TMNT Shredder in Hell Review

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Hi, this is Bobby Kernow, Chief Turtle Editor

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

and welcome to the pull bag. This is episode

424. That's right folks 424 episodes I am of

course TFG1 Mike joining me as always for TMNT

stuff from IDW is Mr. Joe Reed. Hello, sir. Hello.

Hello Yes, and it is time we go to hell Well,

I'm sure I've already got a front row seat for

hell, but we are going to talk about TMNT IDW

Shredder in Hell, the five -issue mini -series.

As we've always said in the last eight years

or however many years, eight, seven, eight years

that we've been doing this, we love most of the

time when IDW does the mini -series. I love the

fact that they do these mini -series to give

the character, whether we like them or not. Like,

there are certain mini -like... I'm sorry, but

Casey and April wasn't the greatest of miniseries.

But, you know, the Mutanimal ones was good. The

macro and the micro series, those were good.

You know, that kind of stuff. So I love that

IDW gives the miniseries out to the other TMNT

characters and Shredder in Hell. It does and

it doesn't pick up right after issue 99, but

that's where these events fall is between 99

and 100. Mm -hmm. Written and art done by Mateus

Santalucco. Yay! Yeah, man. Yeah, man. You know

it. Cause, yeah. Story and art by Mateus, color

assist by Marcelo. Hey, Marcelo Costa! Awesome!

So Marcelo Costa is the current artist on an

image comic series that I read called Radiant

Black. You might actually like Radiant Black.

It's basically about this guy who wants to be

a writer in Hollywood and he's failing and he's

like three hundred and something thousand dollars

in debt or forty eight thousand dollars in debt

or something. So what does he do? He moves back

home to Lockport, Illinois. and he somehow gets

superpowers. So I have the backups. I have the

PDFs for that series and I'll send those to you.

So you can check that out if you want. But yeah,

awesome. Marcel Acosta, I didn't realize he was

on this, but color assist by him and Davi Kalai,

lettering and design done by Sean Lee. I gotta

get Sean Lee on interviews at some point. I love

that guy's stuff. I was gossiping at my local

comic store and there is, with the pandemic...

kind of like winding down and coming back to

things, getting back to normal. The difficulty

of the past year has just thrown heck at the

comic industry and the distributors. Diamond

is getting gutted by Marvel and DC kind of starting

their own thing. And then here's IDW, which has

really struggled with distribution and deadlines

and a lot of their ongoing series have, I don't

want to say they've been getting canceled or

they've been ending. Ninja Turtles, I think and

based on the gossip it sounds like Ninja Turtles

is The series that has kept the doors open at

IDW and if it weren't for that series They might

be in trouble. They're the as a company. Yeah,

and one of the things that Ninja Turtles has

brought and continued to bring throughout the

pandemic are Many many delightful miniseries

like you were talking about with the obvious

side characters that come on and whenever they

do that They have an opportunity to sell more

books and whenever they have an opportunity to

throw Santolucco at a book. It's like guaranteed

sales because the guy's art is incredible and

They they I mean, I remember I think it was issue

for he did a variant cover and that was his first

job for IDW and then here we go a couple of years

later he gets his own book to tell his story

and I have to imagine looking at the art in this

series that Shredder is his favorite character

to draw. Maybe, I would assume so, but this is

also the first time that we have gotten writing

from Santolucco and It is an amazing story. It

is a very existential story. It is one of those

stories where you don't, you know, you take the

expect the unexpected thing and just throw it

right out the window because this thing went

in places I didn't think it would. Yeah, I don't.

I think it's unexpected because this does not

feel anything like a Ninja Turtles story. Right.

They're in it. It's with Ninja Turtles characters

and it's with characters that we've come to know

very well from the IDW series But it but it is

definitely very different. Yeah, and I'm I'm

thankful for What they've done to the shredder

like it like they do for all of these weird bonkers

side characters They've given this very rich

multi layered depth to You know that one got

that one level villain that we had in the in

the animated series James Avery bless his heart

Yeah, what he brought to that character now that

was that was the one -dimensional villain of

the 80s the Skeletor the the the Shredder Mel

yeah, but now we get We get this very real character

in here going through something and kind of stepping

into his own but It's a great. Anyway. Anyway.

And that's the thing, though. Like we've said

from the beginning, back in 20... Holy shit.

Wow. So we've been doing this series since January

of 2014. The series has actually been... The

series has been running for a damn decade. 2011

is when this started. The whole IDW, TMNT thing,

it was 2011. Yep. When it started, holy crap.

It's as old as my son. My God, that's crazy.

If this comic were a child, it would be old enough

to have his own opinion. Yes, yes, it would.

Oh, believe me, there are plenty of comics that

have their own opinions, whether they are old

enough to do so or not. But it's one of those

things where, yeah, you look at the original

80s toy or you look at Shredder's design in the

87 cartoon. It's designed to be cartoony. It's

also designed to be Villainous because there

were plenty of times even though he was a bumbling

dolt there were plenty of sinister times in the

87 cartoon where James Avery brought that voice

and into that character and into that villain

that is the shredder but over the last decade

IDW has taken this character of a Roku Saki and

Like you just said, I added so much rich depth

to him. And just in this once we start getting

into it, just in this series alone, the psychological

shit that that the character goes through and

has been through. So we start off with Father,

hear me. I summoned the shredder is dead. Kitsune

is trying to revive him. That both that. I know

that's not blood in the knife. It's it's ink

or something or might be blood who knows but

That looks really really creepy magic juice.

Yep. Kitsune is magic juice. Oh, that's right

It still looks creepy. It looks like It's rainbow

colored. Yeah, it's like red and green and yellow

with the silver knife. It's like She is trying

to as I said Resurrect the shredder and throughout

this entire five issue series She is going to

be painting scrolls of what is going to happen

and we see now When was this was this right before

he died? No, this was oh the vaccines. Yeah This

was the issue where he died and I really want

to go back to those issues and see if these Speech

balloons were what they were saying in that issue

or if this was Santolucco filling in the blanks

between the panels so that it could tie together

with what happens in the series. Yeah. Was that

that was issue 50? I can't remember when he died.

I had a text message typed out to you because

as I was reading this, I'm like, wait. Did the

shredder even die yet or does that happen at

issue 100 because the last 100 issues have been

a complete blur? It goes so fast But then I realized

oh, no that happened a long time ago. We're at

city at war. This is okay. Yeah, so Yeah, so

I love this flashback and I love the whole no

you're better and him trying to destroy them

and and we get into the story here of that he's

choosing the dream and we see them as children

him and Hamato Yoshi in the forest and how the

fun the forest is and it's him looking on to

the past so we see him there with the two boys

and He's like is this a dream? Yoshi, I made

it to the dream and oh did you Rokosaki and there's

this strange voice and it's this inner voice

of of him and The original you and that was freaky

yeah, good old Takeshi Tetsuo the original Founder

of the foot clan, you know back from secret history

of the foot clan way back Santa Luca worked on

that didn't he? Yes, he did He's got a thing

like IDW said you go handle that half of everything

Which in and this is where it gets fascinating

to me The foot clan is not just a silly red foot

logo ninja clan happening in modern -day New

York City This is got a history and there was

a guy who started the foot clan as the ninja

assassins that they were and That's the Then

there then shredder isn't just the shredder shredder

is a part of this guy who is reincarnated as

the Oroko Saki back then and and oh, it's just

layered layered and And you mentioned it when

you were reading that panel back there you said

Yoshi, I made it to the dream where that kind

of excitement of this peaceful place that he

comes to in his full shredder armor But that

speech comes out of him and like that's not the

angry shredder. That's somebody who's excited

to be in a peaceful place That's not the shredder

looking for vengeance to kill right? This is

a different character. This is a splintered off.

