Tuesday, April 29, 2014
TMNT (1987) Season 5, Part 1 Review
I'm a little late to tie this one in with Easter, but really, the "TMNT's Awesome Easter" two-parter was a greater affront to the memory of Jesus than my forgetting entirely about the holiday could ever be.
As we open season five, we have to deal with that obnoxious fucker Hokum Hare, but after that's over and done with we have some great episodes featuring Lt. Kazuo Saki (the brother of Shredder), Mutagen Man and Mondo Gecko. Also, the Badd Family, because this show can't keep up a winning streak for very long.
Here's my review of TMNT (1987) Season 5, Part 1 at Adventures in Poor Taste.
Because "Donatello's Badd Time" was the series finale in Japan (I'm so sorry, Japan), that seemed like a good enough point to segue into the two-part anime OVA series. So I'll be doing those next.
If I survive.
Labels:
cartoon
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Mikey's Map
Originally published in: TMNT New Animated Adventures #10
Publication date: April 23, 2014
Story: Landry Q. Walker
Art: Chad Thomas
Colors: Heather Breckel
Letters: Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow
“Mikey’s Map”
Summary:
In the Shellraiser, Mikey is acting as navigator, telling
Leo to make all sorts of hairpin turns.
Leo wants to know what the emergency is, but Mikey insists there’s no
time.
As they careen through the city, the Turtles
inadvertently foil a Purple Dragon robbery, bust up a Kraang research operation
and spoil Rahzar’s ice cream cone.
Eventually, they arrive at their emergency destination:
Gino’s Pizza. Mikey insists that they
needed to make it there before they close, as they’re The Best Pizza in the
World (according to the restaurant’s website, anyway). Sadly, they arrived too late and the joint
closes. The Turtles promptly leaves
Mikey behind with only his shredded map and navigation skills to guide him
home.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from “Love Bytez”. The story continues in TMNT New Animated Adventures #11.
*Dogpund was double-mutated into Rahzar in the season 2
episode “Mikey Gets Shellacne”.
Review:
Landry Walker, better known for writing the shorter form
comedy relief strips over in Panini’s Nickelodeon TMNT magazine for UK markets,
makes his debut on IDW’s TMNT New Animated Adventures. “Mikey’s Map” is very much in the same mold
as the UK comedy strips, forgoing logic and dignity in the name of humor. And as a back-up strip to the main
action-adventure story, that’s perfectly fine.
Walker seems to get a kick out of writing for Mikey, as
he’s the Turtle most often spotlighted in Walker’s stories. He has a good handle on Mikey’s
characterization, even if it’s the “brainless fuckup” take on the character
(but again, these are comedy relief shorts, so that’s to be expected). Rahzar makes his first appearance in IDW’s
comic and it’s not exactly his most ferocious outing. It makes for a cute visual, though.
There’s no sense in over-thinking or over-critiquing these
humor strips; they’re fun for what they are and I’m glad to have them.
Grade: N/A (as in, “Now was that a mint chocolate chip or
pistachio cone? Because if it was the
former, I can completely understand Rahzar’s rage. If it was the latter, then I think the Turtles
did him a favor”.)
Labels:
IDW
Love Bytez
Originally published in: TMNT New Animated Adventures #10
Publication date: April 23, 2014
Story: Derek Fridolfs
Art: Dario Brizuela
Colors: Heather Breckel
Letters: Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow
“Love Bytez”
Summary:
It’s Valentine’s Day and Mikey wants to share the love
amongst his brothers with some valentines.
Unfortunately, they’re all too busy to notice his handiwork, so Mikey
wanders off to the rooftops to be alone.
While watching the happy couples on the streets below, he notices how
every time he looks away, they vanish.
The other Turtles respond to Mikey’s call and find him on
the roof wearing a tinfoil hat and rubbing himself down in pizza grease. Mikey suspects the disappearances to be the
work of the Kraang, ghosts and Bigfoot working together, so he’s prepared
his countermeasures accordingly (the Kraang can’t read his mind through the tinfoil hat,
Bigfoot can’t grab him if he’s all greasy and ghosts aren’t scary if you have a
group with you).
Investigating, they find a trail of spider webs leading to
an abandoned building. They all come to
the conclusion that Spider Bytez is behind the kidnappings and attempt to infiltrate
his lair through the skylight. Spider
Bytez anticipates their arrival, bringing down the roof with acid and then trapping them all in webbing. Spider Bytez
explains that he took the couples hostage to lure the Turtles out, but also to
get revenge on all the happy people out there who are still human. As a bonus, he wants to make the Turtles pay for getting
him mutated.
Luckily, the pizza grease allows Mikey to slip through
the webbing. He proceeds to “mock”
Spider Bytez by showering him with compliments and uses the distraction to slip
Leo his bladed nunchakus. The other
Turtles get free and follow Mikey’s lead, irritating Spider Bytez so he spits
acid indiscriminately in all directions.
Meanwhile, Mikey helps the (blindfolded) couples out of the
building. All the acid eventually brings
the building down and the Turtles escape as Spider Bytez is buried alive.
Down in the lair, the Turtles apologize to Mikey for
ignoring his valentines and thank him for saving the day. As a sign of their appreciation, they have
April bring in a heart-shaped pizza.
Splinter likewise thanks Michelangelo for reminding his family to never
take for granted the people who care for them, as there are others out there
who aren’t so lucky. On the surface,
Spider Bytez stomps around an alleyway in incoherent rage.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT New Animated Adventures #9. The story continues in
“Mikey’s Map”.
*The Turtles last met Spider Bytez in the season 2
episode “Metalhead Rewired”.
Review:
So, Spider Bytez.
Let’s talk about him. He was one of
the earliest mutant villains introduced in the Nickelodeon TMNT series and he
was also one of the quickest to be forgotten.
Of his two appearances in the cartoon thus far, he’s been the focus
of neither episode and is just sort of this random action figure character who
shows up whenever Nick can afford to get Lewis Black in the recording booth.
While I don’t care for his design one bit, I think what
really hurts Spider Bytez is that he has no motivation or resources capable of
carrying a story. He was just some
overweight TV jockey who accidentally got mutated and now he’s mad at the
Turtles (and really, it WAS totally their fault he got dragged into a Kraang
mutagen facility). How do you write
stories around a villain like that? He
isn’t smart enough to come up with any inventive schemes, he hasn’t allied
himself with the larger villainous forces so far as we know (the Kraang tried
to keep him locked up, but he was hardly working for them), and he has nothing
driving him to even BE a villain other than “the Frogs made me into a freak”.
There just isn’t a lot to work with and I imagine that
plays a large part in why we hardly ever see him.
