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.
*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”.)
