TMNT Dimension X Review

Hi, this is Bobby Curnow, Chief Turtle Editor

at IDW Publishing, and you are going to have

a shell of a good time inside the pull bag. Welcome

to The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig out our latest

comics and discuss them with a rotating panel

of the GCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy this

week's Pull Bag. It is sewer surf in September

2017 in October for some odd reason we have no

idea why folks But we are continuing on here

inside the pull bag with episode 154 I am one

of your host if you're Mike joining me is my

totally turbulent tube that I can't even talk.

Holy crap Nice try. Move to central time zone

and I get all kinds of fucked up. Totally tubular

turtle friend Mr. Joe Reed, we are here to talk

about the epic five part event TMNT DX Q Triple

H and Shawn Michaels, please. Yes, exactly. So

yes, Joe is here, I am here. We're going to be

talking about this five -part mini -series that

they have done over at IDW. This was the August

event for Turtles, yes. August was a five -week

month. This one is a little different. than most

of the other events usually like you look at

casing April one writer one artist they've taken

the TMNT universe approach with this five different

writers five different artists and I'll be excited

you know of course I read these in the car on

the way home but I not while I'm driving while

sitting in the car and I wonder now If I'm gonna

see that there's different styles that the storytelling

is different Because the artist art is definitely

gonna be different, but I wonder if they're they're

playing off They're ripping off of yeah styles

the I think the most notable thing about this

dimension X Storyline is okay. So in in ongoing

turtles They're they're back in dimension X and

crank is on trial and at the end of issue 73

Kind of the turtles are you have to go find these

witnesses for cranks trial go and then because

there was a five -week month we get the mini

series where every issue and They tackled a storyline

of turtles going and fetching some witness praying

for cranks trial and Be the the neat part is

that of the five issues. It is one gigantic connecting

covered. Yep Done I just brought the first name

That would be... Nick Batara? Nick Batara. I

think so. Yeah, I like the... Oh, that's where

I got jacked up. I'm looking at issue one now.

Cover by Nick Batara. It's five that hook together.

It's a wrestling ring with stump and sling. And

if you were a fan of the Archie Turtles... Stump

and Sling are on the wrestling asteroid where

the turtles go and put cool suits on and wrestle.

Turtles go to space and that was a really fun

arc back in Archie and we're getting this lead

up to what is kind of a throwback to that event.

The interiors of issue one are done by Pablo

Tunica and I like this guy. since there was a

variant a while ago, I think Leonardo on a little

scooter, and there's something very Muppet -like

about their faces that I jive with, and then

I also just like where he's sticking the weapons

on them, and Leo's actually got two curved katanas

with the strands that kind of have this other

visual aesthetic. So I like this dude's art.

Yeah, when I first realized it was another connecting

cover, and I told you that it was, I mean, I'm

pretty sure you knew, but like... didn't it took

me at like I've read this twice I read this back

in September when we were originally gonna record

this and we couldn't because I had something

come up for you at whatever it doesn't matter

but it's one of those things where I looked at

each one of these covers as I'm reading through

the issues the first time around I'm like wait

that looks like and then I clicked out of it,

and I looked at the series page on Comixology,

and I'm like, yeah, they are connecting covers.

And I'm like, dude, these are connecting covers.

And you're like, yeah, we got to find it. And

I found one. It'll be in the post. The only problem

with it is, the one that I found is that the

title and the numbering for each of them is in

the image under each section of where the covers

would break. I like where you would cut the covers.

You know what I mean? um honestly looking at

the full image this way it doesn't really bother

me like tmnt dimension x five times across the

thing kind of does but like having the look i

wish the number part of it because it's all all

five issues leo's head i wish it was like all

four turtles and then maybe ace duck or something

or i don't know i've got leo raff leo mike leo

okay well This one, the image that I found, the

one that will be in the post, the full image,

the one that I found was it's all Leo heads.

So I'm sure, obviously you have the physical

issues, I don't. I'm sure they are all different

physically, but whomever put this together to

have the connecting cover do that, which again,

I love it when they do that kind of stuff. I'm

looking at these first time that I've taken these

five issues and tried to hook them together They

don't line up all that. Well, there's there's

a quarter of an inch missing here. Yeah, and

and We're losing somebody's knee pad here in

the in the gap It's probably trimming issues.

I imagine it's probably not something that they

can really quality control, but Yeah, you know

what it just it just means I need to go to a

convention. I need to to to talk to Nick and

buy a print of the thing. So hey, thanks for

giving me something to do IDW. There you go.

Or you could just wait for the eventual trade

and maybe the full image will be in the trade

without the numbers and all that. So yeah, fold

out. Yeah, exactly. So this first issue is written

by Paul Allor. Everyone will remember Paul. He

did Turtles in Time. He's done several other

Turtles things. As you already said, Pablo Tunica

is on art. Sean Lee on letters. Bobby's on editing.

And obviously Ted Adams is the publisher for

IDW. I like the way you say Tunica better. OK.

Good job. I don't think I'm saying that right.

