Publication date: January, 2009
Script: Andrew Bonia
Pencils: Bob LeFevre
Inks: Mostafa Moussa
Tones: L. Jamal Walton
Letters: Eric Talbot
Cover: Bob LeFevre, Mostafa Mousa, Steve Lavigne
Frontispiece: Michael Dooney
“Mere Appendix”
Summary:
Frontispiece: On the planet Queexox V, Raph is doing
battle with a giant dinosaur-like monster that’s trying to eat the
Fugitoid. He says that on this planet,
there are lots of stories, but only one about the Fugitoid. Even worse, it’s a story where Raph is the
bad guy…
In a pub on Queexox V, the Turtles are in the midst of a
bar brawl. The Fugitoid apologizes for
taking them to such a dive, but they’re more concerned with getting out. In the midst of the fight, Raph draws his sai
back to attack without looking and accidentally spears the Fugitoid through the
head. The Fugitoid goes offline and the
Turtles rush to get him some help.
At an Utrom lab, Dr. Oolric repairs all of the Fugitoid’s
circuitry with fresh SAL-5000 worker droid parts. However, he fears that due to the Fugitoid’s
unique origin there may be irreparable damage to his memory. Indeed, as the Fugitoid comes to, he proceeds
to flicker in and out of moments throughout his life as Professor Honeycutt.
Later, Donatello and the Fugitoid try to work out the
problem. Donatello feels that the
menta-wave helmet which transferred his mind into the SAL droid is the key to
restoring his memory functions.
Unfortunately, due to his malfunctioning, the Fugitoid can’t remember
how he built the device. Thinking
harder, he recalls how the helmet he was wearing was just a prototype
which lacked a very crucial component: The component necessary to actually
transfer information from one unit to another.
Without that component having been installed, the Fugitoid realizes that
the helmet merely sent a copy of Professor Honeycutt’s memories into the SAL
droid. That means that the real
Honeycutt died all those years ago and the Fugitoid has never been anything
more than a robot programmed with the Professor’s memories.
Naturally, the Fugitoid becomes very distressed, but Don
tells him not to jump to any conclusions until they’ve had a chance to look at
the menta-wave blueprints. Raph suggests
they go back to Honeycutt’s old lab on D’Hoonib (which is in Federation
territory), as it likely hasn’t been touched since he abandoned it. Donnie and Raph decide to go with the
Fugitoid to keep him safe, as he’s still wanted by the Federation military,
while Leo and Mike stay behind to keep the motor running on their getaway.
Arriving at the lab, Raph and Don wait outside while the
Fugitoid gets to work. The moment they
entered the building they set off an alarm and the Federats dispatched a unit
of soldiers to collect them. Raph,
feeling guilty for having caused all of the Fugitoid’s troubles, promises to
fight off as many Federats as it takes until the Fugitoid finds what he
needs. The Federats arrive and the
Turtles proceed to pick them off one at a time as they move through the forest.
Inside the lab, the Fugitoid finds his burnt out
menta-wave helmet and repairs it. He
claims that it is attuned to the mind of Professor Honeycutt and if he isn’t
truly the Professor, then the helmet won’t respond to him. Putting it on, his memories proceed to go
crazy, taking him to different points throughout his life (including a time
when he was a child and walked in on two Utroms discussing whether or not the
Federation was ready for First Contact).
This brings him great pain and, throwing down the helmet, he runs into
the forest.
Collapsing from the pain, the Fugitoid decides that since
he’s just a machine, he’d be better off pulling out his circuitry and ending
himself. Before he can, one of the
Varlesh (the crab people) approaches him.
It’s the same Varlesh who saved him from General Blanque and the
Federats years ago, and as his friend, he wants to know what troubles him.
The Fugitoid, recalling that the Varlesh are psychic,
asks if he can determine whether he’s the true Honeycutt. The Varlesh is confused by the question, as
the fact that Honeycutt and he are talking is proof that he’s truly
Honeycutt. Fugitoid explains the
situation, that just because he has Honeycutt’s memories, it doesn’t mean that
he’s Honeycutt, as Honeycutt’s body died long ago. The Varlesh suggests that if a person were to
cut off their hand, the hand would cease to be that person, but the person
would remain. The same with the leg and
any other extremity or organ… including the brain. The Varlesh says that even if Honeycutt’s
body and brain were destroyed, so long as his mind and memories survive, then
the Fugitoid is Honeycutt. Taking comfort
in this, the Fugitoid thanks his old friend and departs. As he leaves, the Varlesh remarks that the
Fugitoid has “a kindly soul”.
The Fugitoid regroups with the Turtles and tells them
that he "found himself", so to speak.
Raphael apologizes for causing the whole mess and the Fugitoid forgives
him. As they leave D’Hoonib, we’re left
with a quote from Sherlock Holmes: “I am a brain… The rest of me is mere
appendix.”
