TMNT: The Last Ronin Review

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

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hi, this is Bobby

Kernow, and you are going to have a shell of

a good time inside the pull bag. Hello and welcome

to the pull bag. This is episode 548. I'm of

course TFJ and Mike, joining me once... Almost

as always, at least for the turtles, stuff is

Mr. Joe Reed. Hello, sir. Hello. How are you?

I'm well. That's good. And yeah, folks, it's

TMNT time again with Joe and I, and we are not

doing the Reborn stuff yet. That's going to come

later. We are finally getting to something that,

well, it had a tough go of it, didn't it? IDW

Publishing's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The

Last Ronin. I am blown away by the amount of

people I have seen in the turtle groups finally

picking up a turtles comic because of this series.

So many people I think are discovering IDW through

it, but lots of people who don't read comics

went out to get this issue. This series. Yeah,

yeah folks IDW did this at the beginning and

during the pandemic and during all of the Supply

chain issues and every other issue and I remember

it was an issue three or issue five They were

like like three or four out of the five issues

got super delayed But we have it now and it felt

it felt exactly like reading the old -school

Ninja Turtle comics because if it's not late,

it's not mirage That felt right at home. And

even though this is the 548th episode of The

Pull Bag, if you are a new listener to The Pull

Bag and you've never listened to our show in

the last 11 years, what's wrong with you? And

number two, please listen. Go back and listen

to all the other 547 episodes. But I was a cartoon

kid. Was not a comics kid. I never picked up

them. Joe is the comics kid. He's a cartoon kid,

too But he's these the comics kid. He knows all

the mirage stuff. I know basically him telling

me it's okay Stop stressing out the red bandanas

are fine. Okay I mean if you and this is for

you Mike and for our listeners if you ever wanted

to go back and read the mirage series Most of

the volume one Mirage run that was out there

Majority of it was written by people that weren't

Eastman and Laird It was written by written and

illustrated by friends acquaintances other independent

publishers because something that they wanted

to do I think the whole mission of the turtles

was to support Local independent black and white

comic artists the zine people And so a lot of

it, they were like, here, take our characters,

do whatever you want with them, which I think

is why the turtles fit in all of these different

genres to begin with, because they're just so

bizarre that they work no matter what you want

to do with them. But if you wanted to read the

core Mirage stories, basically all you really

have to read are one through 10 or one through

12, which are always in print, reprint, print

it again. And then there's the Return to New

York and City at War runs, which I think are

both of those less than 12 issues each so there's

not a lot to the original Mirage series and volume

two and three they don't count and four are so

bizarre that It would be weird to read and I

don't think it's necessarily important, but really

the last Ronin I think was what Eastman and Laird

had wanted to do to end the Mirage run eventually.

It was where it was all headed. It's like all

the press releases were saying back when this

all came out. At this point now, as I'm saying

this folks, at this point in 2024, 40 years in

the making. or 32 plus years in the making or

whatever it was at the time. But you are absolutely

correct. Story by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird,

and Tom Waltz. Script is done by Kevin Eastman

and Tom Waltz. The pencils are done by Isa and

Isaac Escorza with inks done by Ben Bishop and

Kevin Eastman. Layouts by Kevin Eastman. Colors

by Luis Antonio Delgado with color assistance

by Samuel Plata. And, one we always love, Rhonda

Pattinson. I mean, we love all the artists and

whatever else, but we always talk about Rhonda's

stuff, so. Letters and Design done by the incomparable

Sean Lee. Cover art done by Esau and Isaac Escorza.

And the cover colors are done by Louis Antonio

Delgado. Now folks, Joe, he's one of my best

friends and I don't want to call him a cheap

bastard, but... He won't pick up trades. He wants

the single issues He'll pick up trades if there

are five in a five dollar bin at a convention

Yeah, so and I will wait I won't purchase the

singles I especially in this case it was so hard

because of again because this came out during

the COVID pandemic in 2019 2020 etc, etc So it

was so hard to get this and I'm just like I'll

just wait for the trade And it was so hard even

collecting the singles in the shops because one,

there were half a billion covers. They reissued

some of the covers as second prints and they

printed black and white editions, they printed

director's cut editions. There's a lot. And frankly,

I'm not even sure which printings of these I'm

reading. I think the way IDW does it is if it's

a red tag, red issue number down there, that

it's usually the second printing. Which I think

is what I'm written. Nope. It's a first printing

first printing The first printing of last ronin

number one is more than a hundred dollar book

right now. Wow I'm and I I am accidentally touching

it because I thought I was reading the second

print the whole time So i'm gonna have to fix

that before I put it back in the bag. But um

Yeah, there's that I do need to get a trade.

