Fun times at the Alamo City Comic Con in San Antonio



 

There weren't any updates this weekend, as I was out in San Antonio working the Ninjaink booth at the Alamo City Comic Con.

Lots of fun!  There were plenty of TMNT personalities there, though alas, my work schedule didn't permit me time to meet any of them (they had the LONGEST lines and the Ninjaink booth was very busy).  In fact, most of the folks I DID get to meet I did so at the hotel (apparently, we were booked in the same joint the celebs were staying at).  Met some great people...

Sat on the bus next to John Kassir (voice of the Crypt Keeper!) without even knowing it.  He was cool to take a picture with me after we got off and my friends told me who he was.  I actually talked to him for 10 minutes at the con when I had time to get to his booth, but I was so zonked out at the end of the day I didn't even realize he was right next to me the whole way back to the hotel.

Met Paul Eiding (Perceptor from Transformers, Grandpa Max from Ben 10) at dinner, too.  A real great guy and lots of fun to talk to!  We've done work for Transformers via We Love Fine and that led to a long chat with Paul and his wife (whose a published author).  Food was good, too!

And here I am wearing some dude's Matt Trakker helmet (it didn't smell very good in there):

Anyway, fun's over.  I'll get back to reviewing.

Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #29

Publication date: November, 2006

Story and art: Dave White

Additional creative input: Peter Laird

Lettering: Eric Talbot

Frontispiece: Ross Campbell

“Soul Survivor”

Summary:

Frontispiece: Donatello is in the midst of battling a Misochun Nightcrawler from the planet Nadaman and even though the tentacled creature is trying to eat him, he can’t help but be fascinated by it.  As he attempts to inflict the minimum amount of pain, he’s reminded of a story…

Donatello has joined his Utrom friend Bydex and a Styracodon liason, Sellis, on a good will mission to a planet on the disputed border between Styracodon and Triceraton space.  The trio is to peacefully investigate some strange happenings on the lush jungle world.  Upon landing, they happen upon some ancient ruins from a culture that predates both the Styracodons and Triceratons.  In fact, according to a pictograph carving, both of the alien civilizations stem from this culture, linking their histories (Sellis finds this concept repulsive).  While investigating the ruins, Don happens upon some modern equipment and grows suspicious.

Over the nearest ridge, they find their suspicions correct, as a unit of Triceratons are busy excavating what looks like a huge, ancient space craft.  Sellis attempts to contact the other Styracodons on the Incisor, but the Triceratons are blocking all transmissions with the equipment aboard their nearby spaceship.  One Triceraton cuts a hole into the ancient ship and enters.  His presence causes the ancient ship to rise from the mountainside and begin hovering in the air.

With no time to lose, Don and co. storm the excavation site and begin beating up Triceratons.  Don throws down with Major Tritan and, after cracking a few ribs, finally defeats the behemoth.  Bydex then gives Don a boost and launches him into the air, where he latches onto the side of the ancient ship and crawls in.

Inside, the Triceraton finds the body of a Triceraton/Styracodon-like creature in the pilot’s seat.  He touches it and the body disintegrates, but his mere presence causes the ancient ship to begin discharging weapons.  The weapons blow up the Triceraton spaceship, allowing Sellis to call for backup from the Incisor.  Don, meanwhile, attacks the Triceraton and, defeated, the Triceraton attempts to take control of the ancient ship by sitting in the pilot's seat.  The energies of the ancient ship kill him.

The ghost of the alien pilot then speaks to Don, explaining that the ancient ship was the ultimate weapon of its people and is powered by something called a “Soul Capacitor”.  The Capacitor traps the essence of the pilot when they lose control of their emotions and both it and the Triceraton are now trapped in the ancient ship.  It asks Don to align his spirit with the ship, focus and use that strength to destroy the Capacitor.  Reluctantly, Don agrees and after recalling some words of encouragement from Splinter, he destroys the Capacitor, frees the spirits held within and escapes as the ship disintegrates.

Later, onboard the Incisor, Donatello and co. are debriefed.  The Styracodon Commander remarks that Donatello seems accustomed to such crazy adventures.  Don and Bydex share a smile and remark that this was nothing compared to their last outing.