Turtle Tips:
*This story takes place during the six month gap in TMNT(Vol. 4) #5 when the Turtles were hanging out with the Utroms and the Fugitoid.
*Professor Honeycutt had his brain swapped with the
SAL5000 droid way back in Fugitoid (microseries) #1. He met the Varlesh (the crab person) in that
same story.
*Among the Fugitoid’s memories are when he first met the
Turtles, which occurred in TMNT (Vol. 1) #5.
*The menta-wave technology which the Fugitoid
rediscovered in this issue will eventually be hijacked for unsavory purposes by
the Utroms in the story “The Grape”.
*While it may seem strange that after all these years the
Federats are still after the Fugitoid, it remains consistent with stories set
in the future. The Federats will still
be chasing the Fugitoid in Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1.
*Dr. Oolric says that the Fugitoid inhabits the body of a SAL-5000 model droid. In Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1, it was described as the SAL-400 model.
*Dr. Oolric says that the Fugitoid inhabits the body of a SAL-5000 model droid. In Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1, it was described as the SAL-400 model.
Review:
The Fugitoid doesn’t get a lot of spotlighting stories,
which is funny, considering he was conceived by Eastman and Laird as a solo
character and only folded into the TMNT universe after the fact when his
back-up strips floundered. It’s true
that the Fugitoid does work best as a supporting character and not a star act,
but it’s nice for him to get the focus every now and again. Author Andrew Bonia conceives of a plot that
calls way back to the Fugitoid’s first appearance and is a sequel to that
original arc in a way. If anything, it
ties up a potential loose end you may or may not have thought about.
Sci-fi technology is funny in that, being science and all,
it doesn’t really take into account spiritual concepts like the “soul” or what
have you. We sort of project that onto
the technology ourselves and often do so without really giving it a conscious
thought. Every time Captain Kirk steps
into that teleporter and gets disintegrated, we just assume that the Captain
Kirk that gets reintegrated on the other end is the same guy; we just assume
his singular one-of-a-kind consciousness, be it a “soul” or something else, get’s
sent across time and space with him. But
when the teleporter is just destroying one form and then making a copy of it at
a distant location with the data it collected, that’s not the REAL Captain
Kirk, is it? It’s just a copy or a clone
that THINKS it’s the real Captain Kirk.
And the same idea translates to the Fugitoid (or the
Justice League, or Seth Brundle, etc.). His “mind” was transferred from Honeycutt’s
body and into SAL’s, but when we think of the “mind” do we mean his consciousness or
just his memories? That’s the big
dilemma Fugitoid is wrestling with in this issue, and while it isn’t an
entirely fresh concept for the medium (LOTS of sci-fi comics and TV shows have
tackled this situation), it’s definitely one worth addressing so far as the
Fugitoid is concerned.
It’s interesting to see how frustrating this whole
situation is for the Fugitoid, as he can’t quantify something as intangible as
the mind and struggles to come up with some sort of way to “prove” that his
mind is the real deal and not just copied memories. In the end, he accepts that there’s no
scientific way to prove such a concept and instead takes comfort in the Varlesh’s
more philosophical approach. And while
the Varlesh does come as a late addition to the story, he isn’t necessarily
used as an easy-out, either. The
Fugitoid wants him to use his psychic powers to conveniently answer his query,
but the Varlesh takes it in a different direction and doesn’t act quite so much
like a magic MacGuffin.
The IDW TMNT comic would tackle this same concept, as
that book deals with reincarnation and spiritualism in addition to
intergalactic teleportation. It doesn’t
broach the subject quite as thoroughly as this comic, which is probably for the
best, as if every single story that uses teleportation felt required to cover
this same old song and dance, audiences would demand the technology be retired
simply out of boredom and irritation.
Bob LeFevre’s art is chaotic, but befitting of the
subject matter. The visuals are
constantly fluctuating between the present and the past and the Fugitoid shifts
between memories, so the off-kilter and surreal effect gets the tone
across. I don’t much care for his
Turtles and their massive egg-headed craniums, and he sometimes makes their
expressions so manic that they don’t accurately reflect the tone of their
dialogue (see the sneering, loony-looking Leo at the bottom panel of Page 3 as he says, “We
don’t have time, Mikey, we need an exit now!”).
Still, it’s a unique-looking issue amongst the Tales catalog and the take mostly
fit the story it was trying to tell.
It was nice to catch up with the Fugitoid on a more intimate
level, as he’s mostly just been a hanger on or a background personality since
his return in TMNT Volume 4. While I do
think he’s better as a supporting character, even supporting characters need
their moment in the sun every now and again.
Grade: B (as in, “But it’s a miracle I can stomach this
type of story, as I grew up reading the Spider-Man Clone Saga and it was
nothing BUT this sort of shit”.)
