IDW TMNT Volume 23: City at War Part 2

Hey guys, Raphael here at the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. Did you say podcast? Dudes, do

this! You're listening to a podcast on the Gatecast

Radio Network. 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

crew here at the GCRN as they make their great

escape into comics. From DC, Marvel, and Image

to IDW, Boom Studios, and Xenoscope, we have

everything right here. We cover things like Transformers,

He -Man, Super Heroes, TMNT, and Radiant Black.

Yeah, we have all that and so much more. It's

all inside the pull bag here on the GeekCast

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

time to talk about the comics we're reading right

now, here inside the pull bag. Hello and welcome

to The Pull Bag. This is episode 423. That's

right, 423 episodes. We are in the middle of

August and it is still our TMNT month this year.

And holy crap, is there a lot to talk about here

in IDW Publishing's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I'm of course here with Mike, but I am not alone.

As always, joining me is Mr. Joe Reed. Hello,

sir. Hello. Always happy to join you for turtle

time. Of course. And it is getting exciting now.

What a heck of a perfect time for turtle month

here as we come up to issue 100 pretty soon here.

That's right. We are covering volume 23 city

at war part two. This is issues 96 through 100

in this trade. However, we are going to stop

this podcast episode just after we finish issue

99 because Shredder in Hell takes place before

issue 100, so that kind of has to come before

we actually talk about issue 100. So that'll

be its own episode later on in the month. If

that makes any sense to anybody besides me. I

get it. And I mean, 98 and 99 were huge issues.

So I mean, we'd be here for seven hours talking

about 99, 98, 99, and 100. All right. As always,

the story was done by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Kernow,

and Tom Waltz. The script was done by Tom Waltz.

The art in this is done by Michael Dinalius and

Dave Wachter. Both of them are on this one. Additional

art by Mateus Santalucco, Adam Gorham, Dan Duncan

with Cora, and Corey Smith. Awesome, all... Adam,

I don't recognize his name, but everybody else,

all veterans. Obviously, colors done by Rhonda

Pattinson. Letters done by Sean Lee. Series edits

by Bobby Kernow. The main cover for this was

done by Sophie Campbell. They have everybody

in on this one. Obviously TMNT based on characters

created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. City

at War Part 2. Man, what a skull. Huh, yeah.

And we pick up where we left off last episode

of the podcast where Jenny is now Jenica is now

a mutant turtle because they had to fix her blood

and Leo had to do the transfusion and Jenny's

now a mutant This caused so much controversy

on the internet in the Ninja Turtle fan groups

think initially a lot of people found Jenica

to be Before she was mutated kind of just a humdrum

background character Mm -hmm and little did any

of them know that that was all groundwork For

this moment right here. They've been planning

this like what since 53 mm -hmm pretty much and

Whenever she got introduced, whatever the introductory

issue was for her, which was like you said, 51,

53, whatever it was, like they've been planning

this for the past 40 something issues. And I

have to say this right now. Number one. They

did an amazing job. Number two, I swear to God,

the next person I hear compares this to Venus

de Milo from Next Mutation, I'm going to smack

their face right off their head because this

is nothing like that. This is not just putting

in a character just to have a female turtle.

Like you said, they spent almost 40 issues building

up who she is. And that shocking moment of when

she gets stabbed in the previous trade, in issue

95, like I've said before, when we're doing these

episodes, I've held onto these trades since they

got released. As soon as the Turtles trades get

released most of the time, I buy them up immediately,

and I'm like, OK, we'll do this at some point.

And then whatever's going on in my life or your

life or whatever, we, I figure out, okay, when

can we do this? And this is when we're going

to do this now. And it's like, before reading

for recording these podcasts, I just let these

sit in my comics ology. I did not read them because

I wanted the set, like the reaction I had last

episode with the stab when she, she gets, it's

like, that's a genuine reaction because I just

like, Oh, it isn't like. I read that like a week

ago. I remember when that happened. No, it's

like genuine shock because I fucking stabbed

her You there there I The people that do complain

about this about Jenny now being a turtle and

that there's a girl turtle Leia I would like

to hear what how they think it should have happened

Because this was this was as elegant as it possibly

could have been and not at all a ham -fisted

attempt at Affirmative action is not only race

or can it be like a sex? female equality thing

but like Representation matters like I teach

inner city Students the representation matters

people that are not like me notice and even though

they're green turtles People realize that there

aren't any female turtles and this is a genuine

character, this is not a marketing ploy, this

is not the affirmative action hire, this is brought

in really well and there's so many story points

that... They can hit from this now because you

have four turtles that have been raised. The

four brothers that have been raised together

and now her, you know, she's part of the family,

but she's not. They get to connect that way and

learn to be around each other that way. But right

now they don't have time. They don't have time

for any of that. It just happened. And she just

happened. She's she's freaked out. Leo's about

to pass out. And Lindsay's like, he's fine. Sugar

level is just a bit low at the moment. And she's

confused, which I like that because she's so

disoriented because of this physiological change

in her, she doesn't know what happened. She doesn't

remember what happened. And no, Karai did stab

you. And well, you were losing so much. It really

was only about 20 minutes ago. Yeah, yeah. You

know, before that commercial break we had, I

love this. I love how Donnie's trying to explain

this to her. I love how Leo, at least before

he passed out, was like, oh, okay, you're good.

I did my part of the job in order to save you

because of what happened in last issue with the

destroying of the U's and whatever. And I just

love the shocked look in her eyes and just the

way the, the, the brow is furrowed and, and yeah,

she's, she's a mutant and is it permanent? I

don't know. We get to Angel and she's trying

to figure out, Angel and Alopex, they're trying

to figure out what, uh, what's going on with

Jenny and all of that. Yeah, like all these people

are calling the turtles. Hey, uh, yeah, how's

Jenny? Did you get her to the hospital? Yeah,

you know Jenny Jenny's okay Yeah, yeah, they're

all skirting around the issue. No pun intended

Yeah, exactly. They're all very very very much

skirting around the issue, but Yeah, it's been

on the way I hope And we cut to the mafia Don's

office building What's his name Tony something

I forget It was a rally. No, it's it's something

else. It's I don't remember anyway, so there's

this meeting with these mob people and and I

remember Splinter saying stuff about you know,

I'll handle The mobsters, you know, my way kind

of thing. And here comes Yumiko. What the hell?

Wait, she's... So this is one of those scenes

here where the Foot Clan splinters people, march

into this building, and just start murdering

fools. And I say, how did Nickelodeon allow this?

Like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna complain but

Wow, I I personally think that And you have two

sons I personally think that most parents That

were fans of either the old cartoon the old movies

the new movies the old comics, whatever Most

will read this series and say to themselves This

is for me How old is Oliver right now? Oliver

is your oldest son. How old is he currently?