OK. I think you got it. Good job. So we start

out we're in orbit around the planet GOMO and

We have this bounty hunter dude, and he's um

doing evil things He's reading books and listening

to music Yeah, that too. He's an interest This

is interesting new villain that we're given here

this weird kind of shape -shifting bounty hunter

in a suit -looking thing. Hark, or Hark, I don't

know. Hacker, there you go. That works. We get

to the Turtles, who are all kind of joking around,

that kind of stuff, and they're looking for their

first witness, and that's one of the things,

because I have not read 73 yet, so... because

the way I wanted us to do this was 73 to 75 would

be the trial of Crang and yes I understand this

falls between 73 and 74 but I just originally

figured oh we can do this all at once because

it's just that after I read it the first time

it's just them going and getting the witnesses

so they're looking for these witnesses to testify

against Crang at his trial for all the crimes

that he has committed against you know thousands

and thousands of people. Millions upon millions

and you know wiped out civilizations. Yeah And

you know You change crying from being pinkish

to orangish. Well, you know, there'll be hell

to pay Yeah, I know alright so we get this little

furry blob looking thing that's the witness apparently

and the planet they're on is all about emotions

and how emotions allow you to change color depending

on what you're feeling and this is a very inside

out kind of feel to me the Pixar movie yeah I

didn't like that movie I liked it I thought it

was kind of funny although San Francisco really

screwed up pizza but anyway So Hacker gets in

there and convinces the little dude that the

turtles are the villains, which obviously is

not the case as the little dude finds out later.

What are you thinking as we go through this first

chapter of Dimension X? We have the opportunity

to see Hacker doing one of his many games. This

isn't just a... A villain that relies on strength

or stealth or chemicals or some weird niche.

He has different tools that he uses. He's incredibly

skilled. And here we get to see him gaming with

charisma. He's a D &D character with a high charisma

score. He's talking this alien into believing

what he needs him to believe to get what he wants

out of it. Which I think he's on the mission

to murder these guys, I think. Yes, he is. Yes

Yeah, we we find this out at the end of the series

here, but essentially Hacker was sent by Krang

spoilers So the turtles get caved in on from

the bomb that hacker plants and he tries to get

away and This is where the turtles figure out.

Oh what I love about this is after they get they

get trampled in the cave there. And Hacker is

explaining his line of work to the little bee

-een or whatever the little alien dude's name

is. Yes, you know, being a hero. The hero profession.

A lot of heroing. And because I'm a heroic hero,

I'm afraid I have to tell you the truth. The

Warlord Crang really is on trial and we really

do need your testimony. And it's like... Wow.

We get the origin of the little emotion dudes

and how Krang came into their planet and basically

used them for, you know, reading people's emotions

during torture and oh my god. I mean, we knew

Krang was an evil jackass, but wow. Things that

get revealed that he has done to people in this

series damn And it's it the the characters of

shredder and krang who when you know the 90s

we grew up watching the cartoon They were they

were partners. They were they were equals This

series you you got to see krang you got to see

shredder and the way that they built them as

diabolical and evil and sinister and conniving

in his Babs backstabbing as they each are There

was no room for them to partner up. There was

no chance of that ever happening. And I loved

that they baited us with that, but then yanked

it away. And this is one of those diabolical

things that praying is up to that I think would

even be beyond shredder. to a point yeah I mean

we all knew like back when we hit issue 37 the

cover it's you know shredder versus krang by

that point in in the series from IDW we kind

of knew okay they're not gonna team up and I'm

glad they didn't because they have two very different

agendas that this isn't May he rest in peace.

This isn't Uncle Phil and Pat Fraley, you know,

Shredder and Crang. This isn't where, you know,

Crang is the overlord and Shredder's the dumb

underling, even though he wasn't that dumb in

the 87 cartoon. But you know what I mean. It's

like, this isn't that. This is a much more serious

version of each of those characters. And that's

why I think... and I'll say this until somebody

chokes the air out of me, this is the best version

of The Turtles. Comics, cartoons, whatever. I

mean, I know the 2012 series is very, very good,

but just everything that Bobby and Tom and Kevin

and all of those people have done, all of the

artists over the last five or six years, just

everything has been so amazing. When we get to

issue four later my jaw dropped when I first

read that I was like, oh My god, they finally

got him and I already mentioned his name earlier,

but we'll talk about him later so the turtles

realize that the planet is based on emotions

and you know Raph is like, okay. Well if it's

based on emotions, I'm gonna use mine and he

breaks them free and and They go after the the

ship Hacker ship here Guys I think I just figured

out what a motion -based physics me. Yep, Mikey

flying through the air. Mm -hmm Is that does

that mean that he's high as a kite? Hey, wait

a minute. There's no strings on him though Yeah,

so we get to hacker ship and being is being question

is kind of asking hacker some questions about

why there's so many weapons on the ship and everything

else and of course it comes to the natural oh

guess what your your your trip is going to end

very swiftly because i'm going to kill you now

wonder why that when he waited so long to do

that dramatic tension Well, he had trapped the

turtles so they had we needed time for them to

escape and he he's he's convincing Bean or however

you say is because I'm not gonna call him bean

or or Ben Because it just there's a there's a

comma between the B and the first E. So it's

bean He needed time to escape he needed the ruse

to keep going up until this certain point I guess

because this is right as the turtles channeling

his anger to rip the ship open he's like he's

like they're like oh there there it is we're

too late and ref's like I don't think so Mikey

stinky feet and this helps him crash into the

ship and yeah So the ship goes down, they save

the little dude, Bean, and they get away, and

so does Hacker, and they have somewhat of a fight

with him, a little bit, and we see a little bit

of his shapeshifting ability, and ability to

kind of disappear and morph around you, and all

of that. Yeah, he's pretty wicked. It's when

you take the turtles who are used to fighting

the foot ninjas, and you make them have to work

harder by giving them things that don't. work

with ninjitsu they don't work with martial arts

and yes a shapeshifting poison gas emitting liquid

metal dude is is gonna gonna do that I love the

the panel oh my pages aren't numbered where Leo's

uppercutting him and those beautiful motion lines

on on the arm yeah someday I gotta try drawing

something like that with that cool motion blur

never done it before yeah that would be very

very cool Yeah, when Leo's hitting all the yeah

the uppercut oh So cool Well, yeah, it's all

done by Pablo Okay, it didn't list right if it

had listed Rhonda on colors. I would have said

it So they convinced being to go with them to

testify against crane and He's talking about

I must say I am I mean I was incredibly impressed

by your performance Among my kind such strong

emotions are displayed only by those on the cusp

of full maturity at a time when their Orbs are

rapidly changing and their hormones are running

amok you mean like teenagers yeah uh -huh so

we get hacker kind of disappointed when all these

other orbs come out and he's like oh no use getting

upset over it and that's how the first issue

ends I love how weird this is stop it knock it

off don't do that Handles defeat in these issues.

