IDW’s TMNT Macro Series Review

Hi, this is Bobby Kernow, Chief Turtle Editor

at IDW Publishing, and you are going to have

a shell of a good time inside the pull bag. You've

just jumped inside the pull bag. Join TFG1 Mike

and the rest of the comic reading crew here at

the GCRN as they make their great escape into

comics. From DC, Marvel, IDW, Boom Studios, Xenoscope,

and more, we have everything you want to read

right here. Transformers comics? Yeah, we cover

that. P -Men? Yeah, sure. DC superheroes like

Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Batman Beyond?

Yep, we have those too. How about TMNT from IDW

and I Hate Fairyland from Image Comics? Yeah,

we have all that here. Plus, so much more. It's

all inside the pullback here on the Geekcast

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

time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here inside the pullback. Well, back

to work. Hello, and welcome to episode 389 of

The Pull Bag. I am, of course, TFJU and Mike.

Joining me in this turtletastic, fun -filled

episode is Mr. Joe Reed. Hello, sir. Hello. How

are you? I am well. I'm looking at a fancy new

microphone, so maybe I don't come across sounding

like I'm talking into a Talkboy tape recorder

or anything. Yeah, as of this recording, I have

not edited our last episode that we did, or I

should say our first episode back. As of this

recording, I have not edited it yet. Edited it?

God, I can't even say it. I can't say that word

either. God, it's killing me. I haven't done

podcasting in over a year, and I feel like I

can't talk at all. Anyway, so I have not edited

it. God, that even sounds even - Nope, no, I

didn't make it. It has not been finished or worked

on yet, so I don't know how episode 387 sounded.

Hopefully the listeners are still here for our

totally turbulent turtle talk. Wow, I can say

that, but I can't say edited. And in this episode,

we're going to be tackling the TMNT macro series,

kind of like the micro series from a few years

ago that they did with the four or... Actually,

they did more than four. They did the four turtles.

They did Splinter, April, Casey, Shredder, Bebop

and Rocksteady, and others. Go back. I'll link

those old micro episodes in this post. But they're

going back to the turtles' stories with this

macro series, and I'm looking at it in the trade

paperback. I'm sure you're looking at it in single

issue. Yep. chronologically that speaking this

came right after our last episode the uh... the

what was that said that a lot of work that aligns

yeah it kind of does this date because that they

release them all is single issues first this

fits each of these fits within and i should look

it up should not uh... somebody said to me or

said something somewhere that uh... They were

looking forward to reading the Adult Turtles

series. It was on a podcast or something. And

I'm like, Adult Turtles series? How do you not

consider the IDW series not adult enough? Have

you not read it? Because there's plenty of adult

things in this IDW series. And what they were

meaning was the fact that IDW reprinted the Image

Comics run. how adult that that the image comics

were and I'm like okay well yeah but you still

should read the regular main IDW on yeah cuz

it and even even the Mirage run I mean the first

issue is dark and yeah occasionally they're shown

drinking beer or occasionally somebody gets stabbed

but altogether it's the original Turtles comic

is more a symbol of the love of the comic industry

and independent creators and black and white

comics. It's not that adult. I think people just

want their Ninja Turtles to be Batman only. They

kill people and stab people and curse. And you

know, okay, I'm just in it for a good story.

I don't really... mind which story you're telling,

and IDW's consistently been doing a good job

with that. I don't, other than a few art style

choices, not saying we dislike the artists themselves,

but there have been a few art style choices that

I have not liked in the IDW run. However, that

does not take away from my enjoyment of the overall

story that this entire series has taken is done.

Okay, so as far as continuity goes... It felt

like this could almost have happened really anywhere.

I don't think it is too tied to any one moment.

It is and it isn't. So Donatello and Michelangelo,

according to the continuity thing I have, takes

place before the final issue of Kingdom of Rats.

And then Leonardo takes place after Bebop and

Rocksteady hit the road. And then Raphael takes

place after the end of Battle Lines, which was

issue 89. So the only way we could do them on

the podcast, folks, and do them sanely and not

have to worry about splitting everything up or

combining it with other things is we do it all

as one episode and one thing. And after reading

them, I'm like, yeah, there's, you know, no reason

to not just have these four comics as their own

thing, because It does not take away my understanding

or enjoyment of where the cast of characters

are currently. Running down the creative, on

the Donatello book we have Paul Allor. Yay, Paul

Allor! Gotta get him in for an interview at some

point. Bram Revelle and Chris Peter are on art

and colors for Donatello. Mikey's was written

by Ian Flynn with artist Michael. Oh, I love

that guy. What? Dynalias? I think it's Dyalinus.

Dyalinus. He corrected us on social media once

and put a pronunciation for it, and I think that's

where I got Dyalinus. Yeah. But I just still

don't feel like that's right. Again, another

turtle artist. We're gonna have to get in here

for an interview to figure it out and whatever.

Leo's was written by Sophie Campbell and the

Leo's was written and the art was done by Sophie

with colorist being Brittany Pier. And then Raph,

this was the Target R thing that Mr. Bishop kept

talking about. So story and layouts were done

by Kevin Eastman. Script was done by Kevin Eastman

and Tom Waltz. Pencils and inks by Ben Bishop.

And the colors were done by Tommy Varga. I think

that's Kevin Eastman's personal colorist. Could

be. I think I'd have to double check that, but

I think that's probably how this got done. I

know Ben Bishop was very excited all over social

media when this was about to be released. Ben

Bishop is us, folks. He grew up with the turtles,

he slept in the turtle sleeping bag, and he's

been a comic artist. since, like, a child and

applied to Marvel while he was still in high

school. And, you know, at the end of everything,

you know, he's doing signings with Peter Laird

and Steve Levine at the comic store over in Maine,

and he's working with Kevin Eastman on their

personal little pet projects, and I think that's...

