TMNT Reborn Volume 4 Review

Hey guys, this is Rob Paulson, and you're listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Hey, this is Tom

Waltz, IEW's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Rider,

and you have jumped 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 544. I'm, of course, TFG and

Mike. Joining me once almost as always, at least

for the Turtle Stuff, is Mr. Joe Reed. Hello,

sir. Hello, hello. We are back for a second week

in a row with Turtle Stuff. We're going to be

talking about TMNT Reborn Volume 4. What's the

name of this thing here now? So Wind Reap Storm.

So that's Reborn Volume 4, collects issues 118

to 123 of the IDW Publishing Teenage Ninja Turtles

comic series ongoing. That is on the road to

150 right now, and 150 will be the finale. You

can hear all about that in last week's episode

in 543. But before we get to the comic, we have

another press release. And I know I'm talking

really, really fast, folks, because for some

odd reason I've got energy in my brain and my

brain won't shut up. This one's exciting. Uh

-huh. IDW celebrates 40 years of Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles with five new comics packed with

turtle power. Los Angeles, California, February

22nd, 2024. 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of

the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics,

and IDW Publishing is going all out to celebrate

the heroes in a half shell. With TMNT Sourcebook

No. 1 on sale now, TMNT The Last Ronin 2 Re -Evolution,

number one, which will be out March 6th, which

is our 11 -year anniversary date. Yes, that's

the podcast's 11 -year anniversary date, but

this episode will be out before then. So we're

kind of doing this a little early, folks. Not

really. But TMNT, The Untold Destiny of the Foot

Clan, number one, out March 20th. Ooh, that's

interesting. And the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

number one, July relaunch series, the award -winning...

Publisher has already revealed big plans for

the beloved mutant family, but that's just the

beginning. Leaping into comic shops on May 8th

is the brand new indie anthology series Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles Black, White, and Green,

featuring a radical line of acclaimed writers

and artists on every new issue, including Declan

Shelby, Paulina Gara. I'm sorry, Paulina. I'm

going to butcher your name. I'm not going to

even try. Javier Rodriguez and Jock, this series

will unleash visually striking short stories

using only black, white, and green. Getting to

work on the turtles is an absolute dream come

true, commented Shelby. I was a total turtles

nut as a kid, had the turtle van, the sewer play

set, the works. I've always loved the characters.

It's amazing to see the passion behind these

characters, even through all the different iterations

over the years. I have been hoping someone would

invite me to do something with them for a long,

long time. For it to happen on the Turtles' 40th

anniversary is a real treat. The cherry on the

cake for the pepperoni on the pizza, if you will,

kind of thing. This June, we will see a release

of two oversized one -shot issues. On June 5th,

TMNT Alpha will set the stage for the future

of the TMNT universe, featuring a story by fan

-favorite creative... Tom Waltz with art by rising

star Gavin Smith. Their Turtle's Tale will explore

the aftermath of the epic and emotional TMNT

No. 150 out April 10th, including an appearance

from the fan -favorite Fifth Turtle, Jennica.

Plus, this issue will see the debut of Eisner

Award winner Jason Aaron's TMNT writing with

a 10 -page prelude drawn by New York Times best

-selling artist Chris Burnham. This gripping

story will set the tone for Aaron's relaunch

in July. And then we got a bunch of covers. And

then on June 12th, everyone's favorite honorable

samurai and rabbit out of time will meet with

the heroes in a half shell again. But this time

in a whole new dimension. TMNT veteran writer

Eric Burnham and animated artist Jack Lawrence

will proudly present an oversized adventure inspired

by the classic 1987 cartoon series Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. Slash Usagi Ujimbo's Saturday

Morning Adventures. So that's coming. And then

we have... Violence and discrimination against

mutants is running wild and a new vigilante will

rise up to combat it. But who is this fearsome

fighter standing bravely against those who wish

to harm mutants from the inventive mind of writer...

Junai Baia and the brilliant artist Pharaoh Pei

comes TMNT Nightwatcher, a new ongoing series,

this August. I find the world of the TMNT extremely

fun and fascinating, and I want to use the character

of Nightwatcher as an anchor to explore that

world in an action -packed adventure format that

I hope people will love, said Ba. While it is

a spin -off series, I do want it to stand on

its own. And it's something you like for itself,

not just because it's tied to TMNT. Expect some

heartfelt stories, Saturday morning action cartoon

vibes, and cool vigilante badassery. That took

me by surprise. I'm kind of glad to see that.

I've got to go dust off the old Nightwatcher

action figure I got. That's right. And then the

IDW TMNT universe is full of compelling and exciting

characters this September. The TMNT Mutant Nation

ongoing series will bring that amazing array

of characters into the spotlight. Tom Waltz,

the co -writer of more than 100 issues of TMNT,

and the last runner will be joined by spectacular

storyteller Sophie Campbell and more fan -favorite

TMNT creatives to continue exploring the rich

universe and its many mutants. With TMNT Mutant

Nation, we have the opportunity to further expand

our long -running IDW TMNT universe alongside

Jason Aaron's relaunch of the main ongoing TMNT

series, remarked Waltz. We have built a massively

diverse and exciting ensemble cast of characters

and settings over the years, and I'm ecstatic

to remain a part of its continued evolution alongside

fellow creators. telling more TMNT stories that

we all hope will continue to entertain our amazing,

enthusiastic, and loyal readership, both old

and new. You can't remain as popular and as exciting

for four decades without having a variety, and

if TMNT has proven anything since its debut in

1984, it's that the characters can adapt to all

kinds of stories, in comics from the ultra -serious

to the hysterically funny, aimed at young and

old. and everyone in between, stated RDW Editor

-in -Chief Jamie S. Rich, what we wanted to do

over the course of this year was build out the

line so there is a Turtles book for everybody.

What did I say last episode? What did I say?

I said the series that's ending, the series that

we have been covering on this podcast for a decade

now, is not necessarily for everybody. It's not

for new readers. You can't just jump into this

current series. You have to start at the middle

of it. Look at all the stuff they're going to

be giving us. Holy crap. A book for everybody.

Something for everyone. And that's awesome. If

you're a fan of cool art and high concepts, you'll

like Black, White, and Green, for instance. If

you're a superhero fan, Nightwatcher might scratch

a particular itch for you, and Mutant Nation

is our celebration of the long history IDW has

with TMNT. Giving our regular readers all the

characters they have come to love over those

first 150 issues, and maintaining the continuity

as we enter a brand new phase of Turtle storytelling.

Uh -huh. Yep. And it goes on and on and on. So,

yeah, folks, we're going to have probably another

15, if Joe and I can keep up for another 15 years,

but we're going to have another 15 years of stuff

to do. Yeah, plenty of content. Exactly. Plenty

of content. It's overwhelmingly amazing. So,

yeah. It was – I was with – this past weekend,

I was at Great Lakes Comic Con, and I got to

meet, again, a number of the original Mirage

artists. And I haven't corrected his – I got

this pronunciation right, but I think it's Dan

Berger because that's what his logo is, not Berger

like it looks like. Yeah, it's Berger. It's Berger,

yeah. It's B -E -R -G -E -R, yeah. A few days

before the con, he had dropped news on his Facebook

that he was doing a cover for Black, White and

Green. And that's the first news that I had heard

of it. And I the other guys were hinting at that

they have had the opportunity to do some covers

and coloring and inks on some of these new books

coming down the line. But they weren't able to

speak to it. But being the 40th anniversary.

I'm really glad to see IDW reaching out to these

guys because they're all so super happy to be

tied up to the turtles associated with and then

still working on it. Because after 40 years to

have a property that's still as relevant and

popular and engaging as this is unique. And I

think it all comes down to how every creator,

every writer that's ever breathed on the turtles

has their own take and that the turtles are these

wrong lizard amphibian but a chameleon. They

blend in. They fit with whatever story you want

to tell. And I think that's what kind of keeps

them fresh is that they are so amorphous but

still relevant. Yeah, absolutely. And what keeps

the IDW Turtles universe so fresh and new, even

though it's familiar, is that everything they've

done, everything we've covered, Casey in April,

Shredder in Hell, Turtles in Time. All three

of those, and I know there are more than those

three, but all three of those are done by completely

different writers and artists than when Tom and

Bobby and Kevin and Sophie and Rhonda and Sean

were on the main ongoing. As the main ongoing

was happening over the last 10 years, we've had

multiple mini, we had the Mutanimals miniseries.