Turtle Tips:

*This story takes place during the six month time gap in TMNT (Vol. 4) #5.

*Styracodons will reappear in TMNT (Vol. 4) #13.

*The story of Donatello’s and Bydex’s first adventure together has, thus far, never been told.

Review:

“Soul Survivor” is another in the long line of Donatello/Utrom space adventures that dotted the first half of Tales of the TMNT Volume 2.  I think it’s among the better of them, though, and continues the theme inherent in almost all of those stories: Secret Origins.  “Sins of the Past” looked into the origin of the Utroms, “The Blue Hole” investigated the source of all turtle life on Earth, and “Soul Survivor” now takes a gander at where the Triceratons came from (while also giving us our first look, chronologically, at the Styracodons).  While the Donatello space adventure stuff might not be my favorite recurring setup in Tales, I appreciate that each installment kept a consistent theme that worked toward some excellent world-building.

Donatello also receives another Utrom partner in the form of Bydex.  Funny how Glurin stuck around, but none of these other guys did.  They’re all pretty indistinguishable from one another, so I guess it just made more sense to give Don a dedicated Utrom sidekick instead of four of five nigh-identical ones.  The ending hints at some greater partnership between them predating this experience and is another of those “In a Tales of the TMNT yet to be told” situations.  And like many of those “as yet to be told” teasers, it was never followed up on.

I enjoyed this tale quite a bit, though the ending feels rushed and spontaneous.  White devotes 6 pages to Don’s battle with Major Tritan, but when we finally get to the climax, we have all of 4 pages to accept the concept of alien ghosts, a dissertation on the “Soul Capacitor”, the history of the alien’s people, and the resolution to the conflict.  The pacing is way off and more time is offered to a meaningless battle with a minor inconvenience than the big finish which contains all the exposition to tie the tale together.

It’s just… suddenly… GHOSTS!  Deal with it!

Shortcomings in the script pacing aside, White’s layouts and action staging are very nice.  His lines are very crisp and the art reads especially well.  While the extended fight with Tritan was gratuitous, it did look lovely (especially that two-page spread) and I dug all the little details on the Triceratons and Styracodons.  White makes an effort to distinguish them from one another, so they don’t all wind up looking like doppelgangers (as many artists who draw the Triceratons are guilty of doing).  I do wish he’d employed some shading or toning, as the stark blacks and whites leave the pages looking kind of empty.  Like I said, the art reads well, but without any sort of grey tones it actually looks unfinished; like it was supposed to be colored.

Anyhow, I’d say this was the best of the Donatello space adventures.  The theme of secret origins is present, but it doesn’t overwhelm the actual adventure aspect and this is an action-packed tale.  Perhaps a little *too* action-packed for its own good, but when everything else is put together so well I find I can let the rushed conclusion slide.

Grade: B (as in, “But all the type-os are kind of annoying”.)

TMNT: Turtles in Time #4

 Publication date: September 17, 2014

Writer: Paul Allor

Artist: Dan Duncan

Colorist: Ronda Pattison

Letterer: Shawn Lee

Editor: Bobby Curnow

“Turtles in Time, Part 4”

Summary:

The Turtles blip into a futuristic Manhattan populated entirely by mutants.  Intrigued, they decide to get some sushi and reflect on how swell this world is.  A fish-girl at the restaurant fawns over them, explaining how she always wanted to be a ninja but her master wouldn’t let her.  Donatello tells her that she needs a new master and should follow her own path, but his words arouse the suspicions of a nearby gang.  Apparently, that sort of talk is considered treason on “Shredder Island” and a fight breaks out.  The Turtles flee (running past several humans being rounded up by Foot Clan officers) and make their way to the nearest manhole.  Unbeknownst to them, Renet arrives seconds late, but soon enough to trip the thugs that are chasing them.