He just kind of brushes it off. Yeah, I'm gonna

be back at it Yeah, he doesn't give up. He doesn't

get frustrated. He doesn't throw a fit or knock

something over. He just alright next time I Should

also like to point out that the neutrinos car

is a fancy hot rod looking thing with wings Yeah,

but definitely a different design than something

as Most definitely human like one of the cartoon

was so we get our our hot rod and teenagers from

dimension X absolutely and they and that they

show up here and they show up later in the series

too I wasn't sure if we were ever gonna see Zack

and Kala and I forget the other no I know they

are yeah no absolutely they're humanoid like

I don't know they're they're better as getaway

drivers for now so issue 2 of TMNT DX uh... is

written by ulysses farina farinas uh... and sorry

dude uh... eric fretas uh... art is done by michael

oh god he told me how to say it thank you yes

uh... you know letters by sean lee edits by bobby

and publisher ted adam so i guess the artists

are doing all the coloring as well on these i

would assume Because it's five different art

styles, so... Yeah, and even I'm looking at the

colors here, and I'm actually, I'm like, gosh

man, that looks like some physical stuff there,

not digital. I'm mostly on the spaceship thing,

but the rest of that's digital. But it's beautiful,

it's really well done. Very well done, absolutely.

So we start this issue off with Raph, you know,

not seeing why they're there. Let Dimension X

figure itself out. And Leo, of course, is the

other side of the argument, as he always is with

the two of them, and that's fine. And they're

like, hey, guys, look, it's a cloud whatever,

cloud beast or something. We then go back to

a flashback to five years ago, and we see giant

face. chest -looking dude, sumo guy, I don't

know what his name is off the top of my head

until Krang actually says it. Anon. I think Mikey

ends up calling him Annie, so we'll just do that.

No, he's no relation to any Skywalker, thank

you very much. So, Krang is like, every relationship

must evolve, and I want you to give me, you know,

the... the coordinates to his people's food supply

and and all of that and He gives him the number

and now I'm wondering if the number means anything

to IDW TMNT because it's 2012 0 9 1 5 so September

15 Yeah, September September 15th 2012 I don't

know when the issue launched? I thought they

launched in 2011. Alright, hey, you keep summarizing.

I'm gonna go look at what day of the week that

was. So we get a really really disgusting looking

image of Greg close up. He says, every relationship

must evolve, even ours. I know you were lying,

Anemon. Anemon, that's what his name is. Loyalty

is never absolute. I prefer to preempt any betrayals.

So, Animon pretty much dishonors, you know, his

family and all of that and he betrays Krang and

wants to escape and ends up kind of banished

on this planet that the Turtles are on currently.

Where he's like, this is... We meet this eye

guy who I guess his name is actually imu or imo

or whatever I wonder where curly and Larry are

Yeah, yeah So these two meet and any mon is blind

and broken and just doesn't Isn't feeling too

good about himself for betraying his people to

you know for crying, and Imu is like, uh, yeah,

I can help you, and we go to four years ago,

where, you know, it's been some time, and they've

been, you know, together for a while, Anamon

saves him again, uh, he calls him Ai, and, uh,

Anamon, uh, basically, um... meld's eye into

himself and they become one. Yeah. So there's,

we're led to believe that this is, uh, that it's,

it's Anon here, shov, it's capturing the, the

eye, this, this friend. Right, yeah. And, and

serving, making him serve him, his, his hair

kind of grows around him and he becomes this,

his eye on the top of his head. Yeah. And so

the, the guy whose face was formerly his chest

and stomach is now It's closed. It's kind of

shut down. He talks through the mouth, but the

eye is his he is seeing through the eye. Yeah

So he's blind but Capturing this guy. Yeah, and

I think we're caught up here with the turt with

him telling the turtles What yeah, yeah his origin

story, which I really think is fun, and I like

it a lot September 15th was a Saturday Don't

know what that was either Bobby you'll have to

let us know we're Tom or somebody who knows So

Basically, they're gonna the turtles are talking

about how they're gonna fight animon and all

of that because animon is talking this big game

he's this master sumo and and all of that and

everything else and Breakfast lunch and dinner

and it's gonna be an all -day buffet Refresh

he's the game here is that he'll Testify if they

beat him and they have 24 hours to beat him.

Was that the game? They had yeah, they have until

sundown to beat him Yeah, I'm gonna go back and

make sure Yeah, yeah, that's what it was And

if they didn't if they didn't win they basically

just leave him alone Because he wants to be left

alone. He doesn't want to even be fighting them

So he goes through with the fights and Mikey

goes through with these amazing amazing purple

looking pizza things Tiring him out getting a

belly full and you know what this reminds me

of It's a pre -fight donut! Toga and Rezar. We

haven't seen them in this series, have we? I

don't know. Hey, and you know what? They can

use them. That's interesting that he came from

the same movie as Jordan Perry and they can't

use Jordan Perry or Kino or Tatsu, but they can

use Toga and Rezar because they did in 2012 series.