Every single miniseries that IDW has ever done

since 2011, it's been an opportunity. for other

creators to come on and give their stamp. But

at the same time, it still fits into what is

going on with what the ongoing is doing. The

only separation I see is Saturday morning adventures

and whatever night watcher is going to be. And

it sounds like even Night Watcher is going to

fit, but it doesn't have to fit. It doesn't have

to fit, yeah. Which is kind of how I feel about

Last Ronin, too. Yeah, Last Ronin is completely

on its own. I have never, ever said, is it done

by the people that have done? Yes, absolutely.

But it's also done by Kevin and Peter and all

that. And that's great because you finally had

the two of them reunited and doing things and

whatever else. I've never considered Last Ronin

in with this continuity. It's its own thing.

It could be. And I mean, it's you know, we never

we never really they haven't asked the question

in the book. Yeah. And I'm perfectly fine. Yeah,

I'm perfectly fine with it not being because,

again, I think things can exist outside of even

though I W is doing stuff. But it doesn't all

have to connect to the main thing that they're

doing. It can be its own thing. And The Last

Ronin is a story that they've wanted to tell

for 40 years or whatever, however many long before,

whatever it is. Oh, man. I heard this beautiful

artistic thing that they talked about at the

con. Do you know why The Last Turtle was Michelangelo,

right? Spoiler. No. The Last Ronin, well, we

knew it. The last turtle was Michelangelo because

he was the first one that they drew. Oh, well,

you you guys knew how this was going to end like

way back then. And yeah, that was what we had.

He was the first one that we drew. So he was

the first one, the last one that was going to

leave. And like, oh, wow. And the audience goes

wild. Yeah, that's amazing. How was the con since

you're talking about it? Good con. The long boxes

were alphabetized, which is a rare thing in conventions,

so I was very happy for that. It actually made

it easy to find out that there are no Ninja Turtle

books that I don't have. Most of my time was

spent hanging out with the guys. Over the years

of me pestering them like a fanboy, they know

who I am and we get to tell stories about and

what my kids are up to. That's awesome. Very

cool. While I get doodles. Which convention was

this again? What was the name of it? I just want

to make sure what you say. Great Lakes Comic

Con. Okay. Very cool, very cool. And the real

reason that we went out there was that my wife

has heard me talk about these guys and a little

Facebook message from Kathy Lawson, Jim's wife.

I freak out because, oh, my gosh, they know me.

And she got so tired of hearing me freak out

that, you know what? That's it. I'm going to

go meet him. And so my wife was talking to all

the guys and the wives. That's amazing, dude.

That's so cool. It's way cool. And I'm just trying

not to annoy them or fanboy out. And that's a

secret, everybody listening. If you ever go to

these conventions, really. Don't even try to

think about not being weird. As soon as you try

not to be weird, you're going to be weird. Yeah.

Yep. So just, just, you know, can't even think

about it. You just got to relax. Yep. Yep. All

right. Reborn volume four by Sophie Campbell

and Nelson Daniel. Nelson Daniel did parts one

and two. Also, Jodi, I can't pronounce her last

name. I'm sorry, Jodi. Parts three and four.

Colors, Rhonda Pattinson. Letters, Sean Lee.

Story consultants, Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz.

The collection design was done by Sean Lee. We'll

get into all the various covers later. But we

start with issue 118, and holy crap, look at

that cover. It's the Saki, April, and Baxter

with the turtles in the foreground. Oh, man.

And we start with Oroko Saki on the farm. Hey,

they're in Northampton. Holy crap. Oh, look who

shows up. This is... Lita's showing up here,

and I'm... Taking it like after she left the

Turtles, this is where she came first before

she went to return the staff? Yes. So she is

out of her time. She misplayed. This is not her

going. So last week when we talked in Volume

3 about when she tells them, when you see Uncle

Saki, this is that adventure. We are now seeing

where she has been. Because this is not where

she is currently. Yeah, she's back. If that makes

any sense. Yeah. So this is in the past. This

is before everything that just happened in the

last trade. Really? Yeah. It has to be. Because

at the end of the last trade, when she says,

oh, yeah, and when you see Uncle Saki. Well,

when did she see Uncle Saki? Because when we

saw her in the last trade, she shows up. In Mutant

Town. Yeah, she might know him, though, from

just after he's revealed himself. I don't remember.

I think this is a prelude to what already happened.

I think this is the other side of the coin from

last time. My theory is that she's gone back

to see him in the past, but that she knew him

as she grew up. Because I'm assuming that Saki

is going to reveal himself to the turtles. Oh,

in the next few issues. And then he's going to

be a partner with them and stay with them all

through Lita's life. So she knows him. Yeah,

but. But. How is this time? I hate the time scepter.

Just blow the damn time scepter. That is my guess.

That's how I read it. No, I know. But like the

only thing together is find out on this journey.

Yeah, no, absolutely. But like when I when I

when I read this, I was like, oh, OK, like you're

right. We knew Saki was back, but I always thought

this was. Yeah. I'm sorry to ruin your theory,

brother, but it says at the very top, one month

ago. Oh, man, where does it say that? Very top,

first page, right by the farmhouse. Oh, mother

snot bucket. Yeah, so, like I said, when she

shows, when Lita shows up in the last trade and

she tells them, when you see Uncle Saki, blah,

blah, blah. this is the other side of that this

is us getting us the readers getting to see when

she saw him and this was a month previous to

the current events of the book yeah sorry but

she does already know yeah yeah she knows what

he's doing yes yes she yeah she knows him yes

absolutely i agree with you I don't know how

she knows him or whatever, how that all came

to be. Maybe that's what this is. I don't know.

But the point is, as far as the the the time

stream goes from last trade to now, this is a

month previous to the last adventure. So anyway,

we get a bunch of timey wimey. Yeah. Gobbledygook

and all that. Yeah. So we get her and him and

she basically tells him. What does she tell him

here? She tells him, just keep doing that, you

know, the little things. That's the stuff that

really matters the most, right? I suppose. So,

thank you, Little Lita. Thank you, Lita. He doesn't

call her Little Lita. But we then see, and I'm

not trying to rush through all of this, but we

then see various... ways that he has helped each

one of the characters, like Donnie's writing

his book and the weasels have coffee and computer

and I really should back up my book and he steps

in and he whisks the computer away before the

coffee can spill on it and he wipes it up and

the weasels just look at him like, who the fuck

are you? They're all like, huh? Who's this guy?

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but...

It's really good to see Saki smiling. You don't

often see Oroko Saki smiling. And I know this

Saki is different from every other version, and

that's absolutely fine, but yeah. It makes me

want to go back and reread Shredder in Hell again

to see how he transformed into this character.

He's free of that book clan dragon guy, so this

is who he's supposed to be. Yeah. Atoning for

what he did. Yep. And as we go through, this

is why I said this is a... Maybe it was because

I enjoyed this too much, but man, I said this

to you off air. I said, this trade felt like

it read to me really fast. This particular issue

is definitely a filler between giant story arcs.

One of the comfortable hugs that you get every

once in a while from the book. Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely, absolutely. It is so fun. So we get

Mikey and Sally talking. We get this new character.

Have we seen Lola Cruz before? She's the reporter.

I know she's the reporter, but I forget how,

like, oh, we saw her at the beginning of Mutant

Town. That's right. That's right. So we get a

page with her and Saki putting the radio there

so she can hear those. She can hear Mikey's podcast.

We get April and Baxter, and uh -oh. April's

walked in on something she shouldn't have because

Baxter's dealing with the null group. And the

slithery eggs. Yep. Yeah, that's never good.

is baxter stockman more of a villain in this

book than shredder ever was i mean yeah he's

so much more cold and calculating in this book

yeah and no fly yet either don't fly yet don't

fly see how it's gonna happen but it hasn't it

hasn't happened so we get uh april versus baxter

and then we get the slitheries coming out and

april running away and we get this agent whatever

her name is versus april and april gets beat

the hell up and holy crap and then uh mysteriously

not mysteriously but oh i thought they were no

they kind of do so the one thing i love in this

book is i've always loved it but the way that

they use color the way that ronda uses color

When we get to the page where it says page 20

on mine, but where the slithery monsters are

attacking April, you see the snick, snap, snap,

you see all this stuff, and then you see them

getting hit, and I'm seeing all these colors,

and I'm like, wait a minute. Oh, right, it was

Saki, but... At first, I somehow thought the

turtles were going to come to her rescue. Hello,

it's April O 'Neil. What usually happens in the

sewer is to April, the turtles come rescue her.