Yes, you do So because I collect in trade, the

trades always have the extra stuff. They always

have the covers at the back, which is the reason

why we talk about the covers at the end of the

show. But in this, because this is a five -issue

series where it's beginning, middle, and end

of story, they have an introduction and they

have an afterword. And thanks to Google Lens,

I ripped out that text. So the introduction,

I will say this ahead of time, so I don't have

to read it at the end. It is done by filmmaker

Robert Rodriguez, who at the time when he wrote

it was in Austin, Texas, March 3rd, 2022. And

he says, I first discovered TMNT in the later

80s when in college. The comics had been out

for a few years. The animated show had just begun

and it was the talk of the school because the

phenomenon had been dreamed up in a kitchen.

over pizza by a couple of friends. The original

film came out a few years later. I saw it, an

advanced word of mouth preview screening. You

don't have an advanced word of mouth preview

screening today, folks. You have preview screenings,

but usually you get an email or something like

that. There is no such thing as a word of mouth

anymore unless you're listening to a podcast.

At least I don't think there is. I don't know.

I could be wrong. I remember being blown away

and inspired that this whole wild creation that

caught fire everywhere was created independently

and it started as an indie comic. It made us

all feel like the sky was the limit and maybe

we too could come up with ideas that could have

cultural impact and was exciting time both as

consumers and fans of movies and animation as

budding comics creators. Later, I again would

get to experience just what a phenomenon in multi

-generational fandom Ninja Turtles really was.

I was able to turn all five of my kids into as

each grew up through the many different eras

and iterations of the property. It was part of

their rites of passage that they learn all about

the lore and the legacy of the turtles and their

world through whatever medium was popular at

the time. And like a science project, I got to

witness them argue passionately over which movies

Animation versions were truer and more authentic.

It was always dependent on which version each

kid grew up with The only thing they seemed to

agree on were the comics. They all loved the

comics We'd read them and draw and we would draw

them as well I've gotten the privilege of being

friends with Kevin Eastman over the past 12 years

And he is such an inspiration that the hardest

-working man in the business. I mean this guy

works Hard hanging out in his studio while cranked

out new run of Ninja Turtle comics was a life

highlight for me It would blow my kids minds

that I knew Kevin Eastman whenever he was in

Austin He'd draw turtles for my kids. He was

the magic man Though knowing the guy behind it

all made them appreciate the property on a whole

other level So what a mind -blowing day it was

when Kevin sent us a preview of the last Ronin

Issue number one, seeing their reaction as it

was read together, it felt like a full circle

in there growing up, gut wrenching and solemn

at times, exciting, life -affirming and art -affirming.

We all read it and we were floored and it was

another rite of passage for them going into their

adult world. We've now read the entire five -issue

mini -series and it is clear that The Last Ronin

is a gritty, post -apocalyptic, dramatic, Tail

that has us all riveted from start to finish

It was really something to see the series grow

with them and get to this point at the right

time of their lives I can't think of another

IP that has done that I can think of a few but

that's whatever That aligned with my and my kids

lives like that a true testament to the lasting

and continuing impact This creation is had on

our collective lives as a family So strap yourselves

in for this is a serious fun, it's wildly imaginative,

and full senses of salt that demonstrates the

lasting power of the turtles, inspired world

and independent spirit, and their collective

lasting impact. It is also a true testament to

the passion and hard work of the treasure that

is Kevin Eastman. So that's the that's the introduction

to the trade from filmmaker Robert Rodriguez

and Holy crap folks now for me. I thought this

was like who is like I thought this is one of

the I'm not saying IDW does this I'm saying in

general comic books and film studio Come but

companies film studios television. They sometimes

will if a story is basically Find out who this

character is this that oh my god. It's a mystery.

