King for a Day

Originally published in: The Collected Gizmo

Originally published by: Mirage

Publication date: December, 1988

Story and Art: Michael Dooney

“King for a Day”

Summary:

At Lord Simultaneous’ summer home on the very edge of time and space, apprentice Timestress Renet has overslept.  Lord Simultaneous’ bellowing awakens Renet, but it also awakens one of the magical artifacts housed in her bunk: The Kril.  The weird talking flute-thing goes nuts, blasting magical energies into time and space.  Renet calms him down and he explains he was having a nightmare about when the evil sorceress Queen Megdaline Fey abused his power.

Earth, the present (technically the future from our POV but whatever).  Gizmo and Fluffy are getting a bite to eat at Big W Burgers when one of the Kril’s magical energy blasts pierces the boundaries of time and space and zaps them.

They awaken a moment later to find themselves in the distant past, dressed as a king and a knight.  A knight named Castor tells Gizmo that their quest to regain the Kril from Megdaline Fey has failed and they must flee through a teleportation circle while they still can.  Confused, Gizmo and Fluffy escape as Fey grips the Krill and swears to end them.

Sometime later, Gizmo and Fluffy find themselves in “their” castle.  Apparently, Castor and everyone else is under the impression that they’re King Tobias II and General Dorgon.  Castor insists that it was the magical properties of the Kril that changed them and Gizmo and Fluffy decide to just roll with it since they have no other choice.  Castor tells them of the evils Fey will accomplish if she’s allowed to keep the Kril and how it will be magically bound to her soul if she possesses it past midnight.  The pair figure they’d better get it from her.

Following Castor, they make another bid to reclaim the Kril from Fey.  Using giant four-eyed aquatic hamsters, they sneak into her castle through the sewer system.  Fey, seeing their arrival through her crystal ball, uses the Kril to summon evil entities to do her bidding.

The first such entity they encounter is a giant man-eating worm.  Gizmo manages to blind it with his cape and the worm smashes its head against a stone wall.  Next they encounter a demon made of fire.  Gizmo, being a robot, is impervious to its flames, but he still can’t lay a finger on it in battle.  Fluffy finds a cask of wine and douses the demon with the fluid.

They at last reach Fey’s chamber.  Gizmo rushes her and she attempts to kill him with the Kril.  The blast passes through him harmlessly, since apparently it cannot hurt artificial lifeforms.  Gizmo takes the Kril and conks her over the head with it.  Gizmo then uses the Kril’s power to balance the good and evil in Fey’s soul, reincarnating her as a more benevolent (or at least level-headed) individual.

The adventure complete, Gizmo and Fluffy begin to vanish.  Gizmo tosses Fey the Kril and tells Castor that his last royal decree is that she should be their new ruler.  The Kril says that this isn’t how things were supposed to go down and accuses Gizmo and Fluffy of being revisionist historians.

Gizmo and Fluffy rematerialize at the burger joint and decide to get their lunch to go.  As they walk across an overgrown field toward ‘Soto, Gizmo wonders how Fey turned out, but Fluffy figures they’ll never know.  Behind them, on a pedestal obscured by weeds, is a majestic statue of Queen Fey, dubbing her “Mother of Justice and Prosperity”.

Fluffy Facts:

*This story is continued from Gizmo (Vol. 2) #6.  The story continues in Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1.

*Regarding Renet, because of all the time travel shenanigans, it’s hard to say where in her timeline her scene takes place.  Since she’s still characterized as an irresponsible apprentice Timestress, probably sometime before TMNT (Vol. 1) #47.

*This story has only ever been published in The Collected Gizmo trade paperback from Mirage.

Review:

Although it wasn’t published individually, I sort of think of “King for a Day” as the last issue of the Gizmo ongoing series.  It actually bridges the Gizmo ongoing and the Gizmo & the Fugitoid miniseries nicely, mainly due to the presence of mainstay TMNT character Renet.  

While it’s just a cameo, it introduces Gizmo and Fluffy to the wider Mirage universe, or at least acknowledges to the readers that they exist within it, and gets us underway for the more substantial crossover to come.  Funny how Gizmo and Fluffy have met minor or recurring Mirage characters, but have yet to ever have a full-blown crossover with the TMNT (beyond brief cameos and pin-ups, I mean).

Renet is ultimately just a plot device to get the adventure underway and she ceases to be relevant beyond the first page.  The rest of the story is a fun if hurried adventure, though maybe a little bland (kind of reads like a rather listless DnD campaign).  Dooney’s artwork makes the story fun to read even if the plot is kind of just going through the motions.  I especially dug his renderings of all the creatures and monsters, like those goofy four-eyed hamsters.

So that’s about it.  “King for a Day” is the lone exclusive feature in The Collected Gizmo (outside of a foreword from Laird and a few pin-ups).  As bonus content, it’s worth the price of the trade even if you own all the other stories in their individual printings.  For TMNT collectors, the cameo from Renet might make it extra attractive.

Gizmo and the Fugitoid #2

Publication date: July, 1989

Story: Peter Laird and Michael Dooney

Art: Mchael Dooney

Lettering: Steve Lavigne

Summary:

Gizmo, Fluffy and the Fugitoid are taken aboard the Triceraton asteroid ship and the Triceraton Commander issues an ultimatum: If the Fugitoid doesn’t build the transmat, his friends will be thrown out the airlock.  With no real choice, the Fugitoid agrees and Gizmo and Fluffy are taken to the brig.

Months later, the asteroid ship has docked at the Triceraton Homeworld.  Gizmo has spent the time working on his writing, but can’t find any inspiration in this “genre”.  He and Fluffy are sent to do more clean-up duty, apparently both irritated that they haven’t figured out a way to break free yet.  Gizmo runs a floor buffer over a bar of soap and sends it rocketing across the room at high speed.  Feeling inspired, they go to the janitor’s closet to rig up some more “weapons”.

Hitching two large buffers together, they ride them down the corridor toward the Triceraton guards.  The buffers fire some soap at the guards and then plow into them, knocking them out.  Gizmo and Fluffy use the opportunity to find the Fugitoid in his workshop.  The Fugitoid tells them that he can’t leave now, as he must finish the device.  Gizmo and Fluffy are confused, but agree to cause a distraction and give the Fugitoid half an hour to finish his work.

Gizmo and Fluffy make it to the armory and arm themselves as the Triceratons approach.  Gizmo grabs the largest gun he can find, much to Fluffy’s disapproval, and fires it.  The kickback sends Gizmo through a wall and Fluffy informs him that the gun he used was built to be installed on tanks.  The Triceratons seize the two and prepare to execute them, when suddenly the Fugitoid activates his machine.

Apparently, rather than a transmat, he built a new menta-wave device powered by the fusion reactors of the Triceraton Homeworld.  The Fugitoid broadcasts a psychic message to all living creatures in the Triceraton and Federation systems.  He tells them that the transmat could have been used for peace, but because of their thirst for war and conquest, he has no choice but to take the technology out of their grasp forever.  The Fugitoid bids the universe farewell and overloads his circuitry, wiping his memory clean.