Newcomer to New Animated Adventures (though he previously
did some inking for Mirage, on the story “The Mother of All Anger”), Derek
Fridolfs does his level best to centralize a narrative around the TMNT’s most
shallow adversary. I think he does about
as well as anyone working with the character can be expected. Setting it on Valentine’s Day provides an
excuse for Spider Bytez to be angrier than usual and to take his bitterness out
on random people, and likewise Fridolf works the holiday shenanigans into Mikey’s
side of things so it all comes together.
One of those “two sides of the coin” deals; not exactly innovative but
it paces out a good story with a lesson to be learned.
Exactly what Spider Bytez planned to DO with those
hostages isn’t elaborated upon. Fridolfs
avoids any mention of him eating them, which I actually liked, as it keeps him
distinct from the TMNT’s other most shallow adversary: Snakeweed. Snakeweed’s deal is that he kidnaps people,
imprisons them in cocoons and then turns them into fertilizer so he can
eat. Admittedly, a giant spider
capturing people so he can eat them makes a little more sense, but again, it
keeps Spider Bytez’s gimmick from retreading Snakeweed’s (while also keeping
him somewhat sympathetic).
All in all, I don’t think “Love Bytez” was a bad story, I
think it just suffered from having to utilize a villain that hasn’t much to
offer. If Spider Bytez is ever
to stand a chance of being, you know, GOOD, he’ll probably have to quit being a
solo act and join up with some other mutants or something. Because on his own, he just can’t carry a
story.
Grade: C (as in, “Can’t we get an issue with
Newtralizer? That guy was awesome”.)
Labels:
IDW
TMNT New Animated Adventures #10
Publication date: April 23, 2014
Contents:
*“Love Bytez”
*“Mikey’s Map”
Turtle Tips:
*These stories are continued from TMNT New Animated Adventures #9. The story continues in
TMNT New Animated Adventures #11.
*This issue was originally published with 2 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Brizuela, and Cover RI by James Silvani and Amy Mebberson.
Labels:
IDW
Saturday, April 26, 2014
TMNT (IDW) #33
Publication date: April 23, 2014
Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Mateus Santolouco
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
"Monsters, Misfits and Madmen, Part 1"
"Monsters, Misfits and Madmen, Part 1"
Summary:
After dark in New York City, a trio of bank robbers
attempt to abscond with the loot when they’re felled by the Turtles. Mikey is thrilled to fight crime, but Leo
reminds him that they’re just on a training exercise and that they AREN’T
superheroes.
At Foot HQ, Hun reports to Shredder that under his
orders, Bebop, Rocksteady and the Purple Dragons successfully knocked over an
armored car and scored $500 grand.
Shredder congratulates Hun and informs him that he’ll be leaving for a “business
trip” and in his absence, Karai will be in full command. Shredder dismisses everyone but Hun, as he
wishes to talk to the Purple Dragon about his son.
At the church lair, April is packing up Harold Lilja’s
anti-gravity gauntlets whilst trying to convince Casey to go back to school. Casey dodges the conversation and says he has
to leave and check in with Angel at the Skara Brae. The Turtles come home and Don asks April what’s
the matter. April explains that due to
his injury, Casey lost his hockey scholarship.
She’s been trying to convince him to get financial aid and finish school
anyway, but he hasn’t wanted to talk about it.
Don suggests that Casey’s probably still trying to work through his stuff
with Hun. And anyway, Don says he can
relate to April, as he also feels like he’s been trying to tell everyone
something important only to be ignored.
He has the schematics for the Fugitoid’s teleporter, but no one seems in
a hurry to coordinate the resources to build it.
At the Skara Brae, Hun pays Brooklyn a visit. Kid Kennedy and Ferguson try to strike up a
conversation with Hun, but he shoos them away.
Hun demands to know where Angel and Casey are, but Brooklyn remains
obstinate; not knowing where Casey is and making up a cover story to hide the
fact that Angel is in his back room.
Brooklyn, a former Purple Dragon, insults Hun for sinking so low as to
take orders from the man who nearly killed his own son. Hun recalls his conversation with the Shredder…
Shredder reveals to him that he stabbed Casey. It was part of a plot to use the boy and he
had intended to merely use Hun, as well.
However, after Hun proved highly capable as a gang leader, Shredder
chose to keep him around. Shredder tells
him that there is a place amongst the Foot for Casey, but Hun must be the one
to invite him into the fold. If Casey
refuses, he will be treated as a threat to the Foot and hunted down accordingly…
In a rage, Hun attacks Brooklyn, prompting Kid, Ferguson
and Angel to come to his rescue. Hun tosses
the two drunks aside and has a chat with Angel.
Angel also refuses to say where Casey is, but before Hun can beat the
truth out of her, Casey steps into the bar.
Down in the lair, Leo goes to convene with Splinter. He tells his sensei that Raph and Mikey have
left on their mission while Don and April have gone to see Harold Lilja. Splinter asks how his son is feeling and Leo
expresses that he’s just happy to be back.
Splinter is pleased, as they don’t have much time before the Shredder
realizes they’ve returned to New York and they must all be in prime condition.
Outside the Skara Brae, Hun explains the situation to
Casey and implores him to abandon his mutant buddies and join the Foot. Casey, of course, refuses. Rather than get violent, Hun realizes that he
can’t force his son to join. Instead, he
offers to give Casey a cut of the cash he’s stolen so his son can leave the
city and start over somewhere far away.
Casey asks Hun that if he DID take the money and run, would he come with
him? Hun says no. Casey tells his father that he isn’t going
anywhere and the two part ways.
Inside the Skara Brae, Casey tries to smooth things over
with Brooklyn, but the bar owner is furious.
He thinks that Angel and Casey have gotten in over their heads and now
their actions have nearly destroyed his livelihood and his family. Angel storms out of the bar and Casey follows
her.
In an alley, Hun looks at an old photo of himself and
Casey. He makes his choice and crumples
up the photo, throwing it away.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (IDW) #32. The story continues in TMNT (IDW) #34.
*Donatello received the message from the Fugitoid with
the teleporter schematics in TMNT: Utrom Empire #3.
*Harold Lilja last appeared in TMNT (IDW) #26, which is
when he leant April his anti-gravity gauntlets.
*This issue was originally published with 7 variant
covers: Cover A by Santolouco, Cover B by Eastman and Pattison, Cover RI by
Stephen Mooney, Cover RE Jetpack Exclusive with recycled art from Dan Duncan,
Cover RE Jetpack Exclusive with recycled Eastman/Laird art from ’83, Cover RE
Jetpack Exclusive with recycled Mirage staff jam session spread, Cover RE
Jetpack Exclusive with recycled Eastman/Laird art from TMNT #50.
