Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 20: Kingdom of Rats Review

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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 pullback. Hello and

welcome to The Pull Bag. This is episode 362.

This is the final episode for July 2019. That's

right. We are still in July. I'm of course TFJ

and Mike. Joining me is Mr. Joe Reed. Hello,

sir. Hello, Mike. How are you? Very well, very

well. Lots of stuff going on in the TMNT universe

here inside The Pull Bag and over at IDW Publishing

as well. we are going through issues eighty one

to eighty five because i forgot the trades are

five issues not four uh... this is the kingdom

of rats are where rat king returns uh... but

first uh... as i was reading issues eighty one

eighty two i'd notice that casey kid casey while

i'm also casey casey casey casey casey casey

jones uh... first meets jennica these issues

and this is the first time that i've seen in

a while that anyone call her jenny uh... on the

turtle flakes uh... group uh... to replace the

podcast on by rob luther joshua witt joshua here

we do it no joshua joshua no no no it's not joshua

no uh... and i believe joshua work is on the

show as well at times but uh... Yeah, so somebody

had asked on there, what's this thing about them

calling her Jenny? Why are they doing that now

that she's a turtle, yada, yada, yada? I believe

last episode of this podcast, folks, we had mentioned

that Jenica has become a Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtle. And apparently, according to Tom Walz,

this has been the plan since 2016. I love that.

Love that too. I think it's great. I think it's

awesome Tom goes on to say that He said always

a plan in motion with our series ha ha ha ha

And he said that when they first started calling

her Jenny was way back in issue 61 Which that

was the start of the Street Phantoms for issue

arc at the time So that was when they first started

calling her Jenny That was in August of 2016.

So that's three years folks And at that time

I'll go ahead I was talking before we started

recording that the issue with the Jenica's first

turtle appearance is going for gobs of money

on eBay right now. Yeah, but you know what? I

haven't checked and I haven't heard anybody say

is Jenica's first appearance as that might be

because I know you The IDW series brought us

Pigeon Pete. Pigeon Pete showed up in the other

animated series and he showed up in the board

game. Like Pigeon Pete's a Ninja Turtle character

now. And Jenica now being elevated from a background

character to like a full -fledged part of the

family member. I think we're gonna, there's a

good possibility we're gonna see her in other

media. and you know the first appearance of those

new characters those are usually sought after

comic issues yes yes they are so we're here as

I said talk about kingdom of rats this is volume

20 in the trade paperbacks can you believe it

this series has been going so they've got 20

volumes I mean I know 85 issues is a lot of comics

but good lord As I said earlier, Kingdom of Rats

story arc. Art is done by Dave Walker on chapters

one through four and Bram Revel, or yeah, Bram

Revel on chapter five, and Pablo Tunica on the

prelude. Writers, obviously, story by Kevin Eastman,

Bobby Kernow, and Tom Waltz, script by Tom Waltz.

I'm gonna say this right now and right out of

the way. I don't know which one of the I think

it's Bram Revel that it His art style we said

this last time when we talked about the Triceraton

arc His art style for the turtles specifically

makes them look like Paper dolls I'm cool with

him. I looked at that when when I got to that

issue rereading it and you know saw the art change

well it's because it's it's a filler story it

kind of it's bridging that gap between where

they're going in the next trade but yeah you

know it's it's different it looks a little faster

it was but but at the end of the day I kind of

I started to appreciate it after not too long

and Like most people, I assume, that are like

this, I am completely freaked out by... The only

rat that I'm not freaked out by is Splinter.

Rat King creeps me out. Everything he does with

his rats creeps me out. What I find interesting

on Dave Walker's art, and I need to mention also

that... Rhonda Pattinson is on colors as always

and Letters and and production is done by Sean

Lee Rhonda's colors and Dave's art I Love when

like the the panel where we're in the for an

issue 81 where he's like pointing to the rat

after you my friend the rat goes through and

then It just shows his leg sticking out of the

hole and I'm like, how is he fitting in there?

And then the next panel shows him Squeezing out

of it like his stomach. I'm like what? So we

get all this stuff about him talking to his rats

and about him doing his plan I guess and things

and The one panel here where he says do you smell

it my friends the un uncertainty the terror?

Him fitting in that tunnel, it just, as a claustrophobic,

you know, between the rats and the claustrophobia,

I'm paralyzed at this point. I think you have

a prelude that I do not have access to. Really?