Gizmo and Fluffy find the Fugitoid’s body and a Triceraton technician confirms that his memory has been erased and he shows no signs of life.  Apparently moved by the Fugitoid’s words, the Triceraton Commander allows Gizmo and Fluffy to leave with the body so they can give it a proper burial.

On the surface of a nearby planet, they place the Fugitoid’s body under a tree and Fluffy suggests that Gizmo write a eulogy for him.  Gizmo takes out his electronic textpad but can’t write anything due to a system error.  The message tells him, “To restore system memory, insert DMA cable into Class-C memory unit”.  They decide to hook the textpad up to the Fugitoid’s Class-C memory unit and in doing so the Fugitoid comes back online.

The Fugitoid explains that he used the menta-wave technology to transfer his mind into Gizmo’s textpad, thereby faking his own death.  Gizmo and Fluffy are thrilled, though Gizmo is less than pleased that the Fugitoid had to erase all his document files in order to fit his memory in the textpad.

Fluffy tells the Fugitoid that now that the Triceratons and the Federats think he’s dead, he’s free to do whatever he wants.  Suddenly, a pair of Utroms, having received the psychic message, appear in a flash of light.  They invite the Fugitoid to return with them once more to the Utrom Homeworld and he accepts.  After bidding the Fugitoid farewell, Gizmo and Fluffy pile into ‘Soto and blast off.  Gizmo says he’s through trying to be a travel writer, but he has other plans…

Epilogue:

Several months later, down on Earth, a child leaves a comic shop in a hurry.  Running past several alien neighbors, he reaches his apartment stoop and sits down to read “The Unlikely X-Bots” (which has a cover featuring three familiar faces).

Fluffy Facts:

*This story is continued from Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1.

*The setting of Earth populated by humans and aliens may indicate these stories take place after TMNT (Vol. 4) #5 (when the Utroms initiated First Contact), but before Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #69 (when global warming destroys the Earth).

*The Fugitoid’s mind is apparently only 50gb or less.

*This issue also contained a bonus pin-up of Gizmo, Fluffy and the Fugitoid by Peter Laird.  According to the foreword from the previous issue, this is the piece  that inspired Dooney to do the miniseries.

Review:

The second half of the Gizmo and the Fugitoid miniseries was a little less exciting than the first half.  It relies heavily on matters of convenience to get the characters out of their various jams and by the end the credibility almost snaps.  The Triceratons apparently just let their captives mull around unguarded for hours at a time to do whatever they want, be it plotting an escape or sabotaging the machines they’re supposed to be building.  I guess it’s consistent for the Triceratons, who are typically portrayed as ferocious warriors if not especially intelligent.  The ending, where the Triceraton Commander allows Gizmo and Fluffy (whom he was seconds away from executing) to leave with the Fugitoid’s body because “meh”… That was simply a means to get the comic over with before the pages ran out.

So while it is a step down in its conclusion, Gizmo and the Fugitoid #2 is still enjoyable for all the same reasons the first installment was.  Though the Fugitoid takes a backseat for most of the issue, Gizmo’s and Fluffy’s dynamic is as fun as it ever was and there’s entertainment to be had in watching them blunder through their escape attempt.  What was great about the Gizmo ongoing series, and this miniseries too, is that Gizmo and Fluffy aren’t idiots, but they aren’t geniuses, either.  They usually wing their way through delicate situations and succeed with equal parts resourcefulness and dumb luck.  It makes their antics spontaneous and unpredictable, as they have to go through a lot of trial and error to make it out on top.

In contrast to the lush jungles of the previous issue, this issue takes place in the sterile environment of a space station.  While the environments can get a little monotonous, the metallic corridors illustrate Dooney’s skill at making everything so damn shiny.  Once again, the reflective surface on the Fugitoid proves how much effort Dooney was exerting in each panel, as the Fugitoid is constantly reflecting the environment around him with the images warped to the curvature of his torso.  It’s really quite glorious.

What’s interesting about this miniseries in the grand scheme of the Mirage universe is that it concludes the Fugitoid’s storyline.  The Triceratons and the Federats think he’s dead and he can now live in peace, both among the Utroms or outside their jurisdiction (where he’d appear to be just another SAL unit).  If you’re reading things chronologically, it’s a solid sendoff to the character, as he finally gets the better of the two opposing forces that made him a Fugitoid in the first place.  There’s also the lingering potential that his words may have an impact on the Triceraton/Federation war and help bring an end to it (though that might be hoping for too much).

So if you’re interested in what’s essentially the “end” of the Fugitoid’s narrative, then this miniseries is vital reading.  And if you’re strictly a Gizmo fan, then this is another fun romp for the pair and is just one more of their episodic misadventures.  And for everyone else, there’s a lot of gorgeous Dooney art to feast your eyes on.  It’s a pretty great mini, all things considered.

Grade: B (as in, “But for such a pacifist, the Fugitoid’s old action figure sure came with a lot of weapons”.)

Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1

Publication date: June, 1989

Story: Peter Laird and Michael Dooney

Art: Mchael Dooney

Lettering: Steve Lavigne

Summary:

Travelling a space highway in their thinking ship, ‘Soto, Gizmo Sprocket and Fluffy Brockelton figure they’ve got it made.  Responding to an ad for the Federation Army Reserve Corps, they’ll each pick up a huge check for just five weeks of service on a "tropical paradise".  Gizmo figures it’ll give him time to work on his writing career, while Fluffy’s experience in the military leaves him confident the gig will be a cakewalk.

Four and a half weeks into their tour on the festering jungle planet, the two are utterly miserable and run ragged.  Gizmo remarks that if the Federats hadn’t impounded ‘Soto when they signed up, they’d have gone AWOL weeks ago.  Suddenly, a gargantuan reptile bursts out of the trees and attacks the platoon.  It slaughters all the soldiers save Gizmo and Fluffy, who inconveniently run out of ammo.  The two make a break for it and after some distance, they lose the monster.

Trudging through the jungle, they find the overgrown remains of a SAL-400 worker droid.  Gizmo suspects that it’s been lying inactive for years, but for the most part looks intact.  Figuring it might help them find their way back to base, Gizmo does some rewiring to get the droid online.  Eventually, the droid activates, but turns out to be no mere droid: He’s Professor Honeycutt, alias the Fugitoid.  The Fugitoid explains his situation…

He used to be a scientist working for the Federats and General Blanque, but after an accident involving his menta-wave helmet, his mind was transferred into the body of his SAL droid.  Wanting the secrets to his transmat device for insidious purposes, Blanque dubbed Honeycutt a “Fugitoid” and sent his armies to capture him.  In his travels, he wound up being chased by both the Federats and the Triceratons.  Eventually, the Fugitoid decided to settle down on a planet with no intelligent life and that neither faction would find worth colonizing.  After stowing away on a garbage scow, he escaped to this “dump planet” and hoped to live a life of peace.  However, when his batteries wound down, he depowered and was apparently inactive for years.