Interesting. I wonder you know why it's because

they were toys Keno and Tatsu and Jordan Perry

were never toys. Yeah, which is kind of sad.

Yeah, I would like to keynote toy So they get

him all tired and worked and and and full of

food, but then it's Leo's turn they had been

Donnie and then Mike and rap, but now it's Leo.

It's almost sundown, but the turtles I can't

believe they did this I kind of felt a little

like they were being manipulative they will go

behind the dumpster or the guy will throw Leo

away but then Leo takes off his headband and

gives it to his brother they switch headbands

and then he comes back out well Mikey comes out

wearing Leo's headband and so they're getting

a chance to rest and they're tiring this dude

out really shady but funny and and they So they're

wearing him out, but the battle concludes as

He's I think he catches the finds out that the

game is on and Charges one of them falls off

a cliff the the eye guy. What are we calling

him? He's I move Imo. Yeah, just to save him

Self, I think leaps out wraps itself around a

branch and oh plops his the symbiotic thing it

did the whole The eye is safe but then he's falling

down. We see him, the eye dives. The eye lets

go and goes down there after him. Interesting.

Yep, he does. He goes down there after him because

he wants to save him. They're still separated

at this point. Another one of these cloud beasts.

Looks like an angler fish. Yeah. Um... Animon

says, I'm not the same without my IMO, and, like,

he's my mouthpiece, and he's like, uh, you know,

I didn't say that. IMO was just trying to gas

me up. You know, he's his hype man. IMO is the

Paul Heyman to Animon's Brock Lesnar. Just watch

2002's Rollerball, you'll see Paul Heyman in

there, with Chris Klein and a bunch of other

people that no one cares about anymore. So he

basically says, Imo saved him and he's not a

prisoner, because that's what the Turtles thought

originally, was that, you know, Imo was the slave,

and it's not a master -slave relationship, it's

a symbiosis as you've said, it's kind of like,

you know, Spider -Man and... And the symbiote

at first. And the neat thing is when they're

separated, their personalities are ever so slightly

different, but when they're together, they're

the one personality that the big guy here does

not have any fight left in him. He's tired, he's

done, he doesn't want to have anything to do

with it, but Imo's giving him that strength and

power. Yep. And after they beat the Cloud Beast,

it's wrath of all people being the voice of reason

and giving him a reason to live and, you know...

wow just raf being the voice of reason that just

what world are we living in oh my god this is

dimension x after all um so we see hacker an

hour later pizza is still warm i must have just

missed them what good is a blind witness anyway

kind of defeats the point and that's how this

one ends man i You know, you said at the beginning

of this, you were kind of worried or wondering

about how the writing style was going to fit

throughout all three, all five of these. I think

it fits pretty damn well. Like, I didn't know,

like, there are certain comics and certain things

that you notice. It's a full story arc, but it's

two different writers that just, it's so, this

is very connected. And that's what IDW is always

good at with the writing, is that... always,

always, always, always very, very connected.

And I think we have Bobby to thank for that too,

kind of keeping that consistent time. Oh, absolutely,

absolutely. Bobby runs the ship here and, you

know, it's a whole turtle team effort and everything

else. And I don't know what I want. Well, I love

this. I love the consistency that they're able

to pull off. When I see these five issues and

five different artists, I almost want them to

be slightly different tones. And then universe,

too. I want to see the turtles in very strange,

different situations that they don't usually

get into. And then because of that, the writing

style changes, the genre changes. Part of me

wants to see that. More but but no, this is fine.

I don't I don't want this to end the you know,

yeah both the same time That's great. But this

is this is awesome. And it's good to see that

despite the artist change the art changing we're

getting these wonderful stories that surprised

me and like this one did especially with the

I being the dominant personality when we thought

he was the Yeah, the captive. Yep. Absolutely

uh... so issue three we've get ovary citizen

on writing art is done by carrie randolph with

colors done by john roush letters by sean lee

and it's by bobby kernau publisher tapp adams

this is the wide world of turtle wrestling everybody

because this is the wrestling issue and and That

big fan of the the art in this one. It's different.

It's looser. There's more of that Comic bookie

digital kind of spot tone duo shade stuff going

on in different places a more graphic Style on

the turtles big bold blacks big bold outlines

But yeah, and almost kind of a Dan Duncan shape

to some of these turtles and some of these panels

But it's it's just it's nice. It's it's a more

expressive and I'm jiving with it But we are

we look yet that we are looking at stump asteroid

here. I think that's what it was called back

in the day. Yep Yep, yep. Yep, and the turtles

are going wrestling and I love this and I wanted

to get these I have not gotten them yet and I'll

give you a link later but not Mattel wow hell

no playmates and maybe it was Mattel is it Mattel

no playmates and Hasbro or whoever has WWE right

now I forget might might be Mattel I'm not sure

anyway there are TMNT WWE figures so like Leo

is John Cena or Donny is the Undertaker, Raph

is Sting, Mikey is Macho Man there's like two

or three different series now yeah yeah yeah

series two just came out and and they're as other

but oh man I love those action figures so friggin'