Yep. Okay, then. I'm flipping through trying

to see what I'm looking at like, oh no, I don't

see it. Okay then, so that's probably the prelude

you mentioned with Mika. Yep. That probably is

what this is. Alright folks, give us a second

here. I'm jealous. This means that there's something

else I need to buy now so that I have everything.

I wonder if that showed up in Singles in Universe

or something. I'm not sure. Sorry, no turtle

-waxing today! Alright folks, so, Kingdom of

Rats... We're just gonna pretend none of that

actually happened. You don't know what was there,

folks. This part has been edited, you'll never

know what was here, ha ha ha ha. Special features,

we'll put it at the end. Outtake! False start,

whoops! Which is kind of funny considering I

have a false start coming up in Episode 366 in

August it's it's it's pretty funny Good old Ryan

my buddy who's been doing most of the other stuff

with me here inside the pull bag he um He read

the wrong Star Wars books We were gonna record

and I'm like damn it so All right kingdom of

rats folks we've got the rat king he is back

and He's reveling in the chaos. He's reveling

in the destruction he's following his rats through

these tunnels and You have to be a contortionist

to do this there. Oh, he's definitely I could

see that in some horror movie weird You like

I don't even know just creepy yeah he's very

much a horror movie character wannabe um but

yeah he oh they do a good job with the rat king

this is it's a new take you know being one of

the pantheon and uh as strangely supernatural

as he is but and he's been around since the mirage

days he showed up in the first Volume of the

tales of the TMNT and he never really makes sense

as to what he's doing what his motives are He

is a supernatural character even all the way

back then and is Involved in and I think it's

not a spoiler anymore to say that in volume four

splinter dies And when he has his heart attack

on the porch Racking's in the background wrecking's

been dead for years at that point, but he's there

when splinter dies And then they never got around

to explaining that but it was there's something

weird with the Rat King and I like how he's portrayed

in this in this intro yeah I like how he's portrayed

but he still creeps me out yeah the the Nickelodeon

TV series has a really creepy poor trail of him

too we were watching that episode my son and

I today and he's like dad can we not watch this

episode yeah you're right this is just too much

right now yeah yeah it's very very much too much

but this is the panel here you know do you smell

it my friends the uncertainty the terror the

claustrophobic and the rat fear in me just oh

yeah beautiful underlit thing it's an amazing

yeah yeah it's an amazing piece of art it just

I'm like Casey Jones, I'm a claustrophobic. No,

I never looked at the guy in my entire life.

You're a claustrophobic. What you say to me?

Sorry folks, just flashing back to the 90s film.

It's easy to do. Oh yes, very much so. Like you

said, I don't quite understand his plan. This

panel here where he's saying, run far and wide

across this city, my friends, and tell me where

the weak and helpless are. He kind of looks like,

I don't know if you were up on it or whatever,

when the Joker got his face ripped off in the

new 52 and he was trying to get his face back.

He kind of looks like the Joker when his face

was ripped off here. Yeah, he doesn't have, which

is always a creepy way to draw things. Yeah,

very, very creepy. And then we get to, uh, Jenica

and Splinter. This is where I pick up. Really?

Yep. Okay, then. So we get to Jenica and Splinter,

so this is where you pick up, really? Okay, this

would be issue 81. Huh. And this is where, um...

Dave Wachter takes over. Right. On the art. Okay,

strange. Cause, yeah, alrighty then. Yeah, wow.

I do love Dave's Turtles. They look awesome.

Um, I love that Splinter and Leo are both meditating.

Yeah. Even though neither one of them are. It

goes back to that issue. From a long time ago

where they had an encounter with the rat king

in kind of the astral plane So shows their connection

Yeah And it shows them basically seeing the same

thing of The vehicles the people the this the

that and then it shows the rat king playing his

music And all the rats dancing around to it and

whatever Splinter's like who? How does Splinter

not know him? Remind me, because I don't remember

the original when Rat King was here before. I'm

certain Splinter knows who that is. Maybe he's

forgotten, or maybe there's something preventing

him from seeing it. I can't remember, because

I know they encountered each other in the meditation

astral plane thing that Leonardo was on. I think

that was during Dark Leonardo. Our old times

are right after Yeah, he was still having issues.

They were out meditating on their own Yep But

I love Splinter and Leo's pals here who him I

love that. Oh Man this can't be in anything like

again, I love the way that this is done Dave's

are the the voices of the characters who him

what does this nightmare mean oh man this can't

mean anything good it's like showing their similarities

between splinter and and leo but how they handle

it different how they speak differently the different

level that they're on they're they're saying

the same thing but they're they're handling it

in their own way and then we jump to casey and

hunn hunn's in the in the neighborhood bar with

um What's his name Brooklyn? Good memory there,

man. Well, he says it right there on the page.