It's a mystery It's like which one of the clue

characters did it in which room with which weapon

kind of thing? That's what I thought this was

at first like we didn't know who the last Ronin

was and then like a month ago Joe was like Yeah,

you know, it was Michelangelo, right? I'm like

spoilers Like dude, come on and normally spoilers

don't affect me because half the time By the

time I get to reading or watching anything, I'll

have forgotten what people have told me. Obviously,

I remember it now, just like I remember him in

Red Bandana or whatever. But it's just one of

those things where I was like, oh. But I thought

that was, he's like, no. And I have since, I

think it was you that told me or I might have

read it somewhere or heard it somewhere. Spoilers

folks. So if you and we are gonna spoil the hell

out of these this series folks So if you haven't

read it yet, stop the podcast right now and go

pick up the last about 60 seconds ago before

we tell you yes But what the hell was I going

but yeah, I know like I I Love this book. I don't

know if it's just because we've been doing this

for a decade as far as the idea I said this to

you off air and I'll say it again and I still

stand by this. You said you thought it could

fit into the IDW continuity. I still see it as

something separate, but I see because it's IDW

publishing doing it, I see and hear all of the

emotional impact. This book has just as much

emotional impact as the entirety of the regular

IDW TMNT series. I think it's written gently

enough. to kind of maybe be able to fit just

about anything you want it to. I'm trying to

think if they've killed off anybody in the book

that's in this or if anybody died in a different

series that's in this. But frankly, it doesn't

really matter. The point of this is that it is

essentially a standalone story that's really

quite good. Yeah, it is its own thing. And seeing

characters like Splinter's alive, at least throughout

part of this. So far in the May 90W series, they

haven't killed the turtles off yet. But no, when

I read this, I went in because again folks, and

you've heard me say this for the last 11 years

on this podcast, I need color. I need Definition

and that was one of the things that the mirage

like I the cartoon was the color for me I did

not need the black and white of the comics as

a kid But what they did with this series and

like mr. Rodriguez said and other people have

said How gritty it is. I love how gritty it is.

I like a poster book like It's not as neon as

it, but this kind of reminds me of Neon Knight

Riders from TMNT 4 Turtles in Time, like this

apocalyptic future, even though that was brighter

in the game than this is, but like, it's an apocalyptic

turtle's future, and it's awesome, and it's fun,

and holy crap, like, wow, just wow. I think I

remember what you were gonna say. It was about

the first turtle. Yeah. Yeah, so you had told

me or I had heard Kevin say something or I read

something somewhere where they're like the reason

why the last rodent is Mikey is because that

was the first turtle that they drew. Yep, the

first illustration out there, earliest thing

is that black and white chubby short -legged

turtle with nunchucks strapped to his arms and

nunchucks ended up being Michelangelo. And so

he was the first, and he's gonna be the last.

Which, when it was released and when it was being

solicited, nobody knew who the last Ronan was,

and tons of speculation in there. Like, it's

gotta be Raph. Raph was the toughest one. It's

gotta be Leo. Leo was the leader, and nobody

ever thought it was Mikey or Don, because...

They're the B team. What? Now, hey, shut your

mouth. 2012. It's established. It's canon. But

we didn't know who it was until the end of the

first issue. And then everybody's like, what?

Explosion. But it makes sense. Not a story wise,

not the fact that on that from their point of

view, it was the first turtle that they ever

drew. I think that's great. Yep. But story wise.

It makes sense that it was Mikey because Mikey

has always been the heart of the team. Yep And

yeah, he wasn't He wasn't always the fighter.

He's the hippie. He He wasn't the one who was

going to dive in front of any bullets He wasn't

the one who was gonna rush off and do something

stupid He wasn't the one who even had a plan

of some for something to do He he was and so

it makes sense that he kind of would have survived.

Yeah, but not without his own emotional scars

and attitude and I love how with calling it the

last ronin and making like this main cover to

the main cover with him basically looking behind

him and you see his back and Again, one of the

reasons why in the solicits nobody knew was because

this turtle whoever it is at the time Number

one, he's wearing a black mask. So there's a

slash reference right there number two He's got

all the weapons. So If he's the last ronin that

must mean he's the last turtle that must mean

the other three Whichever other three they were

at the time. You know what I mean? Like you couldn't

tell who he was because His back has all as the

side the bow the katanas the nunchucks has everything

and I love the way this reads I Up until the

reveal of who the last ronin is I didn't know

who I had in my head. I always have a voice in

my head for whatever. When we read the main series,

most of the time I'm either hearing Barry Gordon

or Rob Paulson as Donny. I'm either hearing Cam

Clark. I'm mostly hearing Cam Clark as Leo. Raf

is either Rob Paulson or Sean Astin. And Mikey,

it's most notably a more emotional, less goofy

version of Townsend Coleman. When we read the

main series this I wasn't sure who was coming

into my brain because I didn't know who it wasn't

obviously once we get the reveal of who he is

it's like, oh right and Man this book So, how

do we want to do this? I mean, I know it's only

five issues and that's fine but I know we normally

go through everything and that's fine too, but

like I Don't know man. I'm flipping through this

and I realized how Tremendous a moron. I am because

I realized this is all totally inspired in style

and color by Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller.