cool. That's what this issue reminds me of is

those. Poor Mikey. He's like, what do you mean,

pretend? Oh no, Mikey didn't say that. The guy

in the background said that. Looks like our witness

has found us. Greetings and welcome. To stump

asteroid and yeah, the tree stump is is the is

the guy who is the witness and and Yes, quite

literally and he wants the turtles to fight in

grapple ganza, huh I'm the color comment a he's

the Jerry King Lollard That's funny So Yeah,

he's the commentator. He's not the promoter for

it and and Mikey is is Ready, you know ready

to do his his thing. He's ready to wrestle. He's

oh my god wrestling. Yes. I love wrestling Raph

watch out for his other arms Mikey. Would you

relax the whole thing's fake fake fake? And then

Raph gets his ass handed to him. You know, I

never understood the whole wrestling is fake

argument. Like, what do you mean fake? That dude

literally climbed a ladder, jumped... fell 10

12 15 feet and landed on the table what's fake

about that because my gosh yeah like i don't

care that they're writing the stories that doesn't

that doesn't matter what matters is these men

are incredible athletes wrecking their bodies

for our entertainment and they're great at what

they do I think what they more so mean about

it being fake is, and I've been doing a wrestling

podcast on GCRN and This Week in Geek for two

and a half years now. Yeah, I know you're a bigger

fan than I am. That's okay, that's fine. I'm

just saying that I think the reason why a lot

of people say it's fake is because they'll look

at a wrestling match and see, like if you've

got somebody rolled up. Getting ready for a pin

they might whisper to their partner. Okay kick

out after two or something like obviously We

can't hear that but it's very well choreographed

to where it may look like it's fake to some people

It's more in the up close like not the not the

dives off the cages or the dives off the off

the top rope or You know going from one end of

the ring to the other. It's not that stuff It's

the up close stuff that people think is is is

fake and what do you think if it's not i mean

yes it's it's scripted but it's not fake and

that's maybe it's a word choice thing that i

will stand up and defend wrestling i don't get

into the stories i don't know anybody's name

but uh you know hey if somebody invites me to

a pay -per -view at bw3 and it's free and i get

to eat wings watch people do amazing athletics

i will absolutely go see uh sweaty muscular men

throw each other around it's entertaining this

is entertaining too I'm looking at the I'm on

the page with the panel the close -up with Mikey

wide pupil -less eyes with the white highlight

that looks like a physical brush that whole panel

looks mm -hmm a hand colored to me man stuff

like that makes me want to draw right now oh

my god cool yeah very cool so they eventually

convinced the stump dude to to go. Oh no, so

they have to fix Grappleganza because he feels

that they've ruined Grappleganza and they have

to basically face a crying hoon and all of that.

I don't know you didn't do you didn't read Archie

back in the day? No, I didn't know so the the

costume the turtles are having to fight Other

they're they're all gonna be there, but they're

the outfits that they're putting on our Outfits

that were the wrestling outfits from the Archie

series so Leo with that with that the Wolverine

look at the mask and yeah Donatello with the

sunburst stars the historically the important

part about these costumes were that back in the

day in the mirage days when the Eastman and Laird

were messing around with the turtle designs there

are sketches out there that they both did where

each of them was in a different outfit and these

are the outfits that they wore because they wanted

to differentiate them they wanted them to be

more different than just the same turtle with

a red headband and that this was one of the things

and so it those designs ended up in the Archie

comic ended up in what we are looking at here

and it's wonderful Yep, very cool, very cool.

So Hacker eventually comes in and ruins the whole

thing and... Again. Again. Oh and it's a tag

team match and they're in the ring together and

Crying Hound is weeping over here because he's...

Crying Hound don't take kindly to be left out

because nobody's tagging him in. I also got excited

seeing the turtles in this fight and Raph in

his costume his he's got black Just about everything

black mask over the head in the Archie series

When he came back from when the turtles came

back to earth from the asteroid Raph stayed in

that black costume for a very long time Almost

a year and even then after that the mask came

off and he was a black body and then the shirt

came off and he had black pants and to gradually

transition back into being a traditional looking

guy. So I was really kind of hoping that they'd

have let him keep that black outfit and that

he'd be wearing it in the regular series for

a number of issues because I'd have been all

over that. Yeah, absolutely. It reminds me of

Black Spider -Man. Nah, I wasn't going to go

there. I was going to go on another raft. No.

No, no, no. Raf in the 2007 CGI movie when he

was the Street Avenger or whatever his name was.

Night Watcher, there you go. And he's like, yeah,

but our partners are in trouble. And besides,

don't you want to get in the ring, Mikey? And

Mikey's like, cowabunga, dude. And he just comes

in and kicks hackers ass all over the ring. Nice

fight sequences, love the various colors and

all of that here. And he calls them his stump

thumpers. That's a name that's gonna stick. Nah,

probably not. Let's hope not. Are you nuts? We're

almost killed getting out of there. Exactly,

that's how you know it's not an angle. Absolutely.

Love this. And is that Leatherhead at the end?

Are you following this? Not really. Hologram?

Maybe? Yeah. Like, what's going on there? I don't

know. Maybe, maybe they're in... Communicating.

Yeah, in the beginning I thought... Professor

Honeycutt was hologramming. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

they're on the ship. Okay. Cool, cool, cool.