I think he's 10. We lost count because of the

pandemic, so I'd have to do the math. Yeah, he's

10. I seriously doubt you're going to show this

to your 10 -year -old at the time of him being

10 years old. you might show this to him when

he's 15, 16. Hell, you may not show this to him

until he's, you know, 18 or, you know, an adult

and things. So it's like, I seriously don't think

parents, like, if a kid goes into a comic shop,

there are plenty, like, you know, you look at

IDW's Marvel action line or whatever. I'm sure,

and I wish that this was still going on. I don't

think it is, but when they were doing the TMNT

New Adventures, the other one, the more kid -friendly

version one. I wish IDW was still doing that,

but I get that they're not and that's fine. But

seriously, this comic is so not for children.

Yeah, you know, it's really funny. You say that

and I realize that one of my comic stores in

town, Ninja Turtles, is on the kids' rack. Oh,

you need to talk to them. Yeah, especially these

issues here. Yeah, for sure Because I don't even

I don't even think about that I just it's it's

because up until then it's kind of mostly been

adult themes done tastefully and with vague references,

but yeah, I mean they I mean this is tasteful,

but it's you know This panel here where nobody

is getting in or out without our say with all

the foot soldiers attacking the guard It's tasteful

art, but it's not art that need that a child

needs to be looking at Oliver's a softie. He

wouldn't oh He'd be like, okay dad, I'm done

with this one. Thank you Yeah, no, and you know

what they curse throughout that look like I said,

and it's okay It's okay that this comic is what

it is. I'm not sitting here saying that the IDW

we've been covering it since 2011 We've been

covering this since January of 2014 I Have never

in all that time in seven years said Show this

to your kids. I said I've said in the past This

is for every TMNT fan that has ever been That

is our age that is for the adult fans Yeah, at

least 25 years or older Kind of thing is it's

for us. It's for us that grew up with all this

stuff and I'm you know That's why the cartoon

now is is as far as I can tell very childlike

because that's where, and I think that's probably

why, and I don't know, because I don't work in

Nickelodeon and I can't talk about what the execs

at Nickelodeon say, but I would assume, and I'm

probably making an ass out of myself by saying

this, this is for us adults, the current cartoon

rise of the TMNT. Well, I'm sure we may find

some enjoyment in it. I don't know. I've only

seen one episode and it's just really not my

favorite animation style, but. That's past that.

I have no opinion of the current cartoon. That's

for kids. This is for us. Yep. It's just the

way it is. So Yumeko and the rest of the foot

soldiers are breaking into the building. Pirelli.

Puzarelli. That's his name. Don Puzarelli. That's

the boss's name. You know. Oh, shit. Ninjas.

You gotta be kidding me. And man, you talk about

really awesome art. You look at Unico here, fleeing

the size. If I didn't know any better, if I didn't

realize that was her, I would have thought, if

I had just seen this panel, damn, Raph, why you

kill those humans, dude? Come on. Yeah, yeah,

see, that's just, that's crazy. Getting away

with murder, literally. Somebody please play

the Papa Roach song. Getting away with murder.

Yeah. And basically, you know, Puzzarelli is

just like, please wait, whatever your boss wants.

You got it. Just don't kill me. Goodbye. And

boom. And Splinter is okay with this. Well, he's

the he's the one that This isn't Karai's foot

clan yet, it's Master Splinter and he said in

the last trade, you know, I will deal with the

mob bosses and that's the way he's dealing with

them. And it kind of sucks that he's gone that

far, but I mean, hey, you know, I don't know.

So April is spying on Stockman here Who is talking

to madam? No or madam new or whatever her name

is from no I'm not the biggest fan of the null

stuff If there's anything in here like I'm not

that big of a fan of the the EPF stuff either

But at least that so far has had a decent enough

backstory the null stuff. It just Okay, it's

here Yeah, it came in sideways through the mutanimals

door and I don't think it was adequately covered

in that and I don't know. There was a reason

for it existing in the old Archie comics. It

filled the place. It feels kind of tacked on

in here. But at least it's still an interesting

take on the character and maybe we'll get more

time with Null at some point in the future. Yeah,

I I guess I don't know I mean she's basically

you know telling him that you know, no is gonna

handle The red you make the money and will all

benefit particularly for me from the yield of

mutant genetics Meanwhile as mayor your hands

will be clean Yeah, so she wants to run stock

gen while stockman is mayor mm -hmm Yeah Is it

Stockton or is it it's a she mentions TCRI Did

he take that over? I don't think so Is that what

she mentions? Yeah, I'll bring this to your attention

because I know you'll soon be in a similar situation

at TCRI Okay. Yeah, you must have moved in Maybe

he did crazy panel. Uh -huh. Well, there they

are. It's the mutant turtles Oh, clear, it's

the purple dragons. Not something you expect

a turtle to say. Aren't they the bad guys? No,

because Casey Jones is leading the purple dragons

now. Yep. She's a little bit wobbly in the alley.

Right over there, Hefe. Move. Casey wants through.

All right, hon. Where's Jenny? Where's Jenny?

And, you know. Out of my way, blah blah blah,

Jenny, you okay? Oh no. Wait, hi. What'd they

do to you? So Casey first seeing who, I think

he was making moves on making her a girlfriend,

but now she's a turtle. I kinda like that Casey

is kind of lost here. Yeah. Just as much as I

enjoyed the last podcast episode where we saw

him and him and Jenny in the last trade where

they were kind of dating and kind of like you

said, boyfriend, girlfriend, and going on the

motorbike ride and everything else. And now he's

just kind of lost feeling and he doesn't know

which way to like, he doesn't, he has a reaction

here, but he doesn't, uh, he doesn't actively,

he's not like his fucking father, you know, he's

not like hun, eww, mutants, eww. You know, he

sits here and says, I'm glad you're alive, Jenny,

really, it's just, I gotta go right now. You

know, make sure everything's clear on the way

to Angel's house. I'll see you over there, okay?

So, Jenica's hurt a little bit just because of

his reaction, and I like this very real moment

because we know that Casey's a cool dude. Yeah,

but in his head he had this future kind of maybe

worked out or he knew where it was gonna go But

now she's a turtle and that's just kind of weird

Like I see that I see that and and you know We'll

just give him some time and see what happens

and and I feel bad that Jenny got hurt, but I

think I Think Casey will come around. I think

he will too He ain't like his damn father Back

off on What you're gonna turn me into a slimy

lizard if I don't know no lizards This this moment

bothered me when I read it Leo draws swords on

hun and I don't know you don't you don't take

your sword out of your scabbard unless you're

gonna stab somebody with it and I know Leo wouldn't

Cut up Casey's dad I don't think he would, but

I think it's more of a tactic for Leo that to

show his anger kind of like Leo. Leo is not wrath.

Leo is not the angry turtle. Leo is the leader.