Hey fragment of a Roku sake and then yes that

The other piece of him that is fragmented off

in this place is Takeshi Tetsuo who is a psychopath.

Donnie returns and shredder dies. I remember

that now, of course I did a little bit of googling

just to be sure on the safe side You can never

be too sure folks. You always want to make sure

you you Google your facts and Yeah Wow, so yeah

We have a Roku a Roku sake and Takeshi having

a conversation and this is what I meant earlier

at the beginning of the podcast episode folks

when I said It's an existential journey for sake

to figure out who he is and What powers control

him or whether or not he has control over his

own destiny? Yeah, and it this is All of these

hints have been getting laid I mean all the way

even back into the April and Casey comic and

I think before that when the Pantheon got Brought

out in Kinsuna he's been around for a while.

But oh, yeah, why is he messing around with the

shredder? What's up? Well, he is the dragon warrior.

He has this spirit in him and and she's kind

of been Fostering that and But that is separate

from Orokosaki. So it's neat. It's neat. As he

battles Wills with Takeshi in the dream. Yep.

Yeah, it is so interesting. Just to clarify,

so you don't have to do it. Even though I'm sure

you want to do it, that's fine. I am in issue

50 right now. Come then, sons of Fumato Yoshi,

know you're better. The lines and the battle

did happen. However, the way it happens in issue

50 obviously is a different art style and it

is a completely different scene of how the battle

plays out and how the layouts are done. In this,

in Shredder in Hell, for the flashback, they

basically give you the one frontal, you know,

one confrontational scene, not frontal, wow,

one confrontational scene and those lines. But

yes, those lines were said in issue 50. They

knew! They knew where they were going. Of course

they knew where they were going. I swear, Bobby

has this shit planned out until issue 200 or

more. I guarantee you. I don't know if he does

or not, but I'm saying like, and Shredder in

Hell, folks, came out a couple years ago. So

this isn't like this is new, because they're

up to, I think, issue... 120? I want to say 120,

121, something like that. Well, we maybe have

some solicitations for the future at the end

of this at the end of this podcast folks, but

anyway getting back to Shredder and hell, you

know the the struggle here and and all of that

I just I Love that because it's not often you

see, you know, normally you see shredder. He

is either the u -tron version he is either Oroko

Saki and he is already on the constant path of

evil And I'm not sitting here saying the IDW

Shredder is ever gonna be a good guy but Villains

and heroes and in between they all have their

version of events and what they feel affected

them like every so every story has a side to

it and Seeing Saki side here As he's fighting

himself and the fact that Splinter comes in and

kind of saves him from drowning. From drowning,

I should say. This feels like he is still in

the dream. When Yoshi saves him here and they're

in the forest and it's Yoshi's, you know, Splinter.

He's the rat and Saki is Saki without his helmet

on. So that does feel like it is potentially

most likely him dreaming that it is or hallucinating

that it is Splinter. I don't know. As I read

through this on my own, separately from what

we're doing here in the podcast, folks, I felt

like that was the real Hamato Yoshi, that he

had come to Saki, inhale through the astral plane,

whatever. And we'll see that As this plays out

This did not make sense to me the first time

that I read it. No Weird and it felt like it

was jumping and I couldn't tell what was real

and what was not and what was happening in the

real world And I wasn't sure initially that this

was splinter and and I caught a line this time

through that I didn't before Like it feels like

the real splinter this splinter came here to

this afterlife to help a Roku sake back his his

brother and in in that Japanese brotherhood sort

of ninja way and But they mentioned a line where

like splinters not dead yet So what's he doing

in the afterlife and they make a mention about

how it's not exactly linear here This is happening

else time. Yeah and out of place so as far as

we need this guy to be it's the real splinter

it certainly is they go to the tree of life yeah

i'm gonna i'm gonna save i'm gonna save this

comment but yes it's a tree of life and i kind

of when i looked at this it looked it reminded

me of the world tree from thor and norse stuff

and it's very north looking yeah i love this

exchange between them where shredder is talking

about the dreamer and Splinter says, I'm sure

Michelangelo would make a very astute analogy

to his video games right now. So good. Splinter

also says, listen, my friend, just like this

is a tree, this tree, you are a vessel for a

powerful force, a merciful God and the dreamers

counterpart. You had never known an existence

without that spirit imprisoned inside your soul.

In many ways he is the cornerstone of who you

think you are. And there is where theirs where

lies the source of your conflict, your fears,

and the reason why you are so eager for power

and control. Oh my gosh, and now I see it the

third time through even more clearly as to what

he's talking about. You know when that wise person

in that movie Talks and it sounds like a riddle

and you're never sure what they're talking about

And it doesn't make any sense. But then like

they never really make any sense Well, the third

time you read the comic book that wise character

that's talking in riddles. The riddles aren't

riddles It's that he's that he's being he's this

is completely what's happening. Yeah He doesn't

really yeah, yeah, that's cool Yeah, you gotta

read your comics three times, that's right. I

love Love his response though to all of this

no control, but that goes against everything

I fight for everything I am If you want to know

who you truly are you must first let go of who

you think you are Your words make no sense rat

Read your own story, Saki. Once again, as always,

the colors, the lines. Splinter here in long,

I'm going to call it long distance shots, but

far away shots and closeups. We talk about this

almost every podcast that we do for this series,

that Splinter is a featured character. He does

and he doesn't look like a rat his entire time

That he is talking to sake here He has never

not looked more radish and that is Like, I think

Santalucco really, really got it. And the colors

from him, from Marcelo Costa, this whole purple

-pink -reddish thing in this scene with them,

the blues and the hues. Oh, it is so good. And,

you know, he goes on to say that the choice is

Saki's alone. You know, he's only promised that

he would show him the dream. I know what the

dream is everybody And I again it always surprises

me because I was not expecting it and it just

It didn't make me cry this time because it's

not dealing with their children But when he when

Saki goes I must find a way back to her He loves

her he does Tang Shen Go Go my love help your

friend like I was not and I am so glad and this

is just me being I'm just gonna say this right

now folks This is me being super creepy. Okay?

When she's tells him to go and they embrace he

is still the rat and I am so glad they are only

hugging Because the next scene is their immortal

souls kissing and I'm glad they did not Use the

rat version of Yoshi to kiss tank. Yeah I'm sorry.

