lorqa implores Emperor Quanin to cease his foolish expansion of the
Utrom Empire. They’ve spread out beyond
their ability to functionally colonize, draining their homeworld of all its
precious resources. General Krang butts
heads with Lorqa for disrespecting his father’s commands. Quanin breaks up the argument and insists
that so long as the citizens on Utrominon are ignorant of the situation and
remain at peace, then nothing else matters.
The present.
Burnow Island. Baxter’s sabotage
causes the power to go out and he sneaks into the laboratory housing the
Fugitoid. He reactivates the Fugitoid,
though he’s unaware that the Fugitoid and his former employee Chet Allen are
one in the same. Baxter asks the
Fugitoid to help him betray and destroy General Krang. The Fugitoid recalls having heard that
Stockgen, Baxter’s life’s work, was destroyed not long ago. He figures Baxter has lost everything and
agrees to assist him. Once free, the
Fugitoid plans to fulfill his fantasy of self-destruction.
The past. New
Quanin City. General Krang orders his Triceraton officer Zog to
execute the children of the miners who briefly rebelled against him. Suddenly, several ships appear in the sky and
begin raining fire down upon the Utrom citizens. Krang looks closer and sees that the invaders
are Triceratons. Zog attacks Krang and
tells him that he brought this betrayal upon himself. By spreading his Empire out so thin, he has
doomed his own people, to say nothing of the countless alien races he ordered
destroyed. Krang calls the Triceratons
ungrateful and fights back, insisting all he’s done was for the good of his
people. Zog defeats him, but rather than
kill him, he tells Krang that he’ll be spared on the condition that he undo the
mistakes of his father, Quanin, and end all aggression.
The present.
Northampton, Massachusetts. In
the barn, Donatello is going through some stuff April brought with her when
they fled New York. Michelangelo asks
what he’s after and Donnie explains that when April was raiding Stockgen, she
grabbed one of the Chet’s (Fugitoid's) notebooks. Now that they’re able to catch their breath,
he wants to give the notebook a read through.
Opening it up, Donnie finds nothing less than a series of designs
labeled “Technodrome”.
Burnow Island.
Baxter leads the Fugitoid to the chamber housing all the Utroms in ooze
stasis. Baxter begins draining the ooze
from the pods, killing the Utroms. He
tells the Fugitoid that he wants to take away what Krang is fighting for: His people. By doing so, he’ll effectively “break”
Krang. Not only that, but he has his own
plans on using the Technodrome for himself.
The Fugitoid momentarily considers letting Baxter go through with it,
but having experienced the pain of losing his entire family himself, the Fugitoid
refuses to let the Utroms be killed. He
punches Baxter in the back of the head and says that he has a plan to fix
everything.
Turtle Tips:
*The story continues in TMNT: Utrom Empire #2.
*Chronologically, this miniseries takes place
concurrently with the “Northampton” arc of the TMNT ongoing series. This issue in particular takes place during TMNT (IDW) #29, as Donatello is shown reading the Fugitoid's notebook in that issue.
*The Fugitoid's family was killed in TMNT Micro-Series #8: Fugitoid and he was taken prisoner by General Krang in TMNT (IDW) #20.
*Stockgen was destroyed in TMNT (IDW) #26.
*Baxter’s machinations against General Krang were revealed
in TMNT Villains Micro-Series #2: Baxter.
*Zog is originally a Mirage character first properly
introduced in TMNT (Vol. 1) #19.
*Exactly WHY the Utroms decide to turn Earth dinosaurs into warriors will be revealed in TMNT: Turtles in Time #1.
*This issue was originally published with 3 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Kuhn, Cover RI by Kevin Eastman and Ronda Pattison,
Subscription Cover by Nick Pitarra and Greg and Fake Petre.
Review:
It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve gotten an
update on the whole Krang side of things.
If you’re reading these comics all chronologically, then there are 18
issues between the last Krang-related story and this one (23 if you elect to
read “Utrom Empire” after “Northampton”).
It’s been a long time and I’m glad to see these plot lines rolling
again.
Paul Allor constructs some wonderful character symmetry
between our three leads: General Krang, Baxter Stockman and the Fugitoid. The Fugitoid is someone who lost everything
(his family) and desperately wants to end it all. Baxter is someone who lost everything (his
company) and desperately wants to seize power.
And Krang is someone who lost everything (his father's Empire) and desperately
wants to recapture the glory of the past.
Their motivations all stem from a sense of loss, but those motivations
drive them in different directions.
There’s also a smidgen of warmth or sympathy applied to
characters like Krang and Quanin, who in all previous appearances have been
nothing more than generic overlord-type villains. The idea Allor presents is that all both
characters want is what’s best for their people. Yes, they’re cruel and psychotic, but they
genuinely love their race and only have their best interests at heart
(expanding the Empire in Quanin’s case, reigniting the Empire in Krang’s
case). But “the road to Hell is paved
with good intentions,” as they say, and none of it justifies their actions.
Even the Triceratons, new to the IDW series, get a bit of
a heart transplant. Past incarnations
have always portrayed them as a barbaric, warmongering race with only rare
glimpses of Triceratons that DON’T want to rip people’s hearts out. “Savage murderers” was pretty much their
uniform characterization. Zog, however,
shows that he and his people crave freedom not just for themselves, but for all
those flattened under the boot of the Utrom Empire. Heck, he’s even generous enough to point out
that the ruthlessness of the Empire was the fault of Krang and Quanin, not the
Utrom people (to say nothing of sparing Krang’s life). I especially appreciated that Allor chose Zog
to be the one to deliver this speech, as Zog was one of the “good guy”
Triceratons from the Mirage series (and 4Kids cartoon).
So yeah, we’re getting a better feel for characters and
concepts that had previously been two-dimensional. While Krang and Quanin aren’t exonerated from
their actions, we can see that they aren’t blandly “evil”, either, with their
motives brewing from a warped concept of altruism.
It also looks like we’re going to be getting a crash
course in Utrom history with this series.
Lots of flashbacks, people.
I liked the new origin for the Triceratons, which
explains why an alien race just HAPPENS to look like Earth triceratopses while
also illustrating just how far back the Utroms’ awareness of Earth goes. Loooooong before Feudal Japan, that’s for
sure.
What’s a bit more confusing is trying to keep track of the
Krang/Quanin chronology. Between TMNT (IDW) #14, TMNT (IDW) #18, TMNT Micro-Series #8: Fugitoid, TMNT Villains Micro-Series #1: Krang, Secret History of the Foot Clan #4 and this, the
timeline of the Utroms is a freakin’ puzzle.
It doesn’t help that the flashbacks from those various issues hop back
and forth all over the timeline and it gets increasingly difficult to keep
facts straight.
For example, why is Krang so pleasant in the earliest
flashbacks in this issue? They have to
take place after his Micro-Series, as he’s a General in these flashbacks and
Quanin is an Emperor. But if that’s the
case, Krang should be the cruel monster he evolved into during the events of
his Micro-Series, not the merciful party animal he was before the events of the
Micro. And was the Iron Demon Krang,
Quanin or somebody else? We’ve been
dying to know that for a while, now.
Anyhow, all criticisms about confusing flashbacks aside,
it was still a well-crafted introductory issue.
These characters have been stewing on the backburner for a while now and
I’ve been anxious to check in with them again.
Allor does some solid work with the cast and throws an excellent
curveball with the origin of the Triceratons.
Kuhn’s art is some of the strongest we’ve seen from him, nailing some
moody layouts.
Grade: B (as in, “But when this mini is done, we may need
a chart delineating all the Utrom flashbacks from the whole IDW series”.)
