TMNT Issues 73-75: The Trial of Krang

Hi, this is Bobby Curnow, Chief Turtle Editor

at IDW Publishing, and you are going to have

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Radio Network. So without any further ado, it's

time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here inside the pull bag. Hello and

welcome to The Pull Bag. This is episode 325.

That's right, folks. 3 -2 -5. I am, of course,

TFG1 Mike. And it has been almost 11 months to

the day. Well, it has been 11 months. It's almost

been a year to the day. September 27th, 2017

is the last time you heard myself and Mr. Joe

Reed. Hello, sir. Hello. Yes, the last time you

heard us talk, TMNT from IDW. A whole year without

TMNT Comics, folks, from IDW. And IDW sure has

come a long way in a year with their TMNT main

ongoing, with the TMNT Universe, with... Bebop

and Rocksteady hit the road. There's a whole

bunch of TMNT IDW stuff coming and going and

doing and whatever, but it has been a whole year

since we did almost, since we did, at the time

it was episode 154 .5, but seeing as how we now

have better math and we're over 300 now. it's

a whole thing and meth is not my strong suit.

Um, so it's not your, I hope not. Yes. Well,

I call math, math at times. Cause it's just,

math is just as bad as meth to me. Um, so TMNT.

uh issue 73 to 75 the trial of krang is what

is on on tap tonight uh before we get too far

into it what the heck have you been up to i haven't

talked to you in a year well one of the reasons

you haven't talked to me is that none of my other

friends have talked to me either very much because

i got uh involved um uh with with my new job

i moved I mean, this was a long time ago that

they put me at the new position. I'm now teaching

trade school, construction, design type stuff.

And we are very involved with the industry in

the area. And we have industry partners and meetings.

And it consumes my brain space. I get home not

spending that much more time at work than I used

to. But I was like... I'm done thinking. I'm

done reading. To be honest, I don't think I've

read a Ninja Turtle comic since we last recorded.

I've been buying them, and I will always buy

them. I'm never going to not buy Ninja Turtle

comics, and I'll read them eventually. But my

golly, I'm so behind. I have a big old stack.

But I think rereading these issues for this podcast

is kind of like, yeah, I do enjoy that book,

and I need to finish those. So they're stacked

up. They're put in order. I think I'm ready to

go. Well, at some point between after this episode

and between the end of this year, we will get

to, we have this episode, which is Trial of Krang,

issue 73 to 75. The next one we'll get to is

episode 334 of the show, which will do TMNT Ghostbusters

2. And then the next one would be supposedly

episode 337, depending, yes, 337 in a row. TMNT

76 -80, The Invasion of the Triceratons. Maybe

we'll get those two episodes out before the end

of the year. I don't know. It just depends on

timing and everything else. Because we just got

off of Autobotly August. It was basically two

episodes a week for five weeks. Basically, you

know, it's ten podcasts in one month. I wish

I were reading that book. The backstory got so

crazy I had to let it go. But, you know, if they're

rebooting the universe, if they're starting over

with an unconnected thing, you know, maybe I'll

jump back on. I keep wanting to. There are several

things I can point to you after this show tonight

that you can read without having to read every

single thing. So there's that. But yeah, like

I said, Volume 19, the Invasion of the Triceratons,

I bought that. I wasn't going to buy issue 76

to 80 digitally. The trade is out for Invasion

of the Triceratons. So I'm like, okay, I'll go

to Comixology. I'll just buy the trade. It's

roughly around the same price as buying them

singly at this point. And then as of this recording,

I got the weekly email that I get about upcoming

releases for IDW. Let's see. The review, preview,

and cover files for IDW's September 5th releases

are now ready. So we've got TMNT ongoing trade

paperback volume 20, Kingdom of Rats. So there

are now up to 20 volumes of the main ongoing

series in trade paperback. That is awesome. And

as we sit here about to record this episode,

I'm looking over at issue 73, which says across

the top, now the longest running TMNT comic.

ever because they got further than issue 72,

which was the Archie run. And, and they're here

now. And, you know, like you were saying this

whole year, they've been just knocking it out

of the park with all the side books and going

strong. There is no sign of this ending or them

needing to end the story. There's plenty of places

to go. So let them go. So I mentioned, I believe,

I don't know if team into universe is, I think

it's still going on. I heard it was over, the

Universe story. They're replacing it with other

things. Yes, they probably are. I know Universe

was still going. I know that TMNT, Bebop, and

Rocksteady hit the road is either... Actually,

it's out. All of it's out. All five issues. Because

it was August, yeah. It was all last month that

TMNT, Bebop, and Rocksteady hit the road. It

was one of those five -week months where they

were like, hey, we'll put a Bebop and Rocksteady

book out every month or every week. They're now

doing this thing called TMNT Urban Legends. I

don't know if that's replacing Universe, but

I know that's another one that they're doing.

So, as I said earlier, TMNT... 73 to 75. The

Trial of Krang. And as you just said, now the

longest running TMNT comic ever. This is awesome.