He's a cool cat. Absolutely. I want to get a

lot of the TMNT artists on for interviews because

I've loved all of their art. The only one I will

say right now that I had a little bit of trouble

with, and we'll talk about it once we get into

this, is Bram Revel and Chris Peter on the Donatello

one. I don't like the way Donnie is... There's

a couple of scenes where... He looks like he's

a piece of origami. It's weird. It's more in

the battle scenes of the issue, of the Donatello

issue, where he just doesn't look like... I don't

know. But that's my really only gripe with these

four. The rest of it, I absolutely love. Yeah,

I thought the art in... Well, the whole Donatello

issue, I love how Harold is drawn, bebop, rocksteady,

everything. I love what it looks like. I'm not

a tremendous fan of the oval head of Donatello,

but that's personal stuff and not a gripe. That's

just the way that this artist has chosen to do

it. But everything else is fantastic. I do enjoy

every single other panel in here. Yeah, there's

one panel in here where we, I believe, and again,

you and I are looking at this in two different

ways, but it says page 12. It's when Harold comes

to Donnie and, you know, Harold says, you know,

you said you needed my help to safely dismantle

all the old metalhead technology. the parts left

behind when you let that killer robot go free.

That's why I came. That's the only reason I came.

Not to help you play mad scientist. So in Comixology's

guided view, it pulls close in on the panel of

where he says not to help you play mad scientist.

Donatello looks like he has hair. Like there's

a line drawn on his forehead. And I guess the

artist is trying to say, hey, I kind of look

like Bart Simpson a little bit or something.

I don't know. And it just looks weird to me.

Maybe that's a printing error on yours. I see

scrunched eyebrows. Yeah, I see scrunched eyebrows,

too. Like I said, I'll take a screen cap of it

and show you. But I don't know, man. It just

looks weird. And the way the light is on his

face and the way the shadows are, like... his,

the right side of Donatello's face, so the left

side of the image is all in shadow, and then

there's like one little shadowy part under his

eye on his face, and I'm like, that just doesn't

look right. It looks like it looks like somebody

tried to draw a nose next to, under his eyeball.

Not really, but... Anyway. So this is a Donnie

and Harold story, and Donnie, Harold, and Metalhead,

and Donatello wants to... Try to figure out the

future So Donnie as a problem solver and probably

has one of the turtles who's lost I don't want

to say the most but he he had a special experience

Not too many issues ago dying and all yeah and

getting transferred into a robot He's struggling

with all of that and Donnie wants to Find a way

to be able to better predict the problems so

that he can stop them from happening Donnie Everdee

inventor wants to to to find a way to use that

to Solve the problems that haven't happened yet

a little bit like Tony Stark really only he doesn't

have that futurist kind of sense Yeah, Donnie's

a genius, but he's not Tony Stark level genius

And you know, we mentioned the genius word and

I mentioned the inventor word. What I appreciate

most about all four of these books is the turtles

are all, they all have an archetype. Party dude,

anger guy, the boy scout, and Donatello's the

smart one. And when we are reading the stories

in the... in the collected books where it's an

ongoing thing, you get little winks here and

there of who these characters are. Donnie is

always going to be the one rushing to fix something

that's broken so they can achieve the mission.

But when they're in their own issue where the

other brothers are not the highlight, you get

to see how multi -dimensional they are. And you

see Donnie struggling with his own character

flaws and Dealing with that I just I it's the

thing that I think IDW has gotten the most right

And I think what comics get to do that like the

cartoons don't or the ongoing series where you

really get to linger with them as characters

Yeah, absolutely I've said for a long time now

As long as the comic I don't want to say it this

way, but I have to phrase it this way as long

as the comic is successful long as there's a

plan to tell the story they have almost an infinite

and I mean unless something majorly drastic happens

or unless you know you're you're just want to

go on a cash grab to restart your universe and

get a new number one kind of thing DC Marvel

You know, I mean, as long as there's room for

the story, as long as there's, and we, we've

known this for years now that we've been covering

the, the IDW run. Every time we've talked to

Bobby, the one time we talked to Tom Walz, there

has been a plan and every time there has been

a meeting for them to say, okay, where do we

go? Like after, like, what was it? City fall.

Where do we go from here? Where do we take them?