Review:
“Northampton” is over and we’re back to our regularly
scheduled program. This issue starts out
fast, getting back into the swing of things as the Turtles return to all the
ongoing story arcs they left simmering four months ago. And all the better for this approach, too,
since “Northampton” was essentially the breather arc after “City Fall” and I
think we’ve all had enough chilling and twiddling our thumbs, right?
Before we get to the meat of this story (Casey and Hun), let’s
talk about some of the other moments. I
recall way back near the start of the series, there was an issue where the
Turtles mentioned “going on patrol”. That seemingly innocuous statement elicited
some consternation from the fanbase, as the TMNT aren’t vigilante superheroes
who go on nightly patrols, looking for crime to fight. Leo’s and Mike’s conversation on that very
subject at the start of this issue seemed like Waltz’s belated response to
those concerns. It sets the record
straight, though the talk drags a bit and threatens to pierce the Fourth
Wall. I’ll just say that “Turtles on
Patrol” isn’t one of my personal hot buttons, so I never got all up in arms
about the situation either way.
There’s a weird imbalance in this issue regarding
subtlety vs. “are you for real?” In
regards to the former, during April’s entire conversation with Casey and then
Don, she’s seen packing up the anti-gravity gauntlets she borrowed from Harold. They’re never addressed in the dialogue but
they’re ever present in the image, particularly when April and Don segue into a
discussion about getting help to build the Fugitoid’s teleporter. At the end of the issue, Leo offhandedly
mentions to Splinter that April and Don have gone to visit their “computer
friend” and you can put two and two together on your own (they left to return
the borrowed gauntlets and pitch the teleporter project). It was all there, but required a smidgen of
reading comprehension to pick up on and I appreciate the confidence in my cognitive faculties from the IDW staff.
But then there’s all the expository dialogue where
everyone inexplicably soliloquizes their life story to each other or suddenly feels
compelled to tell their closest friends and confidants what their own names are
(the bank robbers at the beginning). Kid
Kennedy and Ferguson, two of the more irritating hangers on from the 2012 TMNT Annual, are probably the worst in that regard.
While I know it’s nothing new in the world of comic book storytelling
for characters to remind other characters about their names and histories for
reader benefit, some of this stuff is pretty clumsy. And man, Kid and Ferg’s dialogue is one marshmallow
clover away from being a Lucky Charms commercial ("Me boyo"...? Seriously?).
The real core of this issue is the interaction between
Hun and Casey. Their deal is complicated
in a way that they can’t really maintain any sort of status quo as opposing forces
without stretching the credibility of the narrative. So I’m really glad it was the first thing
Waltz chose to address after getting things going again. While I don’t think the turmoil is
necessarily stabilized between the two (far from it, I’m sure), their animosity
has reached an understanding so both sides can continue down their paths
without the reader having to constantly stop and ask “But what about this? But what about that?”
What I liked best about their father-son chat was the
direction Waltz chose to take it in, or rather, the direction he chose NOT to
take it in. After seeing Stephen Mooney’s
variant cover, I was fully expecting there to be some violent showdown between
the two. When Hun grabbed Casey’s arm at
the end of page 17, all I could think was “Yep, here it comes”. And then… a complete U-turn and a nonviolent
resolution. It’s not just because this was the unexpected way to go, but because on a storytelling level it was
the RIGHT way to go. Hun has been
priding himself on his “reformation” and along with abstaining from alcohol, he’s
also sworn off beating his son. He
continues that attitude of being a “better person” by talking things out with
Casey regardless of how heated their discussion becomes, which serves to make
him that much more interesting and relatable a character.
The dialogue, again, spells it out a bit too much for the
reader, but there’s a lot in here about choices; selfishness vs. selflessness
and how to truly differentiate between the two. Hun, shortly after learning that Shredder had
planned to discard him but only elected to keep him around because of his
dependability, offers to put his reputation at stake to keep his son safe. He says he’s willing to give Casey money, make up a cover story for him and help him get out of the city so he can start
over. On the surface, that does seem
like a very selfless and caring thing to do.
But then Casey asks if he’ll come with him and Hun has to make another
choice… and he chooses to stay behind with the Foot because, from his
perspective, it’s the Foot that have revitalized him and made him a better
person. So when push comes to shove, he’s STILL
choosing himself over his son; an ultimately selfish decision.
I’m wondering where all these bombshells are going to
send Casey. In addition to coming to an “understanding” with his father and drawing the battle lines in the sand, he’s
also lost his scholarship due to his injuries (and he’d been struggling to keep
that scholarship since the first year of this book). He’s lost his dad and he’s lost his
scholarship and heck, even Brooklyn kicked him out of the Skara Brae and he’s
now essentially lost his old “neighborhood”, too. Casey’s been a bit too mellow in this comic
and he’s spent a LOT of time on the sidelines for the past year or more (excluded
from “Krang War”, stuck in the hospital for almost all of “City Fall”, chilling
in the farmhouse during the big fight in “Northampton”).
It really is long past time IDW gave Casey something to
fucking DO; to be the badass street fighter he’s supposed to be. And maybe all this drama will give him back
his attitude, which has been sorely missing for I don’t know how long.
TMNT #33 was a pretty solid issue. Since the meat of the story is a lengthy,
emotionally charged conversation about parental neglect, the comic has to take its action sequences where it can
find them (a dumb bank robbery at the beginning, Kid and Ferg starting a dumb
fight in the bar). The action sequences,
meaningless as they are, do break up the monotony of all the talking talking
talking, so I guess they aren’t all that meaningless, after all. Santolouco’s back and in top form, too, so this is
a good-looking comic (to put it mildly).
Grade: B- (as in, “But I’m a little more excited about
next issue because of very childish reasons”.)
Labels:
IDW
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
TMNT (1987) Season 4, Part 7: Review
And lo, I have completed season 4 of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon produced by Fred Wolf. As it happens, this is the first season of the series to end without a proper season finale. Bummer.
TMNT (1987) Season 4, Part 7 Review at Adventures in Poor Taste.
There are some real gems in this batch of episodes. I absolutely love "Splinter Vanishes" for its Leatherhead/Rat King team-up and "The Foot Soldiers Are Revolting" remains one of the funniest episodes in the entire series. "Big Bug Blunder" is a bit in the middle, but is memorable for bringing back Metalhead and Genghis Frog for another go.