Leo is the boy scout. But at this point after

Jenny and I think it changed him going, you know,

You always talk about the people that need the

transfusions, and you do always talk about the

people that donate for the transfusions, but

for this, we see her end of it of being transformed

from human to mutant. Now we're seeing Leo's

end of it, where Leo, I think it changed him,

that he donated his blood to her. I'm not saying

he got some of her human blood in him or anything

like that. And obviously Leo was a human before

because hello, this is his second lifetime at

this point. But it's one of those things where

something in him has changed significantly between

them having to rescue Jenny and the point of

where he actually, you know, where they thought,

oh, we could just, you know, make her human.

And the point of where He has to step in and

finish off and give views and give the give his

blood. So I think that is what kind of sets him

off here because he did give his blood to Jenica.

He has a deeper connection to her kind of thing.

I could be wrong. Protective older brother sort

of thing. Pretty much. Yeah. That I think there's

a lot of Leo's dealing with. a tremendous amount

of stress. None of the options that he has, none

of the plans that he can put together is a good

plan right now. Everything is just collapsing.

Yeah. Absolutely. And I like Donnie. After the

way Casey reacted, I'm not so sure she's the

one we need to be worried about. So with the

mutanimals. Yep. We go back to the mutanimals

and Raph shows up. He's basically getting called

home here. Raph had been working with the mutanimals

out of his anger and frustration for the turtles

not really doing anything to help Jenny at that

time. He's like, I might go somewhere where I

can do something. The mutanimals are up to shenanigans,

but we don't find out what it is because Raph

gets called home. Not yet we don't. They're up

to something and I like how Sally and Mondo are

kind of like I'm not so with this old Hob stuff

anymore And we'll get there but Man if you'd

have told me back whenever what was it issue?

Three or four whatever in the very beginning

when we were first introduced to Hob when he

was first before he got mutated Like if you told

me that little cat would have turned into this

old fucker yikes I Would I'm surprised that old

hob made it this far in the series, you know

He was a new character then people were like

why don't we just have the shredder in it instead

of this turtle this this cat guy and But yeah,

he's he's made the long haul here and has turned

into an interesting character That just feels

like another one of the turtle characters Absolutely.

And I, I remember seven years ago when we started

this, I never, there was one moment where I said

to you, I don't know about this, but you were

like, wait, it's fine. It's okay. For those that

don't remember that moment, go back to the very

first episode of, of our turtles coverage. It's

the moment where they all had just the red bandanas

and I didn't know what the hell was going on.

I thought they were just gonna be redoing not

redoing the mirage storylines but just redoing

that style of oh they all have the same and then

obviously we find out what happens and you guys

can go through the last seven years of episodes

you know you can go back and listen to all that

stuff but like old hot like when new characters

come into this in any way that like like you

with the nobody thing with with angel like angel

was just Human character. She was kind of friends

with Casey and all that and everything else.

They kind of grew up together whatever but then

she goes and becomes, you know robotic suit nobody

and and and it's awesome and it's interesting

and It's very very good Holy shit her eyes behind

him. So we get to the foot clan Splinter is gonna

turn in for the night And there's that bloodsword

again. Karai is already there. I haven't come

for tea, mutant. I've come for your head. And

Splinter's just totally nonchalant about this.

Like, yeah, I knew you were there the whole time.

I'm impressed that you were able to get here.

Of course I could. I've been trained my whole

life. And I was not like this panel here repulsive.

It may be child, but it is all I have. And I

intend to keep it even at my age. It remains

useful as does. I was not expected. Splinter

has become, he's always been this way, but in

this comic, in this series, he has become basically,

if anyone that's listening to this, cause I don't

know if you guys watch big brother at all. No.

Okay. So quick thing just for you because hopefully

most of our listeners will have at least known

what it is. Big Brother is a CBS reality TV show.

It's going on 21 years at this point. It was

the show that started up right after Survivor

and it's basically the opposite of Survivor.

Survivor is survive the wilderness kind of thing.

Big Brother is survive humans where it's like

walking dead. No, no, no, no, not survive zombies.

No, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. I got the joke, but that

ain't funny. Um, no, no, no. It's basically you

survive other living with other humans. It's

basically indoors and you know, you live in rooms

and you share beds and this, that, and the other

thing. And you're cut off from society for three

months, no phone, no texts, no, no nothing. You

don't get to watch any news. You don't read any

news. So it's, it's a, it's a reality game show.

And one of their main taglines for the last 20

years has been, expect the unexpected. And expect

the unexpected is definitely something that you

always should apply to Master Splinter because

as does his tail. I was not expecting him to

do this, to cry. Yeah, have you trained for that?

Yeah, really. Devious rat. And this is a good

point. I've trained two lifetimes to strike unexpectedly.

Exactly. Yup. Guards to me. And she brings up

a good point, but he goes point for point with

her. you know here with you know, he wouldn't

accept her challenge and You know, he just didn't

want to you know the out the the disagreement

would be death and this that any other thing

and So instead you chose war no child was you

chose war? She came as a general leading an army

Oh Lord Wasn't as shocked with this as I was

with splinters tail move though Cuz like a general

leading an army like okay. I know what's happening

now and It was right up right until the rip and

the rip panel of this mole guy coming out of

the ground and that I finally remembered the

mole toy From the old action figure line mole.

I can't even remember his name But there was

a mole. He was a gray action figure. I'll have

to look it up. Oh So she's talking about their

weaknesses and you know important lessons and

premeditated attack against his helpless tune

in My grandfather taught me about your unbridled

rage. I'm Otto Yoshi, and I use that knowledge

to send you on a misguided quest for retribution.

And now, Koya and the foot. The game is a foot.

And that's how this one ends. Yikes. Wow. That

is awesome. I love this. Part two. Main cover

done by Dave Wachter. That is a nice... To quote

the old cartoon, that's a nice slice. City at

War, part two, I think? Five. Oh yeah, part five,

duh. I don't know what the hell I'm thinking

of. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as

night. And when you move, you are finished. Fall

like a thunderbolt. Sunzoo, the art of war. So

it's Karai and her mutants against Splinter.

And... Dirtbag. That's the name of the rat. Not

the rat, the mole. The mole. Dirtbag. Looks nothing

like this guy, but... And I'm not sure that this

guy's a mole, even. He kinda looks like one,

but not really. I don't remember his name either.

No, I don't either. But he's spooky and creepy.

But Splinter puts him out in, like, two shocks.

This is another thing that I'm surprised Nickelodeon

let him get away with. Splinter directly killing

somebody? Yeah. I think there are probably...

like disney has rules about mickey mouse like

his ears always have to be circles that are next

to each other no matter which way his head is

facing you can do whatever you want with them

but that's one of the rules and i i thought the

rule i know the turtles can't kill right the

turtles aren't allowed to um i would have expected

that to go to master splinter but i think there

may have been some really fun meetings between

bobby kevin and the Nickelodeon exec saying,

no, no, trust us. We're going somewhere with

this. You've got to let him. There's reasons.