What do we do with them? Let's do something that

no one would expect let's reference something

or homage something that no one would expect

but when you see it You're like oh my like there

have been a couple of times that you've said

in the past where oh my god Angel is a reference

to you know angel and her her um Robot suit is

a reference to you know the old mirage, but you

know it's the old mirage But you know so it's

like you always have that thing and you always

have that plan as long as you have Something

that's gonna like I can't see myself not reading

this book like it I don't think these creators

would ever do anything I Cross my fingers and

pray to God Venus doesn't show up somehow Oh,

no, no, dude. They're gonna totally do Venus,

but it's gonna be done right and amazing and

I get Venus and There was the oh Venus and Mona

Lisa I get those two confused I don't know if

there's a reason for that if like Venus became

Mona Lisa Mona Lisa became Venus Mona Lisa was

the lizard critter Venus is the female turtle

from next mutation next mutation and you know

I mean well we I don't I don't know how spoilery

we're getting with with the books but something

similar to that happens but not exactly by this

time everybody should know because that happened

over a year ago so we're on our way to seeing

more of Jenica's story, and I don't, ooh, I gotta

check. I gotta check the continuity and see where

the two Jenica minis fit in. Dammit, I gotta

email Bobby, dammit. Anyway, just more turtle

content for anyone who's listening. Indeed, and

I think you were talking about... The meetings

that they have and yeah They've had a plan to

100 and they have a loose plan for after a hundred

that they're working on and in the pedemics Pandemic

has kind of messed that up. But right One of

the things I think they've mentioned a couple

of times that they have faced pressure to renumber

the series or start over not necessarily reboot

it but Give it a clean start and they're like,

no, no, no, let us get to 72. No, no, no, let

us get to a hundred and I I'm I think the only

reason that they've been able to continue Doing

what they're doing is that yet Nick likes what

they're doing and the fans like what they're

doing So yes, please keep keep the comics going,

you know Well, we're not here to speculate or

discuss all the stuff that's going on at IDW

I know IDW as a company has been going very very

badly lately they've been hemorrhaging money

which sucks and they've gone through like three

or four different publishers and all that and

everything else and it's just crazy I hope they

find a balance I hope they stay in business because

without IDW and their team for any of the licensed

comics that they do whether it's Turtles whether

it's Transformers whether it's My Little Pony

whether it's back to that whatever it is Like,

without the company being there, we won't have

these comics, so... Support them, support your

local comic shop, support, you know, whatever

you're gonna support. Just do it, folks. Anyway,

back to Donnie. Uh, he, um... Doesn't... His

math is off and he screws up and a homing beacon

summons another metalhead. And this metalhead

is really, really weird. First I thought, is

that Harold in that thing? Because he kind of

talks like Harold. Yeah, I don't remember. I

mean, this metalhead has been around. There was

the little one that Harold made, and then this

one got made at some point. And I don't remember

when or where. And it turned evil. But it's it's

that same. It's that same big evil metalhead.

This is I think he rebuilt himself made him tougher.

Yeah Yeah, this isn't the one that Donatello

put his mind in but I think that this guy has

part of Donatello's consciousness in him probably

And you know, they're going back and forth and

trying to figure out this thing and trying to

figure out the the math and whatever and basically

the metalhead tells him that look your math is

off and I can fix this or you can fix this and

I like the tinkering I just wish it wasn't another

metalhead I wish this was Harold and him trying

to figure out the problem But I understand that

Donnie needs an adversary here, and with him

having been a part of Metalhead at one point,

it's interesting to see the way this story plays

out. Yeah, the battle here is Donatello's own

internal concerns, fears, feelings of inadequacy,

and Metalhead Wants to kill Donnie he sees him

as an inferior shadow of the robot that he is

the perfection that he is and but he's the truth

has been called and there's this small part of

metalhead that wants to save Donnie In this and

it's really interesting to see that come out

and then how Donnie's weaknesses and inadequacies

are vocalized by the metalhead who knows what

Donnie is thinking And then Harold comes in and

saves the day or ruins everything depending on

your point of view right exactly And And I love

that you know Donnie goes on to say after Harold

comes in I asked why you were cooperating with

me But you never asked me why I was cooperating

with you You sabotaged me. As if you weren't

planning to double -cross me. Like, Donnie knows.

And this is where his smarts comes in. Yes, he

is the inventor. Yes, he is the tinkerer. Yes,

he is. All of that. But he's also a straight

smart turtle and a character smart turtle, especially

a turtle that has already been... in the mind

of a metalhead. Maybe it's not this metalhead,

but, you know... He... Apparently all metalheads

are the same, who knows, I don't know. Harold

comes in, ruins everything, almost kills Donnie,

but, oh, the hell with it. I'm like, damn it,

don't shoot him, what the hell's wrong with you?

But I see why he did it, and... and what it was

supposed to mean. What are your thoughts on this

as we go through it here? They will be similar

thoughts to what I felt with the rest of this

series. So maybe I should save it. Definitely

good and interesting and I love having an opportunity

to let the characters breathe and see them multi

-dimensionally. Absolutely. And I love by the

end of it that we basically get Harold and Donnie

being able to call a truce and work together

and, you know, they come to the realization of

I could use some help cleaning up this lab. I

think I can do that. And then we'll figure out

what happens next. So it's kind of like a message

of live in the present and then figure out the

future later. So Very nice issue. Yes Next up

is the party dude issue is Michelangelo and Michelangelo's

issue focuses on him being a sensei in the foot

clan To all of the orphan children that they've

taken in, you know, I think before we get too

far into this, we should mention that on the

single issues, all of these covers were drawn

by David Peterson of Mouseguard fame. Okay. All

four of these and they are absolute pieces of

candy to behold the Donnie and the Mikey issue

in particular as Mikey's shown at the farmhouse

from which I mean it's from the movie. From Northampton.

There's little Easter eggs all over these images,

like the porch swing is broken like Casey Jones

breaks it in the movie. On the Donatello issue,

he's working in a workshop. There's a Mythbusters

welded sign on the floor. There's a Mouse Guard

board game, Lock and Key comics from IDW. There's

just gobs and gobs of little details in the background

that are references to things from all over the

Turtles universe. A new Sagiyo Jimbo sticker

on the lamp. So, definitely worth taking a look

at those covers. Absolutely. Also, the alternate

covers, at least in the trade, at the end of

each issue, they show you the Ryan Brown alternate

turtle covers, and that will actually be the

banner art for this issue, is the four turtle

covers, where it shows them in various poses,

and they kind of look like they're movie versions.

Very, very cool. Oh yeah, Ben Bishop also did

a series of connecting covers for this run. And

I think he sells prints of that on his online

store, like a long poster of all four of them.