Hologram, hologram. Alright, so this one ends

with, you know, somebody saying wrestling was

fake and crying hoon is like, get away from me,

I'll show you fake boy. The we also get to see

the turtles are kind of treachery obligated to

return to stump asteroid to wrestle again So

I'm hoping we get to see those costumes come

back hoping we have another chance for raft to

wear black and stay black. Oh absolutely, I Really

like this last preview image that I'm looking

at on the page here. They're in there in a bar

lots of red wonderful lighting That's kind of

a nice page, and I don't think that's what no

that's not what my cover looks like I have a

hook together wrestling covers yep So issue four

issue four is probably my favorite of the five

It's written by Ryan Ferrier Ryan Ferrier for

those of you that don't know wrote oh hot damn

for IDW he has written his own series that that

was a creator on series for him with IDW he started

out doing other things with monkey brain comics

called Dave D4VE and he's gone on to do Dave

2 and Daveocracy kind of playing into the whole

election thing last year and everything else

and he's just a really really cool writer I know

he had a gig on one of the other TMNT universe

issues so we'll see him again once we eventually

I know I keep promising it folks we will get

to TMNT universe at some point but I was so stoked

to see him here Chris Johnson is on art, Mark

Inglert is on colors, Sean Leon letters, Bobby

Kernow on editing, all of that, and we go to

Palma Dice City. Holy moly, this place is bonkers.

I don't remember this issue at all. How can you

not remember this? That's what I'm wondering,

like I can't wait to get to see what it is. How

can you not remember this? Like, oh my god, this

is like... The issue, like, I've been waiting

since issue one for this guy to show up, like,

how do you not remember? So, yes, Professor Honeycutt

is a hologram, um, and Leo's like, totally, but

our eyes should be on one thing, Mikey, finding

our next witness for Crank's trial, and press

- that task may prove to be challenging, Leonardo.

Not only is - palmatize the most dense planet

in the system, it's also the most dangerous.

An entire planet with money as its core foundation

breeds a certain less than savory reputation.

Your target is more elusive than most. Not a

lot is known about him. And what is known is

questionable. He's become a bit of a legend throughout

several systems. Of course he has. Gentlemen,

I would proceed with caution and a little luck

wouldn't hurt you will most certainly need it

So they're walking around this little city thing

and Mikey's just oh Disgusting. I love it. Oh

aggressive. I love it. Oh irresponsible. I love

it Mikey's turned into a bit of an irresponsible

guy and he started gambling and and Yeah They

run into who they're looking for. Looks like

we're not the only ones looking for Ace. Exactly,

and what kind of duck are we dealing with here?

Oh my god, they finally brought Ace into the

comic! Little ten -year -old Mia is just like...

Crapping his pants cuz oh my god. I had ace as

a kid as you know the original god Oh, I was

wondering when they were gonna be able to bring

ace in here And this whole comic is just so great

just because of that simple fact alone that it's

ace friggin duck I think he was one of the wrestlers

in The old Archie series mmm, and I don't remember

much about him from that I you know I had the

toy to remember his little brown hat and the

little egg yeah yeah but Chris Johnson draws

and the colors on Ace oh my god yeah he does

kind of but he looks like a cooler launch pad

like yeah exactly my wife and I need somebody

who knows what they're doing here I don't know

how to do this thing that I'm doing Jenny the

he's a much I'd say he's a combination of launch

pad Han Solo and John Bender from st. Elmo's

fire like he's that Badass 80s teenager mixed

in with Han Solo and Launchpad. He's much cooler

than Launchpad. I flipped through this issue

just now. And I know why I don't remember this

issue. Because I didn't read this one in the

car! Oh my god! You never do that! Oh my god.

I thought I read it, but I didn't. You never

not read stuff in the car, dude. What the hell

was going on? And I gotta... Oh my god. So yeah,

Ace is super, super cool, and they need him,

and... Nice to meet you, Botticelli, or whatever

your names are. Now, cut the nice guy act of

valiant effort. Yet I award you no bounty. Tell

Papa Chum to send some scarier goons next time.

And Ace basically takes his jacket off, bears

his wings, and we see various scars on the right

side of his body, and he flies off. I see so

these these gangster goons attacked ace turtles

showed up helped him out. Mm -hmm. He think yeah

They're after him there after him for the same

reasons. Yeah, and they're not wait Yeah, and

then like yeah, okay cool and we get his His

origin story, which I love that. They did this

in the muted yellow. Yeah for the whole friggin

thing that was so cool they did that absolutely

love that normally I don't like one specific

color on the flashbacks but because it is one

artist and not two. Some comics will have the

main artist on the art, but if it's flashbacks

or whatever, or if it's future time, they'll

have a different artist. I like that they used

the same artist without needing to change the

art style, and they just changed the color tone.

I think that was so cool. And Ace's backstory.

Oh my god. So good. So damn good. I absolutely

love that. I think my favorite part of this issue

is seeing all of them in their clothing. There's

a panel later. Easy does it, bros. Just act natural,

Leo says. Lovely day for a train ride. Jolly

good tunnel. And Donny, of all people, is the

one that says, Mikey, shut it. This panel alone,

Leo in the trench coat kind of thing, Mikey in

the biker jacket looking thing, Raph in some

jean jacket, bully looking thing, Ace in his...

Traditional jacket and jeans and then Donnie

and some sort of Indiana Jones looking to get

up just absolutely love that Try that is so great

subway. Yeah on a subway on a different planet.

Yeah Hard to be discreet though when hacker Finds

you and rips the back off the subway car and

yeah Starts a fight damn bounty hunters found

me that guy. He's kind of with us that right?

Well, then good luck with that fellas ace cuts

and runs splitsville for ace and Sorry kid, you

gotta fly. Wait, we have a cool red hot rod.