When Gizmo tells him that the Federats have setup a base on the planet, the Fugitoid realizes he must escape at once.  Gizmo and Fluffy promise to help him and, following the flight paths of troop carriers and shuttles overhead, they spend the next four days headed toward the vehicle impound base.

Arriving, the three disguise themselves as LURPS (long-range recon patrollers) and bluff their way past the guards.  They then find the lot where ‘Soto is impounded and Gizmo uses his mental bond with the living ship wake him up (so he can knock a guard out with his driver’s side door).  They then remove the boot with the guard’s key and take off.

They decide to take cover behind a moon until their next course has been calculated.  However, before they can take off, they’re caught in a tractor beam.  Much to the Fugitoid’s horror, the beam is drawing them toward a Triceraton asteroid ship…

Fluffy Facts:

*The story concludes in Gizmo and the Fugitoid #2.

*Gizmo last appeared in the story “King for a Day”, published in The Collected Gizmo.  Fluffy’s history in the military can be seen in the stories “Peace on the Line” and “Monuments”.

*Professor Honeycutt recaps the events which led to his becoming the Fugitoid, which occurred in Fugitoid (microseries) #1.  Oddly, no mention is made of the Turtles and the framing of the recap makes it appear as though the events of the micro just recently happened.

*The Gizmo comics take place in the future, sometime after TMNT Volume 4.  The Fugitoid was shown to still be wanted by the Federation as recently as Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #54.

*On page 5, the photos behind the driver’s seat of ‘Soto are of characters from the Jim Lawson/Mirage series Bade Biker and Orson.

Review:

The continuing adventures of the Fugitoid!  Obviously, Eastman and Laird had wanted to do more with him after the initial outer space arc in TMNT Volume 1, but the little guy didn’t really have enough pep to carry his own ongoing or limited series.  So as they had with the Ninja Turtles, they elected to team him up again with an existing Mirage title: Gizmo.

According to the intro, Eastman and Laird had already mapped out the Fugitoid’s continuing storyline beyond his last appearance in TMNT (Vol. 1) #7, with Dooney’s characters being worked into the existing tapestry.  The result, though, is kind of weird on a chronological level.  There is no mention of the Turtles or how the Fugitoid became separated from the Utroms after his last appearance (where he went to go live in peace on their homeworld).  The recap he provides omits those adventures and goes straight from the events of the original Fugitoid microseries into the misadventure that led to his spending years inactive on a dump world.

I think they were trying to play fast and loose with continuity so as not to alienate new readers with a deluge of back story.  Keep in mind that in 1989, this was the first time the Fugitoid had been used since TMNT #7 (well, excluding the short tale “Terror by Transmat”).  In this story, the Fugitoid is deactivated for years, sort of allowing him to hibernate away the decades until his storyline catches up with Gizmo’s (whose adventures take place in the future).  Obviously, this extended hibernation period would get contradicted by TMNT Volume 4 and Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 stories, which show that the Fugitoid spent his missing time hanging out on the Utrom Homeworld, where we last saw him.

I’d recommend not thinking about it too hard (though clearly I already have).  Let’s just say that at some point between TMNT Volume 4 and Gizmo and the Fugitoid, Honeycutt got separated from the Utroms, escaped to the dump world and was deactivated for a few years until Gizmo and Fluffy found him.  Why he didn’t mention any of his adventures between his microseries and now, well, maybe he was just trying to be brisk with his life story.

Anyway, you really shouldn’t let all that silly continuity stuff bother you, because this is actually a fun and lavish-looking two-parter.  The story is very bare bones, but it’s more a means to convey Dooney’s glorious art, and he may be at his absolute career best with these issues.  There are a number of splash pages and two-page spreads that are simply eye-poppingly beautiful and he never spares the detail no matter how small his panels have to get to convey the story.  The jungle is lush and damp, the monsters are scaly and bizarre, the space vehicles are this zany mix of Buck Rogers retro and Star Wars contemporary, and the robots are all shiny as hell.  I mean, look at the Fugitoid on the bottom left of page 23; you can see the palm trees subtly reflected in his back and warped at a sideways angle.  It’s the little things like that.

Gizmo and the Fugitoid is more character-driven than it is story-driven, so the plot isn’t especially complex.  What really draws you in is the relationships shared by the cast and the friendly jabs they take at each other.  There’s a great balance between their strengths and foibles, a quality ported over from the Gizmo ongoing series, and no one feels more useful or useless than anyone else.  Fluffy’s a tough guy with a career military history, but he’s badly out of shape.  Gizmo’s a clever guy with a certain technical aptitude, but he’s got delusions of grandeur and is always looking for the easy way.  And the Fugitoid is of course a genius, but he’s also a trouble-magnet.

There’s a great dynamic going on and everybody is allotted their fair share of opportunities to both screw up and save the day.  It’s this sort of balance I appreciate in ensemble stories more than anything else, as there’s nothing worse than characters who are a designated “comedy relief fuckup” or "infallible god that can do no wrong".

Not much else to say.  While the story isn’t the most engaging, the gorgeous art and colorful characters certainly are, and they ought to draw you into the tale.  And at any rate, it’s fun to see a spinoff story starring one of the TMNT’s recurring characters and their adventures away from the main title.

Grade: B+ (as in, “Boy, I wish I had a bigger scanner so I could show you all the beautiful two-page spreads and also that I wasn’t too lazy to bother syncing the page scans together in photoshop”.)

Awesome Turtle Picture #015

The following pin-ups by Michael Dooney appeared in TMNT (Vol. 1) #9 and TMNT (Vol. 1) #13:

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Dooney's short-lived series Gizmo, so these crossover pin-ups with the main character Gizmo Sprocket are some of my favorite bits of bonus art.  Despite often being shown to coexist in the same universe, and even having characters such as Renet and the Fugitoid appear in various Gizmo comics, Gizmo and the TMNT never actually had a proper crossover beyond these two pin-ups.  Attempts were even made by Dooney to get a Gizmo toy produced for the original Playmates TMNT action figure line, but nothing came of it.

Beyond these pin-ups, the only other crossovers we ever got were a cameo made by Fluffy at the end of TMNT (Vol. 1) #47, when TMNT villain Chote is sent to the future timeline of the Gizmo characters, and a flashback cameo by both Gizmo and Fluffy in the short story "Credo" as part of a line-up of the Ninja Turtles's friends and acquaintances.

A Few Small Repairs

Originally published in: TMNT (Vol. 4) #6

Publication date: October, 2002

Story and art: Michael Dooney

“A Few Small Repairs”

Summary:

Fulcrum City on Tabula Prime.  After hours of work, Gizmo and Fluffy finish repairing a transport unit for a massive Kirbyte alien.  The Kirbyte transfers the funds into their account and Gizmo and Fluffy head out for some well-deserved lunch.  As Fluffy picks up some skump mellons from his old pal, Oskar, he’s bumped into by a pair of terrified children.