Oh, never mind damn this thing you ever saw Brooklyn

and Casey wants to talk to his dad because he

has a fear of his dad trying to take over the

purple dragons again, and he's like no you're

you're the leader you're in charge it's it's

for the best and you know i'm just here to follow

you and then you know the garden state records

come in and i'm like oh boy new york versus new

jersey here we go go back to jersey that's right

um and uh so yeah we're about to have a gang

war between the garden state records and the

purple dragons when the foot clan show up with

janika They are helping their allies and waste

them and all this and all that and Hun's like

she a friend of yours the way she fights. I hope

so And again, I have to say from very beginning

when we started this Where Casey and hun are

now compared to what it was back in the beginning

of the I am so happy That they have Taken these

two into a positive Path together and not just

had it be another deadbeat dad story Mm -hmm

It's it's weird. It doesn't feel like hon anymore

hon from yeah reason and that's okay doesn't

have to this is their hon. Yeah And and it is

neat to have that connection and then to have

them rebuild it I say it way too often, but It's

it it needs to be said here again. It's the the

the turtles strength comes from making family

out of enemies and and they Casey's a part of

the turtles family Casey's bringing his dad back

into the family and As we can see by the three

of them here winning this Fight quite handedly,

you know, it works. They're they're they're gonna

be back together. Oh Yeah, they're all together.

Yep it's been an honor fighting alongside you

Casey Jones and Then like I have never seen Jenica

this way. I've never seen her in this light because

she's not this character but There are two very

big TMNT 90 moments in this comic book in this

in these five issues and One is right here foot

vanish. I'm like, oh my god. No, it's not Tatsu.

It's Jenica. It's not Tatsu And then you know,

they they they vanish Again, I love Dave's turtles.

I love the way he died. I love the way most of

the artists do the turtles but Like this this

panel here where? Jenica and she's got a crew

of foot soldiers with her. I wonder what they're

up to how much you want to bet more of father's

dirty business and Mikey's like Mikey just looks

like I don't even want to know They're not so

serious, but they're not so cartoony in the design

here Dave's designs are meld between like the

original hard -ass versions like the mirage versions

and the 80s you know the 87 versions and their

noses and faces look more turtle anatomically

accurate to a real turtle but they're not they're

not disgusting yeah like that one movie that

doesn't exist mm -hmm didn't happen That second

movie wasn't that bad it wasn't that bad wasn't

that bad, but that first one was a little much

Yeah So and I haven't seen this in a while But

you know they go as we continue through this

this chapter they go But we got other things

to worry about right now if my vision was right

and rat kings up to something We need to find

a way to stop him and fast yeah April's waiting

and then I don't think I've, I don't remember,

we've been covering this series so long, I don't

ever remember a moonlit rooftop jump in this

entire series. I'm sure it's happened, just not

the way Dave is doing it, just not the way Dave

is doing it and Rhonda's doing it with the colors,

with the background, with the turtles and shadow.

Oh my god, I love this panel. It just looks so

cool and so amazing. So genetic more guys jumping

out of the moon. Yes Forget forget forget that

ET phone home crap. We need more turtles That's

right We go to Jenica seeing the next ally because

if people remember in the Triceraton arc Splinter

the foot clan and Bishop have some sort of weird

alliance Gonna say I said it before in episode

357. I'll say it here I hate that Bishop controls

Slash. Mm -hmm. And they're talking about their

deal. Bishop gets a little bit disrespectful.

Jenica wants to chop his arms and legs off or

something. And he has Slash just kind of look

at her. Splinter just puts his hand on her and

you know It's this weird alliance and I don't

see where Either of it is gonna come out to an

end a beneficial end to either party And then

this is where the rat king comes in Yeah, if

in a lot of the in the in the scenes that we

didn't have the rat king showing up there are

rats hang And around if you look in that slash

is brushing well bishop is brushing too off of

slash his shoulder Like it's we keep getting

reminded in these other scenes that yeah Yeah,

the rat kings up to something. He's doing it

right now behind all of these characters backs.

Yes Absolutely And he has all these children

that have flocked to him And he's gonna be doing

a ballad about bridges. That's not good. We get

to Baxter Stockman, who is the hero of New York

City, apparently. And Burn Thompson is interviewing

him. And I gotta say, I'm so happy they brought

Burn in as the reporter. I'm glad that they did

not have April go down the reporting route. Yep.