It's cool. And that obviously sets it up for

later where Ace is gonna steal the car. I love

the panel here before we get to that where Leo

says, now's our chance. We gotta get off this

train. And they all jump for it. Oh, I love that

panel. Love that art is so good in this like

if Chris Johnson did more like in other Not just

in the main ongoing, but if he does others. Oh,

I'm gonna love it because I just love his art

style It's got that glove like that photo glossy

kind of look to it where it's not totally photo

realistic, but it's still Got that sheen to it

and no I don't mean Charlie or Martin or any

of those family members And yeah, Mikey won the

lottery and apparently he's rich. Ace runs off

with the Red Hut battle cruiser thing and, hey

dude, I won, help me carry this, I think you

have a gambling problem, Mike. And in case you

hadn't noticed, we are stranded on a very angry

planet. Also, there's that and heck are comes

after them again Huh, I'm some more money problems

man like he was oh yes more money more problem

I Love that song Mo money mo problems love that

song. Absolutely. What a 90 shtick So the bounty

hunter dudes like dead or alive this system or

any other I want that duck and they start betting

on him and betting on who's gonna catch him and

Raph and hacker have a little bit of a battle

here, and they quite literally head butts and

Raph gets his head cracked and Mikey tries to

start gambling until a heck are grabs him and

Da da da da da! Ace stuck to the rescue! I don't

know who you are or what your deal is, but I

suggest you beat your feet before I blast you

all the way to Bellerophon. And he starts using

the weapons. Ace! Ace is back! He's so cool!

Yeah, real cool, leaving us to handle the Android

Assassin. And they have a discussion after he

has, you know, after he does, you know, Hiya

fellas, you didn't think I was gonna just steal

your ride and leave you here, did you? Actually,

behind the dead. Yeah. Rule number one, always

run if you don't have it, have, don't have to

fight, it's quicker. Rule number two, always

bet on ace. Rule number three, I'm driving, adios,

palmadeis. Unbelievable. And of course Raph is

ready to just beat Ace to shreds and I'm a duck

of action I get things done one way or another

and they have this really really cool discussion

amongst all of them and Ace finally gets it and

he's like You know leave no soul behind I get

it now and oh, man. I hope they team these guys

up again That guy's gonna be a lot of fun I do

hope we see him again. Yes, absolutely, absolutely

loved it. Loved the final thing. This whole series,

and we just finished talking about issue four,

folks, it's weird, it's awesome, it's cool as

hell, but it doesn't feel like it's the heaviness

that, and I'm not saying this in a bad way, the

main ongoing. is dealt and does continue to deal

with very heavy issues. This is a mixture of

things. I think it's more fun than message overall.

Because essentially it's them, as we've said,

it's them on an adventure to find these witnesses.

Yeah, the reason this miniseries and a lot of

the miniseries have that feeling of fun, I think,

is that we are getting to see those more obscure

characters that we all remember playing with

as toys and maybe didn't have a story outside

of whatever we invented with our head cannon.

So those are the things that I think make these

feel more playful than the actual story. Yeah,

the actual story does deal with those heady topics

and I think this even you know, he's stuck watching

his comrades die and Yeah, no. Yes. Yeah, it's

friggin a stuck and he's a swashbuckling Harrison

Ford like mm -hmm tough guy and hey, that's cool

And I do think after going through this He does

need to come back there and and that's that's

the story of IDW is that IDW introduces something

and it's amazing And we want more of it, but

because there's so much cool stuff that they

have to do that they want to do, it'll take a

while for us to get back to it. But it'll come

someday, because... It'll come someday, absolutely.

Here's to issue 200, guys. Don't stop. Yes, exactly.

What I notice now with issue 5, and I don't know

if it's in every single issue, under the story

so far, there's a little asterisk that says...

Editors note reading TMNT 73 before this issue

is suggested but not Required so I love that

Bobby threw that little note in there to anybody

just reading this series alone Yeah for me I

don't mind that I have not seen or read issue

73 at this point Because I look at this is okay

Something happened in issue 73 that they are

now on this adventure to find these witnesses

And okay, I'll read issue 73, 74, 75 afterwards.

Final issue here, issue number five, story by

Devin Grayson, art by Craig Rousseau, colors

by Leonardo Ito, letters by Sean Lee, edits by

Bobby Kernau, all that good stuff. And we go

to a planet of plants, planet Totus. And this

is a very different art style. Completely, like

this is more of the Nick Turtle adventure comic

stuff, like TMNT adventures kind of. Yeah, stylistically

there's something going on with this and it'll

come to me. Yeah. So, Hakkar is on this planet

of plants and it's all one big giant organism.

He just tries to start blowing it away and yeah,

not good We see Zack and Calla You know Leo's

like, okay guys, let's review what we know about

this planet. It's populated exclusively by botanical

life botanical Plants but plants that can think

and maybe move around a little Attack of, yes.

Exactly, not like Killer Tomatoes according to

my research. Very peaceful. I like the backgrounds

in this. I like the art style, but like I said,

it's more in the style of the adventure comics

that they're currently doing with Nickelodeon

and IDW, so I'm not really too... thrilled that

the the IDW main continuity turtles kind of look

like the Nick turtles not Specifically like the

Nick turtles like they like I don't see Greg

Sipes's or hear his voice with Mikey here But

just it's too similar to that for me But that's

just a little nitpick on the art So the turtles

have an interesting time trying to figure out

What this planet of plants is Kind of reminds

me of mogo in the Green Lantern universe like

the entire planet is is the witness kind of thing

Hack our goes and destroys more stuff Donnie

and Leo think they have a plan but Leo's like

this is gonna work isn't it and Not quite kind

of works, but not really And the plant people

are still trying to figure out what the turtles

are. They can't quite wrap their head around

the fact that they're individual organisms kind

of thing. I love where Leo says, which is why

we'd like to ask your permission to collect evidence

in the wastelands ourselves. Raf's like, we would.