Yep. And the bad guys are coming there. Yes,

I see. Yeah. Bludgeon and Koya and the foot and

all that. Is his name actually Mungo? fighting

a bludgeon. Is it? I think it is. Yeah, mongos

with the kids. One of the elite guards says either

earlier or later. Oh, that's right. Yeah, I control

it just as I control all the forces unleashed

against you today. The high ground will soon

belong to me. So we have a montage here of all

of Karai's soldiers. Taking up with you know

trying to Basically not make all of Yoshi's splinters

allies helpless Mm -hmm Cut to the police. I

think I heard gunshots. What do you what should

we do serge nothing? You know the rules about

this place EPF jurisdiction only If something's

going on down in there ain't none of our concern

kid Okay Okay, then I love it when it's the three

of them, but I always love it when Raph comes

back because he always does He always does it

with a surprise There's breach in ropes all around

this place Raph you got pepperoni So, yeah, okay

he went and got him from the lair which is yeah

staked out. Yep. Yep. Yep No, it was taking you

so damn long and Nobody said you had to wait

for me. Yeah. Well, that's what families do Wait

here girl, I gotta go help grumpy uncle Leo.

I love that. I I love that I Just I just love

that Yeah, and I think it's just more of that

indication of Leo feeling like he's lost control

over the situation that he is angrier than usual,

more frustrated. We have Metalhead at the EPF

interrogating Libby and Harold. I love Harold.

Yeah, I absolutely love it. the side characters

that became a main character, and I think he'll

be around in the turtle verse for a long time.

He's just too entertaining. Yeah, he better be.

Death is easy. Comedy is hard. And no, I won't

be losing any sleep over the teleporter being

gone. It's not the only pain in the ass machine

of mine I'd like to see relegated to the trash

heap for good. Stares hard at metalhead. Yeah,

you Know Yeah, they have a nice battle of wills

here do yeah metalhead is is Like this pinnacle

of artificial intelligence and he's doing whatever

he can to make himself more intelligent, but

Lilja and Wife doctor whose name I don't have

memorized yet Libby Libby are You you're intelligent,

but you don't have ingenuity intuition imagination

and this is this is like Maybe not deliberately

planting a seed. It's planting a seed for us

preparing right us to realize that metalhead

is dealing with Inadequacies that he's trying

to make up for but won't be able to But they're

planting a seed with him that yeah Bishop even

though he says he's gonna give you all this technology

Like no, he's you think he's gonna let you have

that and you have and he doesn't get it metalhead

doesn't get it No, he doesn't because yeah not

yet. Anyway, we cut back to Brooklyn and angels

place and Wow, I didn't realize that Brooklyn

was kind of the same. He's not as bad as Hun,

but I didn't realize he was the way he, you know,

even - I forgot who he was. Brooklyn, that's

her dad. Okay. That's Angel's dad. Did he own

the bar downstairs? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Yep, he's a little mutant prejudice. A little

bit. And we got Jones and Jones, and I don't

remember if we ever asked Bobby or if we ever

mentioned it on any of our other shows. Brooklyn

Bridge, really? That's his name? Oh my gosh.

Really? Seriously? Aww. Really? I don't have

a problem with it, really, but it's just one

of those things where I did not... Really realize

cuz I think I only ever saw his first name and

then she calls him mr. Bridge and then oh look

black and yellow assassins attack Who are these

guys cuz I don't remember where they came from

assassins but not foot not foot and not in my

house Jenny comes in kicks ass and now If Hunn

wasn't such a jackass, I would really love this

panel. I would love it if Hunn and Casey could

actually work together like they are currently

to beat these assassins and whatever. Jenica

mentions it later when she suits up because,

uh, Alopex... gives her, I think right here in

this panel, part of the yellow belt here. She

rips it off, and that's how she ends up making

Jenny's mask later. I did not notice that until

just now. Yeah, I saw her bend down to pick it

up, but... Yeah, I saw her bend down to pick

up something later, and then I'm like, wait a

minute, oh right, now I got it. And they escape

where where are they took off I'm guessing back

to cry So maybe they are foot No, they're they

cook and not until cry becomes leader of the

foot they're probably assassins she hired or

probably that are working under her Yeah, but

here comes Casey he's got it figured out, you

know the thing I've always dug about you Uh,

Jenica is how tough you are. How you've got your

friends back. So no matter what, Angel's right.

And he's giving her the katana and gives her

a hug. Casey's back. But, uh, going through Casey's

head, it's like, I still not gonna date you,

but... Well, that's probably going through Hun's

head because stupid kid. Hun, shut up. Wait,

Dad, let him go. He'll be alright. You know your

old man. He's always a hothead first. Eight signatures

in residence, sir. No, not yet, Sergeant. Keep

our strike teams focused on our primary targets.

But don't lose sight of this gentleman. This

is where the EPF wants to talk to Hunn. We have

Splinter versus Kurai and her mutants, so he

didn't kill him. Yeah, I think something happened

because of that sword. The soulless know deathless

and an earlier panel Karai said Something about

them not They'll serve her as long as she has

that sword and That's what it is The demon the

dude mole man here is attached to the sword whoever

Has the sword controls him? Okay That's what

it is. That's okay. So even though it may have

looked like, I think that's probably why that

Nickelodeon didn't make a big stink about this

because Splinter didn't really kill him. It's

made to look like he did, but he didn't. Oh,

yeah. At some point, you know, we're gonna have

to interview Bobby again and say, what was that

conversation like? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I'm hoping

we can get to that this month because I'm hoping

we can do that just before we record for episode

one or for issue 100 or maybe just after it.

Looks like you've got your hands full. Or is

that fins? It's not so. Yeah, I like this guy.

Like he became like from a nobody in the background

to fighting Bludgeon and then he's throwing him

around and Bludgeon says oh this one's much stronger

than he appears and then oh gosh tattoo lady

comes in and goes shoot him. I mean dang it.

I just started to like that guy Because he's

protecting the kids Man, this panel of splinter

going against Karai, holy crap. That's good.

Colors by Rhonda Pattison. Man, let me tell you,

that woman, her colors, oh man, she makes it

so damn good. And I know it's also lines and

it's also characters and drawings and... you

know, the people who actually do the art under

the colors, but the colors make everything pop

so well. Yeah, there's a couple of panels and

in the next couple of issues that I think are

amazingly done. Yeah, absolutely. So the turtles

climb the technodrome or oh, no, this is foot

headquarters, I think. Yeah, what the hell Turtles

dudes, I think Koya just made us And if she's

here that means Karai is making her move on father.

Yep, and She made her move a long time ago Sure.

Well like an hour and a half ago and they're

just getting there and then the next panel is

Should be somebody's banner picture. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Okay, so I love these so We see Koya, she

sees them, and then we have the exchange of the

four turtles. I'm like, hey, that's a, that's

a video game select screen right there. Pretty

much. And then we see, you know, this, this panel

of them jumping down and they are getting into

the fight with the foot soldiers. And quit complaining

and keep fighting. Raph's right. Don't stop.

We've got to get inside and here comes bludgeon.