Fluffy asks what the matter is and the kids say that a mean man is after them.  Just then, a hulking brute brandishing a whip shows up, saying that the kids are runaway slaves.  Gizmo reminds the brute that slavery is illegal in the Commonwealth, but the brute doesn’t care, as the kids will net him 4,000 whatever the currency is.  Fluffy steps between the kids and the brute and says that he won’t let the kids be taken away.  Gizmo warns the kids to avert their eyes, as things are about to get ugly.

There’s a short fight and Fluffy handily (and violently) thrashes the slave-trader.  The kids introduce themselves as Elguay and Chystanna from Koshimo.  Gizmo promises to take the kids back to their village in ‘Soto, though Fluffy says it’ll have to wait until after lunch.  Gizmo warns the kids that they’d better listen to Fluffy, as they don’t want to see him when he’s mad.

Fluffy Facts:

*This is the first Gizmo story since “Sirensong” was published in 1992.  To date, it is the most recent.

*Michael Dooney has made the story available to read on his website under "Illustrations".

*In the opening editorial, Dooney says that he originally began a completely different Gizmo story, but it proved to go on too long for a back-up, so he shelved it in favor of this brisker adventure.  Dooney has yet to release the longer Gizmo comic, but I’m sure we all hope he does, someday!

Summary:

This was such a pleasant surprise when cracking open TMNT #6.  Volume 4 wasn’t big on bonus strips (most “extra” stories were reserved for Tales of the TMNT Vol. 2), so when I say that seeing a Gizmo strip was surprise, I mean it was a BIG surprise.

To see Dooney resurrect Gizmo after ten years of silence was a shock, but perhaps the lesser shock was seeing that Dooney really hadn’t missed a beat after a whole decade.  “A Few Small Repairs” looks and feels like it stepped right out of the ‘80s with perhaps only the digital sharpness to betray its youth.  Really, it’s just another day in the life of Gizmo and Fluffy as they go about their paces, encountering adventures both large and small along the way, and it makes for a real nostalgia trip.

While the story is more than a little saccharine, it serves as a strong reminder after ten years of who these characters are and what their outlook is.  Fluffy’s a big tough bruiser, but a softy at heart, while Gizmo’s more of a “go with the flow” kind of guy and tends to keep his distance from the action when he can help it.  To date, it’s the latest in the Gizmo series and makes for a fascinating bookend with the first Gizmo short.  In that tale, Gizmo is a thief and scam artist on the run from the law.  Here, he’s a guy that does honest work for a day’s pay and helps out little kiddies when duty calls.  The character has really grown and developed a moral center, his “wild” days behind him, yet this hasn’t lessened his ability to find excitement.

The longer Gizmo story that Dooney mentions shelving in the opening editorial leaves me with a sense of hope that we haven’t seen the end of our hero; that when the urge hits him, Dooney might finish it up and release it to the public in some form or another.  With a grand total of 9 full-length issues and 8 shorts, the existing Gizmo library could easily fit into one omnibus trade paperback.  Perhaps someday such a thing might see a release and ignite enough interest in the character to see some new material hit the stands, too.  But whether or not we ever get more Gizmo stories, we’ll always have the twenty years of adventures Dooney has given us.  And I'm pretty sure that their fun, carefree mix of laidback humor and action will appeal to any generation of comic lovers.

One Unconventional Robot

Originally published in: Michaelangelo (microseries) #1

Publication date: December, 1985

Story and art: Michael Dooney

“One Unconventional Robot”

Summary:

Parking ‘Soto in the city for a few hours, Gizmo and Fluffy endeavor to hunt down some lunch on their meager bank accounts.  Gizmo despairs that they only have enough cash for bread and water, but Fluffy tells him not to be discouraged.  Spotting a Robot Expo at the local convention center, Fluffy figures they might be able to score some free hor dourves.

Navigating the booths in search of grub, Fluffy is approached by an alien entrepreneur who inquires as to the model of his robot servant.  Gizmo is incensed at the slight, but Fluffy quickly silences his pal with a smack to the face.  Fluffy tells the alien that he represents Brockelton, ‘Soto and Sprocket Robotics, Inc. and that his robot servant is a brand new prototype not yet ready for the market.

Gizmo continues his outrage, but Fluffy muffles his protests with a headlock.  Fluffy says that this prototype is for a limited run series and, as a result, only very few preorders are being accepted.  The alien is quickly snookered by Fluffy’s scam and drops 150 of whatever currency they’re using to ensure himself a preorder.  Getting a load of the wad of cash, Gizmo promptly shuts up.

Leaving the Expo, Fluffy offers to treat Gizmo to lunch.  Gizmo, still astonished at Fluffy’s skill, calls his friend “an artist”.

Fluffy Facts:

*Among the robots at the Robot Expo are R2-D2, Robbie the Robot, the robot from Lost in Space, a Dalek, Maria from “Metropolis” and the Fugitoid.  Gizmo and Fluffy will properly meet the Fugitoid in Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1.

*The alien that Fluffy scams is designed after the lead characters from Kevin Lenagh’s Domino Chance comic, where Gizmo’s adventures were first published.

*An advertisement for TMNT can be seen (partly cut off) on Page 1.

*This story was reprinted in The Collected Gizmo trade paperback (December, 1988).

Review:

“One Unconventional Robot” is another early installment in Dooney’s series of Gizmo shorts, before the ongoing would come along and hammer out the rough edges of the characters and their ethical compass.  Keeping in line with the earliest installments, Gizmo and Fluffy are presented as morally ambiguous schemers out to hoodwink whoever is gullible enough to fall for their shtick.  In this case, Fluffy plays the con-artist and dupes an alien into forking over 150 bucks for a fake preorder.

I rather like these early tales, where the pair were a bit more amoral if still generally good-natured.  Fluffy, being the bruiser and tough guy of the duo, seems intended to take the edge off of Gizmo, if ever so slightly.  Were Gizmo to play it solo, he'd be forced to contain all the negative attitudes and occupations of a scam artist and thief; the introduction of Fluffy allows those negative qualities to be split amongst two entities.  So instead of one irredeemable crook, we end up with two rascally scamps and that works out better for everyone.

The highlights of “One Unconventional Robot” are the considerable number of Easter Eggs Dooney slips into the background of the convention.  I only listed a few in the notes section of this article, but I’m pretty sure that there were more that I couldn’t quite place.  Some of the cameos are even more in your face, such as Michigan J. Frog of Looney Tunes fame singing his famous ditty (you know the one).  So while the main story gag is far from a knee-slapper, you’ll pour over the 5 pages again and again just to digest the artwork and hunt down all the hidden goodies.