Even though that's kind of what I think everybody

knows her as. I mean, most people came to the

turtles through the 86 cartoon. But in most of

the iterations, she's not a reporter. And I kind

of appreciate that they haven't gone. April's

mom, which was a neat little nod. And then, you

know, we're only on issue 100. Maybe at some

point she will be a reporter. But this is also

a unique depiction of April. It's not only she's

not a reporter, but she's wicked smart. She's

a college grad or student doing, and she's doing

the science stuff. She started that way in the

Mirage series, but then kind of hit the lower

middle class wall that a lot of people hit. Kind

of plateaued. But I like where they're going,

and I like that they've paid homage to the old

cartoon by giving Bern, and later Irma is in

this episode as well. Oh, is she? I must have

missed her. She's on the television in the background.

I had to look at the name. Oh, that's right.

I gotta look at that again. Okay, I'll look at

that when we get to. So they finish up the interview.

April and the Turtles have got their stuff going

on. And all of a sudden, Detective Kara Lewis

shows up and has to take Stockman to Bishop,

unwillingly. And that's where Stockman is going.

And Mikey has this crazy idea of using the mousers.

Oh, dude, these are awesome. You know they nearly

ate up your entire home, right, Mikey? Yeah,

still, dude, but they're awesome, which gives

April the idea to talk to Baxter later. So they're

trying to use the dimensional portal to get to

the toad baron's den of delights. Because they

want to go ask about Rat King there. Yep. This

was hilarious. This was just absolutely hilarious.

Alberto? Yes, master? Please see these trespassing

Terrapins out! And the frog chefs attack the

turtles and Donnie can't stop laughing and Raph's

like, you've got to be kidding me. Whatever you

guys do, please don't hurt anyone. And have at

you, sir. Donnie's like, I just can't. And then

the next TMNT 90, oh, oh, it warms my damn heart.

Come no closer, turtle fiend. Oh, a feller chucker,

hey. Oh! You guys wound my heart in such a good

way Because I've never I don't know which version

of Mikey's voice I hear coming out of IDW Mikey

but until that line I had never heard Robbie

wrists voice and I can hear Robbie wrist in my

And you and I'm sure you've told this story before

but you have a story about TMNT 90 Mikey. Yep

that that scene where they're in April's apartment

in the foot ninja comes out and flashes some

nunchuck stuff and Mikey says, oh, a challenge,

eh? And he takes his out and whips it around.

I had that scene and paused it and went by frame

by frame and learned all of those katas on both

sides of it. And to this day, I mean, the nunchucks,

yeah, there they are. They're right on my desk

over here. I can take those things and put those

things around. And I look like I know what I'm

doing. But no, I can't fight with them. I don't

know anything else. I just know those two katas.

because I watched the VHS in slow motion and

taught myself how to do it. But the real question

is, can you take it on your finger and twirl

it around? Keep practicing. No. Fortunately,

you need a ninja master accreditation to be able

to do that. Not gonna have that yet. Key word

is yet. Yet. Yet. Exactly. And I love how each

of the turtles reacts to this. You know, these

toad people or whatever. yo umbrella boy don't

make me rain on your parade and leo's like one

day without weirdness is that too much to ask

just one day and donnie's still laughing mikey

oh man is the dude that's a real banana the umbrella

goes goes pop oh and leo's like oh this is ridiculous

And he's like, now I know why father taught us

this trick. It's basically the Vulcan nerve pinch,

sort of. Yeah, so they knock out all the frogs,

and they talk to the toad baron. And Raph goes

to poke his stomach, and next thing you know,

Raph is puking his guts out. Must be one of those

poison toads. Must be. So like you said earlier

they're trying to find out more about the rat

king You know because they need to find that

out and we go back to Bishop and stockman and

all that and they're trying to find where they

put the Triceratons And Stockman won't tell him

won't tell him won't tell him he eventually does

tell them that they're on burnout island Which

Sucks that opens a can of worms that hurts in

the next art. Oh, yeah, I'm sure it does You

know, I wish I had I wish I had this panel here,

this next panel, past where Bishop says, yes,

exactly, too. The panel with Jenica and Splinter.

I wish I had this without speech bubbles, because

that is such beautiful art. Oh, man. So, so nice.