The rest of the episodes aren't so hot and some are downright incomprehensible ("Beyond the Donatello Nebula" is a jigsaw puzzle of an episode thanks to errors at every step of production). A shame they didn't air "The Foot Soldiers Are Revolting" as the season finale; it might have actually worked in that regard. Instead, we get "Unidentified Flying Leonardo", where an ambiguously gay cowboy tries to solve world hunger and the Turtles kick the shit out of him because that would destroy capitalism.
YOO ESS AYE! YOO ESS AYE!
Labels:
cartoon
Sunday, April 20, 2014
The Last of the Viking Heroes Summer Special #2
Published by: Genesis West Comics
Publication date: April, 1990
Drawn and written by: Michael Thibodeaux
Inked by: Michael Thibodeaux and Marty Lasick
Colored by: Linda Yamasaki, Richard French, Michael Thibodeaux
Lettered by: Richard French
Front cover by: Michael Thibodeaux and Richard French
Special thanks to: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
Summary:
Part 1: “Tomgar”
The teenage Jon is a crappy magician. He attempts to entertain a band of drunken
mercenaries (Sigvald, Blackthorn, Slagfinn and Gravit) but they hate his antics
and attempt to kill him. The warrior
Tomgar comes to his rescue and the two friends stride away, with the beaten
mercenaries swearing to get even with Jon.
Part 2: “The Potion?”
Jon goes to visit his mentor, the wizard Zon, to ask for a
sleeping potion. It’s Jon’s birthday and
after he parties all day, he wants to make sure he can sleep all night. Zon gives him the sleeping potion plus an additional gift:
A special potion that will give him the power to deal with any situation. He simply has to drink it and the potion will
do the rest. Jon thanks Zon and leaves.
Part 3: “Birthday Surprise!”
Jon meets up with Tomgar, Erik and Sven at a tavern to
celebrate his birthday. They each give
him gifts: Erik gives him a volume from his little black book collection (just A to C), Tomgar gives
him a sack of ninja weapons he pillaged from the Orient, and Sven gives him a
specially prepared bowl of turtle soup.
Jon likes the turtle soup so much that he mixes it with the potion Zon
gave him to improve the flavor.
Jon notices a fair wench named Glissandra and invites her
to sit with him. Unfortunately, she’s
only interested in the dashing Erik.
Undeterred, Jon takes a drop of Zon’s potion, hoping it will make him
extra charming. It knocks him out cold,
instead (because he took the sleeping potion by mistake). As Tomgar takes him upstairs to sleep, the
mercenaries look on and await their chance for revenge.
As Tomgar sets Jon down, Gravit sneaks up on him and
knocks him out. Jon wakes up in time to
see the mercenaries do the same to Erik and Sven.
He quickly takes some of Zon’s potion so he can protect his
friends. Thanks to the turtle soup he
mixed in with the potion, and the ninja weapons he received as a gift, Jon
mutates into… a teenage mutant ninja turtle!
The mutated Jon makes short work of the mercenaries,
knocking them all out. Zon then comes
storming in and with a blast of magic he restores Jon. He admonishes Jon for changing the formula of
his potion, as even the slightest change could bring about disaster. Jon whines that all he did was add some
turtle soup for flavor, but Zon explains, “The combination of mutagen and
turtles are reserved for future wizards.
I believe their names will be Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird”.
Epilogue
Tomgar and the others come to. Tomgar is furious and wants to kill the
mercenaries, but sees they’re out cold.
He wakes up Sigvald and demands to know who beat them up before he could
have the chance. Sigvald says that it
was Jon and runs away screaming, thinking Jon a monster.
Turtle Tips:
*Chronologically, the next crossover between the TMNT and the Viking Heroes will occur in Turtle Soup (Vol. 2) #4, in the story "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle".
*This issue was collected in The Last of the Viking Heroes Limited Edition.
*Although the “teenage mutant ninja turtle” who appears
in this issue is not one of THE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the indicia
credits Eastman, Laird and Mirage Studios for giving permission to use the
character likeness and the franchise name.
Review:
These Viking Heroes crossovers are the last of the weird
little indie comic guest appearances by the TMNT that I own. I saved them for last because I just wasn’t
that interested in reading them, much less reviewing them. But now that I’m at the bottom of the barrel
I’m not exactly spoiled for choice.
To my surprise, these comics have some
GREAT artwork by Michael Thibodeaux.
Reading up on the Viking Heroes series, it apparently attracted a lot of
A-list guest contributors, such as Jack Kirby, John Byrne and George
Perez. So back in the late ‘80s and
early ‘90s, the Viking Heroes were a big deal.
I guess. Their comic got
cancelled after 12 issues and 3 specials, so you know.
I'm not familiar with any of these characters, but that was surprisingly not an issue for me, as every member of the cast is a pastiche of
some other fantasy comic adventurer.
Tomgar might as well be Conan while his buddies, Erik and Sven, are less-than-subtle stand-ins for Mighty Thor supporting characters Fandral and
Hogun (I presume there’s also a pastiche of Volstagg somewhere else in the
series). So long as you can project
those characters onto these knock-offs, you can pick up the book and go without
any trouble.
The inclusion of a “teenage mutant ninja turtle” struck
me as being a last minute sales-boosting gimmick. Thibodeaux actually includes a look at the
original cover by Marty Lasick as a bonus feature and guess what? It shows Jon transforming into a generic
monster, NOT a ninja turtle. The ninja
turtle gag was tacked on, for sure, but Thibodeaux manages to work the joke
into the script and set it up so it feels more or less organic.
It’s a short moment and fans expecting an actual
crossover with the REAL Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might walk away feeling
they’ve been flimflammed by the cover.
If it’s any consolation, there’ll be two more Viking Heroes/TMNT
crossovers after this one and those will actually BE crossovers. So while this story isn’t exactly essential,
and doesn’t actually include a real Ninja Turtle, Thibodeaux got permission
from Eastman and Laird to use the name and likeness, so I guess in some way it “counts”
as an official appearance.
Grade: B- (as in, “Batman also makes a silly cameo in
this comic as an alternate identity for Jon, but I forgot to summarize it”.)
Saturday, April 19, 2014
The Last of the Viking Heroes Limited Edition
Originally published by: Genesis West Comics
Publication date: May, 1992
Contents:
*The Last of the Viking Heroes Summer Special #1
*The Last of the Viking Heroes Summer Special #2
*The Last of the Viking Heroes Summer Special #3
Turtle Tips:
*Only the second and third Summer Special contain any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles content (although the first Summer Special has a sweet Frank Frazetta cover). As such, I won't be reviewing the first issue.
*Not collected is the third published (and second chronological) crossover between the TMNT and the Viking Heroes, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle", published in Turtle Soup (Vol. 2) #4.