This is amazing to me. It's more amazing to me

that Eastman and Laird didn't do this. Both of

them have a different perspective on what comics...

Of the pace at which comics come out, you know,

they got busy with this stuff. But when Laird

was doing volume four, there was a point where

he's like, you know, I'm not really interested

in story arcs. I don't want to have to create

these things. And I'll get a book out when I

get a book out. They're doing it for fun. They're

doing it for the right reasons. And these guys,

I mean, I think it's just the editorial staff

at IDW that are like. You know, they do carry

the traditional pacing of a comic book. And so

you pair both the love of all of the people involved

with the editorial prowess and the marketing

prowess of IDW. And you have this thing that's

full of heart that is just steamrolling through

the numbers. I mean, how many books are there

nowadays from DC? or Marvel that make it a legitimate

73 that don't have some goofy reboot where they

start renumbering it, but then they go back to

the old numbering, but it's really just, it's

different. This is one giant story. Yep. And

it's amazing. Yep. They also have, I think they're

coming out monthly. Remember way back when, when

we did the micro series? Yep. They're now doing

at least four macro series issues. of the Four

Turtles. Yes. Donnie's release was first. I think

it goes Donnie, Mikey, Leo, and then Raph. The

only reason why I know Raph is last is because

artist extraordinaire Ben Bishop, who I'm friends

with on Facebook, posted a teaser of his Raphael

cover earlier at the point of recording this

podcast. Yeah, I felt so, like, I had to go back

and look at some other things because I haven't,

I haven't, I haven't, I bought, okay, so these

three issues I bought singly as they came out,

thinking, oh, we'll get to it, we'll get to it.

Well, between September 2017, when we released

those, because we actually released 154, which

was Dimension X, and then 154 .5, which was the

Usagi Ujimbo one -shot thing. Oh, yeah. So between

September and now, September last year and September

this year, Let's see. I've moved to Chicago.

I've gotten married. I've bought a house. I've

done this. I've been a little busy. Yes, I've

had the pullback going good with content and

everything else, but it's not as often as it

normally is in scheduling and all that and all

that. So, trial of Krang. The creative team,

obviously, on this, for those that don't know.

Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz on story.

Tom Waltz does the script. Corey Smith is on

art. Rhonda Patterson is on colors. Sean Lee

on letters. Editing is done by Bobby. And at

the time, the publisher was Ted Adams. Oh, yeah.

IDW has... IDW has had some hierarchy changes

since these three issues have come out. So, alright.

We start on Planet Neutrino. With Krang basically

just going off against it. Basically throwing

a hissy fit at his lawyer. I love the design

on Krang here. Yeah, he looks so good. And with

all of this dialogue there with, with Krang speaking,

uh, I hear, I hear the 1987 version of Krang.

I think, I think every, Oh, I hear, I hear that.

It doesn't matter which Krang it is. I hear that

voice and I just, I can't, I can hear it come

out in this, but it just doesn't sound right

or doesn't feel right. Or it maybe, maybe that's

not what I mean. It, that it's not uncomfortable.

It just feels, to hear this natural dialogue

come out in that voice, in my imagination. You

know, all this lawyerly stuff, an indignant victimhood.

Like, it's real people dialogue coming out in

that voice that never said anything. Yeah, exactly.

Like that. So it was kind of neat. It was kind

of neat. Socking down! There's no telling what

might come through that porpoise! So, for those

that don't know or don't remember, This issue

takes place right before the Dimension X five

-issue miniseries because he is currently giving

Hack R the information about the witnesses. Yeah,

he's locked up in his cell talking to his lawyer.

When the lawyer leaves, Hacker's up in the ventilation.

distracted the guards or reprogrammed their screens

so he's coming there and Krang gives him the

instructions to go send the turtles off on their

four or five issue miniseries that we already

covered where they're going to get the witnesses

against him for this upcoming trial. And then

we go to the turtles and the fugitoid and they're

waiting on their neutrino escort. What are you

thinking here with them obviously jaunting to

Dimension X? What's your favorite part of this

portion here with them? Well, you get the housekeeping

that they're doing, setting up April with all

the security passwords, blah -de -blah. But in

this section where we're on Earth and the neutrinos

are coming to collect them, I... was reminded

at how well they've managed to bring the neutrinos

into this much more serious universe and of course

that happens with all of the different characters

that it's it's like these are this is the way

we would want those characters modernized or

not modernized but grown up of it or made into

something for an adult audience this is uh this

doesn't usually happen when they do that to other

characters when they when they bring them modern

they decide to go the other direction these hot

rotten teenagers from dimension x oh yeah we're

gonna do that blah blah blah like they don't

they don't do that here because you and i would

not that would not be palatable to us well I

think Waltz does a good job. They're mercenaries.