Oh crap And oh wow, that's my normally I expect

that from wrath, but that's Mikey that says that

I Love bludgeon's and I mentioned this last episode.

I love bludgeon's Daredevil vision sonar. He

basically is daredevil vision Like I said last

episode, we're just one step away. Come on now,

guys. Gotta get that Marvel crossover. There

is only Splinter now. He's tired. She's just

dominating. Oh, yeah. She's going on monologuing.

Uh -huh. That's a... How did they get away with

that? That's what I want to know. Right into,

basically into his eye. Yeah, giving them a good

old scar there mm -hmm So the turtles are Trying

to get to splinter continuing the fight yep,

Koya and bludgeon The mole critter is down there

now too, and it's the four of them even yeah

God lord wait guys look Hear me foot clan. Mm

-hmm Just wait damn it if we move on her she'll

cut father down. Wait a minute. Who are they

holding? Ah, that's one of the kids. Oh, it's

one of the kids. That's right Yeah, cuz they

got to the kids. That's right So, yeah, they

have one of the kids And, uh, you know. Refuse

me, however, and you shall know the deadly truth

of the unyielding power I control. You see before

you the legendary weapon I possess, the Kyra

No Ken, and you see the remnants of Splinter's

elite guard, the very best amongst you, destroyed

by me for choosing to serve their rat master.

Join me or die. Oh boy. And all the Foot Clan

kneel. Yep. And it's just the turtles. Yep. Okay,

I can't take any more of this crap. I'm gonna

end this now. You're not going anywhere, Raph.

It's time to vanish. Okay, I know that's really

not Leo's line normally. I was expecting Tatsu

to show up somewhere, because God damn it, if

that's not the first thing I think of when I

see that word. We won't, but, you know, this

wouldn't be a fight, it'd be suicide. We need

help. Oh, and that's...man. That's the way this

one ends, and now you're...you're defeat truly

complete rat. Now you are truly alone. Cold -blooded

line. Yeah, and as I've said multiple times last

episode this episode every episode we do I am

so glad I was not reading this in single issue

because I would have been stalking my comic book

shop every month for these damn books It's just

so good So what is this? This is 99, right? Yeah,

this is 98 This is 98 really 98 Yep. Wow. Okay,

issue 98. We start off with Hun at the at the

waterfront or at the dock or wherever he is.

He's got a bottle of beer in front of him and

just throws it against the pylon. Stupid. On

the contrary, a smart decision if you ask me.

I didn't, but if you think you're so smart, whoever

you are, you'll leave me the hell alone. And

it's Bishop. Wearing his slash goggles. Wait,

what are those? Yeah, that's two Tokas, no slash.

Yeah, he cloned slash. Yeah. And Hun's all in

on this. So that's what Hun's up to so far. We

get to a 5 a .m. wake up call. Oh and April Is

kind of shocked that she has a pepperoni pizza

in her bed Sort of not really. It's very very

dinosaur like I'm I'm so Excited or glad or it's

interesting that pepperoni their pet dinosaur

is still around like that is that's From a weird

miniseries way back in the early run, but they

will not let pepperoni go and that is so cool

They won't let Pepperoni go, but I think if they

did, it would have to be something. Raph would

go even more than where he's about to go now.

How'd you get in here? Eh, through the kitchen

window. Sorry, we didn't want to wake you up.

It's just, we didn't have anywhere else to go.

I love this scene. I love this scene for so many

reasons first of all When she when April first

comes down the stairs It's a good thing mr. Pennington

doesn't show up, you know, you guys um hide That's

the first thing I first thing I think of when

I see all of them sleeping there You know it

just is and then I think and even though they're

not doing a kitchen table scene the next thing

I think of is you know You dirty rat you killed

my brother So yeah, so they explained to April

what's going on we cut back to Karai and splinter

and she throws him into The crit. Yeah, Shredder's

Crips. Yep. Cause Shredder ain't there no more.

Yeah. Oh yeah, she thinks she's throwing him

in there with the body, doesn't she? She doesn't

go in. Yeah, I know. Yep. We cut back to April

and the Turtles. And Mikey makes breakfast like

a Turtledoom. That's right, like a Mikey does.

smiley face bacon for April and you know thanks

for everything and this is perfect and perfect

done done so old hub has his bomb and they're

gonna head to the election and we have Mondo

kind of spying on Old Hob and Manta Ray. Looking

very uncomfortable at the seriousness of their

plan. Yeah. So we get back to Bishop and Hun,

and Hun's controlling one of the slash clones.

And he's telling Bishop about, you know, Slash

and the original Slash weapon whose DNA we culled

to create these clones. I would like to think

that Bishop got the DNA from Slash before he

died. It also wouldn't surprise me if he did

indeed scratch him or scrape him out of the ocean

to do that, but Bishop's the kind of guy that

would have thought of that ahead of time. Yep,

pretty much. Not low enough to go scrape it off

the surface of the ocean, but probably already

thought about it. Yep. We get to April and the

election. Wait, the election's over. The orange

chocolate I lost. We get to the mayoral election

and April is giving Baxter the business. and

You know, she's Basically threatening him. She's

basically not really blackmailing him, but you

know She's putting him in his place kind of got

a nice little dead man switch for when that goes

south for her friends And that is awesome and

Baxter is impressed Yep We get back to the turtles

and alopex and April and Casey and Lindsey and

everybody And you know Mikey's impressed with

Jenica's mask and Donnie's asking her if she

has any complications and not really And Mikey's

like ah, but we only use one weapon uh -huh Sure

Mike sure The foot clan belongs to Karai total

sneak attack Yeah, except she like Raph says

except she didn't keep it much of a secret. We

knew that was coming Yeah, we knew that was coming

and this is where we get Raph versus Leo and

right here these panels Raph and Leo starting

to fight as I think some of the best art inks

and coloring of What we have read tonight for

this. Yeah, absolutely Come on, guys. Stop it.

Stay out of this, Mikey. Yeah, Mike, you don't

want to interrupt our big brave leader when he's

finally got the guts to brawl. Great expressions,

great colors, great body differences between

the turtles, the subtle differences in the shape.

Oh, it's so good. And the way the background

colors are, like obviously they're in April's

apartment, like when Leo says shut up. We see

the bookcase and we see the color of the wall

and then they go into basically, you know anger

effects and anger Anger vision kind of thing

and it gets from yellow to orange to blah blah

blah blah blah and Raph is is done sitting around

again Look raps out and slammed the door must

be a Tuesday He shouldn't have used the hallway

Because he storms out. Aw, Raph. Perfect timing.

Ready for more fun? Way past ready. So Baxter

wins. And they're planning his... Acceptance

speech? Yeah, I was going to say winning speech,

but acceptance speech. Up until the Mutanimals

and Hob and everybody show up. Raph and Mondo

don't look like they really want to be there.

