Publication date: June 17, 2015
Story: Mariko Tamaki
Art: Irene Koh
Colors: Paul Reinwand
Letters: Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow
Summary:
Exiting the Holland Tunnel in their VW van, Casey and
April hit the open road and, eventually, reach the Southwest. Stepping out to get their bearings, April
takes a look at the scroll Dr. Miller stole from the Foot Clan (and died
for). She finds a drawing of a Joshua tree
in a desert, which indicates to her that they need to go to the Mohave Desert
to find information on the Pantheon (a family of warring deities). Casey plucks up a heart-shaped rock and is
about to give it to April when he accidentally says something scientifically
stupid, eliciting an awkward correction from her. He pockets the rock in embarrassment.
Moving on, they discuss their best memories of seeing the
night sky (April recalls her trips to the Grand Canyon, Casey recalls trying to
see stars through the light pollution in New York). They inevitably conclude that if they’d known
each other as kids, they probably wouldn’t have been friends.
Stopping at a diner, a couple of cowboys begin giving
Casey a hard time over his name (sounding like the ballad about the train
conductor). This ends in a fight between
Casey and the bullies and April has to force him to back off and escape in the
van.
The pair argue and fight for a
while, first over how Casey put their mission in jeopardy by nearly getting a
visit from the cops, but also over the fact that he’s still thinking in terms
of “I” and not “we”. To take her mind
off of how mad she is at Casey, April compares the scroll with a modern map and
thinks the place they’re looking for might be an old armory now.
After stopping for gas, Casey absentmindedly (and
angrily) backs into an old bumpkin’s truck.
The old timer isn’t mad, but he’s worried that his sister Red might get
upset if he doesn’t show up to see her.
April offers to drive by in the van and let Red know what happened while the geezer's truck is being repaired. Casey wants to check out the armory, though,
so the old timer offers to let him borrow his old motorcycle. April and Casey split up, and Casey chucks
the heart-rock away in anger.
Once they’d left, the old timer picks up the rock and
remarks about the curiosity of young love.
As a plague of rats swarm him, he slowly transforms into the Rat
King. The gruesome Pantheon member
figures that it’s time to play a game with his two new friends…
Turtle Tips:
*This mini-series takes place after the events of TMNT (IDW) #47. The story continues in TMNT: Casey & April #2.
*Dr. Miller’s death is mentioned on the radio. He died in TMNT (IDW) #46.
*This issue was originally published with 4 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Irene Koh, Subscription Cover by Faith Erin Hicks and
Paulina Ganucheau, Convention Exclusive by Joe Eisma, and Hastings Exclusive by
Brent Peeples.
Review:
Hmmm. I… Well, I
just don’t think this kind of comic was meant for me. It’s a slow-burn romance story filled with
long rambling conversations between the two main characters as they sit and
talk. For 20 pages. Talk about stars, talk about each other, talk
about life, talk about talking… I mean, it’s a young reader’s romance story. There are people out there who love comics
like this; people who would rather read Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane over a “normal”
Spider-Man comic. Those kinds of people.
I’m just… not one of those kinds of people. 20 pages of characters sitting in a car or at
a diner or pumping gas and rambling, the thrill being the “romantic tension”
between them, it just doesn’t appeal to me.
Nothing wrong with anybody who likes that sort of thing, but man. Wotta snooze-fest.
I’m trying to be open-minded and fair about this. And I don’t blame IDW for casting a wider net
by dabbling in a different genre to try and attract a fresh demographic. The last miniseries we got was Mutanimals and
it was a tidal wave of TMNT fanwank. I
loved it, but I understand that it might have had limited appeal to the
uninitiated or the casual TMNT reader.
And looking at the Diamond sales numbers, the thing positively bombed,
selling around only 8,000 units toward the end of the run.
So clearly, appealing strictly to hardcore TMNT fans may
make for comics that excite a hardcore TMNT fan like myself, but they don’t do
much for IDW’s bank account. With that
context in place, I can fully understand and appreciate why they’d go for a
book like Casey & April that’s so tonally different from what they’ve been
doing, aiming for readers who like teen romance stories.
All that being said: Ehhhhhhh. I just couldn’t get into this comic. I appreciate that April and Casey are finally
getting a spotlight after being relegated to deadweight status in the TMNT
ongoing for what feels like a year or more.
Their shelving in the main title to make way for 30 new characters has
been pretty disrespectful, especially for what had originally been main
characters. So I’m glad to see them
getting major screen time once again. I just
wish it could have been in a more exciting comic.
It isn’t just the long conversations that got me nodding
off, it’s that what passes for action is horribly clichéd and predictable. So they go to a diner and
are immediately, IMMEDIATELY beset upon by cowboy hicks for no good reason
whatsoever. Remember when this happened
in "Starman"? Or "Superman II"? Or seemingly any movie ever where the main
characters decide to make an innocent stop at a diner where cowboy
truckers are also present?
“Well, well, well.
If’n it ain’t two-a them city folks comin’ ‘round here with their Em Pee
Three players ‘n their ten dollar coffees.
Ya’ll best go on back the way you come!”
It’s just so tired and worn out. It elicits the “couple’s first fight”
scenario that manufactures a romantic drama between them, but the whole thing
is a dull contrivance at best. The
remaining “action” in the issue involves Casey swerving out of the way of a
cyclist and a slight fender bender with the old man. Edge-of-your-seat stuff, isn’t it?
The good news is the Rat King, my favorite TMNT villain,
looks to be a major antagonist in this miniseries. I’m hoping he adds a little more energy to this
story, because it sure could use some.
The art dabbles in this faux-manga style that looks
alright, I guess. The faux-manga look and the
whole “romantic teen drama” storytelling was what made me immediately think of
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, by the way. While
I don’t really like it when people who aren’t Japanese try to ape what they
think is “manga”, Koh doesn’t overdo it in the worst ways so the exercise is
mostly inoffensive. She draws an
absolutely GNARLY Rat King, translating Santolouco’s original design very
well. That final cliffhanger splash page
was a wonderful rendition of the character.
Colors by Paul Reinwand are quite nice. He gives April back her fair skin and
freckles, which haven’t been seen since the Secret History of the Foot Clan
miniseries, but are a detail I really liked (and really missed). His most outstanding color work comes in the
Rat King pages, of course, particularly in the green hues he gradually bathes
the panels in. It’s not so much a glow,
but a subtle, unearthly lighting choice that makes the moment all the
creepier. He also elects to color only
one rat among dozens completely white, which makes me think of Socrates from “Willard”.
In conclusion, I will concede once again that these sorts
of stories just don’t appeal to me.
Doesn’t mean they’re bad, it just means I don’t like them. That said, objectively the issue has
problems: namely that stupid hackneyed fight at the diner and the almost
insultingly on-the-nose symbolism of the heart-shaped rock. The art is alright and the coloring is
great. I hope it gets a little more
exciting in future issues, but I am curious to see more of the Rat King.
Also, looks like IDW has cut back the length of their TMNT miniseries issues from 22-pages to 20-pages, but the $4 price tag remains the
same. Fuck that.
Grade: C (as in, “Cowboy hats are worn exclusively by
thuggish jerks who don’t like anyone who follows a different way of life than
them. I thought everybody knew that”.)