We have Zack and Kala again, which is nice to

see more of them Getting chased by something

something yeah, I think they're critters from

the planet probably and They're gonna play a

game of hide -and -seek in the asteroids So yay

another Star Wars reference So they go to the

wastelands and they find this one Polly who apparently

was Ostracized or was was a virus or something

and she kind of attacks Mikey and Gassed him.

Yeah, she gassed him and Raph's like yeah, yeah

something Raph's like gotcha Let me go. This

is my territory. You do not belong here. Oh,

you're a little feisty little one, aren't you,

buttercup? So, we get more of their, or we get

this one plant's origin here. In one horrible

second, I was severed from everything I had ever

known. I lost my purpose, my identity, my, my...

your family because that's what we are a family

and if you hurt Mikey I swear I'll grind you

into grass mulch it was just concentrated pollen

it'll wear off any minute now and then Mikey

went and smoked some weed I know I said no anchovies

this is not my pie pie he means pizza excuse

me please pizza Why would I want furry fish on

my slice? Why snap out of it Mikey would you?

Greetings honored guests. We are polyglot and

we regret to inform you that Mutants may not

pass beyond this boundary. You're gonna stop

me pipsqueak. It means me And this is the little

buttercup plant thing cuz she you know she says

This is how Todus views me now, a criminal, a

parasite. I do not expect you to understand,

but our planet is a complete organism. We are

all one. And one for all! Way to throw in a Three

Musketeers reference and Mikey's like, girl,

we all about that. Like Will Smith is voicing

him or something. Oh my god, no. You know Donnie

you're a genius and they figure out that you

know Polly can be the ambassador of this planet

and she can go off to other worlds and and You

know very very very cool Love this at the end

here. You were right about everything The witnesses

are plants can't even leave the planet good good

one less thing to worry about You didn't run

into those infernal turtles, did you? They were

there, but they didn't get anything either. They

didn't? I think they did. I think they did, yeah.

Issue five, absolutely love it. I think it was

so fun, so interesting. We have five different

planets that the turtles have all gone to. Five

different... species of character kind of thing

and just so cool just I think Raph says on that

last page let me make sure that was Raph because

you know colors can sometimes shift the lighting

yeah it's Raph because he calls her buttercup

yeah and there's there's that family word I don't

you can't throw that around in the turtles world

and that's a loaded word And it goes back to

the whole thing of Raph, you know, Raph likes

the pets. Technically Buttercup is not a pet,

but I mean, you know, he's got, he's had Slash,

he's had this, he's had that, he's got Pepperoni,

you know, all of that. And that's what Raph has

always been. He's always had the pets in all

of the incarnations of himself. He's always been

affectionate to the animals and the plants more

than most of them. Except for Mikey in the next

series with Ice Cream Kitty, which Ice Cream

Kitty still freaks me out. Mikey had clunk in

the old, old series, but the raft still, yeah,

generally is the one that had the pets. Had the

pets, yeah. TMNT DX, absolutely love it. The

whole series... There were several things with

the various art styles It's more the last one

was a little too jarring for me of a change of

art style the others kind of all fit in together

this issue five just It fit but it didn't really

fit and I guess that's kind of the point of it

Overall I'd give the whole series four and a

half out of five. That sounds good to me, too

I think I think this series is one of the more

enjoyable mini series just kind of It's it was

more fun. You got to see a lot of these characters

from the old books that that they show up again

So that's mm -hmm. I I think what would give

it more than the before? That I would ordinarily

give a miniseries that was disconnected in in

constant not inconsequential, but extra books

Yep, absolutely Any other final thoughts on TMNT

DX No, I do I do hope that eventually we get

to see Way more of these characters that got

introduced here hacker. I think is a lot of fun

And I want to see the turtles face off with him

again Yeah, he is very much so much fun Yeah

for a bounty hunter. He did a lot more than Boba

Fett ever did I mean all that did was getting

eaten by the sarlacc I mean come on Yeah, not

really I Mean I finally understood it when there

was more like if you read the The Django and

Boba Fett and Boba Fett is dead like those two

trades which are now part of Marvel since it's

not Dark Horse anymore or whoever used to have

like after reading those I got those and I Understand

it now, but like the Boba Fett love from the

original trilogy. I don't frigging get whatsoever

Story for me to care nope So TMNT teachers turtles

dimension acts five part miniseries absolutely

loved it Where can the people interact with you

online sir? The best place to get a hold of me

is on the geek stuff garage sale page if you

go to facebook .com slash geek stuff garage sale

Send a message there ask me questions. Whatever

you'd like to do regarding the podcast That's

that's where to get a hold of me Awesome. I am

at TFG1 Mike on Twitter You can follow at the

pull bag on Twitter also follow at geek cast

radio for all the other network updates You can

also check out The Pull Bag on Facebook. I think

it's Facebook .com slash The Pull Bag. I don't

know. Link will be in the show notes, folks.

For now, make your greatest game of the comics

and join us in late October throughout November

for Out of Time October, where Steve Megatron

joins me to talk about the IDW Back to the Future

comics. Great, Scott. This is going to be heavy.

The show? You fail The latest episode of The

Pullback, the GCRN's comic review and discussion

podcast. There are several ways to get in touch

with us and leave feedback for the show. You

can visit the website, geekcastradio .com, where

you can comment on the episode and all of our

different podcasts. You can rate our show on

iTunes. Be sure to leave us feedback. Call the

voicemail line, 502 -526 -5821. Please remember

to tell us the show you're leaving the message

for and your name Become a fan of us on Facebook

by searching Geekcast Radio Network Send us an

email feedback at geekcastradio .com Follow us

on Twitter at Geekcast Radio So until next time

make your great escape into comics and unleash

the geek in you