Mondo more than Raph, because Raph doesn't even

know what's going on. Mondo just looks really

uncomfortable. He's like, I don't know about

all this. And we get Detective Lewis and Hernandez

like we have before. So that's cool. Nice continuity

with the NYPD. And speak of the devil himself.

Good evening, New York City. Just a moment ago,

my opponent called to concede defeat and offer

their congratulations on my election victory.

Look at all those signs. Talk about false advertising.

Sally, do me a favor and take out that EPAF truck,

would you? What? Yeah, Sally doesn't want to

do any of this pretty much. Damn it, Sally. I

like what's going on in the background of those

panels where it's just these smudges of color

in the background that look like people in the

distance or people in the crowd. Yeah. That's

another really, really nice coloring effect.

Yep. Absolutely, so bring it and We unleash hun

with with with the thing and This creeps me out.

I think it's time to we exit stage left miss

O 'Neil I have beep Yikes So we get back to Lindsay

and Leo, and is that the mutanimals? And Raph?

Okay, change of plans. Mikey, Don, and I will

take care of the rescuing Libby and Harold. Lindsay,

stay here with Pepperoni. We're at safe for now.

The rest of you, get over the election. Make

sure April's okay. And drag Raph the hell out

of there if you can. Again. Absolutely love what's

going on here. I love all of the back and forth

and Mondo tells Raph of Hob's secret plans and

and we get the reveal of what Hob's plan actually

is and holy shit He releases a mutant bomb But

not yet because he sees the slash clones and

he's like slash clones hob they've cloned him

monsters he throws the bomb and it mutates everybody

yeah it takes everybody in the area what the

hell holy crap now you want to talk about the

walking dead because some of these mutants look

like I'm going to pretend that they're mid -transition.

That's what I'm going to think is happening.

But yeah, there's a whole bunch of humans that

are now looking like aliens. Yeah, and that's

not good, folks. Once again, love the art. I

love how they're writing this and how interesting

it is. And we cut back to Splinter, who is in

his prison. Alright, so I was not expecting to

have the character that shows up to show up.

I was expecting it to actually be Shredder somehow.

Yeah, me too. That's what I was expecting and

then wake up, husband. Oh fuck. Every time they've

brought Tang Shang back, every damn time they

make me cry. Every time I shed a tear when I

see her. Shen, hello Yoshi, am I? No, you're

alive still. Though your pain is immense within

and without. So they have a nice little chat

here and she basically tells him that the children

still need you. Our sons, all the children, please

do not leave me. Leave? Hardly. I've only just

arrived. And I don't know if he if oh, yes, so

the rat king shows up. Yeah, he's there in this

prison that pulls that pulls a memory for me

out of the Mirage series of Splinter trapped

someplace and the rat king shows up to help him

get out but Yeah, Tang Shen showing up. I'm so

thankful that IDW has brought her in as a character

In the ways that they have in the past and here

Because she serves as a grounding influence on

the turtles and on splinter when she shows up

it's very very awfully and that's how we end

98 and Holy crap Just just holy crap Absolutely

love it. City at War Part 7. This is issue 99.

This will be our final talk here tonight, folks.

The art on this cover is done by Dave Wachter.

It is Splinter caged with a shadow behind him.

We start out in Area 51, Southern Nevada, USA,

1984. Hey! Hmm. And this is where we see more

origins with Dr. Youse— You she's a user You

has um Gosh, there's a story with that doctor

I've never had to say his name out loud, but

that is that's a dude Michael you has his is

in a number of the turtles groups on Facebook

that I'm a member of He's a collector. I think

he might even do a little bit of art or writing

or fan page management and they put him in the

book as like a thank you for something that he

did so like lucky guy immortalized an eternal

comic I get a letter in the column but he gets

to be a character I gotta work harder okay next

mutant is Mr. Reed I would be a bear who wears

a Hawaiian shirt and does woodworking I don't

actually fight. I'm a builder, not a fighter.

So we get to Area 51 and Bishop slash John slash

whatever this guy is. Flashback, right? Yeah,

this is a long time ago. Yeah, this is a long

time. Yeah, this is 84. So, you know, oh, the

mic's still on. He probably heard you then. You

heard It's nothing dad. No, you're wrong son.

What's nothing is that loudmouth Colbert? Next

thing, you know, they're gonna throw Letterman

in here or Carson. Oh sort of mine is a monster

of this whole thing and I just I don't know how

to feel about this whole Bishop is some Suit

with you know a little human inside. I'm just

not even I love the continuity I love that it's

not that Bishop isn't just Another government

agent kind of thing that there's some sort of

greater thing here I just don't know what it

is yet other than the fact that This kid is in

this human suit. I think it was an excuse to

Make bishop more powerful than the average human

and gave him that backstory and connected it

to the ootram in area 51 and the alien crash

there I I don't know enough about bishop from

the Four kids TV Nick series. No, that's not

right. Yeah, the 2003 series is one that one.

Yep someday. I'll watch that I'll learn more

and then I'll be able to come back and we should

we have to hit it again. Absolutely. We get back

to New York City in the now and in the present

and there's mutants everywhere. Mutants everywhere.

Yep. Now that we know why we're here, should

we get started, Mr. Jones? I told you the name's

Hun. It worked, Ray. Look. All I see is trouble.

Bishop, Hun, and those damn slash clones. Yeah,

that. Sally, listen up. Need you to land that

thing ASAP and make ready for passengers. Passengers?

What the hell did you do, Hob? We're clearing

you a landing zone. So he's gonna save all these

mutant... people. That he turned into mutants.

Yep. And as much as I don't like hon I do like

some of his lines that he gets now the freaking

dumpsters trying to kill us Referring to Herman.

Yeah Hurry up Bob. Damn it. This Lz is gonna

get hot and again in real fast. Oh my god They're

all mutants and if the EPF gets all of them forget

that noise. We gotta help him get out of here

I'm Raph. What the hell did you get yourself

into? Way over his shell. Yeah, Raph is like

what the hell did you do? This isn't just about

you anymore. I absolutely love like we get Angel

in this one mutant lady. Where's my husband?

I'm sure he's fine, man. But right now you need

to get On the ship. And Alpex comes up to Raph

and, uh, Raph, what's going on? Alpex, I... That

panel. Raph's face. Holy crap. You know what?

People say these are just cartoons or comics

or movies or whatever. The emotion that's on

that turtle's face right now just says everything

of how he's feeling. He realizes something and

then he just goes off like he loses his shit.

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Realizes, I don't think he'll

ever trust Old Hob again. Mm -hmm. And we get

the trash can stopped firing. Yes. And now it

appears they're all running. Sally, get that

tub in the sky. New friends, new friends. Sit

down and strap in, Pete. Because we're out of

here. Where's Raph? Mutanimals are booking out

of there as fast as they can. They did what they

needed to do. Yup. Gun it, Ray. Wow, and here

I thought politics were boring. And I thought

insurance salesmen were pushy. Mm -hmm. Pretty

much, yeah. And I thought that's, uh, yeah. Yeah.