They do kind of have that love of the 50s thing

that that was all about, but the beatnik stuff,

wasn't it? So I enjoy it. I enjoy how they brought

them over. I will say that, is it Dask or Dax

or whatever his name is, the purpled -haired

general dude here that comes over to meet them,

their escort. Dask, yeah. Okay, so I will say

that he doesn't do it, but Zack does. Kala and

Dask don't. I know Zack says Daddy -O at one

point or another. Way chill, man. And I'm fine

with one of the three neutrinos that we've always

known being that vocal character that we remember.

I'm glad all three of them don't do it. I think

that's super cool. I love the part in this where

Raph is talking to Pepperoni and, you know, leaving

your pet at home and this, that, and the other

thing. And we get to a point where they all,

you know, walk out and you see them walking through

the portal and Pepperoni's in shadow behind them.

Good. Next stop, Samada City. Portal closes.

You have... Because clearly, if you've never

read this... This comic series, folks, first

of all, what the hell's wrong with you? Stop

this podcast. Go back to issue one and start.

But second of all, anytime any of the Turtles

have a... Oh, God. A caption or not a caption.

What the hell am I trying to say here? A thought

bubble or whatever where they're not actually

speaking. It'll be their color of their bandana.

The portal closes, Pepperoni's still sitting

there, and Raph has already told her, absolutely

no swimming. Well, his thought bubble, as he's

already gone, she's diving in with her tongue

hanging out of her mouth and says, talk about

diving right in. This is a neat thing that they've

done in this series, I think, since the beginning.

cute little segues like that. Either the dialogue

will trail over on this page, or it'll be on

the next page, and it'll somehow tie into the

content of the next scene. That can't exactly

be easy to plan, but it's something that Tom

Waltz has consistently done throughout the entire

series. And I'm sure it happens in other books,

but it really stands out in these. You notice

it, and it's funny. If you're like us and you've

read all of the TMNT stuff that IDW has ever

put out in the last six years or seven years

or however long they've been doing it since 2012

or whatever it is, you'll know that after Raph

got Pepperoni as a pet, I mean, okay, sure, it's

a turtle and it's a miniature pet dinosaur thing

or whatever she is. It's basically a human and

a cat or a human and a dog. And if you tell your

pet not to do something, what the hell is the

pet going to do? Of course they're going to go

dive right in. I mean, come on. It's just like

telling your kids not to do something. Of course

they're going to actually do it. You know. So

they get to Planet Neutrino and Leatherhead.

Uh -oh. So the turtles flip out. The last time

they saw them, he was up to no good with them

and escaped into the night. But here he is. He's

back. Yep. And we meet Zach and Calla. And they

talk about, you know, Mikey asked Calla what

happened to you guys and Leatherhead happened.

Let's just say his cooperation was sorely lacking

when we delivered the court summons to him kind

of a thing. Yeah, I love that they... We knew

they were going to... They were not going to

have the neutrinos here, like Planet Neutrino

and all that, and not have these three characters.

That's what is so great about this series, and

we've said it plenty of times before. They throw

in... Everything, from every aspect, every era

of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it is in

this comic series. Whether it's the ongoing,

whether it's a micro, macro, whether it's a miniseries,

it doesn't matter. And I'm so glad that the main

three neutrinos that we all know from 31 years,

yeah, 31 years ago. Holy crap, I'm old. So am

I, you know. So, yeah. Leatherhead is here telling

the tale of things that are going on. They end

up going to the palace. It's not strange to me,

but it's... I don't know. Mikey having a crush

on the princess? I thought Mikey would have a

crush on Kala. yeah yeah more than the princess

a little more a little more in common there yeah

um but you know so basically the turtles get

their star wars moment here and they make a joke

about i'm han and you're and you're luke and

and uh who am i you know chewy oh i guess you're

screwed yeah you don't get a medal yep um Let's

see, so we go to the king and queen, and they're

talking about the whole, you know, the return

of the turtles and their hour of need, and this

is where we get the first attack from the swarm,

from the Malina or Maligna character. Are these

insects... I can't remember if they're coming

from something else. I don't remember in my Mirage

reading if they were there. And is this related

to... Is it Drax? I think there was some weird

late 87 version of the Turtles. That last season

that got darker when Batman Animated Series came

out. And Turtles were like, oh no, we need to

throw darker. And they had a bug villain. And

I don't know if this guy, or this is that, or

if it's something different. I have no clue.

Meh. We'll figure it out someday. Yeah, one of

these days. Somebody will tell us. So, we have

this, you know... This meeting of the minds on

how this is all going to be handled. We have

this delegate here that Hakkar kills. So, Counselor

APAP, or APAP, I assume it's APAP, but I don't

know. Mikey sees that it's Hakkar, and Raph rips

it out, and all that, and he lost him, but Leatherhead,

you know, didn't lose him, and we have this whole

thing, and, you know, he's like, oh, I'm slippery,

and Hakkar basically, you know, sprays Leatherhead's

eyes, and I love the art here. Corey Smith and

Ronda are doing amazing. Hakkar looks great.