And then he added the fifth turtle and did another

connected poster that is neat to see. Yeah, that

is very, very cool. Yeah, I wonder if those Ryan

Brown covers connect. Don't think they do. I'm

not sure No, maybe not the backgrounds are a

little different. Yeah, but they are cool. Yeah,

they're very very cool Yeah, I was like what

am I gonna do for the for the what am I gonna

have Steve Megatron do for the featured banner

and I only had access to What was in the in the

trade and I'm like, okay, we'll use the Ryan

Brown ones. Very cool Keep taking this podcast

and throwing it off the rails, but there's just

so much to talk about folks Does amazing things

and gets amazing people? absolutely they do so

Mikey is kind of training the orphans that are

at the foot clan and He's doing it in the style

of a ringmaster The ringmaster is ready to take

your order and You know, he does all these descriptions

in the second ring is the bro with the bow Donatello

And in the third ring, we've got the radically

ripped Raphael And Jenica is like, uh, what do

you I am not entertained? Yeah Yeah, we're seeing

Mikey being the party dude the funny one the

jokester in this he's entertaining the children

and playing And and at least Jenica is definitely

not entertained by this Oh, yeah, this is this

I this was a very very interesting issue. I'm

paging ahead. I shouldn't This is so fun Well,

we get and this is that the one dimension of

Michelangelo that we usually get and so we're

comfortable We're comfortable with it or there's

there's nothing here yet We're setting something

up with that right and he's got a point, you

know, these kids lost everything their parents

their homes everything so why not Giving them

a few minutes of happiness bettering that you

know bettering them bettering the city because

that's how he He says it to Jenneka, and, you

know, again, like you said earlier, these one

shots are supposed to focus on one turtle, but

Raph and Leo and Donnie are there. I think Donnie's

there. Yeah, Donatello's there. Leo's there,

but he's in with Master Splinter. But the other

brothers are there, even though Mikey is, like,

they're kind of like, what are you doing? Like,

it's kind of like a... Mikey's the candid camera

host even though there are no hidden cameras

and I think I wonder if that comes from if this

was I don't know unintentional accidental but

it needed to be this way where Michelangelo is

the least introspective of the turtles Leo meditates

and analyzes everything Donnie internalizes everything

and tries to fix things and Raph is constantly

self -loathing and hating himself for the anger

But Mikey is always the outward one, entertaining

others, entertaining himself. And so I think

to get this story told, you needed to have the

others to put Michelangelo in that situation

or to frame him in that situation of having this

wonderful kind of breakthrough moment that he

has in this issue. Absolutely. Because you know

Mikey never like Mikey in this in the IDW series

He's been serious at times He's been the party

dude at times as he's that's his main part of

his personality and that's fine and His main

thing is why do we always have to fight? Why

can't we get along? Why can't there be a truce?

Why can't there be this what? You know, why do

we have to? save everything or save everyone

kind of thing and I love that about him because

what I love about Mikey in IDW is when he gets

emotional when he starts getting real you know

the shit's gonna hit the fan because like back

in like Back after the... Oh, Donatello's arc

where they killed him. I forget what it's called

off the top of my head. Issue 45 to 50. Yeah,

44 to 50 or whatever. No for yet. It's 45 to

50. Anyway issue 51 Mikey was like no, I'm done

I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this

battling I don't you know, so we saw that then

and we're kind of seeing that now where he's

trying to be a role model to these orphans to

these people that these kids that they're bringing

into the foot clan and You know Leo during this

time is talking to to Master Splinter and you

know Mike he's like oh he's done with uh he's

done with talking with father and Leo reveals

that he's agreed to take the kids in Mikey's

like you know Donnie's like nice yeah to be trained

as the next generation of foot ninja Mikey's

like no no that's a terrible idea wow and Mike

yeah you're right Mikey's like no way you know

and it you know it's just one of those things

where you know Mikey goes off and goes through

this whole what I love about these issues is

some of them I would never say to somebody you

need to read this before you read the other 80

something issues I would tell people start at

the beginning of turtle power turtles with IDW

however if someone were to see this in a comic

shop or whatever or catch the trade or whatever

and they were reading this issue I would say

oh well you'd be alright you could you wouldn't

know everything but you could like this whole

thing about how Mikey's going through what happened

with When Splinter had Dunn executed. When he

almost murdered Zom. You know, so we see the

history that's going through. Obviously you and

I are reading this in the point of... We've already

read everything else to this period. But Mikey's

point is... I don't want to fight him. I don't

want to fight my family. Period. And Raph's like,

yeah, well... We can't fight him. He showed us

that when he handed us our asses. And... Donnie

says, he's a clan master and our father, and

I hate to say it, but we have to follow his lead.

I think that's Donnie. Looks pro - yeah. Yeah,

that's - yeah, yeah. Um... But Mikey doesn't

want to follow Splinter's lead. Mikey wants to...

So at the end of the last episode of the podcast

we talked about issue 89 where Splinter and the

turtles got back together for Christmas and Splinter

was Santa and an awesome cover where Splinter

was decorating the Christmas tree with the flag

of Japan as the backdrop kind of thing. Mikey

doesn't want to necessarily be Santa, but Mikey

wants to give these kids a better choice, a better

future, something with more fun in it, and we

spend the next couple of issue panels, at least

panels in my case, panels, pages, where Mikey's,

he's taking out all the guards that are guarding

the children, and he's basically absconding with

the kids. Yeah, this is where, coming off of

that Christmas issue, It was kind of funny because

yeah, Splinter was like, oh, I've been wrong.

I've been a right dirtbag. And then all of a

sudden, Mikey, in the next issue that we see

Splinter, he's like, no, I'm going to turn children

into warriors in my war against. the rest of

the city, and I'm gonna make them kill people

and become ninjas, and my sons are disobedient,

lazy people, and they're not following orders,

and they're questioning me. It's like Splinter,

it's like this is that jerk Splinter we were

talking about, and Mikey is not afraid to acknowledge

it. Even Donnie says, well dude, he's dad, we

gotta follow his rules, and Leo, the stalwart.

The honorable follow the code kind of guys like

yeah, I mean we're clan Hamato. We have a peace

truce here He's like he's worrying about following

the line, but Mikey is like no no this isn't

right He's the only one saying that this isn't

right. It shouldn't be like this absolutely and

Splinter and the other three turtles along with

Jenica go after them and then we get Mikey and

Mikey really has no plan All these kids need

you know they ask him fresh air sunshine totally

get back to nature is that how you grew up? Totally

I mean kinda in another life what it was forever

ago, but I remember when I was little and father

was first teaching me and I Thought I wasn't

gonna cry in this podcast god damn it you creators,

but you every time they take it back to Japan

and the human version of these characters of

Splinter of Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo

and show us various things from the past like

Mikey getting basically hitting himself in the

head with the nunchuck and it's like okay he's

teaching him this lesson and he you know and

it's Mikey remembering this And just seeing that

is like, oh wow. Mm -hmm. It just, it's so good.

