Publication date: February 25, 2015
Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow and Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Cory Smith
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
“Attack on Technodrome, Part Three”
Summary:
On Burnow Island, the Foot and General Krang’s army throw
down. While Koya and Bludgeon take on
Tragg and Granitor, Krang pays Shredder back for sinking his ship. Shredder is still bewildered that Krang was
ready for him and the General mocks him for being betrayed. The Turtles observe this and use the
confusion to slip away so they can find the Fugitoid.
In their holding cell, Baxter Stockman reveals to the
Fugitoid that he’s had a secret plan going all along. When his Flyborg tapped into Krang’s computer
system some while back, he downloaded the Technodrome’s schematics. From there, Baxter uploaded malware into the
system that would activate one minute after the Technodrome was switched
on. Baxter would then be able to seize
control of the device for his own ends (though even one minute of terraforming would be long
enough to kill thousands of people).
The Fugitoid won’t let Baxter get away with this and uses
his holographic projector to take on the guise of Chet Allen. He tricks the guards into thinking the
Fugitoid has escaped and open the door.
Baxter has his own escape plan in motion, though, and dozens of
mini-Mousers pour out of an air vent and shock the guards and the Fugitoid
unconscious.
Back at Foot HQ in New York, Karai and Hun are suddenly
besieged by Hob’s gang and Splinter.
Herman, and Mondo Gecko make short work of the Foot Soldiers, while
Slash goes toe-to-toe with Hun (who wants revenge for the sucker punch Slash
gave him earlier). Slash takes Hun down
with ease. While all this is going on,
Splinter locks swords with Karai and tells her that her grandfather’s time is
over. However, he expresses hope that
she not suffer the same fate as him.
During the confusion, Hob slips into a backroom and raids
it of all its ooze/mutagen. Now having
what he came for, he orders his gang to retreat, leaving Splinter behind to
fight Karai alone.
Inside Krang’s base, the Turtles tear their way through
the guards only to be confronted by Baxter and his army of Flyborgs and
mini-Mousers. They see he has the
Fugitoid held captive and dive into the fray to save him.
Outside, Krang receives word that the base is being invaded
and Baxter has holed up in the Technodrome control room. Krang leaves the pummeled Shredder behind and
rushes to his base.
Inside, Baxter is about to activate his malware when
Krang interferes, knocking Baxter out.
He then has his technicians reroute control and activate the
Technodrome. The Turtles, overwhelmed by
Baxter’s forces, are helpless to do anything as the giant eyeball sends out a blast
of terraforming energy.
Meanwhile, knowing that he has been betrayed by the
Turtles, Shredder sends a message to Bebop and Rocksteady to kill Donatello.
Turtle Tips:
*Shredder sank General Krang’s ship in their previous
encounter, in TMNT (IDW) #37. Shredder saw a vision of his war with Krang in TMNT Villains Micro-Series #8: Shredder.
*Baxter Stockman used his Flyborg to steal the schematics
of the Technodrome in TMNT Villains Micro-Series #2: Baxter.
*Slash sucker punched Hun in TMNT (IDW) #28.
*The events of the Mutanimals miniseries spin-out from
this issue.
*This issue was originally published with 3 variant
covers: Cover A by Smith and Pattison, Cover B by Eastman and Pattison, and
Cover RI by Aaron Conley.
Review:
Now, I know I criticized the pacing of the first half of
this arc; it was all set up to get us HERE.
But now that we’re HERE, I’m having a blast. I kinda wish we could be HERE all the time,
but then if we were, I guess HERE wouldn’t feel quite so special.
All the mingling plot threads have finally collided head
on and it’s pretty much madness the whole way through. What’s great is how much action there is in
this issue, yet the story still moves forward.
This isn’t just an “everybody fights” issue.
I suppose my only grievance has to do with the Fugitoid
being duped by Baxter. I mean, who didn’t
see that coming? It may have been a
shock to the Fugitoid, but it wasn’t one for the audience. And, really, why on Earth would the Fugitoid
be surprised that Baxter betrayed him?
That’s all Baxter DOES, for pity’s sake.
Their subplot in this arc basically consisted of “betrayals
within betrayals” and every time before now when it seemed like Baxter was
throwing Fugitoid under the bus, it was all a part of their scheme to trick
Krang. By the time the REAL betrayal
finally came around, the story had cried wolf one too many times and I was just
sort of sick of the whole exercise.
But that’s my only substantial complaint with this
installment. I loved seeing the Mousers
again and I dig it when media keeps those guys around as part of Baxter’s
entourage beyond their initial appearance.
The Mousers, iconic TMNT foes as they may be, rarely continue on past
their debut (be it in comics or cartoons), so it always feels kind of special
when they show up again.
I didn’t so much care for the Mutanimals so quickly
agreeing to ditch Splinter on Hob’s say so.
I guess the intent was to show how loyal they are to Hob (even though
they question ditching Splinter at first), but would Slash really be okay with leaving
the father of one of his closest friends to die? And Mondo seems like way too nice of a guy to
follow up abandoning an old man to certain death with a vacuous catch phrase (“Lead
the way, Jefe!”).
That said, I’m pumped for the Mutanimals miniseries. The first issue came out the same day as this
one, so I’ll be reading that next.
As for Splinter, his words to Karai have me
interested. Way back when I reviewed
Karai’s micro-series issue, I mentioned that IDW’s version was missing the one
thing that linked all the disparate incarnations of Karai together: A sense of
sympathy for the Turtles. Every Karai
has been wildly different from the others, save for that single bit of
characterization. To date, IDW Karai is
the only one who has lacked it which has sort of made her feel like Karai in
name only.
Splinter expresses a sense of hope that she won’t follow
the same path as her grandfather. Is this the start of
some sort of cooperative relationship between Karai and the Turtles, similar to
the ones she’s had in every other portrayal?
I don’t think Karai is in need of being “redeemed”, mind you (she’s
murdered wayyyyy too many people in cold blood to ever qualify for “redemption”),
but I would like to see a play on her consistent trait of working with the
Turtles. Maybe the writers will take it
in a different direction and have her manipulate and use the Turtles under the
guise of cooperation? But then again, I
think we’ve gotten enough of that betrayal stuff with this Baxter/Fugitoid plot
thread.
Lastly, I enjoyed seeing Krang just beat the SHIT out of
the Shredder. It’s a sobering reminder
that the Shredder isn’t the unstoppable ultimate villain he’s often made out to
be. In fact, it’s very consistent with
the IDW series. The Turtles whooped
Shredder with relative ease when they fought him in TMNT (IDW) #12. However, they got comparatively wrecked in
their battle with Krang in TMNT (IDW) #20.
Krang really is the stronger adversary in this universe and his fight
with Shredder in this issue reminded us all of that.
Anyhow, while the book still reads like it’s written for
the trade, this arc has really geared up in the back half as I knew it would. THIS was the part I’ve been twiddling my
thumbs for over the past couple months.
Grade: B+ (as in, “By the way, I really appreciate that
Cory Smith doesn’t draw the Turtles with dopey buck teeth and freckles and huge
glassy eyes. As much as I like
Santolouco, he’s been sugar-coating his Turtle designs more and more over the
past few arcs and it’s starting to bug me”.)