*This collected edition, in addition to the new cover, also features a number of TMNT pin-ups and spreads by Mike Thibodeaux exclusive to this release.
*This collection was limited to only 1750 copies, each individually numbered and signed by Thibodeaux.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Awesome Turtle Picture #31
In retrospect, this probably should've been Awesome Turtle Picture #30, but unfortunately I couldn't see into the future when I did that one.
So IDW's TMNT 30th Anniversary Special is still a few months away, but they've released a look at all 12 variant covers (because at IDW, it's ALWAYS 1994!). There are some familiar faces in there, such as Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Chris Allan, Dario Brizuela and more. But who takes the cake?
Ozzy Fernandez and Tony Kordos with their Heroes' Haven exclusive cover:
I'm a sucker for Playmates action figure goodness and this right here as about as good as it gets.
Well, that's not 100% true. It lacks Pizzaface. Though I think Fernandez and Kordos were limiting themselves to characters who appeared in the Fred Wolf cartoon, but using their Playmates character designs. So I can excuse the omission of Pizzaface on that account.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Michelangelo: The Third Kind #4
Publication date: December, 2008
Story and art: Jim Lawson
Inks and letters: Eric Talbot
Cover: Jim Lawson and Steve Lavigne
“The Third Kind, Part 4”
Summary:
Strolling down the street, Michelangelo meets up with
Klag (who is wearing a “skin suit” to disguise himself as a human). Klag tells Mike that he called him with
urgent news: H.A.A.R.M. has placed bombs all over the city and is threatening
to detonate them unless Ambassador Cesse Mon Zir Te is handed over to them for
execution. Mike asks why the Utroms don’t
just do a weapons scan on the city like before, but Klag says the atmospheric
rings would tip off H.A.A.R.M. and they’d detonate the explosives. Klag asks Mikey to come with him to the park
where they’ll be making the exchange and try to help him resolve the conflict
bloodlessly. Mikey hops on the
hovercraft and they vamoose.
At a park near the docks, Klag parks his hovercraft and
tells Mikey that he has to coordinate the NYPD standing guard, but asks
Mikey to keep watch in case things go sour.
Mikey finds the H.A.A.R.M. mob in a clearing as the Utroms deliver the
Ambassador to them. Jingo then comes
strolling to the center of the clearing to the tune of a standing ovation from
his loyal followers. Jingo asks them to
settle down, as he has a speech to deliver.
Jingo says that he’s taken the time to reflect on his
behavior and has come to the conclusion that he was motivated out of fear and
distrust. However, he says he realized
that in order to move forward as a person, he needed to overcome that
fear. He tells the crowd that they, too,
need to overcome their fear and accept the change with an open mind.
Barry erupts from the crowd, saying that the aliens have
brainwashed Jingo and pulls a gun on the Ambassador. Before he can fire, Mikey knocks it from his
hand with a shuriken and asks Jingo to finish his speech.
Jingo simply says that they must overcome their basic urges to fight and
lash out with violence so that they can learn and grow as a people. The Ambassador shakes his hand, settling the
feud. Detective Clover and the NYPD then
take Barry into custody. Clover sees
Mikey disappear into the woods but, after having witnessed him save the
Ambassador’s life, chooses not to pursue him.
Mikey waits for Klag by the hovercraft but when he doesn’t show, he decides to fly it back to the Moon-Island.
Landing the craft, Mikey hears a thumping from the trunk. Opening it, he finds the real Jingo bound and
gagged. Klag then approaches him and
explains that he was the "Jingo" who gave the speech, having worn a skin suit in
Jingo’s likeness. Klag apologizes for
the deception, but says he felt that it was the only way to quell the
violence and inspire the people to reconsider their opinions. Mike asks what will become of Jingo and Klag
says he will have his memory of the incident wiped before being returned home
unharmed. Mike suggests that Jingo will
simply go back to being a bigoted hatemonger, but Klag assures Mikey that
humanity possesses the ability to change more than any of them realize.
The End.
Back-up story:
“Life on Earth”
Story, art, inks and letters: Jim Lawson
Traveling in a hover-van from the Moon-Island, a pair of
Utroms drop off a small, tentacled alien (the same one who was almost lynched) and wish him well on his daytrip to
New York City. As the alien silently
traverses the city, he bears witness to a number of reactions. Protestors yell at him, cabbies tell him to
get out of the way, oblivious businessmen mistake him for an ashtray, dogs pee
on him, girls flash him, tourists crowd him for photos and street musicians
tell him to get off their turf.
At last, the alien crosses paths with a homeless man. The bum looks into the creature’s face and
his eyes glow with enlightenment as he witnesses the broader scope of the whole
universe.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from Michelangelo: The Third Kind #3.
*Klag will appear again in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #62.
Review:
And so “The Third Kind” just sort of… ends. All of the characters, story arcs and
concepts were set up in advance in this miniseries and nothing feels out of the
blue or anything. It just sort of starts
and stops and starts and stops and then ends.
The pacing of the narrative is bumpy with odd time gaps between chapters, and characters just sort of appear and disappear with varying degrees of
importance. I mean, just look at
Barry. He got the lion’s share of
attention in the first issue then disappeared altogether for the middle of the
series and then appears suddenly here at the end and has his storyline
resolved. Detective Clover was looking like she might have a big impact on the storyline but her conflict with Mikey is resolved with a silent nod.
It’s a clumsy read, as characters drift in and out of the
story with lopsided amounts of attention and even Michelangelo is just sort of
there. He takes orders from Klag and
helps save the day, but his dialogue is dry and lifeless, pretty much just
going through the motions. Jim Lawson
wanted to tell a story about prejudice on a global scale and Michelangelo is merely along for the ride. That’s fine,
since First Contact is much bigger than the Ninja Turtles and they very much
ARE “just along for the ride” in this scenario… but man does it make for a dull
read.
And yet, there are moments that I really love. This issue starts with Michelangelo just cold
walking down the street in broad daylight and totally not giving a fuck. It’s something he’s never been able to do
before in his life and he is taking absolutely NO joy in the experience. H.A.A.R.M. thugs try to attack him,
pedestrians either scream or chatter behind his back… He finally gets to
socialize and be amongst the people as himself and it blows. Lawson doesn’t spell it out with an
internalized monologue or anything and the scene doesn’t go on for too long;
you just observe it and you can tell exactly how Michelangelo feels. This is everything he thought he wanted his
whole life and it’s nothing like he imagined it would be.
The twist ending with Klag masquerading as Jingo came not
so much as a surprise but felt like more or less the only means to resolve the conflict. It was deceptive, but presented as a case of
the ends justifying the means. Taking a
messiah-like entity and having him sing a different tune in order to sway the
masses was pretty fitting strategy from the Utroms; a non-violent solution
though one that poses an ethical dilemma.
