Originally published in: TMNT Magazine (Panini) #15
Publication date: May 29 – June 25, 2014
Script: Landry Walker
Script editor: Ed Caruana
Art: Bob Molesworth
Colours: J. Cardy
Colour assist: E. Pirrie
Letters: Alex Foot
“Meet the Dream King”
Summary:
In the living room, Mikey has fallen asleep while reading
an issue of The Joust. His brothers
sneak out to get a pizza, knowing that if they can keep from waking Mikey, he
won’t be able to eat the whole pizza OR bore them with more stories about his stupid
dreams.
In Mikey’s stupid dream…
As King Mikey sits atop his throne, flanked by Ye Olde
Leo and Ye Olde Raph, Apprentice Wizard Donnie comes barging in with news that
the Black Knight has stolen the Golden Pizza of Ultimate Power. Master Wizard Splinter informs King Mikey
that he must recover the Golden Pizza and if its power has made the Black
Knight too strong, then he must make the vague yet ultimate sacrifice.
King Mikey and his court storm the Black Knight’s
tower. On the first floor, they’re
attacked by Sir Fishface, whom Ye Olde Raph stays behind to joust. On the second floor, they’re attacked by
Warlock Stockman, whom Apprentice Wizard Donnie stays behind to match wits
with. On the third floor, they’re
attacked by Lord Tiger Claw, whom Ye Olde Leo stays behind to duel.
Finally, on the top floor, King Mikey confronts the Shredder-like Black Knight. Having
tasted of the Golden Pizza, the Black Knight is too powerful. King Mikey makes the ultimate sacrifice by
destroying the Golden Pizza, which causes the tower to collapse. King Mikey and his court recover and sing a
ballad in honor of the Golden Pizza.
In the waking world, the Turtles try to sneak their pizza
past Mikey, but the smell wakes him up.
He tackles them and scarfs down the whole pie by himself. The Turtles sigh and decide to go out to
Murakami’s instead. Mikey asks them to
bring him back some pizza gyouza.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from “Sleepwalking Sensei”. The story continues in TMNT Magazine (Panini) #16.
*Michelangelo’s last crazy dream occurred in the story “Daydream”.
*Donatello appears to be drawn in his LARPing Turtles design from
the episode “Mazes & Mutants” (minus the beard, anyway). The other Turtles, however, are not wearing
their outfits from that episode.
*Since Tiger Claw has both eyes, I guess that means this
story takes place somewhere between “Wormquake!” and “The Wrath of Tiger Claw”. But then again, it's just a dream, so...
Review:
Where as the first story in this issue left me cold, this
second story makes up for it in spades.
I sort of hope the running gag of Michelangelo having
weird dreams becomes sort of an annual tradition with Panini’s TMNT
Magazine. It’s a fun little diversion
that lets the writers and artists go crazy.
Even more than that, since these stories are just dreams and “don’t
count”, they circumvent whatever Viacom mandate keeps the Turtles from actually
encountering and doing battle with the Shredder in these Nickelodeon-based
comics. Seriously, Mikey’s one-page
confrontation with the Black Knight is the closest either the IDW or Panini
comics based on the cartoon have gotten to featuring the Shredder in action.
At first, I thought this was going to be another tie-in
with the LARPing Turtles action figures, ala the episode “Mazes & Monsters”. Turns out only Donnie is drawn in the garb of
his LARPing variant, and even that seems like it could have been
coincidental. I mean, if the script
calls for “a Gandalf-like wizard Donatello”, there’s only so much you can do. And Donnie being in a purple cloak with a
purple Gandalf hat seems like something two artists in a vacuum could come up
with independently.
What’s fun about these “Mikey’s dream” stories is that
they’re all written in Michelangelo’s voice, so all the characters sound like
Mikey doing impressions of them. He
tries to spin nuggets of wisdom fromSplinter, techno jargon from Donatello,
villainous declarations from the rogues gallery, etc. It really peps the script up and gives you an
idea of how the other characters sound to Michelangelo.
Anyway, this was a good little story and I hope they make
a habit of them.
Grade: A- (as in, “And come to think of it, this is the
first of either Nick cartoon comics to feature Tiger Claw”.)