The Turtles find sanctuary in their old lair, but also find a map with grim tidings.  Apparently, in this future, Shredder controls North and South America, General Krang controls Asia, Europe and Africa, and Baxter Stockman controls Australia.  Then, Renet blips into the lair, having fixed her time scepter.  She explains that after their first adventure, the Turtles absorbed an excess of quantum particles, which is why they were suddenly sent hurtling across time and space.  Raphael wants to know why they went to time periods very specific to their history and Renet suggests that the “universe” was guiding them in an attempt to teach them a lesson.

Suddenly, they’re greeted by Future-Don, an old man and the last of the Ninja Turtles.  They ask him what happened and Future-Don tells his younger self that he gave up on fighting and in doing so, his brothers were killed and the last of the resistance rounded up.  Donnie is mortified and insists on restoring the resistance before they all head back to their present.  Future-Don says that the last of the resistance are scheduled to be publically executed in only a few hours.  Don forces his future self to guide them to where the executions will be taking place.

In a public square, a walrus-mutant is about to kill the humans they rounded up earlier when the Turtles storm the platform.  Future-Don joins the fray, feeling the fight return to him.  Don attempts to free one of the soldiers, but the man is executed.  He gets the rest free (including one with a scarred face), but the walrus-mutant intervenes before they can escape.  He’s summarily shot by the fish-girl from the sushi restaurant who says that Donatello inspired her earlier to fight back and follow her own path.  She joins them in escaping, following Future-Don back the lair while the Turtles keep the Foot clan at bay.  They’re then menaced by an older, more demonic-looking Shredder flanked by dozens of Bebop and Rocksteady clones.  He attempts to strike, but Renet sends them home before his blade can connect.

In the lair, the scar-faced man, actually Woody and leader of the resistance, asks Future-Don to consider returning to the fight to inspire and lead the people.  Future-Don holds his old purple bandana and considers it.

In the present, the Turtles reflect on the future they’ve seen.  Donatello is racked with guilt, especially because he has, in fact, considered giving up the fight many times.  Leonardo repeats what Renet said, that the “universe” was trying to teach them something.  Don is confused and unsure what to do.  Michelangelo tells him that all they CAN do is keep fighting.  Don is satisfied with that.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT: Turtles in Time #3.

*The future in which Shredder and Krang wage war upon one another was first glimpsed in TMNT Villains Micro Series #8: Shredder.  The older, more demonic version of the Shredder was also seen inhabiting the afterlife in that issue, as well.

*The Turtles had their first adventure with Renet, and absorbed the quantum particles, in TMNT Annual 2014.

*This issue was originally published with 2 variant covers: Regular Cover by David Peterson, and Subscription Cover by Dan Duncan.

Review:

Alright, before I get ahead of myself by talking about Turtles in Time as a whole, let’s discuss this single issue.  It’s rather… formulaic.  I mean, it’s really formulaic.  Every cliché of the “characters go to a future ruled by the bad guy and inspire the masses to fight back” plot is present as a matter of obligation and it’s all rather graceless.  I mean, the script follows the guidelines right down to having the character the heroes briefly talk to at the beginning show up to save the day at the end because they “inspired” her.

Hey, remember that episode of “Darkwing Duck” where Darkwing goes into an alternate universe ruled by Negaduck and inspires the local heroes to resist the fascist tyranny before going home?  Heck, remember that episode of the 4Kids NINJA TURTLES cartoon where Donatello goes to an alternate future ruled by the Shredder and inspires the future Turtles to resist the fascist tyranny before going home?

I’m sure if I spent 5 minutes on TV Tropes I could come up with a dozen more doppelgangers of this story right down to the letter, but do I really need to?  In the end, the dull familiarity made for a very boring, predictable read.  For all my grievances with the last issue, it was at least a fun (if rushed) tale of rascally hijinks that felt spontaneous and original.  This was writing by formula and for a tale all about “inspiring” others, this was an utterly uninspired script.

On the other hand, it does fit into the massive tapestry of IDW’s TMNT universe, following up on the glimpse of a dystopian future we saw in the Shredder micro, as well as the Shredder’s older form.  It also reads well after the one-shot story in TMNT (IDW) #37, where Shredder and Krang officially declare war on one another.  The release of these two issues was well-timed, as they complement each other nicely.  So while the story is nothing fresh, it has its place in the grand scheme of this narrative. 