At the same time, however, “The Third Kind” is very much a Big Picture
kind of story. New York City is just one
city in the whole world; there are 6 billion people reacting to First Contact
and the Utroms are likely going to have to deal with the same issues all over the
globe. And with a one year deadline,
they can’t really take the time to gradually coax the masses into coming around
at their own pace. Subverting the populace by masquerading as influential figures has a "They Live" feel to it, yeah, but it gets the job done without killing anybody.
“The Third Kind” is also a lot of preaching. Lawson goes on and on about how awful
humanity is with the attitude of someone whining, "God, aren't people just the WORST?" But unless I’ve been mistaken all these years, I figure Lawson is a
human being, too. It’s this holier than
thou shtick that you get from a lot of folks who generalize humanity as being
inherently evil or selfish or cruel or bigoted… all of humanity except the
people preaching against humanity because they know better, right? “Everybody is awful but me”, that sort of
attitude. At the end of the day, Lawson
is trying to lead his readers to a very simple conclusion (“Racism Bad. Change Good”) but takes a ponderously
long-winded route to get there with a lengthy diversion through Narcissism Country.
As for the back-up, it summarizes the message Lawson spent
four issues running into the ground with only four near-wordless pages. "Everyone on Earth is terrible except one guy
and that one guy is totally enlightened and understands the universe better
than everyone else." Or maybe it was something about an open mind or whatever and I'm just being cynical, I dunno.
Anyway, “The Third Kind” is a bore but it shows us the
sweeping change in the Mirage universe that before now had merely been summarized
in a narrative caption. Because of the
broad scope the actual Turtles feel like small fish in a big pond, which isn’t
out of line, but it makes for a dull, plodding yarn. So this was a boring comic that told an
important story. Do the ends justify the
means? Presumably Klag would think so.
Grade: C- (as in, “Can’t say that I’m not personally
guilty of standing on a soapbox and preaching my opinions to people. This is a blog, after all”.)
Labels:
Mirage issues
Monday, April 14, 2014
Michelangelo: The Third Kind #3
Publication date: November, 2008
Story and art: Jim Lawson
Inks and letters: Eric Talbot
Cover: Jim Lawson and Steve Lavigne
“The Third Kind, Part 3”
Summary:
With New York City under curfew and the National Guard
moving in to try and quell the unrest, gang violence and looting begins to
break out. H.A.A.R.M. members seem to be
at the epicenter of the worst of it, even going so far as to bomb power substations in
addition to looting shops.
Mikey gets a call from Klag to meet him in Union Square
and leaves the lair (against Leo’s orders).
Klag picks him up on his hovercraft and tells him that he’s been researching
H.A.A.R.M. and has found out where their headquarters is (Oberon Bros. Garage)
and who their leader is (a guy named Jingo). Klag
wants to try and talk things out with Jingo but asks Mike to come with him in
case things get violent. Things get
violent as soon as they approach the garage and while Mikey and Klag fight off
the thugs, Jingo flees.
At the same time, weird energy rings appear above the
city. Ambassador Cesse Mon Zir Te comes
on TV to tell the public that the rings were an atmospheric after-effect of a
scan for weapons of mass destruction. He explains that the scan was performed with the cooperation and approval of the
US Government and the energies that were used would cause no harm to anybody. Nevertheless, this puts people on edge. The news then picks up a story about a
strange object appearing in Central Park.
The NYPD evacuates and cordons off the park until the situation can be
examined.
After dark, Mikey sneaks into the park to get a look at
the weird monolith. He imagines that it
might be a giant box containing a killer robot, but snaps out of his daydream
when he notices a signature at the bottom of the monolith. Mikey hears voices and flees to the
trees. Jingo and a mob of H.A.A.R.M.
thugs come storming in with a small alien in tow. Jingo gives a speech about taking back
America from their cowardly government and suggests they start by lynching the
alien on his own monolith.
Mikey drops down from the trees and protects the alien
from the thugs. Suddenly, Detective
Clover appears from the bushes, flashes her badge and all the H.A.A.R.M. thugs
(and the little alien) scamper off.
Clover tells Mikey that the monolith was a piece of modern art stolen
from a recent exhibit. Jingo and his
H.A.A.R.M. lackeys put it in Central Park to stir up trouble and unrest. Clover then tells Mikey that he’s still
wanted for being an unregistered “alien” and pulls out a pair of
handcuffs. Mikey immediately vanishes
into the night.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from Michelangelo: The Third Kind #2. The story continues in
Michelangelo: The Third Kind #4.
Review:
Well, the most exciting part of this issue turned out to
be a daydream sequence (the giant robot), so we’re still in dullsville with “The Third Kind”. There are a lot of interesting ideas floating
around in here, like the City being under lockdown with xenophobic gangs
rioting and blowing up buildings and the citizenry panicking as aliens scan the
skies… But damn if Lawson isn’t sapping all the life out of it. I know he’s going for a really grounded look
at the whole scenario, but it’s hard to believe such a tumultuous period in the
TMNT timeline can yield such a tiresome yarn.
And most of the metaphor and subtext is pretty on-the-nose,
particularly in regards to the character Jingo. So we have a guy with a name that invokes the term “jingoism” giving
long-winded anti-government speeches about taking back America from
the bureaucratic fatcats in Washington.
And I think he’s a black guy maybe (hard to tell with his model fluctuating in every panel), so the scene where he
tries to rally a mob to lynch an innocent alien is supposed to be, like, cruel
irony or something. Yeah, real deep,
man.
I guess if one good thing came from this chapter, it’s
that Mikey’s screw-up at Pier 41 is finally catching up with him. I complained last issue that Mikey shouldn’t
have been thanked for causing a huge publicity crisis for the aliens and here
he’s actually being invited to suffer the legal consequences for his
behavior. He bails, of course.
Ah well, we’re nearly at the finish line for this thing.
Grade: C- (as in, “Can’t say I find a giant killer robot
LESS horrifying than a modern art sculpture.
I work at a college and that shit is littered around the campus like
breadcrumbs”.)
Labels:
Mirage issues
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Michelangelo: The Third Kind #2
Publication date: October, 2008
Story and art: Jim Lawson
Inks and letters: Eric Talbot
Cover: Jim Lawson and Steve Lavigne
“The Third Kind, Part 2”
Summary:
Making his way through the alleys, Mikey figures he’s in
no shape to fight anybody else (having been hit by a bus a few days ago and now
having been maced). He sees a group of
thugs wearing alien grey masks curb-stomping a kid in a Star Trek t-shirt. With no choice, Mikey intervenes and beats up
the thugs.