Obviously, this is Saki, but I saw the color

edits, and I was like, wait a minute. And then

I looked at it again, and I'm like, oh, right,

it's Saki. But yeah, Saki saves April. And then

we get to domestic life with Raph and Alopex.

And they're babies. They're not really babies,

folks. But, yeah, the weasels and pepperoni.

So much pepperoni in this trade. Oh, man, so

good. And I love alopex. Yeah, you're practically

dead now. What? You're so domestic. Don't say

that. I am not. Oh, man. Is it? I know Josh Pace

was in the in the suit. Who did the voice for

Rat? Was it Josh? He was the only one who did

the voice and the suit. Yeah, I need Josh Pace

to and whoever they want to get to voice Alopex.

I need them to I need I need somebody. I want

this page in like Raph and I. Oh, man, I can

hear his voice in my head. Like, damn, I yeah,

I can hear and just the emotion. And of course,

he says two different things here. He says to

her, I don't want us to be arch enemies, but

I don't want us to be married either. We're too

young for all that. You big dork. It's. Just

a lot of fun to think about. Lighten up! And

then April comes in all bloody. But I love that

scene. The two pages right there before April

comes in. I love that. That was so fun. And then

mutagenically contagious threat level one wanted

April O 'Neil. Are you kidding me? That's how

we end this first issue. Put a thing out on her.

Yup. What do you think of this one? This was

one of the fun love letters to us, the ones that

let us breathe and relax and be cheerful in how

Saki's helping. But then they set up, yes, the

next arc with the tragic things happening. So

in the trade here, we get the alternate cover

for that issue, which is art by Eastman and colors

by somebody whose name I cannot pronounce. But

it's Leta, Saki, and then the four turtles as

time and things are moving. It's really cool.

The main cover, art by Nelson Daniel for Baxter,

Raph, and Alopex on the next issue. And we start

with April being bandaged up. I'm sorry, that

was a stupid thing to say. I just, well, at least

you get to hang out here with us more often.

And he's talking to Mikey, and he's like, come

here. I'm like, what are they doing? And then,

oh, Raph is saying he wants to be at the rally.

That's what it is. Oh, that's right. Yeah, Little

Alita and the weasels are spying on them, because

that's another big thing for this issue, or this

trade, is the weasels, they're training like

they've learned quickly. Like, those weasels

are everywhere in this trade. Yeah, I consumed

all of these books before we recorded again.

These last two trades just blended right together,

but now I remember where we're at in the story

and what's going on. So yeah, they're going to

a rally for Sally Pride. They're going to stand

outside the Mutanimals and just have a peaceful

little protest, trying to get them to leave before

there's ever an election, and Raph wants to be

there to run security. And what I love about

Raph in this is that he, like you were saying

when we were talking about the press release,

that the Night Watcher might somehow, whatever,

but I always see that as something separate,

even though it is Raph. But he's dressed in,

like, black coat, obviously red bandana because

that's his color, but, like, when he's, like,

sneaking into Casey's place. Yeah. Didn't you

hear me knocking? Oh, hey, Raph. And just seeing

Raph and Casey is always fun, because you always

got to think about a giant turtle in a trench

coat. What the hell? Yeah. Jose Canseco, man.

Tell me. You didn't pay money for this. That's

right. This scene broke my heart as Casey steps

on it and puts his foot in his mouth to see the

two of them fighting. Yes. In the real way, in

the way that means something and kind of have

a falling out. Like, no, no, it's not supposed

to be you guys. Yeah, I know. It's not supposed

to be you and Raph, Casey. Come on now. Yeah.

And when they have the fight, look what happens.

Look where Raph is. Look where he goes to a rooftop.

Yep. And, of course, we see the weasels because

the weasels are everywhere. Lita and the weasels.

We got to find some. Oh, we got to find some

bad. They're trying to find some bad guys. That's

what they're doing. And this is the reporter

lady, Lola. And she's talking to the weasels

and them. And there really isn't supposed to

be humans in Mutant Town. And we see some other

mutants come up. That's where this whole thing

happens with the weasels, Leta, Lola, and these

other mutants. So that's, again, interesting

where it's a balance of the characters we know

and love and characters we are just now being

introduced to. Yeah, it was interesting to see

Shredder in the previous issue helping this reporter

get where she needed to be. That the family has

gotten so big and help is needed from... far

and wide to support his mission. And so it's

a, a noticing that I had there, but the, um,

the weasels and Lita stopped the attack on the

reporter from the other mutants. That's a human.

We got to get her. Yep. But they are, what is

this? Oh yeah. They're, uh, they're, they're

blow gunned. Yep. Captured. And the reporters

shot. Yep. I don't think the rally is going to

go well. No, I don't think the rally's going

to go well either. Oh, man. Yeah, so the reporter

gets shot. We go to the rally, and we see everybody

there. And Mikey's like, what about Casey? And

Raf's like, eh, forget him. And I guess we better

get this thing started. Stay sharp, Donnie. I

like that Donnie and Leo are the lookouts. I

think that's cool. Yeah, strategy and networking

knowledge. Yep. And then Jennica's over on the

other rooftop. That's awesome. And then Sally

says, well, my name's Sally Pride, and I'm guessing

you all know that thanks to Michelangelo's broadcast,

I used to be in the Mutanimals, and I was an

enforcer, but not anymore. Not after I saw what

they did to this place and all of you. And she

goes on to say, and they all cheer and everything

else, and she says, what else did she say here?

She says, Mutant Town is Hob's fault. The perimeter

wall is Hob's fault. Humans viewing us as monsters

and terrorists is Hob's fault. Sally, Sally.

And we see the viewpoint of Hob and the other

Mutanimals here. And I wish we could be at the

rally. Sally Pratt is pretty cool. Maybe the

next one, Pop just looks at them like, you morons.

And we see more of how she's talking about how

she's going to help them get rid of him and everything

else. And wait a minute. That is Raph. Okay.

Raph goes to stop a sniper. Yep. Which is that

who I think that it can't be who I think it is.

Is it? It is not Leatherhead. OK, good. I was

going to say he's an alligator. This means he's

a crocodile. Crocodile. After a while, crocodile.

Yeah, absolutely. No, I should have. No, just

I said that. But yeah, Raph goes to stop him.

Leo, come in, Leo. We got a sniper. I just took

him out, but might be more. Yeah, it's a whole

coordinated attack with diversion after diversion.

Leo spots Shredder. Yep. Saki. Saki, yep, yep,

yep. And all hell breaks loose, literally. There's

guns ablaze in and weapons being like, ooh, that's

a nice shot. uh the the lizard coming at donnie

and donnie just throws his bo staff at him that's

cool oh what wonderful momentum in that absolutely

yeah this again this wow yeah so as we get through

all of this we see jennica saying the utensils

aren't gonna wait for us to decide leo we'll

be okay master I just don't know if I've trained

you well enough yet. All right. Are you all ready

to put your training to good use? And all of

the other mutants that are with the turtles say,

heck, yeah. Yeah, man. Yeah, let's go. All right,

everyone. Remember your training. Dun, dun, dun.

What a page. Oh, man. Cool. I'm looking at all

these. There's a bonobo, monkey, proboscis. A

proboscis monkey, not a bonobo. Elephants and

ants and bears. Oh, my. Elephants, ants, and

bears. Oh, my. Oh, yeah. And then there's man...

What's Dr. Langstrom doing in here? This isn't

a DC book. Wait a minute. But yeah, no, that's

how this issue ends. And I'm just like, oh, my.

This is why I love reading and trade. As cool

as it would have been to read this in single

issue to have to have the excitement of waiting

for the next issue for the next month. It's like,

oh, God, what's next? Oh, right. I can just turn

the page and find out. You know, you do get that

lovely wrap up at the end of a trade to there.

They're at least ending an arc. Yeah. Man, I

have to. I don't pay close enough attention while

I'm reading the individual issues to realize

how irritated I am that they're over. Well, they're

not over yet. Yeah, well, I get to the end of

the issue and I go, all right, that was cool.

What covers do I still need to get? I'm so over

buying multiple covers, but if it's cool or if

I know the artist, I will buy it. That's all

it. Speaking of a cool cover, the art is done

by Jody for the next issue, and it's Sally with

the other Mutanimals, and it's Old Hob with the...

Wait, is it... No, it's... Oh, I got it backwards.