You know, Kala and Zach come in. Commander, what's

going on? We have this big, giant fight thing,

and Hakkar escapes, and the counselor is dead,

though. Gee, I wonder who could be killing everybody

of importance in this trial. Exactly. So the

issue ends with them blasting off into space.

To have their five -issue, four -issue miniseries

where they're gathering the witnesses. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, issue 73, I like it. I think it's

cool. I think it's interesting. I think it's

cool how we see how they get to... planet neutrino

and all of that and seeing their their friends

again and seeing leatherhead and leatherhead

with his the way his violence was in that first

part of this uh with with hack r i'm like oh

boy that's gonna come back to bite him in the

butt the well they're you know they're i like

this version of leatherhead i guess should say

we're talking about the old cartoon and the old

cartoon we had that version of Leatherhead, which

I'm sure somebody out there probably would say

is racist now, the Southern Creole accent thing

from the cartoon. But this is, of course, a take

on the Mirage version of him where he was smart,

almost Donnie -level smart, scientific, but he

had that alligator nature where he could just

snap. Like the 2012 cartoon. He has these moments

in here where he's just utterly ruthless. You

know, he beat up the two neutrinos who came to

give him a court summons, but he finds out he's

being tracked, and what does he do? He bites

his own flesh out to chew the tracker out of

his body that was installed. I'm like, wow, this

guy's nuts. I'd also like to mention on the last

page here, we actually have the hot rod. that

the neutrinos oh yeah we finally get to see that

yeah they do have that cool car with the big

50s fins on it only it's a spaceship and so that

was that was neat you know of course paying homage

to that old the old show absolutely and that

flying foot cruiser toy that uh that we all know

was actually the neutrinos car yep That flying

foot cruiser was awesome. I loved that thing.

It was cool. Yep. Absolutely. Getting into part

two of the Trial of Krang, we start off in space

with Zack and Kala with the turtles doing their

part, protecting the witnesses. I just love that

Ace is here. Yeah, I hope he gets something at

some point. I almost think he could kind of carry

his own comic. He's kind of got that Han Solo

swagger, but it's actually backed up with a bunch

of skill. I think it might be fun. Give him a

little miniseries. Give him at least a standalone

issue at some point. Something, yep. So they're

about to take action, and Ace is in the... you

know, skyborn baby and I'm about ready to kill

all these bugs. And like you said earlier, where,

where did this thing come from? Where did these,

but like, what's like, did they, obviously there

must be from some part of the turtles thing,

or are they just something that they're introducing?

Who knows? I don't know. The sad thing is this

reminds me of starship troopers, except it's

starship troopers out in space, not on a planet.

Oh, God. I never made that connection that that

was, yeah, they didn't spend a lot of time in

starships, did they? No. Not really, no. So,

we have the Triceratons. They're entering. Their

main goal here for helping the Neutrinos is they

want their own planet. Because theirs got destroyed

or something or other. Yeah, a long time ago.

Well, they've always been subjugated. They were

mutated. earth triceratops is that they said

all right now the ultra you're our you're our

army now and so it's kind of a b plot through

all of this and and i think you might have like

give not going to give it away the ending of

that particular arc yet but they you can tell

in the dialogue that they have ulterior motives

here they know that the utram empire is gone

and that they're still fighting for other people

And they don't like that, and they're complaining

about that. But they like to fight, so they're

not actively revolting yet. But they make a deal

later that sets some stuff up. Oh, yeah. Most

definitely, especially the way 75 ends. I'm like,

oh, no, they didn't, but they did. So, the Turtles

and the Neutrinos come home with the Witnesses,

and Commander Dask, or Dax, or whatever his...

I have to see his name again to figure out how

to pronounce this stupid thing. He's like, advance,

and everybody's like, oh no, they're going to...

I'm scared, and they're like, nobody has to worry.

Zack is like, nobody has to worry, they're not

here to attack. Check it out. Platoon, initiate

shield formation. They're there to protect the

witnesses. Obviously, that's not going to stop

Hakkar. He's too good for that. But he's smart

enough not to attack at that moment. Yeah. Yep.

Absolutely. We go back to Honeycutt, the princess,

and the turtles, and they're talking about the

trial and the Uhtram threat. How the Triceratons

are fierce warriors and whatever, and they're

on their side for now. And we get Zom basically

saying, you know, this is what I want. Yeah.

We want our own planet. We want to, you know,

have our own civilization again. We have a nice

little thing of Professor Honeycutt and Donnie.

uh, back and forth, which is cool. Uh, cause

they're on TV and all that. Yeah. They, those

two end up being, uh, the, uh, the, the, the

lawyers for the, since the counselor got murdered,

they had to replace the, the, the, the prosecution

and, um, fugitoid ends up taking that place.

And Donnie is on the side of that. Yeah. So that's

where that. He's been promoted, I guess. From

scientist to lawyer. There you go. We have the

giant judge dude who, well, obviously is going

to end up dead at some point. Sadly. We have

the testimony of the little people here. Little

orange multicolored dude. And after him we have,

what is it, Akmemnon or whatever? No, Anamon

from Akkabono. And he can't actually testify

because he signed a contract that said something

about... He can't testify. He can't testify.