After they run off, Klag swoops down on a hovercraft,
having followed Mikey to make sure he got home safely. Klag gives Mikey a lift to a rooftop and
tells him that they met once before.
Klag was a guard at the TCRI building when the Turtles returned from the
Triceraton Homeworld. When the Utroms
began prepping Earth for First Contact several years in advance, Klag signed up
to live amongst humanity in disguise. He
gives Mikey a communicator in case he ever needs to get in touch with the
Utroms and the two part ways again.
At Barry’s mom’s apartment, Detective Clover meets up
with Officer Murphy to investigate the body.
They go through the list of possible causes of death and settle on
murder, with Barry being needed for questioning (although they have no
motive). Detective Clover sees the old
lady’s cat with a dish named “Roswell” and starts to get edgy. The city has been in an uproar since First
Contact and all the paranoia has gotten her anxious. She pulls out a picture of Mikey from the
Pier 41 riot and says that the aliens claim to be cooperative, yet they allow
one of their own to run around the city unregistered.
Mikey makes his way across the rooftops when he notices
more of the masked thugs putting up flyers.
He jumps down the streets and reads one. The flyer encourages citizens to report aliens for execution and is
signed by H.A.A.R.M. (Humans Against Aliens Resistance Movement). Infuriated, Mikey enters the middle of the
street and yells for the thugs to come and get him (frightening several
pedestrians). A number of masked thugs
descend upon Mikey and he realizes he’s in no shape for a confrontation,
especially one that would make aliens look dangerous in front of a crowd. Mikey flees into the sewers before the
H.A.A.R.M. thugs can catch him.
Entering the lair, he’s greeted by his brothers as well
as Ambassador Cesse Mon Zir Te from Pier 41 (flanked by several Utrom
bodyguards). The Ambassador tells Mikey
he stopped by his home to thank him for defending him at the riot. He has received numerous threats on his life
from gangs like the Madhattan Maulitia and H.A.A.R.M. and is happy to see an
Earthling trying to help him for a change.
Leonardo offers to protect the Ambassador fulltime, but the Ambassador
declines. He feels that if he is to gain
the trust of the people, then he must be seen working with legitimate Earth
authorities.
After he leaves, the Turtles have a discussion about just
how the Ambassador and the Utroms found their “secret” lair. Mikey swears he wasn’t followed, but Leo
suspects the Fugitoid probably gave them directions. Donatello and Raphael call attention to a
news report on TV. Apparently, in the
wake of all the anti-alien violence, National Guard troops have entered the city
and the Mayor has issued a curfew.
Leonardo tells his brothers that Mikey has caused enough bad publicity
for aliens and that they need to stay in the lair until the situation settles.
In an alley up above, Detective Clover and her partner
are investigating another murder. This
time, it’s a Guerrotopsian (an alien that “sees” through the eyes of other
lifeforms around it). They pull a .38
slug from the tentacled corpse and Detective Clover figures this is the first
murder of an alien since First Contact occurred only two days ago.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from Michelangelo: The Third Kind #1. The story continues in
Michelangelo: The Third Kind #3.
*Mikey was hit by a bus in TMNT (Vol. 4) #1.
*Klag mentions having met Mikey back when the Turtles
returned from the Triceraton Homeworld to the TCRI building via the transmat in
TMNT (Vol. 1) #7. The editor’s note
mistakenly identifies that event as having happened in TMNT (Vol. 1) #4, but
there’s no saying Klag wasn’t present in that issue, too.
*The Turtles showed the Fugitoid down to their lair in TMNT (Vol. 4) #5.
Review:
“The Third Kind” is… slow. Really, really slow. It is an interesting look at how the world of
the Mirage universe changed in-between pages of TMNT Volume 4, but it is not a
very thrilling narrative. I can only recommend “The Third Kind” to the most hardcore Ninja Turtle fans who
are already well-versed in the lore of the comics, because this story doesn’t
stand a chance of exciting newcomers. As
a hardcore TMNT fan well-versed in the comics, I personally enjoy the
miniseries for what it offers to the ongoing development of this world, but I’ll
be the first to tell you it’s pretty damn boring.
Michelangelo actually gets some attention in his own
miniseries starting with this chapter.
Here we see him suffering the fallout of his stupid mistake at Pier
41. I was really disappointed that the
alien Ambassador visiting the lair didn’t tear into him for all the trouble he
caused, but instead chose to thank him for coming to his aid (when really it
was Klag who got the Ambassador to safety).
Michelangelo set off the powder keg at the event which
was meant to be a show of good will and cooperation; proof that the alien
visitors were obeying the orders and limitations given to them by the Earth
government. Michelangelo pretty well
fucked that up for them, getting a lot of people hurt and “proving” to the
people that aliens were breaking travel restrictions and hiding out amongst
humans. And at a media event, no
less. Michelangelo made a HUGE mistake
and really shouldn’t be thanked for jack shit.
Barry’s subplot has now shifted over to Detective Clover,
further showcasing how average people are dealing with this situation. It’s slow, plodding stuff. Lawson’s dialogue is the same as it ever
was. Way back when I reviewed TMNT
Volume 2, I remarked that Lawson wrote dialogue by abusing humming noises for “realism”;
characters are constantly going “Mmmm”, “Ummmm” and “Hmmmm”. It is really obnoxious and 15 years later, he’s
still doing it.
We’re halfway across “The Third Kind” and while I’m
digging all the atmosphere it’s setting up, the characters remain dull as dishwater and the dialogue is even worse. So it’s
give and take.
Grade: C+ (as in, “Clover’s partner… does he have a glass
eye or did Talbot just fuck up the inks on Lawson’s pencils?”)
Labels:
Mirage issues
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Michelangelo: The Third Kind #1
Publication date: September, 2008
Story and art: Jim Lawson
Inks and letters: Eric Talbot
Cover: Jim Lawson and Steve Lavigne
“The Third Kind, Part 1”
Summary:
It’s been two days since the Utroms arrived on Earth,
initiated First Contact and set up their Moon-Island base in New York
Harbor. On TV, the President of the
United States addresses his people from an undisclosed location. He assures them that the alien ambassadors
(of several races) who have arrived on Earth have done so purely out of
diplomacy. They are also under strict
orders to remain on the Moon-Island until the situation has been settled. The President tells the American people not
to panic, that he has spoken with “the visitors” and found that they simply
want to share a cultural exchange and broaden humanity’s scope of existence in
the universe.
The President informs the people that the rumors of the
Utroms having a cure for cancer is unfounded.