So they're talking about how... Splinter still

believes that Hun is not to be trusted and she

agrees and You know he goes on to say while governmental

authorities are burdened with recovery and rebuilding

we have an opportunity to become the most powerful

force in this day You have your orders turn and

see to them. Hi master Isn't supposed to happen

this way. We didn't come here to looking for

a fight. So we're back at toad barons and again

they want to know how to find Rat King or how

to defeat Rat King and because of the brotherhood

of the Pantheon or sisterhood of the Pantheon

or whatever he's not going to tell them outright

even though he says he's not really playing the

Pantheon's game anymore they have this really

really weird feast and I can't like this is This

is like putting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

into 1991's Hook, in the scene where they all

fight with the food, the food fight with Robin

Williams. I'm like, oh my god. Eyeball soup?

Ugh, I had that in kindergarten. Not really,

but ugh. All this stuff is so, so gross. I think,

didn't they play that? Joke in one of the earlier

arcs where they had the feast and everybody was

eating but then like the illusion went away and

they realized They're eating this disgusting

stuff Mikey is just chowing down on this feast

the other turtles are like no, thank you I think

there's a Joke, you know, that's not chicken

right Mikey. Yeah. Well, it tastes like chicken

And then later it gets up and flies away or something

so apparently in the den of delights here the

toad barons den of delights he has one two three

four five he has eight doors one each that will

lead them to each one of their siblings and they

go through each one that could potentially help

them they talk about sister akka brother mammoth

gulfano uh... they talk about obviously the rat

king's door that's not going to work uh... jaguar

and obviously kitsune and they decide to go to

brother mammoth Meanwhile the right good choices.

Yeah, none of them really are I Mean I'm loving

this I think this is super cool. I love the turtles

journey here It's Something this is Okay. Yeah,

it's the rat king. Yeah gene general. I'm not

really thrilled with rat king in whatever but

Because it's this series because it's these creators

writers and artists as I was reading this I was

really intrigued about it because I'm like, well,

what's he up to? What's he gonna do? What's what's

whatever? What are the turtles gonna have to

do? What might the turtles have to sacrifice

and then you have all these other little parts

of the story like the bishop and splinter team

up or the bishop and stockman stuff and then

you've got casey and hun and splinter and jenny

and and all it's all these moving parts that

you don't think are going to work together but

they do they do work together and and it's it's

all in service to the greater story the story

that both came immediately before and then story

that's going to come after this um It's always

good. I was a little thrown, I guess, by all

of the jumping around. I had a hard time kind

of staying focused while reading it. It's more

on me than on the writing team or anything. And

I do have a hard time whenever the Pantheon kind

of shows up. I don't quite know what they're

up to, and the only one that I'm really interested

in is what Kitsune is trying to come up with.

And Akka also... Uh, cause she at least wants

the right thing, but she is strangely silent.

Everybody else is, uh, they haven't intrigued

me yet. Yeah, I think I like, uh, uh, toad baron's

frogs more than the toad baron. Cause that was

just funny. That was just absolutely funny. So

Rat King goes to the St. Robert's orphanage.

a lost home for lost children parentless and

homeless a tragedy within a tragedy but fear

not my forgotten urchins the rat king knows just

the song to turn calamity into bliss and he plays

this tune which hypnotizes the children and he

again like you mentioned the jumping around we

go back to Bishop and Stockman and all that and

this is where Stockman I don't know we jump to

the turtles again but no he does this is where

he reveals that the Triceratons are on Burnell

Island and then we jump to the turtles This is

where the chicken flies away because it was a

chicken bat or something and this whole time

Raph is trying not to puke again So they choose

the the mammoth brother mammoth's door and ooh

it's getting cold and once again this art I love

them in the the Siberian coats kind of thing

because Brother Mammoth is in the middle of Siberia.

He then proceeds to hunt them. Because that's

what Mammoths do apparently. That's what this

Mammoth does. I want more from, you know, I do

want more from this character. I have the vaguest

memory of the cover of the Archie series where

he is there. And there's a toy that's a Mammoth.

That I don't think I had but I you know so I

know nothing about the character anymore and

he seems kind of interesting He seems very interesting

So after they have their little hunt and whatever

they share a meal and He then points them in

the way to get to rat king and we end up I believe

on the bridge with the rat king We have this

nice little interlude between him and Michelangelo

Michelangelo, you know, he's like He's like You

forgot one of us and I'm all about action dude.

It's practically my middle my second middle name

Michelangelo to Zuka action Hamato to Zuka mm

-hmm so that's a nice little fun interaction

and they impress him by using this you know the

the hidden rope trick or the hidden you know

wire trick to trip him up and that's how they

end up all becoming friends sharing a meal oh

hey you're right we jump to Baxter and yep it

is Irma That's interesting She's in the universe

yay And this is where she's trying to convince

Baxter about you know using the mousers for free

to deal with the city's rat problem He's like

for free What's wrong with you miss O 'Neill

and She points out you know the the good things

about you know doing that and everything else.

