Originally published in: TMNT Magazine (Panini) #24
Publication date: February 5 - March 4, 2015
Script: Jennifer Keating
Art: Iain Buchanan
Colours: Jason Cardy
Colour assist: Ed Pirrie
Letters: Alex Foot
“Blind Luck”
Summary:
After an especially punishing battle with the Foot, the
Turtles head to Mr. Murakami’s for some pizza gyoza. However, as they chow down, Donatello notices
that Michelangelo has a tracking device stuck to his shell. Fearing that the blind and helpless Mr.
Murakami might get hurt if the Kraang (huh?) track them to his restaurant, the
Turtles leave in a hurry.
As soon as they exit, a pair of Footbots enter. The blind Mr. Murakami mistakes them for
especially hungry customers who follow him into the kitchen to get their
food. The Footbots attempt to hurt him,
but all of Mr. Murakami’s kitchen antics wind up accidentally deflecting their
attacks and hurting them, instead.
Later, after defeating the rest of the Footbots, the
Turtles return to check on Mr. Murakami.
They find the two battle-damaged Footbots making one last attempt to get
the seemingly oblivious Mr. Murakami.
The chef then puts them down for the count with a few precise strikes
from his mop and tells the Turtles that his most recent customers have had
their fill.
Turtle Tips:
Review:
This was a pretty hokey comedy strip, all things
considered, though I don’t know if Keating’s script or Buchanan’s art is the
one to blame.
The setup for the gag is this Mr. Magoo sort of deal, and
the humor relies pretty heavily on sight gags and physical
comedy. The pencils are too stiff and none of the action looks particularly fluid (take the panel where
Murakami spills broth on the Footbots and how awkward that motion appears).
The script seems a little confused, too. The Turtles get the tracking device latched
onto them during a battle with the Foot, but they’re afraid the Kraang will track
them? Then they run outside to go battle
the Foot? So, which is it?
I mean, I guess you can say it’s accurate to a degree in
that by this point in the cartoon, the Foot were partnered with the Kraang. So maybe the Kraang were operating the
tracking device for the Foot Clan? It’s
still not very coherent even when you try to no-prize it.
Altogether, not a very strong showing.
Grade: D (as in, “Does anybody have a recipe for pizza
gyoza? They’re basically just
pot-stickers with pizza ingredients in them, right?”)