My mind goes to dark places at times and I just

had to point that out that in one scene She's

hugging the rat version and then the astral plane

afterlife thing. She's full -on kissing the the

The human version of amato Yoshi Last thing we

need in TMNT comics is bestiality. No, they dodge

that pretty good. Yeah Well, it depends on what

happens with Casey and Jenica you never know

but So Splinter goes chasing after Saki and he

gets He basically turns into a rat he basically

reverts to you know his original form kind of

thing not original form, but It's basically reverse

mutation. It's like the 87 series, you know,

I was most in in Contact with the human or I

was most in contact with the rats you were most

in contact with the humans and whatever so now

that Saki has a pet for the rest of the comic

We get to face Hell's Warriors and Hell's Warriors

are everyone that Shredder killed. Yep. The Savat

here. This was good because this is him basically

fighting his own demons, even though he's already

killed them. I love this. And this is still only

the first issue. This isn't even like we haven't

got to the end of this yet. And yikes. Just love

the shock face look on little Splinter. Oh yeah,

now that's the Shredder I know. Gnarly. And I'm

like, wait, what? That's one way to get them

in this book. Yeah, now see, now I thought I

had it figured out, you know, these are the people

that Shredder has, oh wait. Uh -huh. Oh, okay,

so these are all the people that Shredder has

killed. And and he's fighting his demons and

I'm like, well the turtles are definitely still

alive But you know, this is a wishy -washy timey

-wimey tangle of things going on here these turtles

Shredder killed the Japanese kid turtles the

Yeah, the the human version and so maybe these

are fragments of those souls that are here and

left behind but they're the turtles they're definitely

the turtles so i was like yeah how'd they get

here those so this totally is inside shredder's

head but no i got it i got it yeah yeah what

would have i wrote my own headcanon i figured

it out there you go what would have made this

so much better and i know they probably know

you know you asked me a couple of podcasts ago

how did nickelodeon let them get away with this

kind of stuff or whatever I don't think Nickelodeon

would have let them get away with this, but if

this was the kids, not the tur - but just the

kids before he killed them, that would have made

the - like, I was surprised when this happened,

but afterwards I was like, oh, I'm kind of rooting

for the demons now because Kappa, Kappa, Kappa,

Turtles 3 is coming back to haunt us, folks.

That's how this first issue ends the sons of

Hamato Yoshi The opportunity for them to be turtles

and show up at the end of this issue, but then

as they're fighting him Changed themselves into

the humans and saying look you killed us you

killed children. Look at how young that one is

and you killed them Yeah, dude, look at how young

I am. Yeah Because that I mean this is because

this is sake now This is he's not the same guy

that would that would tear him apart. Yeah Absolutely,

we start with issue two So what's it gonna be

shred head molten lava or the end of our blades?

And I gotta hand it to them Okay, I do recognize

the difference besides the fact of the weapons.

It's awesome and interesting that they gave the

demon turtles the bandanas, but the red eyes,

at first I was like, wait a minute, are the bandanas

all red? They're not, obviously, I know. They're

in a very red area, so they're all kind of tinted,

that color. Yeah, but it is so cool. Yeah, just

pick one already and yeah, we have a battle between

the turtles and Saki and Saki doesn't want to

fight them. He's defending himself, but he doesn't

want he like he's not attacking them. They're

attacking him. He is not going to stab his children

while he's there looking. Yeah, no, that would

not be, uh, not be good. Death has slowed you

down, Treads. Yeah, who's met his better now,

huh? And it's hard because it's hard to root

for. This is Saki's book. This is his story.

Whether they're demon manifestations or not.

It's really hard to root against the turtles

and root for shredder to win this because Hello,

it's the turtles goes against everything for

the last 30 plus years that we've been taught

shredder is evil. The turtles are good But he

is as we've said fighting for his life here.

I had a thought and I don't know if they because

I can't remember now what happens in issue 100

or I or did I remember what happened at the end

of this book even but We can now see that Oroko

Saki, when he's taken out of Takeshi Tetsuo and

being the Dragon Warrior, that he is his own

person and his own person does not want to conquer

everything, does not want to hurt Hamato Yoshi

or his children. And we've talked about it before

in the podcast that this IDW series has brought

home the theme of the turtles being family, and

are they making a Rokosaki part of the family?

Can he come back from that? And are they going

to create a worse villain for them to have to

come together to fight? And that thought got

me really excited as I was reading, particularly

this... Spot here where he's fighting the turtles

and and protecting Hamato Yoshi rat yeah in his

arms Yeah, oh my gosh, they're gonna turn him

into a good guy Yeah, I don't know where they're

going with this because I have not I have not

read I mean obviously I've read this in preparation

to the podcast But I have not read issue 100

so I don't know what happens and I remember so

and because because as I as I've said Want to

have the freshest reactions on the show as possible

So I don't read like I may I may have read this

like four days before we decided to Go ahead

and record it kind of thing. But when this came

out, I'm like, okay I'll wait till it's collected

and that's what I did and I've just been sitting

on it ever since so but yeah, we get to the demon

gathering Gather gather gather and sake is like

what? And Master Masato shows up who they are

really pulling some deep cuts here folks I Love

master Masato's words you may very well have

conquered much, but you are still that Frightened

boy desperate for recognition a vain soul who

thinks too much of itself Nothing, but a puppet

in the hands of Takeshi Tatsuo Quiet old man

kills him Dead And he more he's undead now yeah,

he's undead now, but he morphs into this weird

being And again, it shows the depths of hell

that Saki is having to go through to figure out

how to get his life back. And, you know, we even

have him versus his own father. And it's just,

it's so much for one person to go through and

It's just, like I said earlier, this has got

to be the most psychological part of the Shredder

that we have ever seen. It's like I said, anybody

can put a neutron into a Shredder body. You know,

not anyone has the same voice as what James Avery

had, but again, he was already a villain. He

was a villain in Japan in the cartoon and he

just kept on becoming a villain. This comic and

this overall series that Shredder has been in

for IDW, his character so much... From the very

first time we meet him back in issue, whatever

it was that he debuted in, to now, his character

has changed so much. And this is just that further

evolution where he has to look at himself and

figure out what path he really, really wants

to take. In a way, I see this as a chance for

the real Urokosaki to face all of the demons

that he created on his way to where he first

died here. Yep, absolutely. So we get to battle

with his father. some more and splinter goes

in and tries to save him and and he dissipates

the demon and becomes a demon army and they are

Fleeing with this demon power that he has and

don't let him escape. Yeah, they get you cornered

my friend And this is where the demon kid shows

up Come on you got this David Yeah, this several

times during the this battle with the demons

or okosaki has unleashed this blue light energy

We're not sure where he has this power from I

don't think at this point, but he keeps letting

it off and Annihilating whatever's around him.

Yeah, which I think he did the demon kid kind

of cheers out of him Oh, absolutely. Yeah But

he is, at a point, overwhelmed. And... What are

those warrior guys that are fighting him now?

Who are they? Deluded into believing the dragon

god can be destroyed. They're not Savat. They're

some kind of Japanese ninja. They get a hit and

boom and they take off Orokosaki's leg. whoo

yeah oh dang that you that's not gonna grow back

no it really is here it will but not in the yeah

and he goes to chase after who he thinks is kitsune

and Drink this elixir my lord and your awareness

will be but a memory another nightmare. Oh Yeah,

and that foot logo. I remember that from yep

foot clan a Bloody footprint as he she gives

him the elixir and the Lazarus pit looking thing

that makes his foot grow back. Yep Well, hey,

at least it did grow back. I mean That's always

a good thing. We have him and Splinter and then

we have him and his father. You've hidden everything

from me. You tried to deny my destiny. To deny

a god. So I was certain. I was so certain I would

defeat you. That I would rule forever. Takeshi

Kitsune Oh So it's Takeshi and Kitsune who are

the love affair things Why are you doing this

to me? Well that yeah, they that was where I

think Kitsune knew that the the her father the

dragon spirit was within this dude. She had been

looking for him to try to bring him back to lead

the Pantheon, like in those earlier issues. And,

yeah, they had a little love affair. I think,

I don't know, this feels more like an Urokosaki

hallucination to me that's giving him enlightenment

to understand what's going on. But, yeah, Kitsune

is burying Urokosaki to be with Takeshi Tetsuo.

Yeah. Hmm the dragon warrior and that's where

Vessel of the dragon god and that's where this

one ends This story man. It just takes you so

many different places and you're right it to

the This is not for someone who like you can't

just pick this up This is not someone I would

like someone who wants to read about shredder

I would not recommend like I love this book.