So that is null and void. Oh boy. Krang thinks

he's winning, sadly. Well, each of the witnesses

that gets called, there's weird, they don't actually

help. No. And maybe that other prosecutor had

a better strategy or a different strategy than

what... fugitoy has tried to employ but none

of these witnesses are are helping very much

yes he's signed a contract uh stump starts to

testify and he there's business dealings that

like no we actually had a deal to do that thing

you didn't know that and well no freak oh no

but then they call they call leatherhead as uh

as a witness yep and that does not go well Well,

it starts to not go well, I think, until, because

at that moment, then Planet Neutrino is under

attack from the, the bug critters are back. Mm

-hmm. And then we get to Judge Gorroth's chambers,

and Hakkar is there, and he assassinates the

judge, and that's how this one ends. wow i was

not expecting this to go where it's going like

i don't know what i was expecting out of this

but having to fit a whole trial and everything

else into three issues and whatever they're doing

a damn fine job of this my my only issue with

this issue is that it's like it's a legal drama

and because they only have so much space they

kind of have to ham fist it together put it together

and oh they knock it up and they knock it down

they set it up and they knock it down and I like

my books more dialogue -y than action -y I don't

honestly think action plays that well in comic

books I like my character pieces more, but this

issue, with all of its dialogue, is less character

-driven than what I like my books. So I love

you guys, but it reads boring. I've had comic

books maybe not the place for giant action scenes,

maybe also not the place for political legal

drama. Maybe not. Well, I don't know. I think

it works. I mean, they did the... Marvel, a number

of years ago, because we covered it on the pull

bag, they did a two -issue miniseries of Trial

of the Punisher, and they called that Trial of

the Century as well. I mean, I think this works,

and we hadn't really... I remember the last arc

we did beyond Dimension X, before Dimension X,

was the Rat King family arc, was the whole Pantheon

arc. uh 71 and 72 so before that it was street

uh not street phantoms um oh 67 to 70 was uh

desperate measures or something i think the last

time we saw krang was when he was terraforming

earth which is way back in like it was like a

50s yeah it was like oh yeah 44 or something

yeah yeah Something like that. So we open the

final chapter of Trial of Krang, issue 75. 75

issues, yay! Only 25 to 100. And, man, that's

not that long. That's only, well, a year from

now, two years, a year ago. Yep. And I don't

know if you, do you have the physical or digital?

Because my physical, it's square bound. It's

a thick book, this one. Oh, is it? Yeah. Yeah,

because I remember it's a double issue. And it's

very, very nice. It's a fold -out, not a fold

-out cover, but you open, and it's one giant

beautiful image front and back by Corey Smith.

Yep, very cool, very cool. All right, so let's

see here. I forgot to do this on 74, but... Eastman,

Kernow, and Waltz on story, Tom on script. Art

by Corey Smith and Mateus Santolucco, along with

Chris Johnson and Damian Cicero, with colors

by Rhonda, letters by Sean, and edits by Bobby.

What I find interesting about this issue is they

do not list the publisher, so I'm not sure why

that is. Oh, interesting. So we open up with

the hive or the stink bugs or whatever these

bugs are called. The swarm. And they swarm. The

Triceratons are there to combat them though.

Along with the turtles, Ace Duck, Kala and Zack

and all of that. I'm sorry, I started to flip

ahead because with three artists on the book,

I expected four artists on the book. I expected

to notice, because I didn't, just reading this,

and I flipped through it now, and I still don't

really notice. There's just some panels where

I think, wait, did Santaluco do that? No, I mean,

maybe, but it looks like everything else. So

they must have really worked together. There

are four artists on here. Yeah. which I read

through this, and usually, normally, when there

are multiple artists, Transformers from IDW has

done this several times. It'll say... This artist's

name here does pages 7 and 8. This artist does

pages 11 to 16. It doesn't say that here. And

honestly, reading through this, I did not notice

that big of a difference between the artists.

I'm sure there is, obviously. They're all individual

people. They all have their own way of doing

the characters and everything else. This read

so fluidly for me that it did not matter. Well,

I'm looking at a page now where it definitely

looks with some Santoloco hatching, but the character

designs are all Corey Smith. It looks like they

were trading pages on and off. I do this character

here, I'll do that character there, and then

everybody else does the background. That's a

really neat job and a really neat way to handle

a book that has a deadline and it's going to

be twice as big as a usual book. Kudos to you

guys. I think you're especially sensitive to

when they change artists. I am. That one snuck

up on me. If Santaluco has a three -issue arc,

great. If Corey has a two -issue arc, if Dave

Wachter or if Dan Duncan ever comes back, kind

of a thing. I don't mind if a single artist and

colorist have a run on the series. Like I said,

the Street Phantoms arc, that's just one part

of the story of the overall ongoing. You know,

the Leatherhead arc, 56 to 58, that was Santaluco,

I believe. I could be wrong about that. But,

you know, I don't mind. But if it's in one book

and it's consistently changing, oh, God, it drives

me nuts normally. But this is done so well. Like,

I don't, very rarely had I noticed in 75 how

much, if at all, the artists have changed. Which

is a good thing that they're melding everything

together. Indeed. Yes, as we get through this

giant, massive thing, we've got the swarm fight,

we've got the witnesses, and so basically what's

happened here, with the swarm fight, it's Ace,

Duck, Kala, and Zack, along with Raph, Mikey,

and Leo. Fighting the swarm. And Donnie is. With

the witnesses and fugitoid. Because that's where.

