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.
*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.”)