I'm not saying I don't but to someone who Has

never read any of the other idw stuff to this

point. You can't just pick this up and get it

I mean you can understand it but if you know

the turtles and you know shredder like read the

secret origin of the foot clan and then this

you might get something from it, although there's

the The whole dragon warrior and the pantheon

angle that I don't think you get from those two

books But yeah, it's still interesting to see

where the shredder Character came from and how

he ended up the way he is because of these Essentially

three different spirits rolling around in his

head. Yeah Yeah, it's it's very very interesting

the fact that he has three different spirits

rolling around in his head that's Man, I can

barely keep one spirit in my head, let alone

three. I mean, come on. That just seems like

a little much, don't you think? So we start with

the next issue. It is the dragon and... Is that

Takeshi, isn't it? Yeah, because Saki is buried.

in a hole, but I Think I noticed this on the

second read through these are the roots of the

tree from up above right This is underground

in a cavern below that tree where this dragon

was slumbering and sleeping that now that Takeshi

Tetsuo has arrived is waking up Absolutely and

we Get sake with the demon kid and He doesn't

want the kid calling him dragon warrior anymore.

My name is Roku sake the shredder fine by me

Tell me demon child. How can we find a way back

to the dream forest? Sorry, sir. That is out

of my league First it is Once again the art the

lines everything about this is so well done.

I Think I don't know I don't want to diminish

how much how hard this work is but Mateo Santolucco

seems to me the type of person who could do this

art in his sleep and Is very very fast about

it. It just feels that way when he was pumping

out those issues around 50 and that was the same

time that a bunch of giant posters were coming

out and online he'd be posting pictures of commissions

or other people would be posting pictures of

commissions that they bought from him like, does

he sleep? Does he ever have to use an eraser?

Every single line is beautiful. And then I remember

I asked him a question in a post at one point

or I asked a question and he happened to be the

one who responded to it. Saying that oh, no,

I color all my own work. I don't I don't have

anybody else doing it for me So it's like he's

penciling it inking it and coloring it and you

know with the assistance this issue from the

guy I think there must have been a No, Santalucco's

colors like when I was talking about the the

blues and the reds and the purples earlier between

Saki's power and everything else I'd never meant

to say that and I know you're not accusing me

of saying this but I never meant to say that

Marcelo Costa was the they did Marcelo Costa

and the other person did color assists. Yes Santa

Lu...Mateus Santaluco does all of his own art

from the lines to the to the shading to the this

to the that to the...Mateus's colors are just

amazing. Yep. He did two different posters around

issue 50. It was the giant cover and then the

poster that came out with the video game. The

colors on both of those posters are incredible

and those are the two that I asked like who did

your colors man? Was it ronda because ronda's

amazing and like no I I did all I do all my cover

colors and the poster colors like oh my gosh

Yeah, but no if i'm sure uh, uh marcelo costa

is is participating in the process in some way

and whatever he's doing is producing a beautiful

result and santa luco's a genius and I I wonder

what he'll do after turtles because whatever

it is i'll be reading it Yeah, I don't know and

I don't, I mean I care, I'm not saying I don't

care, but I don't know what he's doing after

this, or what's going on with him currently,

what he's working on, but whatever it is, it's

going to be a, whether it's writing, whether

it's just the art, it's going to be a comic book

masterpiece, because that's what the man does.

Every time he has ever done a cover. It's always

been one of the most covers that affect me the

most because the art is so good And that's not

to say any other artists that has done TMNT covers

or any other covers in comics in general haven't

affected me It's just with this series folks.

There is just something about certain artists

that do a you know a cover or something in a

certain way that just affects you like when Donnie

died in 44 like holy shit, you know kind of thing

or when When Mikey in 51 basically is like yeah,

no, I'm out I'm gonna go do my own thing. You

guys can fight amongst yourself, you know that

whole Thing where Mikey was separated from the

rest of them because he didn't want to deal with

like Mikey's thing back then was can we just

be done with the fighting and I think that's

still part of Mikey's deal now, but It's just

so good Santa Luco everybody that's worked on

this series it just they deserve so much credit

and it's not that we're not giving it to them

or anything like that, but So good. All right.

Where are we in this? So we get I have coming

from the mouth of such a foolish man Yes, Rokosaki

is headed back to the world tree And we have

the turtles and and all of these demons and he's

basically trying to Save himself and splinter

because he's still holding on to the rat like

he should and we get this demon monster that

he has to face and I'm not sure what the deal

like again. I think it's him fighting his own

being like This demon monster that he's this

Cyclops this cyborg not cyborg, but this this

whole plant looking deep I think this is him

fighting himself. This is him. I think this whole

series is Saki It's his journey to figure out

who he should be versus who he wants to be Like,

does he want to be just the villain who always

gets the control and the power into this, or

does he want to be something more than that?

Mm -hmm. Yeah, or these are... It's either him,

or it's the parts of him that need him to not

get to the World Tree to do whatever it is he

thinks he's about to do. Yeah, he gets there.

Have you felt it in my soul it jeopardizes the

liberation of my spirit is Awakening then it

must be contained, but it shares our power will

I be able to suppress it as the mountain explodes

That echo does share my force indeed, but its

refusal to join with me makes its link to my

power too fragile It will stand no chance now

that you are becoming one with my spirit Soon

these echoes will cease to exist and you shall

now shall know What it what it really means to

be the dragon warrior? And the dragon is Revealed

sort of uh -huh So like I said, this is Takeshi

and this is his His side of the fight against

Saki and he's like damn you That's where we are

It was the Fox's magic it changed more than our

body and Yeah Yep, they they yeah, man. It's

just it's a neat such a neat concept. Yeah the

splintered soul of These two characters that

are the same character and the one half that

wants to bring back the dragon in An invincible

human body needs this Orokosaki fragment of the

power and he's not going to relinquish it to

prevent that from coming back. Yeah, that's the

good guy thing to do, Orokosaki. Thank you. You

see that he needs the demon kids help again because

splinter the rat version of splinter got injured

and Yeah, no He's gone for now I Say for now

because he'll come back later and we have Takeshi

and are we done? Demon buddies. Yeah, it was

demon bunnies We are Takeshi Tatsu Takeshi Tatsu

is no more only the dragon remains We need to

wake up and It's this all -out battle There's

a lot of that in this in this book yeah, which

is good, I think it's interesting and not only

do they they you know Santalico mixes the the

words with the fighting, and it's a good balance,

I feel. What I do appreciate more about Santa

Luca's style than others is that I can tell what's

going on in the battles. His action lines, the

perspective, the anatomy, all of it is very,

very clear, and I can tell what's going on, and

that's not always... possible for me, sometimes

in fight scenes. It's very difficult to draw

the force, the power, the directional energy.

But no, it is certainly pulled off here, for

sure. And this issue closes with the conversation.

What is so different about... I don't know now

how long has Urokosaki lived next to her. A decade?

Two? What's so different about him? Why was the

fox... Why has the Fox hidden the whole truth

from you? What was she so afraid of? He says,

maybe your heart was right about her. But whatever

it is, it doesn't matter now. The shredder will

join the dragon. Whether she likes it or not.

Well, considering I know what happens, this changes

my... understanding of this moment. It sounded

to me here that like Takeshi was jealous of this

love that he perceived Kitsune had for Orokosaki.

Kisaki's been fighting for his love of her and

it only took him 20 years for her to change and

to want to bring him back, Orokosaki back and

not foster the Takeshi Tetsuo fragment, but Considering

I know what happens at the end here now. I don't

know what to think Just when you thought you

knew everything they flipped the script. Yep.

See this is why you have to read them three times.

