Publication date: July, 1989
Story: Peter Laird and Michael Dooney
Art: Mchael Dooney
Lettering: Steve Lavigne
Summary:
Gizmo, Fluffy and the Fugitoid are taken aboard the
Triceraton asteroid ship and the Triceraton Commander issues an ultimatum: If
the Fugitoid doesn’t build the transmat, his friends will be thrown out the
airlock. With no real choice, the
Fugitoid agrees and Gizmo and Fluffy are taken to the brig.
Months later, the asteroid ship has docked at the
Triceraton Homeworld. Gizmo has spent
the time working on his writing, but can’t find any inspiration in this
“genre”. He and Fluffy are sent to do
more clean-up duty, apparently both irritated that they haven’t figured out a
way to break free yet. Gizmo runs a floor
buffer over a bar of soap and sends it rocketing across the room at high
speed. Feeling inspired, they go to the
janitor’s closet to rig up some more “weapons”.
Hitching two large buffers together, they ride them down
the corridor toward the Triceraton guards.
The buffers fire some soap at the guards and then plow into them,
knocking them out. Gizmo and Fluffy use
the opportunity to find the Fugitoid in his workshop. The Fugitoid tells them that he can’t leave
now, as he must finish the device. Gizmo
and Fluffy are confused, but agree to cause a distraction and give the Fugitoid
half an hour to finish his work.
Gizmo and Fluffy make it to the armory and arm themselves
as the Triceratons approach. Gizmo grabs
the largest gun he can find, much to Fluffy’s disapproval, and fires it. The kickback sends Gizmo through a wall and
Fluffy informs him that the gun he used was built to be installed on
tanks. The Triceratons seize the two and
prepare to execute them, when suddenly the Fugitoid activates his machine.
Apparently, rather than a transmat, he built a new
menta-wave device powered by the fusion reactors of the Triceraton
Homeworld. The Fugitoid broadcasts a
psychic message to all living creatures in the Triceraton and Federation
systems. He tells them that the transmat
could have been used for peace, but because of their thirst for war and
conquest, he has no choice but to take the technology out of their grasp
forever. The Fugitoid bids the universe
farewell and overloads his circuitry, wiping his memory clean.
Gizmo and Fluffy find the Fugitoid’s body and a
Triceraton technician confirms that his memory has been erased and he shows no
signs of life. Apparently moved by the
Fugitoid’s words, the Triceraton Commander allows Gizmo and Fluffy to leave
with the body so they can give it a proper burial.
On the surface of a nearby planet, they place the
Fugitoid’s body under a tree and Fluffy suggests that Gizmo write a eulogy for
him. Gizmo takes out his electronic
textpad but can’t write anything due to a system error. The message tells him, “To restore system
memory, insert DMA cable into Class-C memory unit”. They decide to hook the textpad up to the
Fugitoid’s Class-C memory unit and in doing so the Fugitoid comes back online.
The Fugitoid explains that he used the menta-wave
technology to transfer his mind into Gizmo’s textpad, thereby faking his own
death. Gizmo and Fluffy are thrilled, though Gizmo is less than pleased that the Fugitoid had to erase all
his document files in order to fit his memory in the textpad.
Fluffy tells the Fugitoid that now that the Triceratons
and the Federats think he’s dead, he’s free to do whatever he wants. Suddenly, a pair of Utroms, having received
the psychic message, appear in a flash of light. They invite the Fugitoid to return with them once more to the Utrom Homeworld and he accepts.
After bidding the Fugitoid farewell, Gizmo and Fluffy pile into ‘Soto
and blast off. Gizmo says he’s through
trying to be a travel writer, but he has other plans…
Epilogue:
Several months later, down on Earth, a child leaves a
comic shop in a hurry. Running past
several alien neighbors, he reaches his apartment stoop and sits down to read “The
Unlikely X-Bots” (which has a cover featuring three familiar faces).
Fluffy Facts:
*This story is continued from Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1.
*The setting of Earth populated by humans and aliens may
indicate these stories take place after TMNT (Vol. 4) #5 (when the Utroms initiated First Contact), but before Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #69 (when global warming destroys the Earth).
*The Fugitoid’s mind is apparently only 50gb or less.
*This issue also contained a bonus pin-up of Gizmo,
Fluffy and the Fugitoid by Peter Laird.
According to the foreword from the previous issue, this is the
piece that inspired Dooney to do the
miniseries.
Review:
The second half of the Gizmo and the Fugitoid miniseries
was a little less exciting than the first half.
It relies heavily on matters of convenience to get the characters out
of their various jams and by the end the credibility almost snaps. The Triceratons apparently just let their
captives mull around unguarded for hours at a time to do whatever they want, be
it plotting an escape or sabotaging the machines they’re supposed to be
building. I guess it’s consistent for
the Triceratons, who are typically portrayed as ferocious warriors if not
especially intelligent. The ending,
where the Triceraton Commander allows Gizmo and Fluffy (whom he was seconds away from executing) to leave with the
Fugitoid’s body because “meh”… That was simply a means to get the comic over
with before the pages ran out.
So while it is a step down in its conclusion, Gizmo and
the Fugitoid #2 is still enjoyable for all the same reasons the first
installment was. Though the Fugitoid
takes a backseat for most of the issue, Gizmo’s and Fluffy’s dynamic is as fun
as it ever was and there’s entertainment to be had in watching them blunder
through their escape attempt. What was
great about the Gizmo ongoing series, and this miniseries too, is that Gizmo
and Fluffy aren’t idiots, but they aren’t geniuses, either. They usually wing their way through delicate
situations and succeed with equal parts resourcefulness and dumb luck. It makes their antics spontaneous and unpredictable, as they
have to go through a lot of trial and error to make it out on top.
In contrast to the lush jungles of the previous issue,
this issue takes place in the sterile environment of a space station. While the environments can get a little
monotonous, the metallic corridors illustrate Dooney’s skill at making
everything so damn shiny. Once again,
the reflective surface on the Fugitoid proves how much effort Dooney was
exerting in each panel, as the Fugitoid is constantly reflecting the
environment around him with the images warped to the curvature of his
torso. It’s really quite glorious.
What’s interesting about this miniseries in the grand
scheme of the Mirage universe is that it concludes the Fugitoid’s
storyline. The Triceratons and the
Federats think he’s dead and he can now live in peace, both among the Utroms or
outside their jurisdiction (where he’d appear to be just another SAL
unit). If you’re reading things
chronologically, it’s a solid sendoff to the character, as he finally gets the
better of the two opposing forces that made him a Fugitoid in the first
place. There’s also the lingering
potential that his words may have an impact on the Triceraton/Federation war
and help bring an end to it (though that might be hoping for too much).
So if you’re interested in what’s essentially the “end”
of the Fugitoid’s narrative, then this miniseries is vital reading. And if you’re strictly a Gizmo fan, then this
is another fun romp for the pair and is just one more of their episodic
misadventures. And for everyone else,
there’s a lot of gorgeous Dooney art to feast your eyes on. It’s a pretty great mini, all things
considered.
Grade: B (as in, “But for such a pacifist, the Fugitoid’s
old action figure sure came with a lot of weapons”.)