Yep, the color can be just obnoxious and neon

like the person who just discovered Photoshop

in the 90s and It's that giant hulking gritty

Batman Yep, like they they're channeling it and

every single panel. Yeah, absolutely like if

you look at it's It's probably page 9 in the

single issue But it's the way it's the one where

he jumps down off the off the roof and he lands

He has kind of like the Dark Knight Batman pose.

It's right before It's right before where he

says to himself. He says he said Uh, he goes

to jump down. Time to finish this or die trying.

So those panels where he jumps down, he looks

behind him and then he pulls out the, the sigh

and yeah, no, this is so good. And I just, I

was floored. This story floored me. And even

when we get to the later issues, of the full

-on homage to the Mirage. Like I said, I never

had an issue. I never had any connection to the

black and white. I love the black and white in

this. When they do that, that is so good. And

I love that they did it on Duoshade, the old

toning photoreactive paper. It's definitely digital

because they don't have Access to the real stuff

anymore, but they made it look like the old mirage

series. Yeah Because that that just became like

the signature style was that duo shade. Yep.

Absolutely Oh boy, so we are in a post -apocalyptic

New York and So this whole time that in this

first issue where the last ronin is is talking

whether he's monologuing or whether he's actually

speaking Where he says it doesn't matter the

plan stays the same. I just need to get from

here We see shadows of the other three turtles.

So From here to there and he points to the took

to the tower with the sigh and again You would

think that this is a raft because he's using

the sign or else and in this panel here the background

three turtles They're not they're defined, but

they're not defined enough where you could tell

which one is which yeah, which is nice, and I

think Even now I wasn't quite sure if he was

actually alone. Yeah And so I think we're going

to feel the same way as the last Ronan here,

where he's not actually alone. He's got these

people supporting him. And we realize later how

untrue that is and how unwell Mike is. So yeah,

he just needs to get from one point to the other

point and he tries to do so and motorcycle explosion

If he tries to break it well, so the whole story

is the other turtles are dead and He has felt

compelled to finish the mission that his dad

sent him on. And that was what issue one of the

Ninja Turtles was was Splinter trained up the

turtles for the sole purpose of killing the guy

who killed his wife. And they're trying to kill

Oroko Saki. And now for everything they've been

through, Mikey is going to go kill the last sake

who happens to be. Karai's son shredders grandson.

Yeah, hiro to Saki who has taken over the entire

city of New York and It's a police state fascist

nightmare Global warming walls around the city

sort of thing. Yep robots everywhere. It's yeah

It's it's it's every post -apocalyptic thing

you could ever imagine. There's robots. There's

this there's that there's just everything Yep

layers and layers of city and it gets worse the

further you go down You know, yeah, there are

three layers. There's basically like the bottom

the middle and then the upper layer so levels

to it and everything else and I Love this art

These guys these artists this is amazing like

again Like I said this first issue part of this

when he's going through the city when we get

the brighter colors and we get the flying cars

and stuff It really reminds me of the neon Knight

Riders level on the turtles for girls and time

video game But yeah, so he finally gets to where

he needs to go fights a whole bunch of robots

in between and Man, I didn't see this when I

first read this. I just read it for the story

But now I really am seeing this entire first

issue as a video game level Yeah, it's not a

bad thing. He's trying to speed run it, you know

Gosh, I've been trying to tell my son this the

way I watch him play video games The line in

the old days was inch by inch. Halo is a cinch

mile by mile. Oh Gosh, how's it go now? I forgot.

I don't know. I have no idea. It's hard. It's

hard to beat it By running through it. Yeah,

and if you take it slow, you'll win inch by inch.

Halo's a cinch mile by mile. I can't remember

I have to now I have to ask him because I've

said it so many times now it's out of my head,

but Trying he's just bum -rushing going in full

Raphael through the main gate and He's whittling

himself down. Yeah, and this is one of the reasons

why I never thought this would be Mikey because

Come face me here. Oh, so you coward like That's

raft hog that that's what raft would say. I Mean,

I get it Mikey's lost everything. Trust me I

know a lot about loss, but and we all do like

we've all experienced loss before It unfortunately

is a part of life, but like I I get it, but it

just I hear RAF in those words. It doesn't sound

and again, like he's been through a lot. I don't

know. It's also kind of interesting, because

definitely in the early days of the Ninja Turtles,

they didn't quite have those distinct personalities.