Meanwhile, Rat King has the children on the bridge.

He eats a rat, which I don't understand. Whatever.

Disgusting. Jenica goes to the next crime boss.

I forget which one it is. It's the next crime

family and he's like the thing is is when Darius

Dunn went down the foot clan was the biggest

baddest crew in New York made sense to join up

with them when your boss made the offer but word

gets around quick in this town and I know all

about those dinosaur aliens and I know the rat

took the best of his best up against them Got

taken out by his own damn kids instead, so I'm

thinking maybe the foot clan ain't so big and

bad after all Yeah, and then you know You know

classic mobster style. It's a gun battle, but

Casey and hun show up the purple dragon show

up they kick the dude's ass and Interesting thing

here where Jenica is about to kill the mob boss.

She's got her katana up and it's gonna kill him

Casey stays her hand and This is remember what

splinter said about killing when you don't need

to I think that's a holdover from that anger.

She has is a holdover From when she was with

the shredder and that version of the foot clan

the evil version like no no even though splinters

being a dirt bag from our point of view yours

and point of view he's still better than the

shredder and doesn't want to go have people this

blatantly murdered so yeah he reminds her that

yep he does and we go back to the the mammoth

and the turtles and he shows them the door to

get to the rat king they go now what's interesting

here is That he asks Raphael to stay back a little

and he he talks to him this again reminds me

of when splinter Wanted to talk to Raph after

he get back from the movies mm -hmm and Again

the 1990 film so that was really really cool

that the mammoth is giving him similar advice

kind of like So there's that I I remember I read

this part and had a flash of the only redeeming

moment from the first new movie Where they're

all holding on to the the scaffolding the antenna

as it's falling and then Raphael Has this heart

-to -heart moment with all of them about why

he's a dirtbag all the time And it's like oh,

yeah, it's cuz he's angry and he pushes him away

cuz he doesn't feel good enough and like that's

similar here, but interesting that that was Mammoth's

contribution to say you'll be at war with the

world until you admit that you want to be alone

or that you have a deep need to be alone. Yep.

And we get to the bridge with the turtles and

the Rat King and the Rat King is gonna, you know,

kill these kids. Dump them over the edge just

to be a dirt bag just to be a douche cuz yeah,

it's all about chaos Yes for him. I guess but

like there's no real I Know he thrives on chaos,

but there's no real plan. There's no like Everybody

else wants to take over the city or splinter

wants the foot clan to be the most powerful organization

in the city or Krang wants to destroy the world

or take it over or something, or whatever, but...

This guy just likes his, uh, his mayhem. Yeah.

Yep. I wonder if he has a part to play in the

grand scheme of where the pantheon is going,

like when that eventually resolves. We can either

find that out by issue 100 or that's going to

be What happens after issue 100? Very true. I

have to imagine that kitsune is gonna come back

before issue 100. I would assume so yes Not exactly

sure but So we get to the point of Baxter and

April talking about the mousers and her, you

know, basically trying to convince him to run

for mayor. We've got the kids fighting the turtles.

We've got the Rat King enjoying this. And then

we've got the rats fighting the turtles. Leo

goes up to the top of the thing and begins his

astral planing. April and Baxter have the fly

borgs and the mousers go hunt the rats down.