Now, for those patiently waiting for a flashback or a circular storytelling gimmick or SOMETHING to explain the in medias res beginning of this miniseries… too bad.  In fact, if you were reading this issue on auto-pilot and not really digesting the dialogue, you may have even missed the explanation.  Offhandedly, Renet mutters some mumbo jumbo about “quantum particles” and that’s all we get.  I guess it didn’t really need anything more than that.

Looking at the whole Turtles in Time miniseries, I think it was a lot of fun, even if it ended on a bland note.  The tonal pacing was rather bipolar (fun-serious-fun-serious), and the time period one-shot nature of each chapter sometimes forced storytelling truncations, but the end ultimately justified the means.  We got a lot of crazy situations out of this fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants storyline and it sewed up a handful of loose threads that might have been dangling from the ends of the aforementioned IDW TMNT tapestry.  Each issue also served, sort of, as a spotlight on each Turtle and nobody felt shortchanged.  While I didn’t care for this chapter much, the whole miniseries was pretty cool.  Confusing, thanks to all the delays and scheduling bullshit, but pretty cool.

Grade: D (as in, “Doesn’t the ‘footprint’ style Foot Clan symbol represent the Feudal Era incarnation of the clan while the ‘claw’ style symbol represents the modern incarnation of the clan, at least in the IDW universe?  Or was future-Shredder just feeling nostalgic and changed the logo to Foot Clan Classic?  It’s not important.”)

Splinter's Game

Originally published in: TMNT New Animated Adventures #15

Publication date: September 10, 2014

Story: Bobby Curnow

Art: Chad Thomas

Colors: Heather Breckel

Letters: Shawn Lee

Edits: Bobby Curnow

“Splinter’s Game”

Summary:

In the living room, Mikey trounces Raph in a game of Ninja Ultra Fury on their Legal-Approximation-Of-A-Playstation.  Mikey asks Master Splinter if he’d like to try and Splinter agrees.  Having never played a video game before, he completely fails at it and loses instantly.

That night, while the Turtles sleep, Splinter returns to the game with ultimate focus.  For several more nights, he trains, and in doing so, he “becomes the game”.

At breakfast, Splinter asks Mikey if he’d like to partake in a rematch of Ninja Ultra Fury… on max difficulty.  Mikey declines, saying he’s bored with the game and has moved on to a new title.  Splinter momentarily freaks out in frustration, at least until he notices Leo and Don watching him.  Then he tells them to forget what they’ve seen.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from “The Adventures of Ice Cream Kitty”.  The story continues in TMNT New Animated Adventures #16.

Review:

TMNT editor Bobby Curnow has been credited on “story” for much of IDW’s ongoing TMNT series, but I think this is his very first Turtle script.  It’s a fun little 4 pager, in a way reminiscent of the old Fred Wolf TMNT episode “Leonardo vs. Tempestra”.  In that one, the no-nonsense train-a-holic Leonardo gets obsessed with mastering a video game.  Here, much the same happens with Master Splinter.

Beyond that, it’s sort of a one-punchline kind of comic, though the Engrish phrases were kind cute.

Grade: B (as in, “But I guess I kind of prefer these short gag strips over the ‘what I learned today’ centerpiece stories”.)

The Adventures of Ice Cream Kitty

Originally published in: TMNT New Animated Adventures #15

Publication date: September 10, 2014

Story: Matthew K. Manning

Art: Marcelo Ferreira

Colors: Heather Breckel

Letters: Shawn Lee

Edits: Bobby Curnow

“The Adventures of Ice Cream Kitty”

Summary:

In the kitchen, Leo opens the freezer for an ice pack because Raph took sparring a little too far.  After some verbal sparring, the two Turtles begin fighting… leaving the freezer door open.  Ice Cream Kitty, defender of the city, awakens for her evening justice patrol!  Recalling her epic origin in which a genius (Michelangelo) gave her super powers, she journeys to the surface to fight crime as only she can.