And as they're going through the sewers, Mikey's

like, oh crap, where's everybody else? Because

apparently some of them are missing, or they

haven't all done it, and we see him helping all

of them, and there's one panel where, Sensei,

I'm hungry. Well... We'll get some eats in a

bit, and they're like crawling over. I'm tired.

Yeah, I'm tired. Are we there yet? Yeah. Are

we there yet? Mikey realizes parenting is hard.

Yes, exactly. He's like, just stop. Give me five

minutes. No, no, no. I'm already doing this wrong.

Maybe my bros were right. This is too much to

handle. But what else am I supposed to do? I

can't take them back to Michelangelo. Busted.

So he tells the kids to go across the pipe and

uh... Jenica goes on to say, all you're doing

is making things worse. Come over here with the

children immediately before you truly cause...

Screw you! All of their faces. Like, what did

you just say? And, you know, we get this... This

upcoming battle with Mikey and Splinter, and

what starts that... what doesn't really start

this... He goes on to say, these kids lost all

they've ever known, and instead of helping them,

you want to turn them into weapons. You're worse

than the Shredder. He is! He totally is! you

know and They have this this beat down and there's

an amazing amazing panel I see so be it and it's

splinter with his stick and Mikey with his nunchucks

and oh Man this fight mm -hmm it could have gone

on for ten pages, and I'd have been happy oh

yeah, and just the reactions you see like There's

a panel where Mikey strikes Splinter in the,

he basically elbows him in the left side of his

face, and you see a panel of Splinter reeling

back, and you see Jenica look like a shock face,

and then you see the turtles reactions and...

I think the only one that actually is enjoying

this is Raph because he doesn't really have a

shock face. He's more of like a half smile on

his face. I didn't notice that. Yeah. Three times

I've read this book. I didn't notice that. That's

awesome. He's like, this is awesome. Yeah. And

it's a, it reminds me of, and I don't know how

much country music you've heard, but There's

a Garth Brooks song on his In Pieces album. It's

entitled The Night I Called the Old Man Out.

It's about this kid who calls his dad out because

his dad's abusive to him and his brothers and

everything else and I'm reading this issue and

I'm like hearing that song in my head and I'm

like, oh my god. Garth Brooks and the Turtles

combined. Holy crap. so as this fight continues

they eventually get to the point where they end

up switching their weapons so splinter ends up

with a nunchuck and mikey ends up with his stick

and uh... the master becomes the student the

student becomes the master that's some symbology

right there that's clever you gotta read these

things four times or so before you really start

to get it The funny thing is, because I look

at the story first and then once we're talking

about it I notice the art stuff, I got this immediately.

This is the first time I've read any of this

stuff. So I'm like, oh wow, that's so cool. And

Splinter eventually calls Leonardo forward and

he congratulates him. Leo's like, for what? Oh,

you can't get there without the best line in

the book. The fight's been going on, they've

been trading some blows, but yes, of course,

Splinter starts to dominate this fight, because

he's friggin' master Splinter. And so, Mikey

takes a good fall and Splinter says, enough,

you need to yield. And he says, never. My father

taught me to do what's right. My sensei taught

me to fight. the killers of the Foot Clan. If

you want these kids, it'll be over my dead body.

And he's not gonna give up. He's pulling a Captain

Marvel, I'm gonna pick myself up every time.

Which teaches Splinter the lesson that he needed

to learn. And then he asks Leonardo to step forward.

You know and he sees of how you know that clan

Hamado is devoted to protecting the city citizens

and the next generation I expect this same level

of devotion when you help in educating and training

them and Leo goes on to say forgive me master

splinter I seem to have forgotten the details

of our arrangement. Please remind to me and splinter

goes on to say The Foot Clan will see to it these

children are fed, clothed, and sheltered. They

shall be given a full education so they will

be prepared to return to the world. The Hamato

Clan will continue from this evening's exercise,

exclusively training the children in the martial

arts. When the children come of age, they will

have the option to further their skills by joining

the Foot Clan. I believe that was the arrangement,

was it not? It was thank you for the reminder

so So Mikey's like wait, that's not what you

told us this afternoon Leo whispers to him you

won you goober He's giving you an honorable way

out And obviously everybody wants to go home,

they're all very tired And all of that. And yeah,

it's just a fun, fun issue. I think at one point

Leonardo calls it, Mikey had a plan to do this.

And I think from the reactions after that, as

they're packing up and figuring out where they're

going to take everybody for the night. And the

issue wraps up that Mikey did not have a clue

what he was doing He was flying by the seat of

his pants and doing what was right the whole

time Yeah Yeah, absolutely absolutely loved it

We get into Leo's issue and Man Boy, do I remember

this scene from the movie I don't think you can

show the four turtles meditating and not not

think that but yeah for that movie Yep, and they

are in Northampton at the farmhouse. I Love Sophie's

art in this. I love the colors. I love the background

Very, very cool. Hey, even Pepperoni's there!

And Leo has always been the one to do the whole

astral plane thing. It has never been any of

the other brothers' thing. And they're just like,

I'm just not feeling this. And Donnie's like,

I'm done for today. I feel like I'm beating my

head against a wall with this, Leo. And, you

know, so the other three go relax. or something,

and Leo goes on a walk, and this walk takes him

through one hell of a journey. I love the homage

of the four baby turtles in the pond as he's

walking along. I was like, oh, hey! That's so

cool! You had mentioned to me off air that part

of this is homaging What'd you say that not the

Mirage books? Yeah, there is there is a panel

near the end of the book That is a a throwback

to one of the panels from issue 50 Okay Yeah

So as we go along in the story here Leo ends

up fighting Koya What the heck Koya is doing

in Northampton is beyond me, but okay So they

have a battle and they go back and forth and...