It's Old Hob with the Mutanimals targeting Sally

and the Turtles with Saki... Oh, man, that cover

is amazing. This is a good cover. Yeah, it's

a very good cover. Old Hob's... face on that

is like this look of reluctance or sorry, regret.

It's really interesting since it was obviously

his decision that coordinated the attack on Sally.

At least we're led to believe that. Yeah, we're

led to believe that. Now I don't remember. We'll

find out. Getting inside this issue. It's April

and Alopex, and April is recovering still, and

Lola comes in because Lola is shot. And I got

you. What's your name? What happened, Lola? The

kids. Mutant animals took them. And then we get

back to the battle, and we see how the battle's

going. Hector and Master Mikey, deadly duo. Keep

the bad guys off balance. Keep your eyes on your

enemy, Sheena. Wanda, keep your feet firm and

strike hard. Strike hard and fade away without

a trace. So we see the battle. We see, I love

seeing Sally and Leo back to bath. Hey, your

students ain't bad. I love that. And then the

wife joins in because Alopex comes down off the

roof. Raph! Some rally you got going on. Hey,

babe, what's up? What's wrong? The kids, Lita

and the weasels, they got taken by the mutanimals,

which then leads Raph to do Raph stuff and all

that. Yeah, they're pushing the assault, which

is not usually the turtle way. No, it's not.

But that's a Raph way. That's definitely a Raph

way. It's not usually the main turtle way, but

it's the Raph way. And hey, we get the I think

the first appearance in a while. I mean, we've

kind of seen them in the background, but Herman

and Pete. Oh, Pete's like, oh, and Hobbs like,

oh, no, I'm out of here. Oh, that's right. Yeah.

So, yeah, Ray and old Hobb have a confrontation

because Ray has noticed. Old Hobb getting soft

or his indecision, his. completely being out

of his depth trying to organize anything and

he took it upon himself to eliminate sally with

the snipers so it was man ray that did it not

hobb which wow that cover is really misleading

which is good because you don't want the cover

to spoil the issue you want the assumption to

be that it was hobb that yeah that's good Yeah,

so Hobb and Ray go at it, and then after, what

does Ray say here? He says, they go at it, they

go at it. Ray says, Hobb, you know I care deeply

about Sally, but she betrayed us, and if she

and her followers succeed, we'll be treated as

criminals and fugitives. We'll lose everything

and probably even our lives. And then you just

see Hobb's face, and this is that. look of sorrow,

defeat, and everything. And Rey's like, you know

I'm right, Hob. And the wizards are like, da

-da! So he lets them... Oh, he and Rey are gonna

stand down, Rey. Like, oh man, two guns. Get

the kids loose. Wow. The fight's going on upstairs.

Yep. Crazy. This is why I love this. The way

that... I don't know how people don't like this.

You'd sit off air, and we've talked about it

before, how everybody kind of went against this

section, this now new status quo of Sophie being

the... This is good, right? This is amazing.

This is taking these characters to another level.

I don't see how people can't. Maybe they haven't

read what we've read. Maybe they haven't read

all of it. I don't think a lot of people got

this far. Yeah. Or they jumped off because even,

like, there's another, there's a new female turtle.

Oh, man, I'm out. Uh -huh. Yep. Yep. Oh, what,

she's gay, too? Oh, man, no. Woke. And then they

go out, and then I don't take them seriously

anymore, those people. That's ridiculous as hell.

In any case, I won't tell you again. This is

reality, man. These are great characters, and

this is what it looks like. Yep, absolutely.

And so much character depth, development, and

everything. Yes, the fighting is amazing. Yes,

it's great to see action shots of Donnie throwing

his staff, like I mentioned earlier. But it's

these emotional moments that make this book so

goddamn good. Yep. And we get to Old Hob saying,

in any case, I won't tell you again. Set the

weasels free. And right next to Man Ray, you

heard him. It's interesting to ponder who sees

him, who hears him, how much is he actually,

like right in the next page, he said set the

children free and he's putting his hand on Ray.

Does Hobbes see that? Why is Hobbes not flipping

out? I don't know. He's not actually, really.

Yeah, I think Shredder is only showing himself

somehow. He's only showing himself to who he

wants to see him. And I don't think, like, because

Hobbes is looking right at Man Ray. And Man Ray

has, like, got this. It's not a stoner look,

but he's got this like stunned look in his eye

because essentially Saki is right behind him

and right next to him. And he looks to his right

to see Saki. And that's just so cool. So we get

back to the rally. Stay together, people. And

we got Raph pulling Jay along because Raph and

Jay are off and running. And Mona knocks over

a bookcase. Everybody's going rampant and wild

and everything else. This is not what I expected,

says Leo. Yeah, there's no guards or anything

in here, says Jennica. It's all a bit destructive

and looks more like a riot looty kind of thing

a little bit. Sally says, he's in over his head.

Simple as that. We're taking advantage of it.

Where are you, you flea biter? Raph. I'm coming

for you where are you that's that's you as a

parent can really you know I'm sure if something

happened to either one of your kids the way that

the stuff has been going on with the weasels

that you would be in the same angry wrath mode

damn it where are you who the hell and It's Saki.

So, yes, Hob does see him. He definitely sees

him now. Yeah, he sees him now. I don't know

if he saw him earlier, but he sees him now. And

I forget what the squid guy's name is, but the

squid guy tries to go up against Saki. That doesn't

work. Who are you? Saki just knocks the gun out

of his hand, and Saki releases the weasels. Lita

and the weasels. I didn't do this, which, again,

is interesting because we have a flip. So we

learn that it was Man Ray that did this, that

Man Ray took the weasels and caged them up. But

everybody assumes because everybody and some

of the assumptions in the past have been correct

about Hob. Some of them have. This one is not.

And he's sitting there telling them, look. I

did not do this. Who are you talking to, Fleabag?

He's not made a job of telling people that he's

not been doing this. He hasn't had an opportunity

to tell people that he hasn't done it yet. Because

they're not listening. And no one's going to

believe him. Yep. So Saki disappears as the weasels

and Lita are free. And then, like I said, Raph

says, who are you talking to, Fleabiter? and

it's Raph and Hob, but before that can happen,

we get little Lita going up to Raph, and I was

there. It was a ghost guy. He, this is the last

time you and your goons mess with these kids.

It stops now. You idiot, I didn't order them

to capture. Order their capture? It was Ray.

He was going over my head the whole time, and

I missed it. Bit off more than you could chew,

huh? And payback's on its way. You really had

no clue what I was trying to do here, did you?

I don't care. You can't just do that to people,

man. You had a hand in all of this, too. You

helped make Mutant Town just as much as the others

did. So this is Raph and Hob going back and forth.

Hob says, but go on. Hit me if you think it'll

make you feel better. And I really, I was hoping,

I was hoping, hoping that Raph would just walk

away. But you, like, oh my God. This panel, if

this panel doesn't tell you everything about

Raphael, the dude has a single tear coming down

his face. And you can tell on his face, he doesn't

know what he's going to do until he does it.

And of course, he hits him. I was hoping he wasn't

going to hit him. Only because it would have

shown more growth out of him. But I understand

why Raph has such a rage for Hob. Yeah, it's

amazing how far that story has come. You know,

Hob kidnapping Raph as a pre -turtle. pre -mutant

and the abusive relationship stuff that happened

back then. And now, yeah, man, that's like a

really long, we've been with them a long time.

So we have, do you see, I did not notice this,

but it's, I don't know. I, I try to notice everything.

I noticed it now, but I didn't notice it when

I read it, but where hub is saying in the panel,

you make me sick. We actually see blood. Yep.

Coming off of Rath, wow. And he goes on to say,

all you turtles. I thought the fight flipped,

but no, Rath just headbutts him in the face,

pounces on him, smashes his head in. He's like,

this is getting heavy. Yep. Until Hobb tases

him. Yep, until Hobb tases him, absolutely. Hobb's

the taser, holy crap. And he picks up the gun,

faces the gun at Rath. We're both mutants. We're

in this together. Why can't you ever get that?

And we see the gun and we see the kids just huddling

behind the gun. And... Da -da -no! Gah, Zana!