TMNT (Vol. 1) #47

 Publication date: May, 1992

Writer, penciller: Michael Dooney

Inker: Keith Allen

Letterer: Mary Kelleher

“Masks, Part II”

Summary:

In Feudal Japan, Renet has snuck off on her own, leaving the Turtles no alternative but to follow Mito back to his master, Oraga, for an audience (much to Raph’s disapproval). Renet, meanwhile, has honed her Timestress instincts (basically, her “woman’s intuition”) and has chosen to go off alone to follow a hunch. She is seized by Chote, but before he can steal the Time Scepter, Renet orders it to vanish.

At Gosei Castle, Mito tells the Turtles to stay put until Lord Oraga agrees to see them… tomorrow (much to Raph’s disapproval). At the mysterious shogun’s base, Chote returns with Renet. The shogun is furious that Chote has lost the Time Scepter, but knows that as long as they have the girl, it will be his eventually. Even stranger, the shogun seems to know who Renet is by name.

The next morning, Oraga agrees to see the Turtles, though he is not doing well. The shogun’s mystical attacks on his mind have rendered him sickly and weak. Leo is in the process of convincing Oraga to give them a detachment of samurai to raid the shogun’s camp and end his menace, when Oraga is struck by another mental blow from his nemesis, putting him in a coma. Mito sees to his master’s health, but tells the Turtles that he cannot approve their taking any samurai into battle until Oraga recovers… no matter how long that may take (much to Raph’s disapproval).

Days pass and Raph finds that Feudal Japan isn’t so bad, especially once he takes a pair of ronin (Oshi and Sato) under his wing. Two more days pass and Leo has waited long-enough. Leo rallies his brothers to storm the shogun’s camp alone (much to Raph’s disapproval). Wait, what? As it happens, Raph is content to stay and train with Oshi and Sato. Or so they think. After dark, Leo makes the discovery that Raph and his two pupils have left on their own.

Indeed, Raph, Oshi and Sato arrive at the shogun’s compound first, only to find it burnt to the ground. Oshi suggests that the wizard burned it himself while Sato finds tracks leading toward the mountains. Raph leaves Leo a note in the dirt and then the trio heads off.

Inside the caves, the evil shogun has made his new camp with Renet and Chote, impatiently awaiting the return of the Time Scepter. Alone, Renet talks to Chote, who isn’t actually evil but merely bound by bushido code to serve his master. Raph, Oshi and Sato enter the cave, but they’re anticipated by Chote, who attacks. The two ronin are quickly knocked out of the fight, leaving Raph to fend for himself. Luckily, Leo, Don and Mike show up and help him take down Chote.

They’re too late, as the Time Scepter returns and the shogun snatches it. The Turtles attempt to bring him down, but the shogun has become so powerful they can’t even touch him. He then reveals his true identity: Savanti Romero. Apparently, after their last battle, Savanti was frozen in time and left paralyzed at the bottom of a prehistoric lake for thousands of years. He eventually woke up and found himself in Feudal Japan. Knowing that the Gosei Spirit was his only means of affecting time and returning to the future, he began mystically attacking Oraga.

That was all Renet needed to hear and the cocky Timestress announces that she’s about to put the next check on her to-do list. Savanti attempts to blast her with the Scepter, but she deflects the energy and banishes him back to the age of dinosaurs (where he’s none too happy). No longer bound by his code of honor, Chote is free to find his own destiny. Renet suggests he go someplace where he might fit in better and sends him to the Omicron Seti star cluster, galactic year 1070 (where he finds himself amongst a gaggle of weird aliens). Lastly, before getting to the next item on her list (that kid with the flying DeLorean), Renet sends the Turtles back home to Northampton (where Hattori has made a full recovery).

Back in 1373, Oshi and Sato come to and exit the caves, alone. They swear to never speak of the strange creature that instructed them ever again, but to use what they have learned to form their own martial arts school. And as every journey begins with a single step, they will call their clan The Foot.


Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT (Vol. 1) #46. The story continues in TMNT (Vol. 1) #48.

*Hattori will return in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #22.

*Savanti Romero last appeared in “Spinal Tapped”. He will return in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #32.

*The Turtles reference their battle with Romero in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 1) #7 as their last encounter, though “Spinal Tapped” was written to take place after that story, creating a continuity error.

*Romero’s wife, Savanti Juliet, last appeared in TMNT (Vol. 1) #42.

*The Turtles will encounter Renet again in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #51.

*Fluffy from Michael Dooney’s “Gizmo” series can be seen amongst the weird aliens on the world Chote is transported to. The opening editorial promises that Dooney will be using Chote again in future stories, presumably in his “Gizmo” series. Alas, those plans never materialized and Chote isn’t seen again.

*This issue also contained an 8-page bonus “Space Usagi” back-up by Stan Sakai, “Hare Today, Hare Tomorrow”.


Review:

Michael Dooney’s “Masks” comes to a conclusion, but it does so with something of a whimper, I’m afraid. It spends a lot of time spinning its wheels as the Turtles wait for Oraga to see them and Romero waits for the Time Scepter to come back and most of the issue is just spent… waiting. Lots and lots of waiting. Even Raph’s training of the two ronin only amounts to a few pages and neither Oshi nor Sato receive any characterization or personality. The origin of the Foot Clan made for a great ending stinger, but it seems tacked on as an afterthought (most of their training under Raph ocurred off-panel).

And what the heck did Renet do for the five or six days everybody spent sitting around waiting? Was she in a prison cell? Was she tortured? It is never addressed. In fact, while the narrative boxes make sure to tell us that many days are passing while the Turtles are at Oraga’s, Renet’s time at Romero’s camp seems to be passing by at a different speed (unless it really took Romero a whole day to have Chote bring Renet through the door to speak with him).

The showdown with Romero is also a major let down. It’s amusing to know that Renet was merely “playing possum”, waiting for Romero to make the mistake of revealing himself, then cast him back to prehistory without even an exertion of effort, but that still makes for an underwhelming climax.

Romero has always been a villain played for laughs, yet there’s no humor to him in this storyline. Dooney characterizes him as deadly serious and intimidating, too, which is unfortunate. Without the edge of humor to make him a bumbling villain, Romero simply rubs off as obnoxiously incompetent and a waste of everybody’s time. I’m not opposed to a serious interpretation of Romero, just don’t defeat him in a page and a half because he presents no genuine threat.

What saves this half of “Masks” is the art by Dooney, which is of his usual excellent quality. Even though the majority of the issue is spent with the characters waiting around, doing nothing, it’s still pretty to look at. And while the climax with Romero was a waste, the battle with Chote in the cave was pretty sweet (and especially interesting is that Don delivers the finishing blow, not Raph or Leo, the two focal Turtles of this story).