Came to mind Now this was an interesting scene

here Kari invites all the gang bosses from the

whole city back to the theater where shredder

said I'm in charge now And basically offers all

of them complete autonomy and freedom and freedom

to keep their profits as long as they stay within

particular borders and rules, but Cry says that

if anybody steps out of line, we're going to

deal with it I I wouldn't as as I came across

that page. I'm like, oh man Is she gonna murder

everybody and take over the whole city? which

seems to me like more of a karai thing to do

but Yeah It seems like I Don't know what to think

about karai because the way that they portray

her Not just in these issues, not just in the

City at War story, but in the whole series ever

since she debuted. First of all, Shredder, or

Rokosaki, is not her father. He's her grandfather.

And Kitsune is her grandmother. Which means that

somebody else was her father, Shredder, and I

assume Kitsune's son. No, no. The Shredder and

Kitsune are... of ancient relatives that she

calls grandfather. Her father and would have

been grandfather and the subsequent ancestors

there, they were still maintaining the Foot Clan,

but they were like regular boring businessmen.

And Harai, when she looked at the history, she

saw what the Foot Clan used to be and went kind

of nuts, obsessed over it. I think, I can't remember

what happened in that trade, but she might have

killed her father and parents because they weren't

tough enough, or she just completely ditched

them, tanked the company and ditched them to

come. And at that point, Kitsune had resurrected

Shredder and was manipulating them. And just

because they are ancestors of hers, she's referring

to them as grandfather. Okay, so this is not

like the the Karai from the 2012 series where

they're directly related right right right? Yeah,

there are a lot of panels with Karai in this

The story arc where the the pupils get really

dilated and tiny and she's she's off the deep

end and The sensation that I get from her is

I don't know if you ever watched avatar When

Azula at the end of the series starts going bonkers

nuts because of the treatment of her father throwing

her aside, I get that sensation from Karai where

she's off the deep end and is very dangerous

for it. It's not that she's losing a grip on

her power. It's that she's very dangerous for

losing that grip. She's very controlled here

as she tells the mob bosses what's up. Tonight

everything changes and the foot clan will step

in quickly to correct your course What up NYC

learn time no stop? Yeah rocking the bobstaur

back. Yeah rock bobstaur And their dinosaur They

have the anti pepperoni, yep That's very cool

Very, very cool. Silence, critens. Silent but

deadly. We can do that, huh, B? You kidding?

It's practically your superpower, Rock. Are there

any questions? So we get back to Rat King and

Splinter. Rat King says that... He has the same

troubles concerning them the continued well -being

of our progeny and Rat King goes on and on about

the astral plane and and everything else and

captivity and he's basically trying to talk him

into breaking out of here and We see that he's

trying Yeah, he splinter does not take the offer

of a magical exit and is instead going to do

it by his own will Yeah, so he starts doomsdaying

himself out of this box Yeah, and I do kind of

like this. I think this is really cool We get

back to the turtles and metalhead and all of

that and they You know, we see them scaling the

walls again. We see them. Oh No, no, no, this

is not again. This is where They have the zipline

they they get down there the three Mikey Leo

and Don and They're spying on metalhead and because

they're trying to say save Harold and Libby Who

are building metalhead a teleporter? Hmm? I think

his plan is to get off planet go find the aliens

or get to area 51 and get the ship and teleport

to where the utroms are for so he can Yep, learn

their tech Uh -huh. Definition of insanity for

500, Alex. You know what? As much as I love Harold,

that line kind of stings now. Obviously, considering

this was made, I think, before Trebek's death,

but because we're reading it after his death,

I cannot watch Jeopardy anymore. These frigging

guest hosts. Katie Couric, really? Seriously?

Really? Oh, yeah, it was Katie Couric. There

was Aaron Hernandez. Ken Jennings did it for

a little while. Ken was okay. I think LeVar Burton

is probably by the time this airs, LeVar would

have already had his run. But I think honestly,

that's the best we're gonna get is LeVar Burton

doing Jeopardy. And yeah, so Metalhead gets angry

with them and Donnie shows up. Donatello, I've

got this we need to talk no talking You are done

sabotaging my plans. Ow. Well, yeah be a fight

We can I said no talking What the heck's Donnie

thinking is he nuts yeah, how are we to know

what metalhead gets it from It's okay Donnie

knows what he's doing I hope Wait you kill me

and you won't know the truth about the teleporter

Which truth it's not broken you are Yeah, as

we entered this scene metalhead was Freaking

out about some computation not working with the

portal He was going over it and over it in his

head and he couldn't make it work like to him

if you walk through that teleporter He doesn't

think you end up on the other side because of

how it disassembles and reassembles and it's

bothering him. And Donnie is throwing metalhead

off here by saying it's because you don't have

faith in that external thing. Whatever that is

for you, you don't have it. You're so grounded

in logic that you don't have faith that you'll

come out the same on the other side and you can't

logic yourself out of that. And Metalhead doesn't

exactly have this moment, but like robots do

in some of these things, it's like, ah, does

not compute, does not, and he's not having a

good time with that. Nope. So the last panel

here for Donnie is fine. Just give me a second

to readjust my job. Always with the choking and

the smashing, sheesh. Great line from Donnie.

We cut to the outside because they are literally

right outside with the EPF. Like you said, Donnie

tells them that it's not the teleporter, it's

him. Again, it's going to show you this whole

thing about what Harold and Libby were telling

him earlier, ingenuity, imagination, things humans

have that artificial intelligences or robots

do not have. And Donnie's whole thing is, you

know, sometimes to have faith, it's standing

right in front of you. And Donnie goes through

the portal. And then Metalhead just kind of gets

shocked. Well, Donnie leaves and he's gone for

a second. And when he comes back, he appears

right behind Metalhead with the shot grenade.

Yeah, the shot grenade. That he grabbed from

Harold's lab. Yep, Harold's design. I tried to

warn that glorified toaster the joke was on him.

It might be on us too. Bishop just showed up

and he's got that idiot hun with him. Not good.

So basically the turtles are going to teleport.

And they did. They teleported right in the middle

of the Foot Clan. Bring in the fight to them.

Hmm, pretty much So it's it's interesting here

we have the We have Karai and Kitsune and you

know Kitsune wants to thank her. Yes, if not

for your recent actions in Japan and Here the

steps I take next would undoubtedly have been

far more difficult than I now anticipate. They

will be steps. What steps? The game is still

afoot, young master, and we all have a part to

play. Karai, you! And, uh, yeah, Splinter is

doing his damnedest to crack that wall. Rat King's

still trying to bait him out of it, but he's

not gonna take it. The time has come to finish

this. Hi -yah! Farewell rat King perhaps or perhaps

they are one and oh farewell rat King. Why waste

the time with? Kurt sees you silly old fool either

freedom awaits or death Perhaps or perhaps they

are one in the same. Oh Yeah, yeah really and

then teleporting into the foot clan is the turtles

and and everybody else essentially We're still

running. And Kitsune took the Kira no Ken. Yup,

took the sword. And Bishop and everybody is right

behind them, so it's basically a chase, folks.