These weasels, you know, they're stabbing people

in the back. In this way, they're... Being wild

and crazy. They have this loyalty to Hobb that

they always keep trying to go back to him. They

do have the loyalty to Hobb, but they also have

the loyalty to Raph. And holy crap, look, she

basically swept the leg. She swept the leg. Oh,

man. So Hobb is down. He's bleeding. He's mad,

obviously. And Jay comes in. There he is. There's

Hobb. Yep, everybody shows up, all the mutants,

and Raph says, like I said, payback. Damn. And

that scene felt like the scene from Iron Man

where he rips the bad guy through the wall, throws

him in front of the people from the village and

says, all right, he's all yours, and he flies

away. Flies away, yep. Absolutely. Oh, wow. At

the end of this issue, I have a preview of Transformers

King Grimlock, and the art looks fantastic. I'm

not even sure if that ever came out. It did.

Okay. We've got to go back and check. I forgot

about King Grimlock. There's a lot of the Transformers

stuff from IDW that we did cover, but there's

a few things that we missed that we have to go

back and cover. So that issue ends with an art

by Eastman. So it's Raph and Old Hob. Man, Eastman

Old Hob looks like the Big Bad Wolf with an eyepatch.

I'll see that cover. They put my alternate covers

in the beginning. In the beginning? Yeah, it's

the one where he's facing him, and it's where

they're both facing the camera. I don't know

if you've seen them yet, but... Kevin has been

inking Sophie's pencils for covers, and they

look incredible. Yeah, I'm not sure if I have

or not yet. They're incredible looking. Yep.

So the next issue starts where the last one left

off. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. What? Yeah, they're beating

the issue begins with all of the. Yeah, they're

beating the living snot out of the tar out of

them with pipes and bats. And then the weasels

say no more. No hurt data. No more. Xana, hey,

he's... Oh! Damn it! And he's running. Oh! And

this is... This is one of the... This is why

I like this book so much. I mean, I love this

book so much anyway, but there's so much Raph

in this trade that, damn it, running after him,

and then the weasels are looking on, and Mona's

like, Mona, I got this. Get out of here. No way.

You're going to get hurt. And Hob throws down

a couple of bookcases. Or you'll just slow me

down. Once we've secured the base, and so we

see Leo and Sally as Hob's running past them

and everybody, and Raph is chasing along that

page. It's like Benny Hill music now. Uh -huh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, wait, was that Hob? Raph?

I got this. Go make sure Ray and the other goons

don't get away. Out of the way, out of the way.

So Mona is, Mona, wait up. So now Mikey's in

the chase. So Mikey, Mona, and Raph are chasing

after Hob, and Hob gets to a fire extinguisher.

Holy crap. And he extinguishes Raph. Then hits

him with it. Yeah, then hits him with it. And

then Mona comes in with the tail whip. And she

sends him down. You took every... So we finally

see more of Mona's emotions. And, sir, I'm here.

Herman, get this. Get that. Blah, blah, blah.

Aye, aye, sir. And Herman's just following orders

like he usually does. We see Raph kind of hiding.

Herman's going all military. On my way over.

Moda, use your tail. And she does. Mikey throws

the thing. Sorry, Herman. More Raph, more Hobb

fighting. Oh, I thought Raph said something about,

who's on the other line of that thing? And we

find, wow, that's where, okay. That's where the

blood on Raph comes from, because Hobbes scratches

the shit out of him. Yep. This page here, I'm

very surprised Nickelodeon approved this. I am

and I'm not. Because again, as I said last week

and as I said tonight, this is for us. This is

for adults. This is not for kids. It has never

been for kids. And it's appropriate for the story

in this moment. Right. Well, I know a number

of my local comic stores that put Ninja Turtles

on the kids' shelf. It shouldn't. Not this book.

Definitely not. Raph stabs old Hob in his right

shoulder with his scythe, the weapons that rarely

ever touch flesh. And not only does he stab him

with it, he pushes it all the way in and then

sinks it into the wall so he's not going anywhere.

It's just the most brutal use of that I think

I've seen in any piece of media. Yeah, absolutely.

And Mikey finally catches it. Whoa, Raph, let's

just take a breather, okay? Yeah. Now you've

got to figure out what to do with me. Mikey,

oh, man, that's a good one. So after Hobbs says

that where Mikey and Raph are looking at him,

so they're essentially looking at us. Mikey is

basically looking over at Raph, but Mikey's face

is just kind of determined where Raph's just

kind of like angry, sad. That's awesome. So Sally

apologizes to Man Ray and we get Leo. Is she,

though? Well, I mean, she is in that moment,

but like, yeah, I don't know if she knows what

happened yet. Yeah, I don't think she knows what

happened, but she's apologizing for the other.

So Leo calls to Raph on the walkie -talkie and

we get, well, Jenica, let's go find him and Mikey.

If Hobb did anything to them and Mona, she was

with them too, Donnie says. Hey, we got him.

And damn, just, oh, this book. And of course,

who's the one character out of this whole? Hey,

look who I found rummaging around. The one character

that can lighten this whole thing. Pete! Hi!

Hi, Pete! Hi, Pete! Sally hugs Pete. The weasels

say, bird? Pete's the only innocent character

in this whole thing. Absolutely, yeah, because

he's too stupid to be anything else. Oblivious

to everything. Yep. Yep, yep, yep. You guys can

sit this one out then. But we need some kind

of temporary solution. There should still be

cages. Hob was using for the baby mutants. So

they're talking about what they're going to do

with Hob and Hob and Ray. And they basically

have them both locked up and they use Pete as

the guard. I don't know why you would do that,

but OK. And this is where we get. Sally, how

could you have fired upon us? How could you order

them to kill me? So she knows. Yep, she knows

now. Knows now. And Man Ray says, Sally, I still

care for you, but this is wartime. Things are

different. It's only wartime because you made

it wartime, you and Hob. You kept children in

cages, Ray, after being kept in one yourself.

Did you forget what that was like? And now you

have me in a cage. So we have this whole back

and forth. And she calls him their biggest threat.

And you betrayed the mutanimals, Sally. And now

you're on the verge of being... In charge of

Mutant Town, and I know how your people would

treat us. I had to do something. And she says,

they were supposed to be my people. They were

supposed to be our people. So it's a nice thing

here. Again, action and emotional moments all

at the same time, which has always been this

book's strength. One of my issues with... How

they're handling Rey in this being in the Mutanimals.

They're like, yes, Rey Filet, Man Rey, whoever

you want to, however you would like to refer

him, was a Mutanimal. But he was also very noble

and concerned for the environment. And he was

obviously a good guy in the original series.

And it hurts to see him being such a stringent

way to go villain. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe

I don't remember Ray Fillet that much. He was

big in the Archie comics. Yeah, see, I never

read those. So this is my only, outside of the

new Mutant Mayhem movie that came out, this is

my only other experience with the character,

even though he's not called Ray Fillet in here.

He's called Man Ray. But I still like him. I

still think he's a cool character. Yeah, totally.

Yeah, believable. And it's I guess it's not a

criticism for their choices. I just feel bad

that that version of Ray didn't get hasn't had

an opportunity to shine in here, I think, because

I think we need the environmental message in

the book as well. But this Ray is an interesting

character to see, of course, how he. Backstabbed

so many people. Yeah, absolutely. In the drive

to save mutants. Yeah. And then we get Hob. Yeah,

exactly. And then we get Leo and Raph with Hob.

And Raph is like, tell us who was on the other

line of that walkie talkie. Come on, spit it

out. Raph, let's go. This isn't our job. I don't

know what my job is anymore. And this is I think

this is where the book. Yes, because, yep. So

this is where this issue ends, because they leave.

Leo turns the lights out, but he leaves the door.

So, wow. Hob is caged, but the door to where

he's caged is left open. And look who runs in.

There's my girls, blah, blah. And he tricks the

weasels into letting him out. He's like, we can

be a real family, and that's how this issue ends.

This book, man, just... And those poor, man,

it's like Stockholm Syndrome with those weasels.

Yeah, the weasels. How Hobbes manipulated them.

And it's not their fault, they're kids. I mean,

they only know what they've been... And that's

the thing with the weasels, I mean, Leta has

always been... loyal to the turtles. She's never

been on Hob's side. But the weasels have been

kind of both sides, because they started out

with Hob, and then they went to the turtles,

and now they're going back and forth between

the two of them. And for anyone that's listening

to us here tonight, I don't know. I don't look

at these often, but sometimes I go back and see

if we have any new reviews on iTunes, which,

yes, folks, iTunes is still a thing. I don't

use it much anymore, but when I do check it,

I usually am just checking to see if anyone's

left new reviews. And I saw one of the older

reviews for the pull bag and they're like, yeah,

they shouldn't really go. That's the format we

go. We do our best to go panel by panel and page

by page and story point by story point because

we want it. I want it to be as in -depth as we

possibly can be. And it gives us a chance to,

number one, remember it, but also, number two,

have these discussion points. and yeah so so

the next issue starts with i mean if anything

you know this is what you listen to after you've

read it and we help you that's yep if you missed

anything yep i'm the guy to bring up the esoteric

old school comic Ninja Turtle knowledge. Absolutely.