Oh, that's right and I Don't know how They, as

much as I love it, I don't know how they got

some of these covers on comic book store shelves

because issue four's main cover is a baby version

of Saki with the dragon inside of him. It's an

amazing cover, but holy crap. I would be interested

to know from anyone who's listening to this that

went into a comic book shop When this was being

sold If you looked at this and saw and granted

I'm looking at this image seeing Just the cover.

I'm not seeing TMNT shredder in hell. I'm not

seeing number four I'm not seeing any of the

the lettering that normally accompanies a convo

cover I'm just seeing the cover by itself and

I'm like, holy crap That's a lot Yeah, like does

that even look like a Ninja Turtle cover? No,

that's the thing that's that's you know, ah so

we start with paintbrushes and Kitsune wanting

to be the next Bob Ross Well, I know why she's

crying now as she's painting Because Saki Is

the vessel All hail the dragon god. Dragging

him along. Guard the gates. No one gets in, no

one gets out. And we have something wrong. Something's

going on here. We don't know exactly what, but

the dragon says the cycle is almost complete

now. Rise and fulfill your glorious destiny.

Obey you fool He's not too good at obeying that's

not something the shredder does And I love how

the dragon just wants his body as the vessel

like you don't need his mind You don't need his

soul because he says but the menu were are irrelevant,

not needed. And we get to... Hamato Yoshi coming

back. Yep. Yeah, the demons outside the castle

as they were having that conversation were getting

choked by this blue mist and the last time I

saw blue mist I'm like they're choking on splinter

Because the rat disappeared in the blue smoke.

Yeah, he's back as Hamato Yoshi. He's back He's

back and he's better than ever and Yeah, man,

what a way to go. Yeah, what a way to go choking

on a rat The vessel stop him Do not let him escape

out of my way demons Again the art in this the

action like low like you were saying the the

action poses and the action fluidity is So well

done Yep, it is just so well done I love how

this reminds me of any of you listeners who have

read Yeah, I'm not gonna say it right manga Japanese

comics Blade of the immortal is one that I have

read a few issues of I own one of the thick trade

paperbacks Santa Lucas art reminds me of that

a lot And I don't think I realized it until just

now the similarity of that that whole series

was written and drawn by one artist whose name

I don't know but very Santa Lugo like now that

I see that. How cool. I didn't even need to see

the - I knew the next line was, no, you are not.

You know, he talks about how we are just lucid

dreams channeling the divine. Soon Saki will

become lucid too. And you will be gone forever.

Yoshi? Alright, brother. time to wake you up

what happened i thought you were gone i was but

my mission with you was not completed and this

conspiracy is way too important for the dreamer

to ignore crazy that's good you just can't keep

him down i love it yep and we have um the dragon

saying the time is nigh and my sister must not

restore thee and Oh, so the... Oh, that's right.

The dragon's sister is Shen? Really? No. Wait

a minute. No. Wait a minute. No, no. That can't

be right. Nope. Hold on. She's just a spirit

who's there, I think. Okay. She didn't go to

Nirvana like she could have, like you told her.

Right, right, right. Right, right, right. Got

it, got it, got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. It's

always a... It's always a love triangle with

these three, not necessarily in this stuff, but

not necessarily in IDW, but because, at least

in this, Yoshi and Saki are brothers, and obviously

Shen is always with Saki. And, you know, Saki,

Yoshi, and Shen, so many lives I've destroyed

all for nothing. I think of this as an opportunity,

Orokosaki. Yes, it is a chance to save the world.

And a chance to see our children, once again.

They just... had to keep pulling those... they

just... Yeah... Gut punches. Just keep punching

us in the gut to make, you know, salty things

come out of our eyes. And they kind of disappear

into the astral plane or they disappear into

the tree or whatever happens to them and the

dragon is born. I don't think that one's the

dragon. Oh no, wait, is it? So they disappear.

Yeah, they they they disappear and turn into

those into the little embryos and they go into

the ground which is where the tree roots are

and Not the evil tree roots, but these great

roots. Yep. Yeah, then maybe through the power

of their spirit what they are reincarnated as

is this Okay Hindu Buddhist Oh my god, she what's

what's she called? This is the dragon's sister.

This is referencing what I know as the Hindu

religion, which is connected to the Buddhist

and the reincarnation, and they make several

allusions to several different religions. There's

a snake, the dragon is the snake, the serpent.

That's the the christianity thing they have the

creator and destroyer and brahma. What's her

name? Because it's shiva the destroyer and then

the blue one Whose name I can't remember right

now, but when I got to this part where they're

they're Kind of connecting all the world's religions

are rolling them around in each other like a

delicious stew This is what they did in The Archie

series and the Archie Ninja Turtles book, a funny

book for kids in the 90s, had a 20 issue arc

where they traveled the Middle East and looked

at some of the Eastern religions. They put a

turtle twist on them and made them tied in mutants

into the supernatural stuff. You could learn

about those world religions from that and then

here we are in this shredder book with an above

God and there's creators and destroyers and the

creator chooses to grow into a tree and experience

the creation by fragmenting her soul and becoming

humans. Fragments of her soul are the human souls

that are around the world. That's what they were

talking about earlier with the dream. She's the

dreamer She's dreaming of the creation through

that it's like oh my gosh And This is where the

controversy or not the controversy that the the

conflict comes from is that to keep the destroyer

from destroying things She imprisoned him into

one soul that is trapped in the reincarnation

cycle and that's what the shredder is and that's

why he can't die because if he does properly

die the dragon can come loose and can come out

and destroy everything so so cool so very cool

yeah man yeah very very cool As this issue ends,

we see him say, you know, what does your heart

tell you? You know, she asks him, what does your

heart tell you to do? I must hold my destiny

in my own hands and renounce everything I thought

was the nightmare is over. And that's how issue

four, issue four, yeah. Issue four ends. Holy

crap. He takes dominion over his own soul takes

the dragon spirit out and breaks it and then

everything explodes. Yep So we're gonna take

a quick break folks and we're gonna come back

after this to talk about the final issue of Shredder

in Hell TMNT Shredder in Hell IDW publishing.

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blog spot dot com I'm sure your insurance company

will cover that. No, they won't. No, they probably

won't So, yes folks this is issue five, Shredder

in Hell, here inside the pull bag. This is the

second to last episode of our month -long turtles

journey that we have taken. And holy crap, issue

five. Wow. Okay, so this beginning part here,

I had had you read this through my screen share

before we recorded. And I'm trying to think what

in the hell is this guy? This soldier. Power

armor soldier dude showed up at the beginning

of this issue, and I don't know where he came

from. Yeah, and he ends up going with the demon

kid for some fresh air. I don't know how much

fresh air there is in hell, but okay. And I think

I mentioned this to you before it might have

been at the end of the last podcast that we recorded

for 423. Reading Shredder in Hell reminds me

so much sort of Hot Damn. Hot Damn was a series

done, five issue series done by Ryan Ferrier

for IDW, I believe. And I'll have to see if I

have the PDFs for that to send to you. but it

was basically about this guy who died and went

to hell kind of thing it's not anything like

shredder in hell obviously but you know it's

more of like real world hell kind of like you

know like if i die tomorrow am i ascending or

am i you know gonna be you know down there in

the in the center of uh whatever kind of thing

so that's what this reminds me of and the demon

kids talking to the soldier like yeah i present

to you your new home the underworld crap this

is it this is the end not the end no it's a beginning

i just wonder if maybe that soldier is somebody

who recently died and that guy was i think that's

what it is i I think, I don't know. Like, there's

no real explanation. Like, the issue just starts

with the demon kid and this soldier. Like, the

soldier looks like he's just about to get into

hell because he's facing off against the kid.