Leo goes on to say that he thinks he understands

Koya now. She's trying to... what does he say?

Oh. I think I've lost it. Anyway... Koya and,

I guess, her friend, um, Bludgeon the shark.

The turtles beat them. I think Leo shredded Koya's

wings so she couldn't fly and she's... I think

it's a she, anyway, is flying now and has an

amulet that gives her these magic wings that

she's using. But she's trying to get revenge

against Leonardo for taking everything that she

was. And when Leo sees that and he sees her pain

and kind of... It takes a couple of blows as

he's figuring it out before realizing that he

needs to apologize. Yep. There is one big panel

shot of her revealing herself and her power where

he says, she's remained herself into what she

wants to be. After this panel, at least here

in the Guided View, what I love what they do

on Comixology is the panels that show them fighting

now. it's almost like uh... photo booth photos

but they're sitting and not obviously sitting

in a photo booth but it's like shown that way

of of how the fight is going in the panels are

shown in like photo booth kind of strips and

i'm like all that is so cool and he goes on to

you know she goes on to say that uh... You probably

forgot all about me, you and your brothers. Mame

us and then go on with your lives. Bludgeon and

I did not go on with ours. And Leo says, you're

right, I'm sorry. And that takes Koya by surprise.

Coming for revenge, you don't expect to say,

for your prey to say that, yeah, I kind of deserve

that. Absolutely. But then Leo starts talking

wise. Like, okay, what's going to happen after

you take revenge? Mm -hmm. He mentions the amulet.

He can see the power that it has and that it's

powered by her anger and that, you know, it kind

of suggests that that might go away. Yeah. And

then they sit back and they sit back and meditate

and we get the revelation. Where Leo's there

that they're sitting down together where he says

I'm guessing if you're here Then Karai must be

back, too Yes, she came back because it's time

to take what she wants the foot I came back to

do the same thing to take what I wanted and then

she asks him what do you want and Then and that

makes him think and we see this beautiful and

I love Sophie's are here we see this beautiful

thing of Raph and pepperoni and Mikey and Donnie

and and then Leo just Meditating with with koya

there, and it's just so So cool the art is so

good and We get karai back. I'm like wow Okay

And Karai and Leo have a quick sword fight until

she basically slices his blade off. It looked

to me like this is a very friendly fight. We

know we can handle each other. There's no anger

in it. There's no fury. It's just parang a few

times. Until she uses that foot clan magic sword

that she got from Japan. And Leo just tosses

his broken sword away. And she goes on to tell

him, she says, I know as Chunin, you won't go

along with that, but I'm prepared to honorably

fight. And he's like, no, it's fine. Take the

clan. She's like, what? I am not Chunin. I am

not part of the foot anymore. I am master of

the Hamato clan now. As much as I'd love to wash

my hands of the foot, I can't. Your father? Yeah.

You know, so that is... This issue is basically

setting up a very uneasy truce, but... It's a

truce nonetheless, because she even says, close

to the end, I hope the next time we meet we can

continue this sort of relationship. Not enemies,

you mean? Yes, I'd like that too. And then...

the guys rush in, Leo, Karai! And we figure,

oh, we, we, you know, stop, we're not fighting

now, and... Once again, like... Unless he's with

pepperoni or unless he's with Casey. I don't

think graph ever smiles because You know when

Leo says stop we're not fighting not today The

next panel is Raph on the left Mikey in the middle

and Donnie on the run Mike and Don are both smiling

Raph has a grimace on his face dang it Yeah And

she cry says we have a truce then for now and

I hope for a while. Yeah I can't remember what

happens explicitly during City at War but I have

a feeling that truce isn't going to last but

I'm thankful that we got to see it in this book

because I think it's what would have happened.

The turtles are just so tired of Splinter and

his shenanigans with the foot. And by the end

of this issue, you know, they all just want to

go hang out and and all of that and Leo notices

that Koya is still watching them, which is fine.

I mean, he almost has a smirk on his face kind

of thing. Love the writing. Love the love the

character development on all of them, really.

I mean, I know this is mainly Leo's issue, but.

Every character that Sophie wrote in this was

really, really well done. And we see, once again,

each of the turtles in their own... I mean, yes,

they are together, but, like, they're playing

a board game in one panel. Pepperoni is sitting

next to the TV watching them watch some Universal

Monster movie or some Godzilla thing or something.

We see Leo by himself. at the pond with the turtles

with the other the the actual turtles so very

you know at the end it says this is what I want

this family time you know and I want to fight

for it and oh man it is so good and I yeah these

these last couple of pages where it's the turtles

chilling out I think there there's there's definitely

a part of Sophie and how she writes the the turtles

that she wants to give them those moments of

this is this is your piece this is your rest

this is where even in the current issues right

now it's the turtles finding their new status

quo and they're very strange situation there

but we know what's coming next in these issues

here and the turtles after they're done kind

of resting, relaxing, recuperating, they get

back to New York. And it's that last page that

is the homage to issue 50, where they're on the

top of the freight car, riding the train back

to York City, which is exactly how issue 50 ends

right before the bomb goes off that starts the

city at war in that run. So, foreshadowing, if

you've read the old Mirage books, you know that

it's not going to go well when they get back.