The second half of “Masks” doesn’t quite live up to what the first half promised. There are a lot of good ideas in here, but none are given time to develop. We get the origin of the Foot Clan, but we learn nothing of the founders and the “training” delivered by Raph is mostly unseen. Romero makes his big comeback, but is defeated a page after he does so. Hattori comes back after being absent from the series for years, but spends the whole thing sick in bed. Chote is sent to live in the future world of “Gizmo”, but Dooney never utilizes that plot thread in any “Gizmo” comics.

In the end, you’re just kind of left wondering what all really happened in this story arc besides a whole lot of pretty art.

Grade: C+ (as in, “Can’t say I have a problem with pretty art, though”.)

TMNT (Vol. 1) #13

Publication date: February, 1988

Art and story: Michael Dooney
Letters: Steve Lavigne

“The People’s Choice”

Summary:

Hiking through the forests of Northampton, the Turtles follow Casey’s directions to an abandoned house on the edge of a lake. As Don climbs to the roof for a better view, Leo insists he come down before he hurts himself (Mikey realizing Leo is still spooked from his defeat at the hands of the Foot). Don climbs up anyway, just in time to see a shooting star come careening toward him. The “shooting star” demolishes the old house and lands in the lake. After Don gets his bearings, the Turtles investigate the lake, and are met by a giant robot. Raph jump-kicks the badly damaged machine, breaking it apart and revealing an unconscious woman within. The Turtles take her back to camp so she can recover.



Meanwhile, in space, the evil Moriah is infuriated that her ambush on Jhanna did not destroy her as planned. Moriah decides to wait for Jhanna to send a distress signal, then finish her off in person.

Back on Earth, Jhanna recovers, and after instantly learning English and recognizing that the Turtles are no threat, she tells her story. Apparently, on her planet of Slandon, after being elected by the people, the new ruler is required to defeat the previous in battle before they can take office. Jhanna was on her way to the agreed upon place of battle when Moriah unlawfully ambushed her. Jhanna sends a distress signal so she can be picked up and begins meditating for her inevitable battle.

Moriah intercepts the distress signal and lands in Northampton, bringing along with her a quartet of alien warriors to tip the scales in her favor (a rock-monster, a slug-monster, a teradactyl-man and a multi-eyed, big-mouthed thing).

Moriah and her henchmen find the campsite and the battle begins. Jhanna still wishes to win the election honorably, so the Turtles agree to fight only the alien monsters. Leo stabs the multi-eyed, big-mouthed thing in the head, killing it, then proceeds to help Raph with the slug-monster. The slug seems impervious to blades until Raph discovers that it dissolves in water. With Leo’s help, they drive it into the lake. Raph is then plucked-up by the teradactyl-man, but sends him spiraling down to earth, landing on the villain to cushion his own fall. Meanwhile, Mikey is getting clobbered by the rock-monster. The rock-monster hurls a grenade at Don, who bats it back at him like a baseball. The grenade lands in the monster’s mouth and explodes, killing him.



With the field evened, Jhanna tells the Turtles to stand down while she takes on Moriah. Moriah begins to take the upper hand in battle, but Jhanna knows that it is her duty to free Slandon from the tyrannical rule of Moriah’s family. Jhanna wins the battle, but rather than kill Moriah, she opts to brand her flawless face with a symbol of her defeat. Jhanna then beams her victory back to Slandon and she and the Turtles ditch Moriah to wallow in defeat.

Don watches over Jhanna as she rests from her battle before falling asleep himself. In the early hours of the morning, Jhanna receives the transport signal. She cuts off her warrior’s braid and lays it over the sleeping Donatello before disappearing.



In the morning, Casey and April arrive in their car to pick the Turtles up. Naturally, they don’t believe a word of their story. Don, however, is speechless as he looks wistfully into the sky, clutching the braid in his hand.


Turtle Tips:

*This story is continued from TMNT (Vol. 1) #12. Chronologically, the story continues in TMNT (Vol. 1) #14.

*Leo was “trashed by the Shredder’s goons”, as Mike puts it, in Leonardo (microseries) #1.

*This issue also featured a front inside cover with a Turtle Tracks foreword by Eastman and a dedication to Jack Kirby. Backmatter included an ad for TMNT #14 (more of a center insert), an ad for Tales of the TMNT #5 (by Eastman and Ryan Brown), Quest For Dreams Lost #1, an ad for TMNT Limited Edition Hardcover collection, an ad for Melting Pot by Eastman and Eric Talbot, an ad for Richard Corben's Children of Fire, an ad for Commandosaurs by Laird and Stephen Bissette, a two-page ad for the Playmates TMNT toyline, and an ad for Archie's TMNT Adventures #1. The back inside cover included a pin-up of Leonardo and Gizmo Sprocket by Michael Dooney and Peter Laird.

*This episode was adapted for the 4Kids TMNT cartoon as the season 4 episode, "The People's Choice".


Review:

The “Exile to Northampton” story arc consists primarily of one-shot stories that rely on the Turtles being in the right place at the right time for something weird to happen. Factoring in the Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 1) issues that take place in this timeframe, a few of the stories introduce recurring characters and villains… but most of them don’t. “The People’s Choice” is a story that doesn’t really offer anything lasting other than the knowledge that Michael Dooney is a kickass artist.

Considering all the subsequent outer space adventures the Turtles would go through, particularly during the Volume 4 era, you’d think that Jhanna might have made a comeback or something; the fact that they helped save a planet from another term of corruption and tyranny might actually be an important footnote in intergalactic politics. But like a lot of Mirage stories, it’s simply a one-shot with no impact whatsoever. The Turtles help Jhanna win her election and never see her again. Don is visibly smitten with her, possibly his first crush (that we know of), and nothing ever comes of it. “The People’s Choice” is an interesting story but it offers nothing in the grand scheme of things.

But taken as it is, as an isolated tale, it’s definitely “neat”. The electoral system of Slandon is certainly wacky, but a nice compromise between the terrestrial democracy we recognize and the stereotypical “barbaric alien ruling class” stuff we get so often in science fiction. There’s an election, sure… but you still gotta kill the other guy.

This is Michael Dooney’s first issue since TMNT (Vol. 1) #9 and you can really see his style evolve. While his Turtles aren’t quite at the model we recognize (they’re more beak than cranium, given really weird skull proportions), they’re practically there and Dooney’s sense of action staging and humor is top notch. He adds a lot of cartoony effects, like Xs in the eyes or swirls above the Turtles’ heads when they get knocked out and it strikes a nice balance between action and comedy.

Dooney is a very talented painter and he brings that skill to his inking (I’m pretty sure I’ve made this comment somewhere before in my reviews) and his inks are a gorgeous complement to his pencils. There’s so much depth and dimension to the characters, particularly the heavy shadows, that really make the pages pop. And man, does he do metallic surfaces like a champ.

“The People’s Choice” is an issue with an okay story (you’ll learn to live with the “right place/right time” plot devices in Mirage’s TMNT comics because they do it all the time), superb art but no real necessity to any continuous narrative. So, in that last regard, I suppose it could probably qualify as “skippable”, but you really should check it out, anyway.