Which I think that's interesting. He has the

fly borgs and the mousers working together. That's

cool He mentions that he had originally planned

that they be working in tandem to clear landmines

and that he got the idea from a Tom Clancy novel

Which tells me that Tom Waltz read a Tom Clancy

novel and I'd like to know which one it is now

exactly So we get to Leo and Rat King being on

the astral plane, because they assume that with

him being on the astral plane that on the real

plane that his body won't be able to fight or

anything and the other turtles are like, oh let's

beat him up. Well that doesn't work. That doesn't

work at all. Yep, he has no problem doing both

at the same time. Yeah, no. Leo's like how I'm

a mortal and that does not happen by accident

So you wish to stop me to save those pathetic

urchins on the bridge and For what? To return

them to lives of abandonment and pain lost and

alone No, it is better for them to die today

in a grand glorious frenzied fashion not written

Well, I see okay he so he thinks he's doing it

as a mercy yeah and then Leo goes all you know

blue cold steel on him you know Leo says it appears

I'm not the only one who's adapted to new things

spent some time training in the in the thin places

recently have you not just me my brothers too

and and we get a scene with Donnie and Raph fighting,

fighting the Rat King's body. And all of a sudden,

the flyborg shows up and then the mousers show

up and here comes Leo. Oh, that's right, because

there's a bunch of rats there. Of course, the

flyborgs figure that out. Yep. And they're like,

Well, I'm just gonna knock you out now So interesting

if I just caught I saw I've read this but I it

I caught I caught it This time the fly borgs

are targeting the rat king like they are their

little artificial intelligence is registering

that he's a rat or something. Yep Yep Determined

little monstrosities, aren't you? You've gotten

the better of me today, mutants. You have proven

yourselves clever and worthy adversaries. Well

played indeed. I suggest you revel in your victory

while you can. However, for adversaries, we will

forever remain. And he jumps off the bridge.

And he disappears into thin air, or into the

thin places. Oh, I didn't catch that. Nice. Yeah

Yeah What are they gonna do with these kids that

are now no longer hypnotized? Hmm. They're gonna

take them to an arcade and give them cigarettes

No, not really That's right Regular or mental?

The real solution is to take them to a different

Jeklan and So yeah, the turtles take him to the

foot clan headquarters and Ask their dad to put

them up I don't know why they thought this was

a good idea and and you know the splinter being

the douche that he is Right now, you know, he's

probably gonna train these kids to murder people.

I Think he's starting to I personally feel like

he's starting to come around Like, you know,

Jenica is like, you know, Master Splinter, please

forgive me for this interruption, but Clan Hamato

is at the front gate requesting your presence.

They say it's urgent. My sons? Greetings, Clan

Hamato. This is unexpected. Yeah, Father, we're

totally sorry for showing up out of the blue

like this, but we really need your help. Like,

I'm hoping this is like them on the mend. I don't

let me reread the next set of issues I have a

feeling like they have another mini fallout because

he starts to Train them or there's a thought

that he might Because as if he's out there fighting

for territory That's that's not that's not mr.

Splinter. That's greedy. That's a weird kind

of behavior and making deals with Bishop is Weird

so there and trying to kill the Triceratons Couple

of days ago just because they wanted this territory.

There was a definite more Definitely more verbal

solution. You could have come up with if you

were thinking clear and True very true And we

go to TCRI and my name is dr. Baxter Stockman,

and I want to be the next mayor of New York City

We then get scenes of Baxter and April talking

about, you know, what are you going to do because

of your government grants, and this, that, and

the other thing. And she's like, speaking of

monsters, what do you have for me, you nasty

little bug? Where's your, where's your mouser

pal hiding, huh? And she go, it goes to this

museum, goes to the museum, and it sees that

the mouser has been destroyed. definitely not

a rat and this is where I kind of tune out on

the turtles specifically the characterization

of them because this is where that that paper

art style kind of comes in and it just like I

said in the beginning of this podcast Generally,

I've loved all the different versions different

art styles different artists interpretations

of the turtles from Sophie Campbell to Dan Shoning's

original designs to Dave Wachter to Anybody else

that's done it but this these paper looking cutouts

of them. I just I'm not Not a fan of this what

I noticed with this going from Walkers art to

this was that Rhonda's colors did that switch

too. It's neat that we've watched her tailor

her color to the artist that she's coloring for.

You know, I'm sure that's something that happens

instinctually, but yeah, it works here and this

style wouldn't work with that art and that art

wouldn't work with this style. So it's kind of,

I don't know, it's neat. The issue that I think

I see here that you're having is generally from

every perspective and an angle that You're viewing

them from the turtles heads are ovals Yeah, but

it's not just their heads it's their entire bodies

like okay the panel where it's Raph and Mikey

and Donnie see the the guards knocked out All

four of them see it actually. The next two parts

of the panel are where Donnie says, but that

means we can't communicate with April either.

And we've only got about 30 minutes before the

system figures out it's been compromised. You

look at that entire panel, you look at Leo and

you look at Mikey, their bodies. Like it just.

I get that the artist is trying to show them

in motion, but. For me personally, it's not working.