They yeah, he didn't do machines. Mikey didn't

go crazy for pizza. It was they were up. kind

of the same, and they developed that later and

kind of all of it in response to the original

cartoon, but you have Michelangelo here kind

of in a Mirage homage, taking on the personality

of all of the turtles at the same time. They've

all kind of been coalesced into him. And I'm

not saying it's bad. I'm just no definitely not

I'm not saying it's bad at all I'm just saying

like I don't hear Mikey's voice in this so and

we get this girl Little purple girl kind of reminds

me of purple dragons. It's not purple dragons

but like the the girl here with the robots and

and all that and she sees that Mikey got injured

and I'm just gonna keep calling it Mikey because

we already know yeah, and she starts following

the blood trail and into the sewers and and all

that, and we cut back to Foot Clan headquarters

where Hiroto is and says, which does beg the

obvious question, if vengeance was the why of

the creature's clumsy assault, what then was

the how? So we get that and we see him and he's

got his mother Karai and this like... I don't

want to call it a BAFTA tank but all I can think

of is stupid freaking boba fit in the stupid

regeneration chamber. Let's just say like that.

It's the glass tank from Alien. How about that?

There you go. Yeah. And yeah, so this is Oroko

Heruto. See they never actually I don't think

I'm pretty sure you can correct me but I just

read this yesterday. They never call him Saki,

they always call him Oroko Hiroto. So, I guess

we're just assuming it's obviously Saki because

of Karai and obviously and all that, whatever,

I don't know. Hiroto was his first name and they

wouldn't call him that. Traditionally, that's

not how you would identify them, but they're

probably doing that so people know that he's

a different... Yeah, they're trying to... This

is not Shredder. Yeah, this is not Shredder.

Nah, yeah, anyway. That comes later. Because

I never call Korai Saki either, even in the series.

Right, yeah. I like him. I think he's interesting.

We will get further into him. I like that there's

some, like, instead of doing some mumbo jumbo

thing of timey wimey of how Oroko Saki could

be here, the actual Shredder, I like that it's

a lineage thing. Because in Mirage, the original

shredder dies in the first issue and he doesn't

exactly come back, not in any kind of real way.

They fake it a couple times, but it's never actually

him. So that explains why Karaj shows up at City

at War and why she was something to have his

grandchild at some point. And so yeah, the terrorist

remains loose and we get back to Mikey and he

is pretty badly injured and he's making it through

the sewers barely and I love the panel where,

dude, you don't gotta do this, quiet, no more

talking. I like that. And we kind of see He's

is it it's just him right? Yeah, it is just him

going through all the weapons. Okay Yeah, he's

sitting him down. He's yeah Well, that's what

that's what it is he's about to commit seppuku

because he failed at his mission. That's true

Okay. Well, wow yikes. Yeah, that's how low he

is And I love the I Love how the it's not completely

orange and it's not completely yellow. It's more

of a Mix in between for his monologue. I love

that. I think that's amazing. I think that's

great Yeah, I finally I never realized that And

he says, uh, I miss my brother so much and I

miss my father more than anything else. I wanted

to make him proud. Yeah. He's about to do himself

in. Yep. And then the purple girl shows up. What

the? No, not yet. Not like this. Oh, so that's

Mikey. Yeah. Holy crap. It's a it's a no way

You you're a mutant turtle dun dun dun dun. It's

got the the heartbeat monitor you guys don't

wake him up soon and That's how oh that so yeah,

so it's got the it's got the the EKG or whatever

the the life said you guys don't wake him up

soon I'm eating the last bagel English muffins

are better Hey sleeping beauty wake up. We got

things to do. So because he's essentially whatever

to himself and she says no not yet we go into

a flashback where Then Bishop takes over on pencils

and Yes, yes, yep, that's the cool thing about

IDW anytime that they've done flashbacks A different

artist will do the flashback versus like yeah,

you'll have Who's currently? Who's the current

Oh God? Who's current main artist on the main

book Sophie? Yeah, okay Well, it's a good you'll

have Sophie doing the main stuff and then maybe

Rhonda will pick up a flashback or you'll have

Like Dan Duncan doing the main art on the original

run of IDW and you'll have somebody else doing

I love what IDW has always done that well to

def and one of the reasons why they do that well

is because It defines a time. There's nothing

I hate more in anything not just comics, but

time jumps when they're just so Jumpy, you know

doesn't make any damn sense, but it's so raw

and just so but this was nice This was easy.