Credo

Originally published in: Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #33
Publication date: April, 2007

Story: Will Tupper
Art: Eric Theriault
Letters: Erik Swanson

“Credo”

Summary:

Sitting at a typewriter in the attic of the Northampton farm, Donatello feels inclined to try and define who he is into words. Not an easy task, as unlike his brothers, he can’t seem to pin down what makes himself tick. So he opts to simply collect his disparate philosophies together and try to make sense of them.



Don considers that everything he knows he didn’t have the luxury of learning in a proper school, but from teachers, both good (Splinter) and bad (Baxter Stockman), as well as some lofty “institutions” (TCRI).

He sees the unnatural world as built on models from the natural world (the Foot Soldiers have “bug-eyes” like insects while towering skyscrapers mimic great trees) and that everything incredible began as elemental. He feels there should be a better antonym for “conflict”, perhaps a “proflict”.

Looking back on all the friends he’s made in the past couple of years, he realizes that true allies come in all shapes and sizes. He also realizes that practice doesn’t make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect. However, one should be careful not to obsess over their lesson, should that end up destroying what they endeavor to create.



Finally, Don settles on boiling these ideas down to a simple fact: never stop learning or growing. At 16 years of age, he considers this to be his credo.

Don signs the paper “February 18th, 1987” and decides to leave it at that.


Turtle Tips:

*This story takes place during TMNT (Vol. 1) #11, following the February 17th entry, showing what Donatello was writing on the typewriter in that scene.

*Don faced Baxter Stockman in TMNT (Vol. 1) #2, dealt with TCRI in TMNT (Vol. 1) #4 and TMNT (Vol. 1) #7 and fought the Foot Clan in TMNT (Vol. 1) #1 and most recently (to this story) TMNT (Vol. 1) #10.

*The group shot of friends on page 5, from left to right: April, Casey, the Fugitoid (TMNT Vol. 1 #5), Gizmo Sprocket, Fluffy Brockleton, an unidentifiable Utrom, another Utrom that looks suspiciously like Ch’Rell from the 4Kids cartoon, Renet (TMNT Vol. 1 #8) and Hattori (TMNT Vol. 1 #9).

*Incidentally, aside from pin-ups of the Turtles and Gizmo by Michael Dooney published in TMNT (Vol. 1) #9 and TMNT (Vol. 1) #13, the Turtles have never actually met Gizmo or Fluffy. Renet would appear in a Gizmo story, “King for a Day”, while the Fugitoid would meet Gizmo and Fluffy in Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1. How the Turtles met him remains an untold tale, apparently.

*The story "Thoughts on Paper" is a nice companion piece to this one and takes place roughly around the same time.

*This is part of a series of character-themed back-ups by Tupper, the others being “The Mother of All Anger”, “Secret Spirit”, “Practical Jokes”, “Fathers and Daughters” and "Conflict Resolution".


Review:

I found Will Tupper’s character dissections of the core TMNT cast to be some very intriguing back-ups and always a joy to encounter during the run of Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2). “Credo”, though, is likely my favorite of them all.

I think what gives it that extra boost is the fact that it fills a small narrative gap left incomplete during the early days of TMNT (Vol. 1). In TMNT #11, April hears Don typing furiously in his attic study and ponders what he’s writing. The only glimpse we see is Don standing by a window with crumpled-up paper littering the floor, apparently unable to properly articulate whatever it is he was trying to write. Eastman and Laird never revisited this mystery and just what creative project was eating away at Don went unanswered for almost exactly twenty years, comparing publication dates.

What Tupper comes up with is a very well-researched and well-executed vignette that fits the narrative of TMNT #11 like a glove. At that point in the series, the Turtles were recovering from their defeat at the hands of the Shredder and were each dealing with the loss in their own way. The Turtles spend the five months covered in TMNT #11 basically trying to “rediscover themselves”, drifting apart in order to do so. “Credo” shows Don, the logical and science-minded Turtle, trying to quantify his very essence into words and frustratingly failing to do what’s basically the impossible.

So what we get is Don listing the various philosophies and observations he finds the most profound, and that when taken as a whole, they might help define his character. Don’s musings are accompanied by visuals that help to put an image to his often abstract words, and in that regard, artist Eric Theriault does a great job of matching the spirit of the prose. I particularly liked page 6, where Don warns that practice can lead to obsession which inevitably leads to destruction; this was personified appropriately with Leonardo, perfecting his swordsmanship to the point of destroying a tree in his zeal.

The line-up of Don’s friends and acquaintances is a little… strange, thanks to the inclusion of Gizmo and Fluffy. The fact that we never got a proper Gizmo/Turtles crossover is a rather bizarre mystery to me, as such a thing would seem like a given, but ah well. It’s kinda satisfying to know that they met somewhere, at sometime. Hey, maybe that pin-up from TMNT #9 is canon, now!

Would've been cool if Kirby had made the cut, in retrospect.

“Credo” is my favorite of all of Tupper’s introspective character dissections and an excellent accompaniment to TMNT #11, sewing up a loose thread you may not have noticed was there but certainly needed the attention.

Grade: A- (as in, “Although I question Donatello’s friendship with Ch’Rell”.)

TMNT (Vol. 1) #9

Publication date: September, 1986

Story: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
Pencils: Michael Dooney
Inks ‘n’ tones: Eastman, Laird, Dooney, Ryan Brown and Jim Lawson
Letters: Steve Lavigne

“The Passing”

Summary:

In his room in New York, a young Japanese man awakens from a nightmare filled with samurai warriors and a strange symbol.

Elsewhere, in the sewers, Splinter trains his four pre-teen Ninja Turtles: Leonardo on the katana, Donatello on the bo staff, Michelangelo on the manriki-gussari and Raphael on the tonfa. With lessons completed, Splinter goes to meditate. He feels a presence attempting to contact him from across the astral plane. The next day, Splinter gives his sons the afternoon off while he searches for the presence.



His searching leads him to a dying old man in Japan named Gosei Hatsumi. He is the avatar of a mystical warrior power called the Gosei Spirit that has been passed from father to son for centuries. Alas, his son, Gosei Kenji, has created a criminal empire in New York and become unworthy of the Spirit. Only his grandson, Gosei Hattori may be worthy of the legacy, though Hatsumi is dying and the opportunity to transfer the Spirit grows short. He asks Splinter if they may switch bodies for the next ten hours so that Hatsumi may save Hattori from the criminal life of his father. Splinter agrees without hesitation, even though if Hatsumi’s body dies with his soul in it, Splinter will perish as well.

Having access to Splinter’s memories, Hatsumi immediately rallies the Ninja Turtles for a secret mission to Goseico. They infiltrate the top floor penthouse of the massive skyscraper and find Kenji and Hattori preparing for dinner in the garden. Hatsumi orders Leo to stay with him while his brothers perform reconnaissance. Searching the office area, Don and Raph overhear a pair of corporate go-getters, Takahashi and Iwata, discussing their plans to assassinate Kenji and Hattori during their dinner (and thus inheriting the company and criminal empire for themselves). Don and Raph return to Hatsumi with the news and he dispatches them to find and kill the assassins.