I guess he needs to be for now. The little colored

bald dude. Ends up saying danger danger. And

there's an explosion. Hacker comes in. And you

know. He's going to. Basically do his job. And

what I love here. Is how he explains more to.

Us, the reader, then the characters in the book.

First rule of an ambush. Take out the big guns.

So Leatherhead is dispatched. Yep. And the symbiotic

eye for two whenever you can. And a symbiotic

eye or two whenever you can. So he takes out

Imu. Donnie tries to attack him, but he uses

some of the other, you know... things against

Donnie and Honeycutt gets in there this didn't

go well for Professor Honeycutt and then the

tree the stump gets in there the only one that

can actually mount any kind of offense against

Hakkar is the little plant girl who sprays her

venom Spores. Pollen spores, whatever. Hate plague,

I don't know. Hate plague, there you go. Yeah,

there you go. We get back to the bug battle with

the turtles. I think the coolest thing, I would

love to know which artist did this. One of the

bugs takes Leo out. And we get to a panel, and

I'll screenshot it and put it in the post, where

Mikey and Raph... are open mouth screaming with

their little space suits on and they both say,

Leo! It looks so freaking cool. It really does.

Just having them on the panel worried about their

brother. You know, so. Absolutely love that.

So fun. Uh, even though it's in a moment of,

you know, oh my God, what's happening. So they

all end up getting captured. Um, no, they don't

end up getting captured. They beat, uh, Leatherhead

or whatever, not Leatherhead. Um, the bug critter,

the bug critter. Yeah. They go back to the hallway

and everything else and they find the, um, they

find the judge. Yeah. We were back in a different

scene now with, uh, Donnie and the witnesses

and they're because of the explosion I think

they've left that room and have found yeah the

judge dead. Hacker's there to clean up his mess

but I thought they had him knocked out but I

thought they did too. Yeah something's goofy

because they mentioned how her spores were the

only thing that stopped him in that moment but

then those two groups come together Leo uh was

dispatched earlier but comes down and lands in

the judge's quarters where he's dead and they

he's smashing a bug don and i'm not down to mike

raf and mike come down and now they're all back

together again and uh they they handle they handle

him they handle hacker yes they do and this gives

uh donnie an idea with um With Pauly's pollen

and all of that and whatever. So he talks to

Stump and, you know, we need to talk. And we

see that they're talking, but we don't. There's

no speech bubble. There's no nothing of what

Donnie's actually saying to him. But you get

the next panel where Stump's like, what? Okay,

fine. Of all the idiotic, lame brain ideas. And

we're set up to realize that Stump is going to

make a deal with Hacker. We go back to the swarm

and Hacker gets in there and uploads this virus

thing. You know, just a little ventilation upgrade.

Intruder! Okay, whoever did the... the design

on the queen swarm insect lady. Normally I don't

like insect things of any type, but the very

first page that I saw her or him or whatever

it's supposed to be, uh, where she's like swarm.

And now we get to this where it's like intruder.

I love the design on this bug. Normally I'm not

a bug guy at all. But it was super cool seeing

that. So we have the virus thing, you know, burning

them up, and basically they retreat. They'll

be back. Mm -hmm. On that page where the poison

ejects and all the little critters. It burns,

it burns, and then the brood queen starts to

do this. There's a panel with her mouth open

with all the teeth, and I'm getting a real...

violator from the spawn kind of vibe from that

but it's cool it's cool that's uh that's where

i would definitely see um some sento loco uh

input there oh yeah most definitely so we get

back to the turtles and and them and it says

that they say it worked and all the ships are

retreating the tracerophones report the ships

are retreating and uh And hey, they're all back

in the jury room again. Yep, and then we get

to the actual trial itself. And this does and

does not go well, I guess you could say. I know

this is probably, I don't know, well, issue 82.

81? 82? We're in the 80s as far as current releases

for Turtles, so this issue has been out for a

long time at this point. I was not expecting

the trial to go the way it went. And I don't

necessarily mean the judgment either. That's

not a way to get justice. I'm sorry. So the judge

who ended up murdered gets replaced by the king,

who's already got it out for Krang, but they

finish the questioning with Leatherhead, who

goes on about his... What does he call it? Well,

he was made a prisoner of Krang and tortured,

and it was all Krang. This time, it wasn't conjecture.

third -party observation. Krang was literally

torturing Leatherhead and using him to be his

tool, and so that questioning goes better. But

then in the closing arguments... Now, this is

where the fun part here is that it's going...