Yep. But before then, we have to deal with Target

R. Oh boy. As much as I enjoyed this issue, I

have to say out of the four of them, this is

the one I had the most trouble with. You and

me both, and I was about to say something. like

that. And I think it has a little bit to do with,

I don't want to say Raph's my least favorite

turtle, but he's the one that I relate to the

least. But what this issue does do well, even

though it was the harder one for me, is it gives

more reasons for why Raph is the way he is, and

do you get to watch him wrestling with that and

dealing with that? and still fighting to hold

on to the humanity that keeps him from going

full Hulk all the time. Yeah. What I love about

this issue is that it's Raph and all of his compatriots.

So at the very beginning, we got Raph and Casey

doing snowball, baseball, whatever they're doing

on the roof here. You got Alopex and Angel doing

their thing and all of that. And then we get

into now this is what I mean when I say it's

a little hard for me Did they capture wrath or

is that is it is this them? Is this bishop in

them trying to make a new turtle? This is it's

told out of sequence which is why it I had to

kind of go back and forth a little bit to they

They start Well, he's captured about midway through

the book, but it is already flashed there. Yes.

This is Raph They're capturing him They're trying

to get his DNA to figure out how to make more

turtles or slashes to control and they're using

Raph because he is the toughest of them he's

the biggest of the turtles muscle wise and and

Anger wise I think Bishop relates to it. Oh,

yeah, Bishop's back. So we know where he went

when he ejected himself out of his little turtle

shell body. Yep Or crank by a fake crank body

that they made for the little guy. Yeah, but

yeah, so It's it. I guess this is a hard book

to talk through because it does leap back and

forth Yeah Like I said before I love all the

moments with him and Casey. I love the moments

with angel and alopex. I Think that's super interesting.

I love the art on it. The art is really cool.

It's very Out of the four of these, it is the

most colorful with all the backgrounds and all

of that, because I think it's the one that has

the most amount of raw emotion. Like, yes. Yes.

In, in, in Mikey's issue, we had raw emotion

between him and Splinter, but all the colors

and like, Mikey's not the angry dude. Donnie

and Leo are not the angry dudes that, you know,

Raph is the angry dude. So I get putting. all

of this color in the background and I do enjoy

that absolutely I think that is so great but

yeah you're right it's kind of hard talking through

this one because I think chronologically might

be the best way to approach it but this is the

one that was written by Kevin Eastman and Kevin

Eastman is he relates to RAF that's kind of a

turtle that he associates himself with and this

story is a send -up or an homage to the weapon

X story with Wolverine getting his powers and

so Yeah, in the distant past, Raphael was separated

from his turtle brothers when they were freshly

mutated, collected by Old Hob and raised that

way. But they mention a new character that we

hadn't heard of, the blind bum Buck, who took

him under his wing and I guess taught him a few

things, taught him to talk. And Raph is realizing...

through the hallucinations of being in the tank,

being harvested, that his whole life has been

pain. It was pain being born. It was pain dying

the first time. It was pain watching Buck get

killed by two muggers. It was pain when old Hob

found him and he was separated from his family.

His whole life is pain and he has to deal with

it. His friends realize he's missing. He was

caught by Bishop, lured to help somebody, and

they tased him. But then his friends come to

rescue him. The friends who keep him grounded.

The turtles aren't in this book, but it's the

friends that he's made, Casey and Alopex and

Angel, come to rescue him. And they break him

out. And some lovely character moments again.

I think about their friendship and. Absolutely.

There is a panel in here where we see where it's

close to the end. It's where they're trying to

all fight Bishop and everything else. And at

the bottom of it, it's Raph saying, come on,

is that all you got Bishop at the top of it is

all these shattered red panels of. Various things

that are either going on or happening and it's

just like It goes to show you that Well, what

like you were mentioning with with raft? Yes,

his brothers are not here But this isn't about

him and his brothers. Mm -hmm. This is about

him and How he relates to his life with the people

that have made the connections and it like between

Woody, the pizza guy, who was mainly Mikey's

dude, but between him and between Casey, and

like we said, Alopex and Angel, this is their

time to shine in this series. And even though

this book is hard to dissect because of the,

like we've said, back and forth, once you get

it, once you get to the point of almost the end

of the book where it's the current day and you

know Casey says sure man anything you need always

let's go eat and hang and Raph just says to him

I just need some space bro I have to process

this alone cool it's cool Angel don't worry Raph's

got this and at the end Casey says I always got

your back bro always I like to think that that

panel suggests that even though, I mean, Alopex

hesitates to let Raphael go because dude needs

to be with somebody, dude needs to make sure

he's okay, but Casey knows and he lets him go

on his own, but I like to think that that last

panel suggests that Casey's keeping an eye on

him anyway. Yeah. Absolutely. The moment that

I think everything comes together for the book

is the flashback involving their mom. who anytime

Tang Shen comes into it and thank you IDW for

making her a character that's important. She

says that the reason he has his anger and his

strength is so that he can keep his family safe.

She's talking about her brothers, but it's a

turtle thing. It's the family that they've made.

That is the purpose for Raphael and his passion

is to keep all of his family safe. absolutely

and you know i said at the beginning of this

podcast and i'll say it again now i have not

read like when i when i put my computer and stuff

in storage last year I'm not one to read like

I need the computer I need my monitor to be able

to read this and see like all the stuff that

I pointed out that you didn't slick the Raph

is smirking but everybody else is like smiling

or what I like I can't notice that on my phone

so I like me coming to this this turtles run

that we're doing or this turtle series that we're

doing here inside the pull bag is like It's all

fresh for me It's a refresher for you, which

is great because it's two different perspectives

of like oh my god I noticed this and oh my god.

I forgot about that Yeah, yeah, like I wouldn't

have known cuz I I've only ever read IDW I've

never read the image comics or the original Mirage

run or anything like that So I think that's what

makes the two of us doing this Worthwhile besides

the fact that we just love fucking doing it.

