Publication date: December 23, 2015
Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Michael Dialynas
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
"Order from Chaos, Part 3"
"Order from Chaos, Part 3"
Summary:
At Mutanimals HQ, the whole crew greets Michelangelo with
one of Pigeon Pete’s special worm-cakes.
Mikey is happy to celebrate with his new friends, but declines Hob’s
invitation to join the team. While he
doesn’t want to be a part of the Foot Clan, he doesn’t want to abandon his
family completely, either.
On a rooftop, Casey calls Detective Kara Lewis for an
update on his escaped father.
Unfortunately, Lewis has yet to catch Hun due to a media gag order
involving mutants. Casey hangs up and is
greeted by Raphael who asks how he and April have been doing. Casey says that they’re just getting some
space from each other; April’s working on the scroll and he’s doing the
vigilante thing.
Back at Mutanimals HQ, Pete proves to be an idiot savant
at board games, much to Mikey’s surprise.
Hob then interrupts the festivities with news of a weapons shipment at
the docks. Being “heroes” and all, the
Mutanimals head to stop the shipment, armed with weapons they stole from
Null. Mikey decides to go along.
At April’s place, she’s busy studying the scroll when her
mother comes to see her. Mrs. O’Neil
asks how things are going with Casey and April tells her that they’re just getting
a little space. Mrs. O’Neil tells April
a story about how her marriage almost failed when she and Mr. O’Neil
prioritized their work over their relationship.
She tells April that distance can help a couple see the big picture, but
she has to use that time to actually figure things out.
At the docks, the Mutanimals intercept Lupo and his
weapons shipment. They send the
gangsters packing in record time and head back to HQ. Unbeknownst to them, they’re being watched by
Agent Winter. His commander tells him
not to be concerned with the weapons shipment and to keep tabs on the mutants.
At Dun (one “n”) Import-Export, Darius Dunn (two “n”s) gets
a report from Jammer about Lupo’s failure thanks to the interference of the
Mutanimals. Fed up with the Foot Clan
and the Mutanimals getting in his way, Dunn vows to ignite a war and orders
Jemmer to fetch “The Inventor”.
At Mutanimals HQ, everyone celebrates with a pizza, all
save for Hob, who leaves to “take care of” the weapons they seized. Mikey asks Slash what Hob does with the
weapons they intercept and Slash presumes he destroys them. Mikey isn’t buying that and clings to the
back of the van as Hob pulls out (unaware that Mondo Gecko is watching him).
Mikey arrives at a warehouse and sneaks in through the
window. To his horror, he discovers that
Hob has been stockpiling all the seized weapons. What Mikey doesn’t know is that Hun is
sneaking up behind him.
Turtle Tips:
*Hob helped Hun escape from Detective Lewis’ custody in
TMNT (IDW) #48.
*Hob stole the weapons from Null in Mutanimals #4.
*Check the posters on the wall of Mutanimal HQ and you’ll
notice quite a few Archie TMNT Adventures references: Ace Duck, Cryin’ Houn’,
Cudley the Cowlick, and Acme Traps (from TMNT Adventures #22). Also an angry starfish and a guy in a helmet
and goggles I don’t recognize.
*This issue was originally published with 3 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Dialynas, Incentive Cover by Atilio Rojo, and
Subscription Cover by Eastman and Pattison.
Review:
Alright! A
Mutanimals story!
I enjoyed their miniseries, so I was hoping for
more Mutanimals-focused stories in the ongoing series. Looks like I’m finally getting my wish with
this two-parter.
Mikey’s exile from the Turtles has been an interesting
development thus far. As you’ve probably
noticed by now, he’s abandoned his nunchakus in favor of the grappling hook, a
nod to the old Fred Wolf cartoon where he was forced to make that swap to
appease outraged Europeans (I hear they’ve since gotten over their nunchaku
phobia). The fact that he wanders right
into the wings of the Mutanimals was a solid way to get that team back into the
plot and I love seeing all those colorful faces again.
Hob, as it seems, hasn’t gone over to the side of the angels
just yet. You got that notion back when
he busted Hun out, but it’s a bit clearer now. Hob does have his own twisted sense of
altruism and honor, though, so I don’t think he’s gone completely “bad” (at
least not from his POV). You also have
to wonder how many of the Mutanimals are in on his collaboration with Hun? Slash didn’t seem to know about Hob’s weapons
stockpile, but Herman the Hermit Crab was the one who helped bust Hun, so
presumably he’s in on it?
Lovin’ all this intrigue.
The various plot threads are folding together nicely and
it looks like we’re headed toward another gang war story arc. “City Fall” wasn’t perfect, though I enjoyed
it, and I think one thing that could have improved it might have been if the
various gangs being taken down by the Foot Clan had been given stronger
identities. In this situation, it looks
like there are going to be at least three major factions: Splinter’s Foot Clan,
Hob’s Mutanimals and Darius Dun’s Street Phantoms (or whoever make up the bulk
of his forces). We’ve already got a more
colorful cast of characters this time around, so if IDW is indeed headed toward
another gang war, I think it’ll turn out to be more interesting than before.
That said, I do wish they’d decide how they want to spell
Dun’s name (either one “n” or two).
The other storyline progressed in this issue is
April/Casey. Though “progressed” might
not be the word for it. As dire as the
Casey & April miniseries was, it still ended with the two lovebirds
realizing how much they care for one another and coming together stronger than
ever. Now it seems like they’re suddenly
and inexplicably drifting further apart.
Did they just forget about their declaration of love for each other or
are we all just trying to forget that the Casey & April miniseries even
happened? Because I’d be surprisingly
cooperative with the latter option.
New artist for this arc is Michael Dialynas and I think
he’s pretty good. He’s trying to stick
to the aesthetic of Santolouco and Smith, at least more than Garing did, so
folks looking for some visual cohesion may prefer his run. While it has less of a personal fingerprint,
I think his layouts and expressions look very lively and kinetic. His pencils mesh better with Pattison’s
colors than Garing's did, but again, that may be because Dialynas is trying
harder to conform with Santouloco and Smith.
Dialynas puts a lot of humorous details into the
expressions of the characters, from Dun losing his shit to Pete being…
Pete. His Mutagen Man stuck out to me;
being less stylized than Kuhn’s rendition of the character, you can actually
make out a few of the different animals that were supposedly combined to make
him. Or at the very least, you can now
tell he’s got an equine’s skull (or part of it). Dialynas left in Kuhn’s highly expressive
eyeballs for Mutagen Man, so there’s this nice balance of comedy and
grotesquery that makes the character so likeable.
I think this two-parter is shaping up to be a little more
focused than the last one, even if I think these issues come across closer to a
four-parter but with two slightly more distinct halves (does that make
sense?). It looks good and it’s got a
ton of Mutanimal action. I’m easy to
please like that.
Grade: B (as in, “But Sally Pride and Man Ray would still
benefit from a personality boost”.)