From, yeah, great, we hit him hard, to then the

closing arguments, which flips it both ways.

Krang's not guilty of anything except of saving

his people, and he committed genocide to do that.

Well, King Zendar just annihilated a bunch of

brood people. So what makes him any different?

Which turns it the other way again. But, you

know, at the end of the day... What Krang did

was definitely wrong. And he is found guilty.

Yep. He is most definitely found guilty. And

he only gets a life sentence in prison. Let's

see here. I think he gets, is it, do they call

it... No, it says, I have consulted with an advisor

Mariel of Planet Earth's Burnout Island. She

has agreed in the interest of putting all animosities

between our people behind us to hold the defendant,

General Krang, forthwith as an exile of Dimension

X as a permanent prisoner. Their advisor Mariel

has assured me the defendant will serve a lifetime

sentence that is both morally just and compassionate

rendered by the very Utron people he once saved.

Um, so basically he gets a life sentence on earth.

Yep. Uh, essentially is what it is. Uh, and this

is where Leatherhead basically, um, you know,

where's my compassion? Where's, where's my justice?

And Leatherhead basically eats Krang. Knocks

everybody out of the way. And, uh, bites uh it

bites and eats him his uh his handcuffs and everything

um where's my justice gulp and he jumps into

a portal um and the utroms basically stop you

know we uh appreciate your concern but the general

is dead yes he's dead and it is for the best

imprisonment would have been worse a worse curse

for General Krang. Are you sure? 100%. Yeah,

the General could have wanted it this way. We'll

inform Advisor Mariel to the others about what

had happened. But they're not going to do that.

Of course not. So the Turtles and the Trinos

all say their goodbyes. We have the Witnesses,

you know, all saying their goodbyes as well.

Nice little moments here and there with this.

Absolutely love that. What I love about this

ending when the Turtles go through the portal,

there's a note from Bobby. The Turtles' interdimensional

misadventures will continue in TMNT Ghostbusters

2. We get to a nice little epilogue between the

Triceratons and the Neutrinos. And basically

the king says simply that Earth is their home.

You can go back to Earth since that's where you're

from. That's your planet now. Yep. By what authority

did he do that? Exactly. Well, he's not wrong,

but still. But still. There is an interesting

little Easter egg that I noticed back here. When

the two Utroms return to Earth and they decide

not to tell. Yep. Not to tell Mariel or whatever.

They're going to find the lizard and find a way

to revive Colonel Cherell. Has Cherell showed

up? I don't remember. I vaguely remember. Maybe

he was mentioned, but Cherell was in the Four

Kids Ninja Turtles, and he was U -Tron Shredder.

He ends up being a real, real bad, bad, bad dude.

That's cool. So that's how they're going to get

Shredder back. Uh -huh. Very awesome. I figured

that was going to work. Yeah, that was interesting.

Wow, I just now made that. Oh, God. So they bring

every iteration of the Turtles into this book,

and they do it so artfully. Because that's big.

It's an overpopulated universe. But in 75 issues,

they've tied it all together in a beautiful,

beautiful little package. Yep. Yeah, absolutely.

Wow. I saw the name, and I'm like, okay, sure,

revive that Uhtram. And I'm like, when I first

read this, I'm like, what the hell? And then

you just, I'm like, oh, God. Wow. Right. We could

get the shredder back. And that'd be, I mean,

you know, it's with, with, um, the Pantheon and

how they function and with, um, Oh my gosh. Evil

Fox lady. Uh, uh, it's, um, such a large universe.

No, I know. That's the Fox. Yeah. Yeah. That's

good. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Cause she does mutate.

So it could soon be involved. And I think we

can kind of assume that. that the shredder is

maybe contained in, the essence of shredder is

contained in some weird spiritual thing that

they can, that she could even bind the two of

them together. We may end up with, end up with

a real Krang shredder dynamic again with an Uhtram

and shredder dynamic again. So they might find

some interesting artful way to combine those

two. It'll be exciting to see how they do it.

I have no idea what it's going to look like.

No clue. So we get to Earth. Sir, you've got

to see this. Video feed from the far side of

the moon streaming in from Lunar Station B. What

is it? I'm not completely sure, but if I had

to guess, I'd say we're about to be invaded,

Agent Bishop. And to be continued. Yep. Overall,

I dug this. Now that I'm going back and looking

at it again, I like the story when I first read

it. I love the art. As we already said, the art

in 73 and 74 are great. Multiple artists in 75

really work. But it's super cool. It really is

super cool. And I'm glad we're reading Turtles

again. I'm glad we're covering it again after

a year. I did not. enjoy it nearly as much while

I was reading it. I enjoyed it much more reviewing

it during this podcast. I enjoy it the third

time through. I don't even remember what I thought

about it the first time. It's been so long. But

reviewing it and talking about it was much more

fun than reading it earlier today. So yes, it's

good. It's actually good. It's so very good.