Back in the lair, Mikey notices that the freezer door is open and Ice Cream Kitty is MIA.  He freaks out, but Donnie figures they can just follow her trail of melted ice cream.

On the streets, Ice Cream Kitty notices a bank robber and oozes into action.  The thief slips on her puddle of melted ice cream and knocks himself out.  The day is saved!  The Turtles then arrive and Mikey places the half-melted cat in a cooler and returns her to the freezer.

The next evening, Raph opens the freezer for an ice pack after Leo takes sparring a little too far.  The two begin to fight, leaving the freezer door wide open.  Ice Cream Kitty awakens, ready for another night of crime fighting!

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from “Training Trap”.  The story continues in “Splinter’s Game”.

*Ice Cream Kitty first appeared in the season 2 episode “Of Rats and Men”.

Review:

Well, we have a winner for best story in this issue.  And it’s Ice Cream Kitty!  Because of course it is.

I think this was Manning’s first story in New Animated Adventures, but he writes a really fun and goofy short strip that forgoes the formulas that have made many of these New Animated Adventures stories a little repetitive.  It’s just a silly yarn that gets inside the head of Ice Cream Kitty and gives us insight on how she sees herself and the Turtles (she looks at Mikey as the “genius” who gave her “super powers”).

The narration (which may be Ice Cream Kitty’s inner monologue or might just be 3^rd person description) puts a neat spin on things while simultaneously making Ice Cream Kitty’s predicament seem more bearable.  She doesn’t see herself as a tortured monster locked in a cage, but as a cool superhero with a loving family and an adventurous life.  So I don’t feel so sorry for her being cooped up in that freeze all the time anymore.

Only 4 pages, but a cute 4 pages.

Grade: B+ (as in, “But wait, Ice Cream Kitty is a girl?  Does Kevin Eastman know?”)

Training Trap

Originally published in: TMNT New Animated Adventures #15

Publication date: September 10, 2014

Story: Landry Q. Walker

Art: Dario Brizuela

Colors: Heather Breckel

Letters: Shawn Lee

Edits: Bobby Curnow

“Training Trap”

Summary:

Down in the lair, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo find a note from Leonardo.  Apparently, he’s set up a training obstacle course for them and whoever gets through it first will receive a prize.

At the abandoned underground water treatment plant, Leo has finished setting up his decidedly nonlethal obstacle course when he’s suddenly attacked by Fishface and a unit of Footbots.  With Leo chained up, the bad guys then get to work replacing all of the nonlethal traps with lethal ones.

The other Turtles soon arrive and begin their race through the course.  They’re immediately menaced by swinging blades, spring-loaded spikes and flesh-eating acid.  Raph and Mikey think Leo has gone insane, but Donnie figures someone else must have interfered and replaced all the traps.  However, if all they did was replace the traps, then the strategy to solve the obstacle course should remain the same.  They ruminate on this, trying to figure out what lesson Leo was trying to teach them that could get them through the course.  They settle on “teamwork”.

Using teamwork, they make it through the many deathtraps with ease and slaughter all the Footbots.  As they approach Fishface, the mutant puts a knife to Leo’s throat and threatens to kill him.  Luckily, Leo has used the time to get loose from his chains and belts Fishface in his fish-face, knocking him out.

Back at the lair, Leo presents the prize: A trophy for #1 Turtle.  He tells them they all earned it, but Raph insists that it was HIS idea to use teamwork, so he should get the trophy.  Raph immediately regrets being so greedy, as Mikey begins singing a congratulatory rap song in his honor.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT New Animated Adventures #14.  The story continues in “The Adventures of Ice Cream Kitty”.

Review:

Teamwork!  The answer to all of life’s problems.  I’m gonna feel sorry for the kids who grew up reading stories like this.  When they get to high school or college and have to work on group projects, they’re going to learn that sometimes 90% of your group are a bunch of lazy assholes and sometimes you’ve just got to do everything yourself.

Teamwork!  Yay!