And yeah, I don't know. Like, I would assume

it's because it doesn't look like anybody from...

Oh, who are bishops people? Yeah, yeah, it doesn't

you know, maybe it's one of those guys I don't

know, but I think it's just a random character

that they have coming to hell I Love this shot

as much as I'm not a fan of the dragon in general

for this, but I love that that shot we get to

Kitsune and she is continually Painting her scrolls

and father. Do you hear me? Are you still with

me? My spell is almost complete your new rain

approaches now. I'm again This is another panel.

I'll have to screencap this and put it in the

post so people can understand what I'm talking

about She has all these Scrolls hung up around

her and she has shredders body, which is mummified

She has this helmet. She does not have his skull

because I believe splinter and the turtles still

have his skull however she has the the the helmet

basically at the foot of the The table where

I don't want to say bed because that's not a

bed The the foot of where where the body is and

I'm like, that's a little creepy That's a little

creepy Huh So she makes it very clear there that

she is not bringing a Roku sake back because

she loves him She's bringing her dad back. Yeah,

and I think she's sad because she actually does

like a Roku sake and try to kill him Mm -hmm

Or she knows she has to kill him to bring back

her dad. Yeah bring back the dragon Because it's

it's basically eat or be eaten here folks It's

either the dragon wins or Saki wins. There is

no two can exist in the same time. I love that

line, this whole exchange here with the dragon.

I see inside your soul you are still searching

for another solution, still hoping your destiny

to be grandiose. Does anyone really hope that

a that their destiny is going to be grandiose

like very like look don't get me wrong i want

to be as positive as i can be when i say this

and there are a million things any of us could

do to succeed in life and there's a million different

things any of us could do to leave a mark in

life but there are few and far between in humanity

where their destiny is so grandiose that it could

stop the end of the world And I wish alopex had

shut up stupid dog, I know I know she's a fox

but still There are dogs barking outside folks

in case you can't hear I will turn the microphone

that way to see if it... God those dogs are loud

There is a youtuber we watch that is constantly

yelling at the neighbors dogs who do that To

find out their names and then just yell out the

dogs whenever they start barking Hey, Alexa,

stop those dogs from barking. God, that's distracting.

And I have headphones on. Man, talk about failure

of noise cancellation. And you had asked me this

when we were going through issue five beforehand,

when we see the dragon battle with Shredder,

why you're not willing to awake and all of that.

And we see this. thing crash with all this blood,

and it's not blood, it's her paint. Yeah, one

of her jars of paint that she had. Which is neat

because the panel before that is Urokosaki getting

thrown against the ground by the dragon, but

the impact we see is in the real world. Right,

with the paint. And I don't... Yes, the symbology

of it all. Outside of a few select members of

the Pantheon family They're the one they're another

one of the things within the IDW universe that

I'm just not like I don't dislike them but I'm

not the hugest fan like when we did issues I

think it was I think it was just your 71 and

72 that dealt with them And I just wasn't that

big of a fan of it. And even though what is about

to happen between Akka and Kitsune breaks my

heart, I still don't give a shit about the Pantheon

family. Yeah, it's really interesting. They are

the part that I think I'm least attracted to

from the IDW creation. They're kind of winning

me over by saying these are the the demigods

that Brahma or the the head god and shredders

dream back there Created so that they could experience

creation but It's like okay. That's what they

are then I get it But I have not yet figured

out why The turtles destinies are so intertwined

with theirs and not other people's Maybe we will

get an answer to that someday, but this was an

interesting occurrence here. Yeah, little sister,

elder sister, basically a sibling battle. It's

so weird, and this is just so random, folks.

Again, we're recording this way in advance of

when it's going to be released in August 2021.

However, I just recently watched an Instagram

story from the 007 account where they're asking

you to vote on specific scenes from Die Another

Day and I know everyone's like why why so anyway,

one of the scenes is Is John Cleese as as awesome

as he is as are You know my predecessor and he's

talking about Q because anyone that knows The

world is not enough in 1999 was Desmond Llewellyn's

last Bond film as Q because he died in 1999 So,

you know we have in this in this scene in Die

Another Day, you know Aston Martin calls it the

vanquish we call it the vanish and The line here

in the book and the tie back, it's just me just

envisioning, oh, so Kitsune is going to have

Aston Martin as a car in the real world. But

who will be victorious and who will be vanquished?

It is time for you to choose. I think the images

in Kitsune's expressions are implying that she's

about to commit seppuku, kill herself. Because

I think this spell is requiring the blood of

an immortal to bring back the dragon spirit.

And Akka says, I think you've decided who you're

going to do. You've decided. Back to the dragon

and Saki, your heart, your goals, what will you

sacrifice? And that's obviously from from the

previous scene. It is too late to deny me human.

I am your destiny. The human is gone. Only the

dream remains. You keep telling yourself that.

Right. And that's the thing. The whole thing

with the dragon here, this dream of yours is

meaningless without me. You are meaningless without

me. That, to me, basically resonates as... Because

of the people that we surround ourselves in our

lives like, you know, you and I are friends We've

been friends for a number of years now We've

only met in person once but that was fine. It

is what it is I often say that my online friends

as long as I get to you know Do Skype things

or podcasts or and through audit. It's fine.

It doesn't really matter but you know it's the

people that we surround ourselves with that make

our lives meaningful. And the dragon is saying

here that Saki is meaningless without him. And

I'm like, what meaning could you bring to Saki's

life of any positivity or goodness? You are a

destroyer. So to me, this reads like... Okay,

people whoever or whomever is reading this comic

Surround yourself with only the people that are

and everybody has differing opinions every you

know I'm just gonna say this right now. I don't

know how you feel but you know for me Rodimus

Prime is the true leader of the Autobots Optimus

Prime can be shot by Megatron for all I care

now as a kid I loved Optimus Prime As an adult,

I've seen him play basketball while the Decepticons

destroyed Sherman Dam or something or other.

But it's just one of those things where we have

certain opinions, we have certain likes, we have

certain dislikes. It's very rare that I find

people that actually like these two films besides

me. I love Caddyshack 2 and Neverending Story

2. And people are like, you're stupid, you're

crazy, those don't exist, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, whatever. And it is what it is. Am I going

to not be that person's friend because they don't

like films that I know? That's just dumb, but

I'm not gonna sit here and shit all over something,

you know? So that's my point here, folks. This,

you know, what the dragon is saying here that

Saki is meaningless without him? I disagree with

that because... Saki can be better because Saki

at this point does not want to be At least I

don't think he wants to be the destroyer anymore

and and yeah, that was I think at this point

the dragon still thinks that Saki is tied to

him and he's just a container for the dragon

and The container doesn't mean anything. It's

what's inside that counts and he's inside this

dragon as he drives broke the sake into the ground

and Thinks he's won and crushed this little soul

this little spirit. No, we find out that sake

has let that Creator spirit into his soul after

he made room for the dragon And so now they're

gonna have this big god deathmatch fight Yeah,

and again As we've said all podcast, the colors

and the designs are so good. This art is amazing.

Okay, that channel looks like a Power Rangers

episode. Get out of my head. I was like, okay,

hey kids, look, it's Goldar versus his friends.