Well, you know it. I mean, I know the cartoon

stuff. I don't know the... And you know the cartoon

stuff better than I do, Francis, for sure. So

apparently Hob has had all these supplies and

he's just had them there. And it's ice cream

and snacks and things and whatever. They're going

to distribute it all to Mutant Town. You get

an ice cream and you get an ice cream and you

get an ice cream. No, it's good what they're

doing because they find Hobbes' thing. What about

me, Peacekeeper Pete? I'd be the best. God, Pete.

And we get Sally looking on at Raph and Alopex

and Raph says, I'll do it. And Leo looks at it

like, really? Raph, you sure? This will be a

big job. bro, you'd be so good at that. And I

haven't changed my Facebook cover photo in a

while, but damn, this close -up of Raph with

the bandage on his face might just be my new

one, because damn, that's a good shot of Raph.

The art from this run, Sophie giving her right

hand a little bit of a rest, has been really

good. Yeah, absolutely. And, yeah, the art's

amazing. The art's always amazing. I have never

had a real major complaint about any of the team

at DR. Some styles I may not like as others,

but overall it's always been good. And Raph is

like, no, I ain't sure, but I think it's the

right thing to do. Maybe it'll help me atone

for some of the screw -ups I've made around here.

I'm still kind of responsible for this place,

and maybe I can... Get, like, some kind of redemption,

you know? And we see Raph and Sally having a

little handshake there. And then we see these

weasels just running around. Oh, I get it. So

this is, again, flipping sides of the story.

This is, like, and this is where we then get

to the... the weasels and an old hob, and they're

going to eventually let him out. The next page

is Leo, Donnie, and Jennica having ice cream.

Raph. And look how much pepperoni misses her

dad. So we get pepperoni, and Leo says, None

of us are ready for that kind of role, Raph included.

Don't tell him that, Jennica says, because Raph

be ready. So we now turn this entire rest of

this issue sort of into a Halloween issue because

everybody's dressing up to go trick -or -treating.

It doesn't look like they can find the weasels.

Yeah, they can't find the weasels because the

weasels are with Hob. Yep. And the weasels are

going to let him out. And the weasels do let

him out. Which then sends Raph into another tizzy.

Leo's like, fight another day, Raph. We can't

just let him go. Stand down, Splinter Clan. No

way, Leo. I'm in charge here. Even Alopex is

like, Raph, I swore to protect this place. Oh,

he shoots his arm. He doesn't shoot. He shoots.

Hob shoots at Raph's arm, but it hits it. No,

it does hit. Damn. There's more blood in this

book than there usually is lately. Not a complaint.

It's not a good thing either. Oh, he had shoulder

armor and it took it off. Yeah, it took it off

because it went right through it. Because it's

a laser gun. It's not a bullet. That's a laser.

That's a Dimension X weapon. It's a Triceraton

gun, yeah. Yeah, it's a Triceraton gun. Yep.

So Raph gets shot in the shoulder and old Hob

escapes through the sewers and he sees a door

and he. Oh, this is. Oh, right. OK, so he does

his little handprint and hey, look, it's Lindsay.

Yeah. She's been kept in this hole the whole

time. Probably. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So apparently

they're looking at islands and getaways and vacations

and everything else. And, yeah. But first, we

need some new recruits. And I know three little

weasels who would be perfect. Oh, my God. Oh,

man. Yep. Why, Hob? Why? Because Hob is Hob,

and Hob's going to Hob when Hob wants to Hobnob.

I don't know. This book, man. Every, and this

is, again, reading it in trade, it's got so many

different, like, you can read single issues and

that's great, but the way to read this, folks,

is in trade because it's got so many different

aspects of it all at once. And the suspense is

going to kill us, but it's the explosions that

are going to kill them. So the next issue has

Leo. Yeah, it has Leo on the cover with the Splinter.

I assume that's the Splinter Queen. Yeah. It

looks like a piece of cheese. Well, Splinter

was a rat, so there we go. And we start with

Leo and Raph in the greenhouse. The way that

this issue started and felt, again, for me, was

like it was another breather. Yeah. And I think

maybe, I think that contributed to how it felt

like a quicker read than the previous trade for

you was the, that first trade was a lot of character

development and not a lot of action, a little

bit of action, but not a lot. And then in this

one, we got the breather episode, whole bunch

of action. And then this other little breather

episode. Yeah. Yeah. This one, this trade, these

issues, one 18 to one 23. It's like, Action breather,

action breather, action breather. And again,

I will say this to anyone, new or old to comics,

that's the way you want comics to have that balance.

You want stories to have that balance. Because

you can't get any major anything out of constant

action. But and again, it's character moments

like Leo and Raph or Donnie and Mikey or Donnie

and Leo or Raph and Mikey. Like they split it

up all the time in this book. And then the wife

shows up. Literally, she says, sorry, Leo, I

need my man. Like, wow. Uh huh. There you go.

And this, I don't know, remember last trade we

saw Leo on a rooftop? Mm -hmm. Again, I want

to say Volume 3 and Volume 4 are the flip sides

of the same story. We saw part of the story in

Volume 3. We're seeing the other side of it here

in Volume 4. And I want to say this whole section

with Leo, the Leonardo parts where he's out on

the rooftop now and things like that. I want

to say that's where that rooftop shot we saw

in the last trade, this is where that starts.

So after Alopex takes Raph away from Leo, Leo

is just kind of like going into the dojo and

going into seeing all the weapons and the scroll

and he lights a candle and he's sitting there

meditating and he goes. What I love is he goes

and starts walking through the rest of the compound.

Ha, ha, ha. Knock it off. Pepperoni. Okay, Sean

Lee. I got to find that guy. We got to get him

on the show. Sean Lee is the letterer guy. Look

at those letters. Where Raph is saying pepperoni.

It's all red and the O is a pizza. Sean, you

genius. But it's Leo looking in on these various

scenes like he's now looking in on Jay, Mikey

and and Mona. He's looking in on Donnie. Where,

hey, that's a great idea, Harold. I wonder what

great idea from Harold and Fugitoid we're going

to see in the future. You know, that's a plan

right there as Leo is walking by where Donnie

said, that's a great idea here. You know that's

a plant for something. That's a total plot point.

There's a seed there. Yep. And then we see, okay,

Sheena, talk to you soon. Be safe, babe. We see

Jennica, Lita, and the other band members as

Leo walks and jumps out the window and goes to

the rooftop and does his turtle thing and all

that. I love the night air. Yeah, I think Leo's

just feeling like he doesn't. have a place to

belong. He doesn't have a thing. I think that's

because with Splinter gone, what's Leo? Leo has

to step up to be Splinter. Not to be Splinter

or replace Splinter, but he has to be their leader.

Because Leo was a leader before Splinter, before

all of that and everything else. And he's teaching

everybody. He's teaching all the other Turtles,

which in turn makes all the other Turtles. Look

at Raph. Look at Raphael in these two trades.

He's had more character development in these

10 or 12 issues than real. I mean, not ever before.

And Raph's development throughout the entire

series has been amazing. But just in these two

trades alone. how far Raph has come. And I think,

like you're saying, Leo doesn't have a person,

he doesn't have a this, he doesn't have a that,

he doesn't have something to do. What he's doing

is being by himself, being self -reflective,

being out in the night air that he loves. Yeah,

there's that twinge of regret, and I think by

stepping up into the leader role, it's not cool

for the leader to get in with the troops and

to be social or funny or to show that other side

like that it doesn't work in that way and i think

you know leo's still at this point in the book

a teenager not ready to be the father figure

um very reluctant and more than any of that i

think he's missing what his dad provided for

him which is like that the guidance and the the

rock Absolutely. And as he's doing his self -reflection

sitting on the roof with the night air, huh,

what's all this? Sheena and Casey? Leo? Hey,

Casey, good to see you. You here to bust us or

something? No, I'm not. Raph is the constable,

not me. Yes, Raph is definitely the constable.