This was Oh my God, no way. You're a mutant turtle.

And then we get the, like I said, the EKG, the

life signs. And then we go into the flashback

with, with Ben and his flashback. Holy crap.

I was so confused. Like I love the flashback.

I absolutely love it. And I think it's great.

And it's so bright and colorful, but then we

get to the first panel of April. April, is that

really you? Yes, it's me. And we see Mikey beat

up in bed, and I'm just like, wait, oh right,

this isn't the flashback anymore, because it

goes back to the north. I thought this was like,

I got really confused, but yeah, so the, I am

so glad I did not get this in singles, because

I would be chomping at the bit for part two.

See, I love that feeling. Tune in next week.

Yeah, I do. But I just want to turn the page

and find out next week now. I want it right now.

Next week, right now, please. Thank you. Two

weeks from now, right now. So yeah, part one

or issue one. Holy crap. They fit so much into

this. Just the first issue. We're not even done

with it. Wow. It is amazing. I think and then

this is where you know, everybody's heads collectively

exploded to find what it's Michelangelo the weenie

one of them Like he was so much in this and then

he almost killed himself because he failed like

what Mikey and I think that really also gives

you an idea of How far he had fallen to get to

this point? But yeah. Yeah, I think this was

where everybody was collectively hooked on the

series Absolutely. The last ronin part two first

to fall and we start out with now and april in

bed and so let's okay she's crying because she's

remembering the night everything went okay that's

like i knew like Mean I get it. Hello because

of the next page is what the next page is and

we'll talk about that but I just I Don't know.

I Mean, I guess I guess it works because then

we immediately go to what the next page is and

that next page is at the very top Second time

around I can't remember if that's what they called

it in the comic series or if that was Straight

from the movie that sign is straight from the

movie. Yeah, I think it's straight from the movie

I don't know about the comic series. You're supposed

to know this stuff. I know it's been so long

since I read it Yeah, well, you know Yeah, but

no, I I love seeing that. I think that's absolutely

amazing second time around all that Casey and

April Well then, I was not expecting this. Because

we know Casey and April as a couple from the

main series from IDW, but I was not expecting

Casey and April to be what they are in here,

and I love this. I love every bit of this. Yep,

destined to be together. Uh -huh. Yep, I love

every bit of this. I even love the party crasher

because he's injured. I mean... It would have

been nice if he kind of fell through the roof,

but going through the door is fine, too, I guess.

Movie references. God, I love it. Oh, my God,

Raph. He crashes through the table and we see

him and Mikey and Donnie. What are you? OK, so

we got Mikey and Raph with their bandanas, which

is fine. They're very traditional. What do you

think of the the Donnie design here with him

having the hat and then the I think the bandanas

around his neck? Yeah, I'm gonna turn the page

here. Oh yeah, I don't know. Maybe he did that

because it was Thanksgiving. Maybe it's cold

outside. Maybe I don't. I don't dislike it. I

just again it was one of those like weird. Like,

okay, everybody else has their bandana over their

eyes and then Donnie has it around his neck.

But then again, he is wearing a hat. So who knows

the turtle or giant trench coat. Like, you know,

so we see we get a quick flash forward to April

as she's thinking about the past. And then we

go back to this is bad. Master Splinter. It's

April, Mikey and Donnie. And. She and Donnie

are trying to do surgery on or trying to do stuff

with master cylinder to save his life. We get

raff and Casey is like, who the hell ambushed

you? Footbaskers. Like, OK, I hear the rat. I

like I hear, God, what's Joshua? Yep. His name

is Pace. Yeah, yeah, Josh Pace. And I and I hear

Elias Cotillas. Yeah, I hear them. in those voices

I hear, you know, large strike team jumped us

when we came out of the sewers. And again, RAF

is always, every damn foot in this city is about

to find out what a big mistake they made tonight.