This was another fun, lighthearted story.  A little dumb, but eh, it was a 10-page comedy relief piece that had to wrap everything up with a moral.  It was nice to see Fishface again, though he’s been reduced to a one-punch annoyance; a far-cry from the leg-fighting worthy adversary he was in the first season of the cartoon.  But all the villains in this series, be it in cartoon or comic formats, are victims of instantly decaying skill beyond their initial appearances.  So the portrayal’s just keeping consistent, I guess.

Hey, do you think Shredder is ever going to show up in this comic?  And do more than just sit on his throne, I mean.  With a little pixie dust, it could happen.

Grade: C (as in, “Could have been a B, but Brizuela misspelled ‘water’ on page 3”.)

TMNT New Animated Adventures #15

Publication date: September 10, 2014

Contents:

*“Training Trap”

*“The Adventures of Ice Cream Kitty”

*“Splinter’s Game”

Turtle Tips:

*These stories are continued from TMNT New Animated Adventures #14.  The stories continue in TMNT New Animated Adventures #16.

*This issue was originally published with 3 variant covers: Regular Cover by Brizuela, Cover RI by "S-bis", and Cover RE by Dave Alvarez.

TMNT Magazine (Panini) #17

Publication date: July 24 – August 20, 2014

Script: Landry Walker

Art: Lee Carey

Colours: Jason Cardy and Kat Nicholson

Colour assist: J. Stayte

Letters: Alex Foot

“Danger, Danger!”

Summary:

In the dojo, April is whining that she’ll never be ready to be a kunoichi.  Splinter tries to soothe her by explaining that no one is ever 100% ready for battle, but Raph actually agrees with April (much to April’s irritation).  He mentions all the times she was beaten by Karai and kidnapped by the Kraang and how she’s only been training for months compared to the years of training he and his brothers have had.  Donatello thinks he has a solution and asks April to test out his Threat Detection Goggles which can instantly analyze and assess potential hazards and enemies.

Later, April is running along the rooftops, testing out the goggles while Donnie remotely monitors her progress from his lab.  The goggles delay in warning her of a weakspot in the roof and she falls through… into a Kraang facility.  Donnie loses his feed and the Turtles rush to her rescue (Raph bitching all the while that they have to save April AGAIN).

In the facility, the Kraangdroids attempt to seize April, who is hopelessly outnumbered.  The goggles begin to notice a number of environmental hazards and April figures she can use those threats to her advantage.  She tricks the Kraangdroids into knocking crates onto each other, bursting steam pipes, catching on live wires and, finally, climbing scaffolding that can’t support their weight and crashing to the floor.

The Turtles at last arrive in the Shellraiser only to find that April has handled the Kraang all on her own.  As April takes off the goggles, Raph remarks that he STILL doesn’t think she’s ready.  Suddenly, a Kraangdroid attacks Raph from behind and April nails it in the head with a shuriken… all without the goggles!  Raph concedes that April is ready.

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT Magazine (Panini) #16.  The story continues in TMNT Magazine (Panini) #18.

Review:

When reading my summary, you might imagine that there’s some big revelation about patience and diligence trumping technological crutches, or maybe some huge “girl power” moment to offset Raph’s (totally justified) dismissal of April’s ninja worth (hey, he made a solid point).  Those scenes are in the story, sort of, but they’re brief and organic to the adventure and don’t lay the lesson on thick.  In fact, there is never any admonishment about using the goggles to enhance your ability at all, just that skills earned through labor come in handy, too.

I think this script makes for a good example of how you can write a story with obvious morals (several, in fact), but not at the expense of the fun.  The educational content is there, it just isn’t… preachy.

Anyway, the story also made me think of Arkham Asylum, the Batman video game.  “World’s Greatest Detective”, yet he uses goggles in his cowl to make all environmental and logical assessments and collect all his clues for him.  Hey, I loved the game, but I just thought it was funny.  Likewise, April uses Donatello’s goggles to do all the work for her, but in tandem with her wit, so there’s an aspect of cooperation going on.  The goggles aren’t “doing the work for her”, but they are a tool that comes in handy and are treated as such.  Walker could have gone the obvious route with a big to-do about “I don’t need the goggles anymore!  That’s cheating!  I’m going to study harder and eat my vegetables!” but he relents and I thank him for that.