And yeah, now that I know what's coming, that

seems like his gateway drug to being the Night

Watcher. Yep, pretty much. The Splinter Clan

isn't a police force or anything like that, or

anything. I like to think of us as more of a

neighborhood watcher. It's cool, man. Just messing

with you. Hi, Sensei. Please don't tell Jenny

about this, okay? Tell her about what? I don't

even know what you guys are doing. Come on inside

and see for yourself then. And this is where

we get something for Leo. Fight Club! One rule

about Fight Club is nobody talks about Fight

Club. Yeah, nobody's going to talk about it.

But as the characters approach Leo, the guardian

of the club, or not the guardian, what do you

call it? The person who runs this club. Yeah.

approaches them and they're going back and forth

about hey leo you should jump in here you should

get in he's like no no no oh come on okay okay

no but that's i jumped ahead but no no absolutely

there to fight yeah casey was there to fight

that's what's going yeah that's what's going

on and it ends up being doesn't it end up being

case no so it's casey versus this other mutant

And I'm rather terror who looks like a crab of

some sort. Yep. And so then they fight and we

get Leo and Sheena talking to the background.

And Casey defeats him. Casey Jones still undefeated.

Hey, good match. So again, character development,

everything else. Casey's come a long way, just

like every other character has. And like good

sportsmanship, like it's not fight to the death

and I don't give a shit about anybody. You know,

he picks the guy up, he dusts him off kind of

thing like, hey, this is a good match. So, you

know, whatever, whatever. That was great, Casey.

Good job. We were the characters as they're conversing.

We're given the impression that this really is

a safe, happy place to beat the snot out of each

other. that they make sure that it is in good

fun and in good nature. So it's interesting.

I think that's probably the only thing that would

have convinced Leo to do it, because Fight Club

doesn't feel like a Leonardo thing to me. He's

more like, no, no, martial arts, only when you

need to, only when it's life or death. But no,

he gets in the ring. Well, he gets in the ring,

provided one thing. All right, then, but I don't

want any money. Because that's the other part

of this fight club is they're fighting for a

cash prize. And the announcer girl is, now we

got a new fighter, the Turtle Terminator. Oh,

if that isn't a reference to Mikey. Didn't he

call himself the Terminator Turtle at some point?

I wonder what their wrestling names were on the

Stump Asteroid in the Archie book. So, okay,

we know that Raph is the Night Watcher. We've

known that for a while. And I need to do this,

and I need to figure this out. But I think in

the 2003 series, the animated series, I think

Mikey does go out on his own and he does call

himself something like the Turtle Terminator

because he dresses up completely different. Like

he puts on a whole bunch of stuff and he does

a whole bunch of stuff. So I think it might be

referencing that, but I could be wrong. Versus

Carmen the Conqueror. And fight. Carmen just

punches Leo because he's not going to hit it.

Leo's not going to hit a girl. But come on, Leo,

show her what you got. Don't you dare go easy

on her. All right. And we see them fight, fight,

fight. And so, I mean, Leo, the winner is the

Turtle Terminator. Karma the Conqueror is down,

but not. But. We still love her. And you know

what we get here, though, that the page, the

last page winner is Turtle Terminator up in the

top there. You get some of who is the artist

on this? I should know this now. Nishijima. Yeah.

Is doing some of the Sophie thing with the colorful

behind him. He's thinking about Splinter and

what they used to have and the stress he had

as the. the dark leo with shredder and even remembering

his past life as a human uh and he's this is

how he's getting his negativity out his emotions

out so this is what i said earlier like we were

saying earlier about how leo feels like he doesn't

have a place he's found his place now you're

totally right yeah no exactly well as soon as

he said yeah i'll do it but i don't want any

money I knew as soon as he says to Carmen, my

name's Leonardo. If you let me, I'll teach you

those moves too. He's going to go to this fight

club and just recruit a bunch of new ninjas.

Okay, I'm in. See you on Monday. We go back outside.

Oh man, Leo, that was sick. I knew Carmen didn't

stand a chance. You sure you don't want us to

walk you back to the dojo, Sheena? And she's

like, I'll be okay. I'm not helpless. You know,

I got some training under my belt, thanks to

you. Oh boy, this is a setup if I ever saw any.

Stay safe, Sheena. Uh -huh. Uh -huh. And I love,

again, any time Casey gets... moments with the

turtles one -on -one i absolutely love it so

leo says stay safe sheena and then uh so how's

raf doing besides him being a cop now he's doing

well what happened with you two anyway yeah you

know raf's got a life now he's got a girl the

dojo not much time left for me it's just how

it goes And I know this all went down right after

Splinter passed, plus my own dad and the Mutant

Gen Bomb pretty much ended the Purple Dragons

and left me out in my ass. I don't fault Raph,

but I don't know, man. It's just all kaboosh,

you know? Yeah, I understand. And Casey says,

what about you, though? Where is the rest of

the clan? Father's death mostly, but also a bunch

of other stuff. And Leo says, I suppose my dad...

Oh, so I have to... So he says, everyone else

seems to have found their own friends, their

own social groups, and all of that except me.

I suppose my dad filled that role for me, so

maybe that's why I never ventured out into the

world the way my brothers did. I keep thinking

of a thing Donnie told me one time. You know,

this guy, Maslow, the famous psychologist. No.

Of course, Casey doesn't know him. So he goes

on to talk about all that. And Casey still doesn't

get it. And this whole thing is interesting to

me that Leo right here is about to kind of fill

the role that Raphael had with Casey. As they're

walking back to wherever they're headed. They

see two mutants roughing up a capybara mutant.

And, hey, guys, move along. And Leo says, no,

I don't think so. And then Casey and Leo look

at each other like, oh, yeah, this is going to

be fun. Yeah, just like old times. Old times.

Shall we? And look, look what a gungala, which

is what 2003 Casey says in the animated series.

Oh, God. IDW just touching every section of the

franchise. Absolutely love it. So Casey and Leo.

Oh, and we. Oh, I didn't know. Wait a minute.

When did he have that? Wait a minute. Hold on.

Has he had that the whole time? Hockey stick.

Yeah, he's had. Right. It's right there. It's

in the club bag. Yeah, he's doing well. What

happened with you two anyway? Oh. Because we

get too... Now that's how comics should be done,

folks. If you're going to reference something,

do it this way. Yes, he has the hockey stick

and he does the goongala, but what does he do

after the goongala? Four! Like, oh! Oh, man.

I love that. That's so good. And then Leo interrogates

the other mutant. I just love this so much. And,

you know, like, see you around, Casey. See you

around, Leo. Leo comes home and he sees every,

again, we see this. We see his. So before, when

he was walking through the dojo, we saw everybody

else's point of view as he passed them by. Whereas

now we. He was regretful about it. Right. Whereas

now we, as the reader. are looking as if we are

the character of Leonardo, and we are looking

as he is looking in on Jennica and Sheena, Mikey

and... Dude, look. It's Michelangelo and Donatello

playing video games. I feel like, and I know

I say this, I've said this for every episode

for the last 11 years, 10 years, whatever it

is, but... Fight? Fight. Kitchen? Kitchen. Or,

you know, nice night. Pizza dude's got 30 seconds.

2012 is the B team. Yep, the B team. Yep, yep,

yep. Man, like every time I see Mikey and Donnie

together, I think of all the Mikey and Donnie

moments that I know and love. We see Leo looking

in on Ralph and Alopex. And ha ha, no fair. And

it's the weasels and they're doing some shady

stuff. Hey, what are you kids still doing up

so late? Mr. Leo. And I love this. I love that

the weasels call him Mr. Not Master. That's cool.

I'm going to get out of my gear, but then it's

time for bed. All right. Five minutes. Promise.

Okay. Promise. As they wheel the wheel away.

Hey there, kids. Don't be scared. Watch out,

mister. I'm a ninja master, says Lita. Oof. And...

Damn. And he takes him. Uh -huh. I'm not gonna

hurt you guys, okay? Oh, it's Hob! Yep. Right,

okay. Alright, so it's Hob. At first I thought

it was gonna be Saki. But yeah, Hob takes the

weasels and leaves Leta behind, and we get a

to -be -continued, and that's how this trade,

that's how issue 123 ends. Holy crap. Yeah, but

124, it's not in my little pile here. Well, 124

is not in this trade. I'm glad. I thought it

was for a time. I thought the new thing started

at 125, but... No, the volume 5 starts at...

On 24. Yeah, it's the trouble I have going through

the single issues, everybody. It's keeping them

in order and organizing them and not making that

annoying de -bagging sound of my sticky bags.