Yep. Um is that? Damn it this these IDW creators

are just giving It there all and they pull us

in directions that you just don't ever see coming

It's interesting that I Have not read the image

series IDW recently reprinted that and actually

brought the original creators back to finish

it and There's a fan finish that used the original

creators and it was published, I think, out of

Russia and imported here if you wanted it, but

IDW did it and I don't think they used the Russian

ending, although I bet it's similar, but I need

to read that because if there have been references

to the image run, I wouldn't have caught those.

So, man, that kind of makes me think, you're

saying that right there. I'm like, yes, Archie,

I got it. uh... dream wave if they make a reference

i'm there the cartoons you and i all know so

we'll catch those references but i won't we'll

catch image not yet anyway but i might anyway

absolutely and just because we're talking about

this the first volume is up now uh... on comixology

i'm sure it's out in shops too because it was

released uh... It was released August 14th of

last year. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Urban

Legends Volume 1. This is it, fans. You demanded

it. The entire Image Comics TMNT run, aka TMNT

Volume 3, reproduced for the first time ever

in full four -color glory. Joint creators Gary

Carlson and Frank Fosco, I hope I'm pronouncing

his name correctly? Fosco, Fosco, yeah. Fosco,

Fosco, Fosco, who knows? As they take... They're

heroes in a half -shell on some of their most

amazing, dangerous, and bizarre adventures ever,

culminating in three brand new issues by Carlson

and Fosco to properly close out this long -beloved

storyline at last. Long out of print and incomplete

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles volume 3 is one

of the comics lost treasures now uncovered at

last and Completed by the original creators collects

issues 1 to 13 of the 26 issue series So that's

volume 1 now volume 2 is Come on come on come

on comixology Volume 2 is set for a January 27th

release next year, 2021. This is it, fans. You

demanded it. The entire Image Comics TMNT run,

aka TMNT Volume 3, reproduced for the first time.

So basically the same thing that I read earlier.

This is issues, clicks. The final 13 issues,

14 to 26 of the series. So two volumes for the

Image Comics. run reprinted through IDW. So very,

very cool. I don't know when we might be able

to get around to those because we have so much

that we're doing currently with the IDW run,

but we will get to those probably at some point

in 2021, at least after that volume two is released.

That's going to be a challenge for me. Those

were, you know, I read at first the first few

issues. It got bizarre and so bizarre that after

it wrapped up and Mirage started releasing books

again, they completely ignored the continuity

where they went. And like, yeah, none of that

happened. And in fact, the Russian wrap up of

that book, they explained away some kind of universal

portal undo to get it set up to pick up where

volume four caught up. Volume 3 doesn't exist

to some Ninja Turtle fans. It's not a thing.

You can skip it. But it might be interesting

to review since I've never completed reading

that. I read the first couple of issues and was

like, this doesn't feel like my turtles, and

I put them away. Up next for us here in TMNT

on the pull bag, we've got Bebop and Rocksteady

hit the road. So that's what's coming up for

episode 390 Final thoughts on macro series the

only one That I would give a low grade to only

because of some of the art choices is probably

the Donatello arc I would give that Three and

a half out of five stars. That's not really a

low grade. It's not bad at all It's just some

of the art things in there just didn't Didn't

jive with me for Lee for Mikey's Mikey's is easily

a five Leo's easily a five RAF Only because it

was hard to dissect I'll give it a four out of

five But I still loved it as we went through

and talked it out. Yeah, I can't I have to look

at these books, even though they're by artists

all across the spectrum, I feel compelled to

look at them as one body of work. And so I would

review the whole thing as a five and say, no,

as surprising as this is being that it's like

a filler issue between two trade or two story

arcs that are about 75 issues into this comic

series, that this is a great place to start.

You will immediately get a sense for who the

turtles are in IDW and you'll get a very good

look at who they are in the IDW universe and

you'll get the little peeks to see where these

this version of the turtles came from the the

Reincarnation thing how they met certain characters

what's happened to them in some of the flashbacks.

So I think it's a great place to start but anytime

you get to spend This much time building character

in this way like yeah, no, this is really well

done and Not a bad place to start surprisingly

enough Absolutely So as I said folks next time

we'll be hitting the road with bebop in Rock

City. Where can the people find you online? Veritably

nowhere I don't know how you'd say that but but

I can be found on Facebook if you search for

Facebook comm slash geek stuff garage sale. That's

my little Independent not a real business convention

that I run, but I'm there answering messages

So feel free to let me know what you what you

got to say Awesome, make your greatest game in

the comics and we will catch you next time here

inside the poll bag Hello folks TF2 and Mike

here We've had some things come up here inside

the pull bag and this is episode 389 Episode

390 and the rest of this year was going to be

turtle stuff into next year. It's not currently

now I've had to switch up the schedule, so next

episode you'll hear myself and JT from Saskatoon

talking about the final Back to the Future arc

from IDW in Tales from the Time Train. And then

JT will return for Scooby -Doo Team Up Volume

1 and 2 from DC. 392 will be Steve Megatron and

myself doing Transformers Galaxies Number 5 and

6. That will actually be the final episode of

the Pull Bag for 2020. In 2021, January, we've

got Scooby -Doo Team Up Volumes 3 and 4 and 5

and 6. So Volumes 3 and 4, one podcast. 5 and

6, one podcast. That's 393 and 393 and 394, the

pull bag. 395, hopefully, will be Devocracy.

And then 396, closing out the month of January

2021, JT and myself will be back for Batman Beyond

Volumes 6, Divide, Conquer, and Kill. So that's

what's coming up here inside the pull bag the

turtles coverage with Joe Reed and myself will

continue Just not at this time Hope everyone

has a Happy holidays and all that good jazz and

we'll catch you next week for tales from the

time train from back to the future and the week

after that and the For Scooby -Doo team up volumes

one and two. Hey doc. We've got to back up We

don't have enough road to get up to 88 roads

You've just heard the latest episode of The Pullback,

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