Anyhow, this was a good April solo story that felt well-balanced and honest in its characterization (though Raph plays butt monkey a bit).  April CAN’T be as good as the Turtles because all those points Raph brought up at the start are true.  However, she CAN hold her own in certain situations and her skills lay in areas other than brute martial arts.  This was one of those “make a case for the continued existence of a character” stories without falling into the traps and tropes of those sorts of stories, proving that even standard formulas can work if you handle the execution right.

Grade: B+ (as in, “Batman, why do you even bother having a switch that turns OFF Detective Mode?  Shouldn’t you ALWAYS be in Detective Mode?  That’s kind of the only way to play the game, anyhow…”)

TMNT (1987) Season 5, Part 4: Review

I finally get to the bottom of the fifth season of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon produced by Fred Wolf.

TMNT Season 5, Part 4 review at Adventures in Poor Taste.

In these adventures, we get our one and only appearance from Wingnut and Screwloose, but more importantly, we get the big "Planet of the Turtleoids" primetime special.  Is it as good as I remember it?  Nothing ever is, but I love it anyway.


Also, update on the image fiasco: I'm almost done.  I only have to get through the rest of the Image TMNT series and restore one more article (the TMNT & Other Strangeness overview) and we'll be back to normal.

TMNT: Turtles in Time #3

Publication date: August 27, 2014

Writer: Erik Burnham

Artist: Ben Bates

Letterer: Shawn Lee

Editor: Bobby Curnow

“Turtles in Time, Part 3”

Summary:

The Caribbean, 1726.  The Captain of the Shirley’s Revenge is disturbed when he sees a ship belonging to the mysterious tyrant known as the Kraken speeding toward him.  The Kraken’s men, led by the shrouded Captain Rhodes, board the Shirley’s Revenge and attack.  Suddenly, the Turtles blip in, dressed in their samurai gear.  Captain Rhodes thinks the Turtles are part of one of the Kraken’s schemes and orders his men to retreat on their high tech ship.

The Captain of the Shirley’s Revenge is immediately suspicious of the Turtles, but Raph disarms him.  The First Mate tells the Turtles that the crew of the Shirley’s Revenge aren’t marauding pirates like most others, but simply trying to find a free land where they can settle and only kill when they’re threatened.  He tells them that the Kraken is a mysterious, supposedly demonic entity who gives his minions (led by Captain Rhodes) supernatural powers.  The Turtles suspect there’s more to the Kraken than meets the eye and suggest that they all go track him down and end his tyranny.  The Captain is against the idea, but Michelangelo gives an inspiring speech about standing up for yourself.  The crew immediately makes Mikey the new Captain. The First Mate says that there’s an island where the Kraken is rumored to hide out, but it’ll take three days to get there.

Over the course of those three days, the Turtles teach the crew what they know about weapons, fighting and cooking, while the crew teach them basic seamanship.  Mikey has a talk with the Ex-Captain, who is still against the idea of looking for trouble.  Mikey gives another longwinded speech, this time about running from the past and fearing the future, which is how the Ex-Captain has been living all this time.

Meanwhile, at the island… BURNOW Island… Captain Rhodes meets up with the Kraken when a proximity alarm goes off.  The Kraken turns out to be Krang and he’s rather miffed that the human he hired to keep trespassers away from his facility has failed.  Captain Rhodes claims he could better fend off intruders if he had some of Krang’s strange weaponry and Krang reluctantly gives him the use of a single laser pistol.  Krang then leaves to attend to business elsewhere, but informs Rhodes to get the job done or pay the price for failure.

Offshore, the Shirley’s Revenge is rammed by the Kraken’s high tech ship and once again boarded.  During the skirmish, Renet blips in and Captain Rhodes fires his laser pistol at her.  Mikey pushes her out of the way, but takes the blast right to his plastron and falls into the water.  The other three Turtles dive in after him as Renet blips away again.  The Ex-Captain uses his cutlass to destroy the laser pistol and challenges Rhodes to a duel.  The two clash swords and Rhodes accuses the Ex-Captain and his crew of not being real pirates because of their code against lawlessness.  The Ex-Captain tells Rhodes that he’s the phony, as he surrendered his freedom to a lord and master.  The Ex-Captain defeats Rhodes just as the Turtles climb back on deck.