Well, if you would just buy the trades after

the fact. I see. I don't have to buy them right

away because I already read the story. I just

have to wait a really long time until I find

them for five bucks a trade at the conventions.

So Volume 5, we're not getting into Volume 5

now, but Volume 5 has numbers 124 to 130, which

means after Volume 5, we've got 20 issues until

the end, or technically 19 until the final issue

of 150, but wow. Yeah, Volume 4, what do you

think? Another good trade. This one's exciting,

and the breather issues are delightful. I agree.

100%. I completely agree. Yeah. This book is

everything. It's still the best turtle arc story

thing that's ever been. Yeah. Absolutely. You

know, have respect from where it came from from

40 years ago and all that, which they have had,

but I said it before, I'll say it again. If you've

ever been a TMNT fan, you need to check this

out. Everything has fit a role. The original

comic did what it was supposed to do. It was

dark and gritty, and it brought a lot of artists

up from being unknown into the world of comics.

That was the point of it after so many issues.

And it revitalized comics and it revitalized

the indie market and the anthropomorphic animal

comic world. It gave us Usagi Yojimbo and it

brought people back to the comic shops. Super

important book. The cartoon did what it did,

bringing it into the real world. The Archie comic

had its role. For kids, bringing them into the

world of comics. I mean, that was my gateway

drug into comics. Everything's done its job,

and everything's done its job really well, the

turtles' properties. But this is, it's the best

comic version. This is why I love comics. This

series, there are plenty of other series that

I love. And there are plenty of stories that

I've read in the last 11 years of this podcast

that I absolutely love. But this one, I think,

has affected me emotionally the most. Because

every moment, from Goongala to 4, you've got

two crazy Casey references in just literally

four panels. two different pages or whatever,

you know, and Casey from where Casey started

back in volume one or volume two or whatever.

The fact that the, the mutagen bomb basically

got rid of the purple dragons. Like that's done

now. Casey's kind of on his own doing his own

thing. And he's got his, his golf bag full of

tricks and everything else. That's again, everything.

It's like that volume one subtitle for the trade,

change is constant. Yep. It is just amazing.

I love this stuff. I just love it. All right.

I'm just sitting, I'm basking in the afterglow

of everything. It's coming with all the new books

that we read about at the beginning with the

press release. having just been to that convention

where it's a reunion of these guys, uh, Dan Berger,

who hasn't been to a convention in forever. Uh,

like the 40th anniversary is going to be a huge,

huge year. Yeah. Um, and that changes is it's

about to happen. And that's just so cool. Yep.

Absolutely. And. I will say to anybody that wants

to read this series from the beginning, if you

can, as long as they're still in print, get the

hardcover, get the ultimate volumes, because

the ultimate hardcover volumes are collected

in story order. So all of the issues are done,

collected. You get where Casey and April start.

wherever they start in, in the continuity, you

get this, you get it all in hard cut. Like I

actually want to go back and just collect the

hard covers to say, I have the damn books, whether

I read them again or not is another story. Cause

we've spent the last 10 years covering them,

but those hard covers are what I gave my son

to start reading the book. And I think that's

the thing that you loan out. Yeah, absolutely.

That's not, those aren't for me. Those are for

other people to read. All right. Now are you

talking about the hard covers that have like

the, The characters on that. And the Dan Duncan

covers. Yep. Yep. Those are brilliant. Those

are brilliant, brilliant books. Yeah. Cause volume

one is Raph. Volume two has every cover has a

different character on it for the various volumes

of it. And yeah, I've wanted to collect those

for the longest time. I just haven't done it.

Some of them are out of print, but I can't imagine

that they'll be out of print forever. Yeah, and

I'm sure I can get them on eBay or something.

And Amazon. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, Volume 4.

Man, Sophie's kicking ass. All of the artists

are kicking ass on this so far. Usually when

comic books change writers, it's usually because...

In the case of, say, Marvel and DC, new number

one, we need number one money for this character.

Spider -Man, Batman, Superman, Iron Man, whatever

it is, doesn't matter who it is, I'm just using

those as examples. And the way Marvel and DC

has always done it is, every new series, every

relaunch, somebody else gets a new shot, somebody

else gets a new whatever, because the last person

may have had 50, 60, 70, whatever issues. With

Turtles... You've got Tom and the team on the

first 100. Now you've got Sophie and the rest

of the team, mostly new people, some continuing

from the past. And Sophie started on Turtles

way back in Northampton and everything else,

so she's not completely new. But changing writers

sometimes feels like it's completely different.

This doesn't. Everything in my memory from what

we've covered in the last 10 years on this podcast,

Cityfall, Krang War, Secret History was done

by Mateus Santaluco. But the point is, it doesn't

matter who's right. It all feels connected because

it all is connected. And I don't see negatives

in that. I'm not going to nitpick something.

I'm not so closed -minded, like you said earlier,

about all these other people. Like, oh, woke

this. I if there's one thing in this world I

wish would go away is the whole woke thing. Like,

oh, my God, get over it. Yeah. Woke as an insult

is my like a weight. The alternative that is

being asleep. So it's a good thing that we're

all woke and that we understand that other people

are human beings and they have lives. But yeah,

that I don't I don't let people get away with

that when I have an opportunity to. confront

them about it. And I think it's important to

confront people about it. And I want to say that

the Ninja Turtles kind of inspired that in me

as a personality trait, that we do embrace people

for their differences. And we don't win by defeating

the enemy. We win by converting the enemy or

bringing the enemy into our cause to see it from

the perspective of harmony and morality and,

uh, humanity. Uh, and I, I, I've used humanity

a number of times, but I'm talking about mutant

turtles, but we're all souls. We have souls on

the inside that are important to respect all

these different people. Um, so I don't, I don't

think, uh, yeah, we, what I, what I, what I'm

saying is we can't let that kind of, uh, narrow

mindedness or, um, obliviousness to other ways

of life be. No, this is my chance to enlighten

somebody to how things really are. And, you know,

you do it as a leader, as a shepherd, to say,

no, no, come with me, this great way. And it

really is the turtles. I mean, it was that Archie

book that blew my mind wide open as a kid. Like,

wait, there are other religions in the world,

and they're good people? They can be good, too?

Oh, okay. And I should be aware about what I

do with my plastic trash? Okay, that's easy.

It takes no effort. So, oh, turtles are important.

Yep. Once again, I don't think I have any nitpicks

out of this, and there's nothing major. Nope.

Both these trades are turtles at their best.

Yep. Five out of five. Five out of five. All

right, folks, we're going to go to a quick ad

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Simplistic Reviews podcast, we talk movies. We

talk TV. We talk... Hello, Julie, what the heck

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.blogspot .com. I'm sure your insurance company

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

won't. I blew Dan Berger away talking to him.

It was obvious that he doesn't understand and

didn't understand how important his work was.

These people forget. Millions of people know

who these characters are. My students in my urban

inner city school know who Leatherhead is because

of the movies, and he helped create that character.

Like, dudes, you guys are like Walt Disney. That's

right. You've created this massive cultural thing

that exists in our zeitgeist and will forever

be a part of American pop culture. And he and

his wife are sitting there and she like gasped

and he's like got his eyes big like, yeah, for

real, dudes. This is real. What you did is important.

It's not you weren't just drawing a children's

comic book that ended up in the trash. No, it

wouldn't have been something that lasted for

40 years. That's all it was. Absolutely. We are

back, folks. And yeah, that's going to wrap it

up for this episode of The Pull Bag. Coming up

next, I've got another Origins episode with Shag

Matthews. So the irredeemable Shag is going to

drop by and give his comic origins. After that,

I'm not sure. We are marching into the 11th anniversary

of the podcast as February comes to a close and

everything else. I don't know what's happening.

I've got to check with a couple of friends. I've

got to check with a couple of other people to

see what's going on so I can figure out what

I'm going to be doing in March for the podcast.

But as of right now, we've got, let's see, I'm

probably going to move that. But we've got, like

I said, Comic Origins with Irrigation Will Shag.

We've got Superman Unchained with Ryan and I

doing that. We've got another Origins episode

and I think another one after that. So that's

going to take us into March leading up to the

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You can obviously visit the website geekcastradio

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Joe Reed. As always, make your greatest game

in the comics, and we will catch you next time.

Gonna have a lot of editing to do. Mm -hmm. It's

okay. I always have a lot of editing to do. It's

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comics and unleash the geek in you. Don't you

guys take anything seriously? Of course we do.

Like what? I should have guessed. Oh well. Give

me a slice of the bananas and sausage, will ya?