And look who shows up. Stand down, RAF. I love

it when they, I love how Each of them have had

their own entrance in just this scene. You got

Raph coming in like, make way, we gotta make

room. You got Mikey and Don being the caring

ones with carrying Master Splinter. And then

Leo bringing up the rear with covering their

asses to make sure they don't get dead with whatever

ambush this was. And again, Leo has always been

the level -headed one. Leo has never been. hot

-headed that's that's always been RAF and And

yeah, so they're gonna go see dr. Lee to see

if they can they can help and in case you notice

Hey, where's RAF? Leo's like damn it You know,

I love it I think it's great, but I just wish

that it wasn't on the end damn Me and my references

and then we go back to the the present day with

April and we find out what April it Wow, I was

not expecting Robotic April she's not a full

robot. She has She's an amputee. She's an amputee.

I was not expecting amputee April but man does

it add so like just what like Holy crap. Why

is she an amputee? When did that happen? How

did that happen? Why didn't the the turtles job

to save April O 'Neill every single time, you

know? So how did that whatever? Yeah, so go ahead.

Sorry. I'm talking way too much. I might. My

April was never a reporter. I always clung to

the scientist April from that used to work for

Brexter Stockman and then kind of failed sideways

into the turtles. Yep, but. She's got that science

background. Oh, and I love it. I mean, I love

both versions now. I love in the comics, like,

how many times they were able to either bring

April back to the science stuff or homage the

report. It's always been so good how they've

handled her character in any of the iterations

that IDW has written for. Yep. And so this is

the this is the the present day as she's getting

out of bed and she says, which like threw me

for a loop. Hey, Casey, a little help here. I'm

like, wait a minute. What is he still around?

Uh huh. And then we cut to the next page is is

Mikey lighting matches. And each one burned down

to his big fingers And we see him envisioning

his history brothers and again the colors we

we always you and I've always talked about these

last ten years about how Slightly different in

the main IDW series like Mikey is like a really

dark green Raph is this green Leo is like the

different kind of greens and what I love to show

the difference that the other three are not there

is They are all dark green, but they all have

their bandanas and Clearly you can tell on the

left is Leo in the middle is Raph and on the

right is Donnie because Donnie has the goggles

on kids You know Donnie always wears goggles

now But no, just that panel. I love that panel.

It's so cool. Proceeds to get into an argument

with the voices in his head. The last thing I

remember is the explosion. And then... I was

out of it pretty bad when I finally came to.

I couldn't remember anything for days. Yeah,

so He's making some tea and He's I love this

page you know what my mission was in this tower

one a one -way ticket from the start for our

father for our family for our honor and Just

seeing the empty table just So he's making the

tea and does Casey? Oh my gosh. Yes. He poured

four cups. Yep. That's what I'm saying. Like

this whole thing is meant to look like it's the

four of them without splinter. And he boils,

you know, he cooks, makes the tea, boils the

tea, all that stuff, boils the water, pours the

four cups and... they hold for, you know, the

visions in his head. I will finish what we started,

what Master Splinter raised us to do. The last

Oroko must die. And we go back to the flashback.

Ben Bishop takes over again during the flashback,

which You know, I see the building that Raph

is leaping by is Aggregatic, which is a toast

to his book aggregate. Yeah, which is a great

series You guys should go read that everybody

in the trade. It's it's not a series It is a

single trade choose your own adventure and it's

really fun. It's like a video game We will have

to do that sometime this year That will be very

hard to do because it is really choose your own

adventure. Like there's no one way through the

book. Okay You know we can figure out I'm sure

you and I can figure out a way to cover it without

having to Think you know go through the we'll

figure it out. So yeah, you got the aggregate

there. So yes, Ben Bishop back on the art and

This this flashback we're only two issues and

I remember when I read this like literally like

I said as of this recording we're just under

24 hours away from me having read this whole

trade on the on the March. I read it on St. Patrick's

Day in 2024 and there isn't a single issue of

the five in here that I haven't at least cried

three times in each issue because of just everything

that goes on. Cameo on the bottom of that page

for Eastman and Laird. Wait, oh on the on the

on the bishop page. Yep on the subway. Oh Yeah,

very cool And then later we get oh, yeah, that

is awesome. Very very awesome later. We get 11th

and bleaker much later, but we get it So we go

to where is she where scry imbeciles And we see

Karai. And she's going up against Raph and the

turtles. Or she's just going up against Raph.