It just looks strange. And guess who shows back

up? It's good ol' Witherhead. Have we seen him

since he swam away? Nope. Wow. I don't think

so. So, Jenica is now babysitting. Because she's

babysitting all the new foot kids as Leatherhead

attacks the turtles Casey comes in with with

ice cream and chocolate syrup and whatever and

He's like there that should keep him busy for

like five minutes You know and they talk back

and forth back and forth and You know, they're

kind of flirting and I don't remember like when

he and April originally broke up recently but

obviously he and April aren't together because

they're on two very different storylines at this

point and apparently Vanilla is her favorite

and she's like oh you can just call me Jenny

and yeah so we go back to Leatherhead and Leatherhead's

not doing so oh we haven't seen Leatherhead since

75 So not since he swam away since issue 75 when

he killed Krang oh That's that's the last time

we saw leatherhead because he mentions it here

about killing Krang because he starts having

these Hallucinations of Krang and I'll say this

for the for the artist that's doing this The

crying looks really cool is the artist version

of Krang looks really really cool And again Sean

Leon letters and stuff and like the pink the

the pink speech bubble with the pinkish red That's

hilarious how a ghost of Krang or a Hallucination

of Krang is is torturing Leatherhead and I feel

sorry for Leatherhead. I do absolutely Because

he's kind of gone crazy Yeah, they're playing

them in this in this story a little Like the

the Nick series where Leatherhead just kind of

snaps and goes animalistic and Well, he's he's

snapped here not necessarily going animalistic

but going but he wants the crank that he thinks

he sees and it's it's a Taken over his brain

and in trying to chase down This taunting pink

blob. He's taken out the turtles and the museum

exhibits and then he goes down into the sewers

uh he escapes we get bishop um bishops on his

way to burnell island and that's how this one

ends um i gotta say even though this is called

kingdom of rats rat king i guess not doing a

lot is doing something But I wish there was still

more to do with the rat king besides just Doing

this mercy thing with the children. That was

just a little strange to me. Yeah, this this

arc felt like a bridge I was about to say filler

but it's not a filler it's a bridge between the

last story arc and the next one and You know

you had to get these characters into a position

so that they're ready for the battle that happens

on Brno Island and you know you it's what it's

what this arc had to be and to give a little

bit of continuity between lining these characters

up you they threw the villain in there to say

all right yeah you're the one who's gonna be

kind of the linking thread Man I feel smart noticing

that Well you are smart Joe come on now Don't

don't take too much credit away from yourself

Yes This this volume these issues For me, it's

probably a three and a half or a four out of

five. Yep. You read my mind if we had three point

seven Fives I'd do it but three point five sounds

about right and it's I think there was no better

way to do What they did here serving as that

bread? Between what's gonna happen next we had

to revisit some characters. We had to remind

people what they were after and then So that's

that's what it was So friggin lately so here

inside the pullback folks I want to make room

for the next thing of turtles before Joe has

to start school again. I don't know if that's

gonna happen because all of next month all about

the august episode three sixty three to three

sixty seven is all recorded actually all about

the august this year is actually going to take

us till october because it's actually episode

three sixty three to 370 .5 with all transformer

stuff except for two episodes. We've got Star

Wars Darth Vader from 2015 which is written by

Kieron Gillan with art by Salvador Larocca on

episode 366 cuz hello 66 Star Wars or 66 whatever

and then My buddy Jeremy fine returns to the

podcast because we started this series a number

of years ago uh... was met fraction and uh...

chips of our skis sex criminals from image comics

great book well i wanted but i didn't think you

read that book uh... but yeah uh... sex criminals

uh... i try to explain it to my wife if she's

like okay And because I had forgotten, because

we haven't done this in a while, we haven't reviewed

it in a while. And we're just now, there's like,

we reviewed volumes one and two. There are five

volumes total. So we're starting now. We're starting

with volume three here and we will finish the

series because that's just how we roll around

here in the pull bag. But I explained it to her

and I hadn't read it in a while and I forgot

things. They're having sex to stop time to rob

banks. And I left the part out about like I put

in, oh, they have sex and it stops time. But

I forgot to put in the part where they're robbing

banks. so that's what's coming up uh... for august

september and october we've got uh... unicron

coming in with the uh... the big unicron miniseries

and then we'll close it out with transformers

optimus prime volume five which is the end of

the previous idw universe the new universe started

up and we'll get to that eventually as well um...

after that coming in october we've got power

rangers volume six and then um... a bunch of

star trek and superman stuff as well so there

is that where can people find you online sir?

because i'm an old man find me on facebook at

uh... facebook .com slash geek stuff garage sale

uh... you can visit me in person at the Geek

stuff garage sale on September 14th Saturday

September 14th. We're having another event 50

vendors all free selling nerd stuff In Grand

Rapids, Michigan all that information is on that

Facebook page Cool. Cool. Awesome. Awesome. You

can find me online at TFG one Mike on Twitter

You can also follow at the pull bag on Twitter

and at gate cast radio for all the other work

updates Make your greatest game to comics and

we will catch you next time here inside the pull

bag for Autobotly August 2019. Become a fan of

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