As the Turtles take out a quartet of Foot Soldiers, Kenji and Hattori enjoy their dinner. Kenji has big plans for his son within his empire, though Hattori is more interested in continuing his studies after college and pursuing the old ways of his family. Unfortunately, the Turtles miss one of the Foot Soldiers, who comes at the Goseis with a gun. Kenji shields Hattori from the bullets as Leo takes the Foot Soldier out, but the wounds prove instantly fatal.



Hatsumi approaches Hattori, who is reluctant to believe that the old rat is his grandfather. Hatsumi then draws a strange symbol in the dirt; the symbol of the Gosei Clan. Hattori recognizes it from his nightmares and believes Hatsumi’s words. As the Turtles guard the exits, Hatsumi transfers the Gosei Spirit to Hattori. He finishes just in the nick of time, as Hatsumi’s body dies and Splinter returns to his proper place at the last second. Suddenly, a fifth Foot Soldier drops through the skylight and attacks. Using the Gosei Spirit, Hattori defends himself and kills the highly trained assassin. Hattori thanks Splinter for all he has done, though Splinter reminds him that what he does with his family’s legacy is his choice, and may he choose well. Standing over his father’s dead body, Hattori considers those words.

Traveling home across the rooftops, Splinter tells the story of what was really going on to his clueless sons, who thought that he had just been acting strangely for the past few hours.


Turtle Tips:

*“The Passing” takes place before TMNT (Vol. 1) #1, when the Turtles were still pre-teens.

*How Splinter learned to astral project will be revealed in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #2.

*Hattori will meet the Turtles again in TMNT (Vol. 1) #46.

*Hattori will reclaim Goseico, and Takahashi and Iwata will get their long-overdue just desserts, in Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #22.

*The leadership of Goseico under Foot control will be detailed in TMNT (Vol. 3) #24.

*This issue also contained a front inside cover with a Turtle Tracks foreword by Laird. Backmatter included an ad for Bade Biker and Orson, an ad for Rockola #1, an ad for Dark Horse pewter miniatures, an a 6-page excerpt/ad for “Rip in Time” by Richard Corben and Bruce Jones. The back inside cover included a pin-up of Raphael and Gizmo Sprocket by Michael Dooney.

*According to TMNT #8, this issue was supposed to contain a Rion 2990 back-up by Ryan Brown, However, it was not printed here.

*CHET ALERT: Page 3, there is a restaurant named “Chet’s”. The name “Chet” was an in-joke inserted into several TMNT comics by the Mirage staff because… they just liked that name!


Review:

Here we have the first pre-Teen Turtle story of the series, and get ready, because there’ll be plenty more. However, unlike the 4Kids cartoon, whose pre-Teen Turtle episodes were almost routinely the worst output of the entire series, the pre-Teen Turtle issues of TMNT were usually a welcome and fun diversion (in fact, most of them are just shorts, with only a few being full-length issues). “The Passing” shows us a side of the Turtles’ upbringing that a lot of later issues tend to overlook: that Splinter trained them from birth to be assassins. Splinter was their father and he loved them, yes, but he raised them with the singular purpose of killing the Shredder and avenging Hamato Yoshi.

While most pre-Teen Turtle stories simply show him training them in the martial arts like kids at tai kwan practice at the mall, this story shows that before they’d even hit 13, they were already straight-up murdering Foot Soldiers and not giving a damn about it (their nonchalant attitude toward killing in this story makes it expressly clear this wasn’t their first time). So with that in mind, “The Passing” is rather dark in comparison to other pre-Teen Turtle stories, or at least paints their youth with a less jovial brush. I mean, hey, if you’re going to raise a quartet of kids for the sole purpose of murdering your arch rival, they have to start somewhere, right?

There are a lot of nice touches in this issue, though, particularly in the weapons the Turtles use. Mike is shown wielding a manriki-gussari and whining about wanting to use nunchakus; a nice moment showing that he had to work his way up to the weapon. Raph’s tonfa are given less of a focus, but still, I’m always thrilled to see the Turtles using weapons other than their mandatory action figure accessories. And dark though their childhood may be, Mike still goofs off and Splinter still scolds him, adding at least a little bit of levity. There’s at least something of a “father/son” dynamic present here and not exclusively a “master/student” relationship.

As for Hattori, he’s a character I’d like to have seen more of but wound up being a bit squandered in the Mirage series. He’d make three more appearances between this volume and Tales of the TMNT, all of which were good stories, and definitely had the potential to be a strong recurring character. His history with the Turtles runs deep and his familial legacy runs even deeper, offering quite a bit to work with. The Mirage series was very unfocused for a great length of time and the potential to develop a cast of recurring characters wound up flying out the window. Characters like Hattori, Nobody and Radical only amounted to a handful of guest appearances when they could have been used to much greater effect. As much as I like Casey Jones, there should be more humans involved in the Turtles’ adventures than just him.

Anyway, as another “milestone”, TMNT #9 is the first issue of the series to see the art delegated by Eastman and Laird to somebody else; in this case, the immensely talented Michael Dooney. The Mirage crew as we recognize them was still growing at this early point in the TMNT franchise, with this also being the big introduction of Jim Lawson and Ryan Brown; two more mainstays of the Mirage crew, joining up with the already attached Steve Lavigne. The opening editorial from Laird welcomes these “newcomers”, whom by now we all recognize as Old Guard, which ought to give you a good impression of how early in Mirage’s infancy this is.

Dooney’s style is definitely different from how we recognize it today; looking very much like it’s trying to copy the visual flavor of Eastman and Laird. I get the impression that was an intentional maneuver on Dooney’s part, so as not to disturb the artistic flow of the series for the readers. The bonus pin-up included in the issue is very much in Dooney’s standard style (albeit with a bigger beak on Raph than usual), so that’s one of the other reasons why I was left with such an impression. I think Dooney shines brightest in the decompressed, silent action sequences as the Turtles deal with the Foot Soldiers. The pages where Mikey drowns a Foot Soldier in a fountain and when Leo takes out one with a shuriken are definitely my favorites.



I suppose if this story suffers anywhere, it’s that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a pre-Teen Turtle story. Their age isn’t really a factor in anything significant and the Turtles hardly speak or put their personalities on display at all. It’s much more of a Splinter story, even if he spends the bulk of it on a deathbed, and the Turtles are just along for the ride.

Hattori isn’t a character everyone cares about and if you don’t like him then I can see why “The Passing” wouldn’t appeal to you. Though as a pre-Teen Turtle story, it shows a darker dimension to their upbringing more in-tune with Splinter’s speech from TMNT (Vol. 1) #1, describing their grim purpose in life. So for that reason, it’s definitely one of the best issues covering that era.