Originally published in: TMNT Amazing Adventures #7
Publication date: February 10, 2016
Story: Caleb Goellner
Art: Dave Alvarez
Colors: Heather Breckel
Letters: Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow
"You Win Some, you Shoe Some!"
Summary:
Down in the lair, the Turtles are all having a good laugh at Casey's expense. Apparently, the night before, he stepped in some wet concrete while fighting Bebop and Rocksteady and had to leave his shoes behind. Suddenly, Casey returns to the lair and shows off his new kicks. The footwear impresses the Turtles so much, they all demand shoes of their own. Donatello gets to work, implementing all the design requests his brothers lobby at him.
The Turtles and Casey then hit the rooftops for their nightly patrol and soon find Hun and the Purple Dragons robbing a shoe store. The Turtles test out their new shoes, but each special feature seems to cancel out another: Raphael's soles pop out when he kicks, Michelangelo's get scuffed too easily, Leonardo's squeak too loud while he's trying to sneak, and Donatello... just gets smashed in the face because apparently he sucks.
Casey rallies his friends and tells them to use their sho's the way they were meant to be used. The Turtles fling them at Hun's ankles and they tie his legs together with their laces. The Turtles then use their shoes like flails to bash all the Purple Dragons into submission.
Back at the lair, the Turtles apologize for making fun of Casey earlier about his shoe dilemma. They now realize that footwear is more complicated than they thought. Casey tells them that they did just fine, as shoes were meant to be broken in and worn out.
Turtle Tips:
*The series continues in TMNT Amazing Adventures #8.
*Hun first appeared in the season 3 episode "Casey Jones vs. the Underworld".
Review:
The Turtles obsess over shoes. Now there's a plot I never thought I'd have to summarize.
Goellner pens a fun, pun-heavy script filled to the brim with technical and stylistic references to shoes, shoes, shoes. He definitely did his homework. As for me, I always buy the same pair of New Balances whenever they fall apart; I ain't picky about my feet.
The Nickelodeon version of Hun makes his debut in IDW's Nick-based comic. He's much weaker in this story than he's portrayed in the show, though this was a comedy relief backup strip so it wasn't like we were going to get a huge, drawn-out showdown or anything. The Nick version of Hun was a pretty big departure, at least visually, from the character as we've recognized him in the 4Kids cartoon and Mirage and IDW comics. He's pretty much just Bruce Lee with Hun's name slapped on. I want to like him, but he's been around for two seasons and has hardly done anything.
Alvarez employs a lot of the anime influence stuff on his pencils. It fits the aesthetic of the Nick cartoon, but it's a choice the cartoon went with that I never liked. I do love how elastic the characters get when they're struck by a blow. Everyone turns into rag dolls and you can feel the impact of the hit. So it evens out.