It's going to be interesting to see, like we

were saying about how Cherelle is going to get

revived and all that, about how we can get Shredder

back. How are they going to do another... The

only way they could find a way to get another

Krang in here is if they go to a different dimension.

Like, different timeline, different... Because

the alligator ate the thing. Yeah, and I don't

see this book... doing that. I don't see them

doing what they've done with the cartoon where

they're combining turtle versus, I mean, maybe

as a side story somewhere, but it wouldn't be

canon. They're going to kind of play in their

own sandbox, I think. I don't think we'll get

Krang back. I think that is the end of Krang,

but we're going to have bad guy Uhtrams again.

They're just going to lift from, instead of the

old cartoon with him, they're going to pull from

the four kids cartoon. 2003, right? Was that

what that was? Yep, yep, yep. Absolutely. 2003.

The Trial of Krangark, I'm just going to rate

it as one whole thing, all three issues. Three

and a half out of five. I really did enjoy it.

I thought it was interesting and great. I think

it would have been more enjoyable. if it was

in and it'll eventually be in this if it's not

already if we had read it in the like the ultimate

collection like the the story order collection

where dimension x and this are mixed in in the

story order that they're supposed to be because

like i said 73 is before dimension x number one

and then i think 74 and 75 or after that series

between yeah so So, but yeah, three and a half

out of five for me. What about you? That sounds

good. That sounds good. I was about to give it

a four because at this rate, the book is consistently

good. And it's absolutely a must read for anybody

who even thinks they like Ninja Turtles. But

I saved those fives now for the big issues, the

ones where, oh my gosh, I can't believe they

did that thing. And so... Between that and my

first impression rereading it today, I think

a three and a half is a pretty good rating for

this. It's definitely solid and a great continuing

on of this great turtle venture. Absolutely.

All right. You guys just had a Geek Stuff Garage

sale, didn't you? No, we wanted to. this summer.

We tried to do one beginning this summer. That's

when I usually like to have them. But my brain

was shot at the end of the year. The school year

went long. So we're actually doing one. Oh my

gosh. I think now September 29th. We have a new

venue north of the place that we were at before

at a great store in town called Comics Signal

owned by great people who said you can have our

entire parking lot behind the place. So this

year we have Not the usual 23 vendors, but instead

closer to 50 is our plan. So we're huge now.

And despite how huge we are, we are still free

and will always be free, both to the vendors

and to the people who want to come and buy stuff.

yes make deals come and shop and do crazy stuff

it's uh it's a great day uh mostly of just all

of us vendors hanging out trying to sell things

to each other because none of us walk out of

there with money that's funny all right you can

find geek stuff garage sale over on facebook

i am at tfg and mike on twitter uh you can follow

at the pull bag on twitter at geek cast radio

for all the other network updates We've got two

more episodes coming up here in September. Next

time around, Ryan, the name of Merkley, is going

to be back, and we're going to talk about five

different number ones by Brian Michael Bendis

that include Brilliant, Powers, Scarlet, The

United States of Murder, Inc., and Tackio. That

sounds fun. I need to listen to that. Yes, so

we're going to do that next week, and then closing

out September is going to be episode 327, where

someone and I, I don't know who, because I haven't

locked down a co -host for it yet, seeing as

how this year, this December, Batwoman is entering

the CW universe. We're going to be covering Batwoman

Volume 1 from the new 52. Is that an older book

nowadays? I don't even know. Yes, it is. It's

the new 52 version. It's a couple years ago now.

A few years ago. I saw that poster for that and

thought, oh my gosh, Nightwing? But no, it's

Batwoman, which is probably going to be cool.

I'm cool with that. I'll tolerate. Not tolerate,

that's a horrible thing to say. It's going to

be awesome because all those shows are good.

Yeah, Nightwing's over on the Fuck Batman show.

Have you seen the trailer to Titans? No. You

haven't seen the... I'll show it. Oh, God. I'll

show it to you. Is this the live action show?

Yes, yes, yes. The one that's going to be on

the DC Universe app. Oh, God. Which means I won't

see it because I'm done buying new subscriptions

to services. Yeah. Make your great escape into

comics, folks, and we will catch you next time

here inside the Pull Bag. Those kids must be

around here somewhere. Krang! They couldn't have

just vanished. Oh, sorry, Lord. Lord Krang! Don't

look at me! My Lord, what has happened to your

body? It's a long story. I lost it when they

banished me to this miserable mud bowl. Those

three youths just blasted their way right out

of my technodrome. The neutrinos have eluded

us. Neutrinos? Running loose here on Earth? Suck

it, you imbecile! What did I do? Who are these

neutrinos? A gang of juvenile delinquents from

Dimension X. They're a threat to everything we

stand for. They hate war. They refuse to join

any army. And what's worse, they encourage people

to have fun. You've just heard the latest episode

of The Pullback, the GCRN's first comic review

and discussion podcast. There are several ways

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until next time, make your great escape into

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