The Ex-Captain offers Rhodes’s men the opportunity to either work with him or join Rhodes in the nearest prison.  The men choose to join the Shirley’s Revenge and Mikey gives the Ex-Captain some words of encouragement before he and his brothers blip away.  The Now-Captain-Again then tells his crew that they won’t be stealing any of the Kraken’s bedeviled weaponry for themselves, however, they will endeavor to make the area safe once more.

They invade Burnow Island and use kegs of black powder to detonate one of the facilities.  One of the Kraken’s former marauders tries to steal a vial of ooze, but the Captain tells him to discard it in the river.  He does so, smashing it on the rocks, and the glowing gunk gets all over a nearby alligator…

Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT: Turtles in Time #2.  The story concludes in TMNT: Turtles in Time #4.

*The fate of that mutagen-covered gator will be revealed in TMNT (IDW) #56.

*This issue was originally published with 2 variant covers: Regular Cover by David Peterson, and Subscription Cover by Ben Bates.

Review:

“Turtles in Time” seems to be going back and forth in terms of tone, from lighthearted to serious and now back to lighthearted.  While the attitude might be inconsistent, it at least keeps us on our toes.  Burnham’s go with this installment is mostly comical and goofy, perhaps a little too much at times, but it’s a welcome break from the seriousness of the main title.  Anyway, it functions as a reminder that the IDW universe isn’t all business, all the time.

Of the issues so far, I think this one was the weakest.  It’s in more of a hurry than the last two stories and Burnham has to resort to some storytelling cheats to move things along.  He tries to cover up some of the shortcomings (such as the crew of the Shirley’s Revenge mindlessly following Mikey for the sake of narrative convenience) by putting a lampshade on things and playing them for laughs.  While it takes the edge off, the story is nonetheless rushed because of it.  I know the writers have to keep each era to a single issue and so matters of convenience are a necessary evil, but there’s just way too much of it in this installment for any lampshade to obscure.

And silliness doesn’t always come to the rescue, either.  This was the first era visited in the miniseries that required exposition and setup.  The Mesozoic era didn’t need any of that since its all dinosaurs and even the stuff with the Utroms was established during the “Utrom Empire” mini.  Feudal Japan didn’t need any because the main title has been visiting that era since just about the beginning and we’re already familiar with the setting and cast.  This issue was essentially an untapped point in time and so Burnham didn’t have the convenience that the other issues had.  So what we get are lengthy monologues from the Captain and First Mate explaining everything and it can get a little tiresome.  Add in Mikey’s exhaustive and corny speeches and it can get REALLY tiresome.

All that said, this issue continues the world-building of the last two, as the Turtles inexplicably have a hand in major events that would impact their present.  It looks like Krang was exploiting other humans besides Oroku Saki throughout history, and whereas the whole “Iron Demon” persona failed, the “Kraken” identity seemed to work out a bit better (a bit).  And of course, I’m excited about what that last panel teaser implies.

Ben Bates returns to the Turtles, though you might not recognize him at first.  He colored this issue and his personal style is very different from Ronda Pattison’s.  He gives everything this white-washed, sun-bleached look and it befits a tale set in the Caribbean.  Actually, it REALLY fits and I absolutely love it.  When you look at these pages, you want to rub your eyes like you’re sun blind and it’s a perfect example of a coloring style that complements the artwork 110%.  His layouts and his pencils are great, too, don’t get me wrong, but the colors deserve a special notice.

Art and colors aside, I wasn’t too thrilled with this installment in “Turtles in Time”, though I still enjoyed it.  Some of it works and some of it doesn’t (especially in regards to the jokes), but there’s a lot to like about the issue from any angle.

Grade: C+ (as in, “Could’ve used a boss battle against Bebop and Rocksteady in pirate gear, but that’s just asking for the moon, I guess”.)