However, the Utroms have promised to work with Earth’s scientists,
combining their technology and research to hopefully speed up the discovery of
a cure. He asks the people to keep an
open mind and not to judge the visitors by their appearance or to immediately
suspect they have ulterior motives. He
also reassures everyone that the Earth will ever remain the planet of
Earthlings and that the visitors are just that: Visitors.
Watching the broadcast, a gang of "patriots" grows furious
that the President is allowing the aliens to stay; they wanted him to nuke
them. One of the gang members, Barry,
suggests they see what the aliens have to offer; maybe they CAN find a cure for
cancer using their knowledge and technology.
Another gang member, Jingo, mocks Barry and says he only feels that way because
his mother has stage four cancer.
Down in the sewer lair, Michelangelo is watching the
media coverage. The anchormen say that
the President has authorized the alien diplomats to leave the Moon-Island for a
press conference on Pier 41. The NYPD
requests that civilians not attend the conference due to the unknown nature of
the aliens. Michelangelo immediately
drops his remote and rushes out the door.
At Pier 41, the NYPD are struggling to keep a huge mob
under control. There are several alien
ambassadors on the stage, waiting to address the people. Michelangelo, disguised as a bum, is among
the mob. However, he bumps into a thug
who gets mad and rips off his coat and scarf.
The mob mistakes him for an alien trying to hide among them and freaks
out. The NYPD immediately take control
of the situation and escort Michelangelo onto the stage (even though he’s not
among the registered aliens in their handbook).
The alien ambassadors are confused, as they don’t know Michelangelo, but
the Utrom there says that he’s heard of him and that he poses no threat. Ambassador Cesse Mon Zir Te asks Mikey to play
along in order to avoid a riot and to explain everything when they’re
done. Mikey uncomfortably agrees.
A riot is inevitable, though, as the mob thinks that
aliens are hiding among them and go berserk.
They begin to storm the stage and Mikey keeps the ambassadors safe by
fighting off some thugs. The NYPD
indiscriminately fire cans of tear gas and Mikey goes blind. The Utrom finishes helping the ambassadors to
safety but turns back to help Mikey, who is about to get pummeled. The Utrom uses the repulsor rays in his suit
to disperse the crowd, then he and Mikey flee backstage. The Utrom introduces himself as Klag and
after shaking hands, the two part ways.
Elsewhere, Barry goes to pay his mom a visit. As she makes him some lunch, she goes on and
on about how much hope the potential for a cure has given her; she’s very
excited about what the aliens have to offer.
Barry gets upset and tells her that the aliens can’t be trusted. She thinks that Barry has been hanging out
with his gang too much. Barry gets angry
and becomes delusional. He sees his
mother as Ambassador Cesse Mon Zir Te and thinks she’s been replaced. Barry then pulls out a gun and shoots her.
Turtle Tips:
*The story continues in Michelangelo: The Third Kind #2.
*This story takes place early in the six month time gap
from TMNT (Vol. 4) #5, when the Utroms made First Contact on Earth.
*The President says that the Utroms have no cure for
cancer, but can work with humanity to research one. The Utroms will be shown fulfilling that
obligation in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #62 and Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #68.
Review:
TMNT Volume 4 handled the First Contact storyline pretty
much ideally, so far as the flow of its narrative was concerned. By skipping ahead six months, it bypassed the
doddering diplomacy necessary to integrate aliens into Earth society and fast
forwarded the reader right to the good stuff.
Having to actually endure all this extraterrestrial acclimation stuff
would have stopped Volume 4 dead.
BUT, it was a
story that needed to be told at some point and a period of time with lots of
room for exploration. Until "The Third Kind", the
only issues in Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 that actually explored these six
months of mystery were some adventure stories, usually involving Donatello
travelling with the Utrom Glurin to alien planets or wherever. They were fun adventure stories, don’t get me
wrong, but there was a whole societal upheaval going on that those one-shot
tales paid no mind to.
With “The Third Kind”, we get to see that time period
explored more in-depth; how the arrival and integration of aliens affected
human culture and the slow grind necessary to achieve acceptance. Jim Lawson, as an author, is one of the TMNT’s
more cerebral writers and he enjoys penning existential tales about the
Turtles finding their place in the universe.
He’s also a big fan of decompression, for both good and ill, so he was
the obvious choice to tell this missing chapter in the TMNT’s timeline.
For a miniseries named after Michelangelo, his narrative
rubs off as almost the least important in this first issue. Barry gets considerably more focus than Mikey
and the story seems more about him than anybody else. It’s important stuff, though, since “The
Third Kind” has to do a lot of world-building and we need to see how “normal
people” are acclimating to First Contact.
Barry, so far as a gangbanger is concerned, starts the issue
as a seemingly decent guy who hangs around with a bad crowd. However, as the issue progresses, the stress
and fear starts to get to him and he snaps.
Likewise, we have the mob at Pier 41. When we first see them, they’re a healthy mix
of jerks holding “get out” signs and pleasant people holding “beam me up” and “welcome”
signs. Not EVERYONE in that crowd was
xenophobic. However, once Mikey fucks
everything up and fear starts to spread, even those good people descend into fight-or-flight
madness and a riot breaks out.
With Barry and the mob, Lawson seems to be trying to
illustrate how even “good” or “normal” people can become just as dangerous and
unpredictable as the Madhattan Maulitia or other thugs, simply by virtue of the
situation. It sells the atmosphere of
unrest and paranoia that establishes the setting of this miniseries, and even
though Michelangelo has to take a backseat in the first issue of his own title,
such groundwork was essential.
So far as Mikey’s part in all this goes, he really fucks
up big time. It does offer an interesting
character study on him, though. Mike’s
in his thirties by this point in the timeline, so he really ought to know the
dangers of trying to mingle with an anxious crowd, especially considering what
they’re anxious about (weird-looking aliens).
However, he lets his enthusiasm to see the aliens up close get the
better of him and he makes a huge mistake; an “intergalactic incident”, as it
were. So we can see that even though
Michelangelo is very much an adult, he still let’s his naive enthusiasm get in the
way of his better judgment.
“The Third Kind” was probably my favorite of the
Turtle-themed miniseries that Mirage put out in the ‘00s even if I don't feel all that passionately about it. It isn’t really all that exciting, but it
tells a story that needed to be told and helps build the world. I was glad Laird skipped these six months in
Volume 4 for the sake of pacing, but it’s a good thing we’re being filled in
after the fact.
Grade: C+ (as in, “Come on. Tuna burgers?
Those sound… those sound… Actually, those sound delicious”.)
Labels:
Mirage issues
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