It's basically a chase. So the turtles are after

the kids. I'm trying to save them. obviously

and they have to fight the EPF and and hon and

the slash clones and you up and rock steady show

with their new catchphrase free refills what's

that even mean yeah really it means we need to

get moving come on Mike Leo gave us all a job

to do time we get busy doing them Bebop and Rock

City back amongst everybody now It was great

when we did their own little little series earlier

this month But just seeing them interact with

everybody. Holy halitosis So Mikey and Donnie

break in to the room where the orphans are staying

Mike what the Tommy Trish, what the heck are

you kids doing? They're all dressed up like Foot

Clan members. Them, the bad guys. Koi and Legend.

Yep. We got Bishop versus Leo. Again, you know,

you talk about lines and you talk about ways

that comic books do backgrounds and character

stuff. This panel here with Bishop and and Leo

going at each other the the movement lines in

the background again from the yellow to the orange

to the red And just the way their character stances

are. Oh, it's just so so good And she's ready

to kill splinter meet your fate and no And she

goes on a killing spree Yep Takes it out on the

foot clan members around her that splinters gone.

You know, we get back to the turtles and the

kids and bludgeoning koya and Yeah, they're um

Getting their asses handed to them Because nobody

in alopex show up Everybody is here now. That's

right. What's up guys? This had to have been

just incredible to plan out and plot out all

of these characters showing up in the same spot

pacing absolutely yeah and it's magical it works

it works so well the whole fight everything about

it when you're just reading it or when you're

going through it like we're going through it

to talk about it here it's just you have to just

kind of pause on some of these panels and We

get the reveal at least to the turtles of the

inner human inside bishop That's a little creepy,

I mean even though we've seen it before but It's

always a little weird uh -huh we get back to

bebop and rocksteady You juniper ain't even putting

the dent in this super -sized stupid shell And

Roberta's out for the count. These guys kind

of rule. Everyone's having fun except us. Time

to change that. Bishop's gonna share that turtle

twerp whether he likes it or not. Where you think

you're going dad, holy shit I Was not expecting

Casey and Jenny to show up. Yeah, the next two

-page spread here is amazing is Every mini battle

has its own color. Yeah Okay, so every yeah every

mini battle has its own color and it is wonderfully

laid out and They're all turtle colors Every

last one of them if you look there. Yeah, there's

blue with Casey and Jenny against hun There's

kind of an aqua green with the rocksteady bebop

battle kind of thing There's red for Karai. So

red for Karai and Raph blue for Leo and Bishop

orange ish for Don and Mikey, Foya and Bludgeon

And then even some purple for Hon and Casey and

It's it's all turtle colors. It's just it's just

so good. Ah granddaughter you have arrived just

in time and To witness the return of the dragon.

Oh My god, and that's how issue 99 ends folks

Alright, so first of all This is friggin amazing.

I know we kind of went through this panel by

panel folks, but Honestly, that's I that's how

I like doing these because it's one of those

things where it is So good to see those Little

Things like like you've said before in other

episodes that we recorded this month and when

we've been doing this turtles thing this whole

time Sometimes you miss things in reading the

story Yeah, and then when we go through it and

we go through panel by panel and whatever whatever

we see like sometimes I'll point stuff out to

you and sometimes you'll point stuff out to me

and I didn't even notice that and This is a little

silly thing for me, but it's like Man, whatever

happens to New York City, I hope Woody the pizza

guy didn't become a mutant, because that would

just suck. I absolutely loved issues 96 to 99.

I think the story is great. I think that the

characterization is all great. I love, as you

said, how many characters they fit into this

thing without it feeling like there are too many

characters. Yeah, by 100 issues in, if you've

been paying attention, you know who everybody

is. And if you've been reading the mini series,

you know who these people are. And this is just

a reward that we get. And this is where comics

typically don't make it anymore. 100 issues in.

And even more than that, if you count the miniseries,

because for a lot of people that continuity gets

deep. You don't get new readers in issue 80 or

90 in a book like this. But IDW does a good job

of bringing people in. Of course, we're all familiar

with a lot of these characters because we grew

up with them. And I think that's maybe one of

the reasons, one of the ways they've been able

to survive. to issue 100 and beyond. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And it's so good. There's nothing

here that I dislike. There's nothing here that

I don't just have sheer enjoyment for because

it is so good. It's just so freaking good. It's

so good. So even though we have read issue 100,

we'll cover it in a special issue because of

what happens at the end of 99 here with, you

know, Enter the Dragon. Half a second, I had

a Bruce Lee theme in my in my in my head because

Shredder in Hell. takes place in between issues

99 and 100. So we have to cover that first. We

basically, we have to cover that to get to the

next thing. It's kind of like, I had to tell

you that story to tell you this one. It's just

one of those things where every moment, there's

not a dry emotion in the house for it. There

really, really isn't. That was a good, yeah.

I'll be excited to reread that one. Something

was weird about My life when that was when I

was reading that and I don't that's another one

of those books I don't have a good memory of

and I remember reading it going like I can't

tell what's going on. So I will definitely Be

good for a second and third reread on that and

I think we'll be bringing that's that's what

we're bringing. We're bringing the good people

Next right? Yep, that's coming up next. All right

here inside the pull bag Where can the people

get a hold of you online sir? Please get a hold

of me at facebook .com slash geek stuff garage

sale Probably doing a sale this year. So we'll

be making announcements. They're all free And

I take messages there. So hey if you want to

talk turtles Connect with me there Absolutely,

and as always the The link and everything else

I think should be in the show notes. I am at

TF2 and Mike on Twitter You can also follow at

the pull bag on Twitter Check us out on Facebook

and hear all that info in the outro. And yeah,

coming up next, we've got Shredder in Hell. And

I'm not normally one for Hell stories. It's just

not my thing in general, but there have been

several over the last few years that I kind of

like. And here's hoping to see Shredder's journey

through Hell and see what that's all about. and

yeah that's coming up next week here inside the

pull bag make your greatest game in the comics

and we will catch you next time great terrific

we're on the run and that idiot wants to jit

chat well what is it i just want to make sure

that okay 36 seconds this oh don't don't hit

the x button you idiot Why is... I don't think

it's closed. Oh, I know why it's looking like

that. This is episode 23. Okay. Or 423, I should

say. That's crap. My thing is messing up. God

damn it. Edit point! Son of a bitch I hate this

49 14 edit stupid comics ology work damn you

work Stupid thing load damn it load stupid internet

come on open damn it open You've just heard the

latest episode of the pullback the GCRN's first

comic review and discussion podcast. There are

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great escape into comics and unleash the geek

in you. Oroku Saki. But you may call me the Shredder.

A kitchen utensil? You would be wise to lose

your flippant ways if you wished to join the

Honorable Foot Clan!