Yeah, the ranger thing. Yup. So funny. You know,

and then, you know, he's like, then I shall awaken

us both. And they clash, and we get the demon

kid with the soldier. Good thing we're safe,

at a safe distance. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Because

this is a treat you don't want to miss. I remember

when, so we're going through this, folks. You

amuse me a man dreaming to be a god with no idea

of what being a god truly means. I remember when

we got to this last, you know, panel here. It's

pathetic. It's not the last panel, but before

the big splash and I hit the next button and

it opens up to this hole and you're like, oh,

wow. Because, yeah, that's, um, that's something

right there. And this what you what you get from

the guided view and from your that I don't I

don't even ever get this because when I look

at this in the comic Yeah, I've got the the spine

of the book right in the middle of that I'm generally

cradling my book in such a way that I'm not laying

the spine flat because you know, I don't want

to break my spine or bend it. But here you go,

you don't have to worry about that. You get this

giant panel and if you have a giant monitor,

holy snot, is that going to look really good?

Yes, yes it is. I love Comixology .com. I love

their guided view technology. I can never not

read comics like this. Mm -hmm. And he is going

to destroy him. Can't you see what is happening

here? Can't you realize you were never a mere

human being? Kitsune's magic made you more than

a mortal man, and my spirit shaped your soul

into something more extraordinary than my sister

could ever predict. That's just awesome. I love

that shredded sign Because it's a combination

of him of his Traditional IDW helmet but with

lots more purple in the eyes and in the in the

center with gold all around it That is so cool.

And and these Hindu. Yeah, I can this Hindu iconography

of the third eye and in the middle of the helmet

And even Takeshi Tetsuo is referencing the Foot

Clan stuff. This is like Dragon combined with

Takeshi Tetsuo, and this is Shredder combined

with the Creator Spirit. Yep. And the Creator

Spirit shows up. Man, that's a beautiful page.

That is such a beautiful page. And again, it's

all about... you know siblings and sibling rivalry

like the dragon is her brother she is his sister

and like you were saying earlier good versus

evil and and all of that and and her you know

or their thing is you you blame me for things

that are inherent and indispensable to life sister

yes there is pain there is suffering but there

is also joy Pleasure victory and defeat power

and submission there is hate and there is love

Yes, or you think my prison has forgotten the

promise my prison has forgotten the promise he

made that should say prisoner You think my I

think he's just referring to sake as the shell.

Okay. There you go He's just he's just a prison

that I lived inside got it got it got it This

one is intriguing Kitsune, so we cut back to

Kitsune and Naka. As much as I said earlier about

how I don't really care overall about the Pantheon,

anytime a character dies in the IDW Turtles comic,

it is an emotional thing because you do and you

don't expect it. Like you said earlier, her face

kind of showed that she was maybe going to kill

herself for the sacrifice. Oh, please. This is

Kitsune. She'll murder anybody just like, you

know, Korai murdered or tried to murder Jenica.

Mm -hmm. So Kitsune has sacrificed the immortal

Akka to provide the immortal godblood to bring

the dragon back, to bring their father back.

Yep. And yeah. You get it? Yep. You get it now?

So, yep. Well, there's the timey -wimey stuff

that's going on here. But it isn't. This is,

this is the, when Splinter went away to hang

out with the Shredder body. Right, right. He

is going on a, what do you call it, a spirit

journey there. He's got Shredders. He's meditating

on the shredder. This is the beginning of Splinter's

story that happened in the previous issues. He's

the rat meditating on it going back to help Saki.

On the way out the door, Roko Saki whispers in

Splinter's ear here to say, you saved me, brother.

I need your help. Splinter is seeing Saki at

the end of the journey and knows that they succeed.

Show me a way back to her now for me. I didn't

get it it for I got I understood it I knew once

like but it took me a minute because It's so

it's so weird so, you know where where the girl

goddess says now go you've made a promise remember

and Splinter shows up first of all Yes, I am

wide awake when I read through this. Yes. I'm

wide awake as we're going through this and like

I'm not half asleep I'm not misunderstanding

things. It's just now dawning on me. Yeah What?

This full image when splinter first shows up

and I'm like, alright, that's his tail Then he

is meditating because he's in the astral plane

and he has shredders skull in his lap That's

why I was like saying a second ago to you when

I went down. Do you get it? Do you get it because

It's it this is like you just said this is splinter

at the start of his journey to save shredder

Yep, and I couldn't remember when that happened

in the ongoing, but I do remember him saying

yeah I need you to watch this room. I'm gonna

go Hang out with shredder for a minute. Mm -hmm

Yeah, it's when he goes into the yeah, it's when

he goes into the crypt and he picks up this yeah

I forget which it was in the last podcast for

the podcast before it was in issue 96 or 9 It

was in one of them issues. I don't remember right

off top my head, but I Can see the path kitsune?

Reach out to me. Oh mighty dragon god Thus here.

I deliver you this instructable physical Indestructible

physical body, I deliver you. You did well, child.

I have returned. But I am not yet free. Ha ha

ha. Yeah, that's, uh, that's creepy. As the the

corpse of the shredder Minus head gets up off

the plinth and yeah the helmet and puts it on

but there is no head He is just wreathed in flame

Such a cool image such a cool image. I deliver

you my Phoenix to be continued in TMNT Volume

23 and we have some amazing amazing covers for

this the all the The variant covers, we have

one by Kevin Eastman. We have one by Raphael

Albuquerque. We have one by Mateo Scalara. We

have one by Juan Gideon. I'm probably mispronouncing

that one. I'm sorry. Hey, a cover by Marcelo

Costa. That's awesome. I love that. That's so

cool. One by Sophie Campbell, but I did not know

that was Sophie Campbell looking at that image.

That was so crazy Yeah, or yeah that yeah, that's

like zombie turtles zombie turtles One by Clayton

Crane Love that look channeling the movie the

the weird live -action movie turtles shredder

Yeah, it does but it also remind it's not the

design of super shredder but like Just the way

that the... Yeah, you're probably right. It's

probably the Bayverse Turtles. Yeah. So many

good covers. So many amazing things. All of these

artists are amazing. This one by Gabrielle Delato.

I love that Shredder and Fire, because that looks

to me like a combination of... 87 90 and 91 like

a combination of 87 cartoon 90 film and 91 film

shredder and we have another one by eastman we

have one by eastman and tony tomy vagara and

yeah shredder in hell abandon all hope as the

most infamous villain in the turtles universe

returns i loved this I wasn't sure what to expect

from it. I was a little creeped out at certain

points, but overall I freaking loved this If

you'd have asked me what my score or level of

appreciation was before going back to reread

these books I'd have said completely passable.

I you don't need to read this I I didn't know

what was going on. I was confused. It just seemed

kind of random and disconnected but reading it

a second time and then essentially a third time.

No, it's incredible. It's so good. There's so

much in here from all of Turtledom. And then

that little kind of here's world religions thrown

at us just like it was in the Archie series.

And here's how the shredder can come back again.

And it made me care about the pantheon just a

little bit more than I did before. Yeah. So no,

no, this is this is great. This is a good book.

Yeah, so Like I said folks and in the reading

order for this you have to read up to issue 99

To the end of 99 and at the end of 99 and I turned

off the screen share So Joe doesn't see this

but essentially I'm going through What we're

going to be talking about an issue in episode

425. I'm at the end of 99 where Kitsune, where

Kariya is looking for Kitsune and granddaughter,

you are just arrived in time to witness the return

of the dragon. And that's where 99 leaves off.

And I love that they put Shredder in hell. right

before this big 100th issue, obviously, because

City at War and everything that's going on with

that. And again, once we get into it next week,

when we do City at War, when we do issue 100

in episode 425, it opens with Splinter as we

know him. But he doesn't have the the the the

skull but he it's it's his astral plane looking,

you know It's him with his colors and the red

robe and but it's all the the psychedelic Astral

plane colors behind him kind of thing as we open

issue 100 which we will get to yeah, I wasn't

sure what to expect out of this and As I've said

in the past hour or so It is so good. It is a

story that Never did I ever think we would see

but I am so glad that we did and I'm so glad

like this story is a story that just feels like

it is Connected it is what it needs to be it.

It is what it should be Now For rating for me,

I'm probably gonna give it either a three and

a half or a four Only because a couple of the

times I was a little creeped out by some of the

stuff in hell Like some of the monster stuff

and things like that It is not to say you know

three and a half four on our scale about from

zero to five. It's not a bad rating at all So

there's that My my only criticism on this book

could I think happen around issue two where it

felt like one long chaotic fight scene and I

remember feeling that That was what I thought

the whole book was all five issues when I read

it the first first time back in the day But Reading

it all at once helped and reading it a second

time helped me see the story way more clearly

than I did the first time. And between actually

understanding what's going on this time and seeing

the nods to the Archie book, which may or may

not have been deliberate, but I'm gonna pretend

that it was deliberate, and seeing how they are

once again beginning to tie in that making heroes

out of the villains At least so far kind of in

this I do have to give this book up five Usually

the miniseries don't I don't think they typically

earn fives from me mmm Yeah, absolutely and it's

so good so before we get the heck out of here

folks we have the IDW I have the IDW 2021 August

2021 Solicits. This lists TMNT number 120 and

TMNT The Last Ronin number four. For issue 120,

Sophie Campbell is on writing Jody Nishijima,

I'm probably mispronouncing that, is on art and

colors. A protest at the Mutanimals HQ turns

violent and threatens to destabilize Mutant Town

permanently. TMNT allies and enemies rush to

take advantage of the situation, but not before

Old Hub makes a surprise decision that will shake

allegiances. Dun, dun, dun. 32 pages, 399 coming

out in August of 2021. TMNT The Last Ronin, number

four of five. Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom

Walz on writing. Kevin Eastman. Isu and Isaac

Escorza, and Ben Bishop on art and colors. With

a few key allies, the Ronin takes on the greatest

risk yet to infiltrate Baxter Stockman's Tech

Island. What happened many years ago to set the

Ronin on this quest for vengeance? Find out in

this action -packed penultimate issue. Dun dun

dun dun dun dun That has been a that has been

a very interesting series because it doesn't

exactly tie in to IDW It's more like this is

what the Mirage series was supposed to or could

have ended with this kind of world sort of view

but Boy, it's neat Yep, and we will cover it

at some point because obviously IDW is doing

it Yes, it doesn't exist in the main IDW universe

But I mean we've covered other things like we

used to cover the new adventures books that IDW

did and that wasn't anywhere near their main

universe So, you know, we will cover the last

TMNT the last Ronin at some point once it is

traded I don't know when the five issues will

be collected in trade because that book I don't

know if it's because of the pandemic or if it's

I don't know what it is but issue three was a

super delayed thing so here's hoping issue four

does actually show up in August there was there

was drama behind the scenes but they have it

cleared up now they just kind of you know catching

up finishing up and they'll get it out there

you go it that you know it's late So that's how

you know it was actually a Mirage book. That's

a good joke for the old school fans. If it's

not late, it's not Mirage. That's right. All

right. Coming up here inside the pullback, we

are capping off Turtles Month here with 425 with

TMNT 100. And then, folks, it's not sad, but

I have to plan a whole other month. mutagen march

or, or something next year in 2022 for more TMNT

stuff. Cause like I said, in some of the other

podcasts that we've done for TMNT, this was supposed

to be done at the beginning of this year, but

because of, you know, life events and things

like that, it didn't get done until the middle

of summer. But, uh, but yeah, uh, we will be

continuing on in the IDW universe as always at

some point with turtles. Coming up after next

week's issue 100 review in episode 425, we have

got Transformers Beast Wars number 7. In September,

I think we're going to be doing the rest of Scooby

-Doo Team Up, so there's going to be those, and

then Beast Wars number 8, Radiant Black 7 and

8, and then I don't know if I'm doing this again

or not, but episode 430 will be... The Way of

the Comic Book 2. So I did this thing a couple

years ago called The Way of the Comic Book. And

I basically had a writer, artist, person, Pat

Chand, who does this. At the time, he was doing

the Xenoscope Robin Hood series and other things.

He's done a bunch of other stuff. And we had

talked about comics and art and writing. just

how comics are done and made and just had an

overall discussion of comics and fandom and things

like that. And I called it the way of a comic

book because it's one of those things where I

don't think there's any incorrect way to get

into reading comics. Everyone has their own path.

People can go back to episode 411 of the pull

bag to hear mine and comic concierge Dan Clark's

Discussion on how we gave a top 10 of tips of

so basically we each well, it was top five But

obviously we each have five different things

Basically our tips on how people get into comics

So I'll link that in in this post people go back

and listen to that But the way the comic book

is like I wanted to get a comic creator someone

who has been doing it for a long time You know

someone who I had interviewed before talked about

so I'm gonna do that again I don't know if it'll

be with Pat or if I will get multiple creators

it just depends on scheduling and things like

that so yeah that's gonna do it for now make

your greatest game in the comics we will catch

you next time with city at war the finale in

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 100 from IDW

publishing Ninja Turtles! Heroes in a half shell!

Ninja Turtles! Ninja Turtles! Ninja Turtles!

Ninja Turtles! Ninja Turtles! Ninja Turtles!

Ninja Turtles! But within that, there were levels

that were found with the interaction between

Crang and myself, and there were levels that

I found as an actor to play him, so he wasn't

just always, ah, you turtles, I'll kill you,

that kind of thing. So there was a lot of stuff

happening. Like most actors, I became acquainted

with the turtles through audition, an audition

process. I had... Just done a series called Hulk

Hogan's Rockin' Wrestlers. I just got a voice

agent, as a matter of fact, because I'd done

a live -action series for Hannah Barbera called

Goin' Bananas. And one of the people on that

show suggested that I get a voice agent. And

I said, sure, can I make money? Fine. You know,

I need the job. When you audition for a voice,

they show you what the character looks like,

and you have to try to put that voice to it,

which is a part of the skill. I mean, I don't

consider myself. voice actor. I mean they're

much more talented people than myself. I consider

myself very lucky to have fallen into the situation.

Part of the sessions for Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles was just sitting and listening to the

repartee between the actors. It was such a joy

and everybody was so smart and witty. It seems

like all we ever do anymore is rent movies. Of

course, Leonardo. With Shredder trapped in Dimension

X, we've got a lot of spare leisure time. The

voices that they would come up with and the things

that they would do, I'd sit there half the time

going, oh, my turn. You know? Oh, I feel so hard

-boiled in these trench coats. I can't, you know,

I know I'm going to sound like a Pollyanna or

whatever, but I can't explain to you. what fun

it was. It was like the old days. It was like,

you know, old radio theatre. It was just a joy.

Well, I've retired. I've been living in Palm

Springs. Prang and I are divorced now. I haven't

seen him in a long time, and I kind of miss him,

but not really. He was such a nag. I hope he

has a good life, but I doubt it. Yes, I lie in

the sun. I count my money, and I play with the

lizards in the desert. Thank you. You've just

heard the latest episode of The Pull Bag, the

GCRN's first comic review and discussion podcast.

There are several ways to get in touch with us

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unleash the geek in you. And mutant turtles at

that! Sharky! This is Craig! Reply to me at once!

Great! Terrific! We're on the run, and that idiot

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