Now this... Yeah, this is Raph split with Splinter

bleeding out on the table, and he's just shanking

fools. Yep, he's just, yep, yep, yep. This reminded

me, so even though this is, I think, is this

in the sewer? He got somebody in the sewer, but

now he's... She's giving a speech to everybody

because she broke the truce. Yeah, they're at

foot headquarters. Okay. Makes sense. So we've

had two instances so far with Raph where it's

like the first movie. Him breaking through the

door instead of coming through the ceiling in

the aftermath of the battle on the roof in the

first film. And now this is essentially the battle

on the roof from the first film. No, this is

the battle in the junkyard where he goes off

to foot headquarters. Oh, okay. So okay. Hey

either either way Look references. I'm all about

the references. Yeah, you guys you know He goes

up to he goes up against Karai and and they end

up underwater and Holy crap Just just holy crap

What is remarkable about this book, the whole

series, is that Nickelodeon owns Ninja Turtles,

Paramount owns Ninja Turtles, and we know from

the interviews that we've done with Alts and

Bobby that you have an idea, you have a book,

and Paramount needs to look at it and say, yep,

this flies, yep, this flies, nope, this doesn't,

you gotta change this. And I learned at the last

convention with the three Mirage guys that they've

all been on the phone with the Paramount person

because of their contributions. And I don't know

if it was always this way, but whoever is in

charge now, he's one of us. He's one of you and

me. He's grown up with the turtles. He's a turtles

freak. And so nowadays, more likely than not,

he and Paramount and Nickelodeon say yes. And

we are seeing full -on violence. Raph is literally

stabbing people left and right. Karai is shanking

Raph over and over again. He's got arrows in

and out of his body. Blood everywhere. He stabs

her in the back with his scythe. She stabs him

in the head and throat. And she's out. He's out

and sinks. But hands come and rescue her. yeah

hands come and rescue her but what i love about

this this and it's not an ending but so the hands

come and rescue i know yeah so the sigh falls

away and we see the sigh falling and falling

i sometimes i I've been enjoying taking various

screenshots of the most obscure things, things

that people won't get immediately. Yeah, sure,

I can take a picture of Chris Pine as Captain

Kirk and say, hey, I'm watching Star Trek Beyond.

Or I can take a picture of an explosion of one

of the ships in that movie and say, Hey, guess

what? I'm watching. And the same thing here.

This big page, this page panel with the side

falling away, the red and everything else in

the, in the water. I screenshotted this and I

put, and somebody got it within two, two guesses.

I was like, damn. So yeah, so we get back into

the main part of the story with, cause the flashback

is. You know, done for now. Michael Edgelow,

what the heck are you doing up? You should still

be resting. I couldn't sleep, so I made some

tea. I hope that's okay. Of course it is. This

was your kitchen way before I moved in. And sorry,

I just got worried when I didn't find you in

bed. Damn it, I'll have to edit that out. So

yeah, so it's Mikey and April talking and And

I love where this next panel where my arm yeah,

sorry Don't be got one just like it for legs

souvenirs from the last time we saw each other.

Oh boy So I'm happy you're alive Mikey, yeah,

thanks April you too Mikey everything is still

fuzzy so he doesn't remember yeah, he doesn't

remember anything. Yep, and And we have this

whole thing between the two of them And then

She yells Casey breakfast What what Casey sees

alive live to Michelangelo I'd like you to meet

my daughter Casey Marie Jones and This is the

purple chick that saved him Which this part through

old mirage me for a loop because that I expected

that to be shadow who is there? Think I have

to remember I have to go back and read it again

because I think shadow was their adopted daughter.

They they lost their first kid and This was the

daughter of somebody that that Casey had picked

up on the road kind of dealing with that morning

It was some completely somebody else's kid that

they fully adopted her into the turtle family

Extended when he got back to New York So there's

this shadow character light lady shadow person

who is ends up being kind of like this daughter

figure. But now we have the actual daughter,

the physical daughter of Casey. And I think that

plays out so much better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's

one thing to bring Venus back and that's fine

because she's a wholly separate character and

whatever. But like The connections the fact that

Casey and April got married in this and this

that yeah, you had to have the connections and

also I With that reference there. I think that

was that the character of shadow came in after

Eastman had left The book that was kind of volume

two two and a half somewhere in there where they

were going on and so Uh, maybe she didn't exist

in the original outline that Eastman and Laird

had laid out many, many years ago. But while

I mentioned that, I, you know, Peter Laird's

name is on the book and I know a lot of people

said, yeah, I'm finally reading this series because

Pete's back and he's, you know, I liked the books

that he wrote and haven't really cared for IDW,

but I'm glad he's back on cause he changes the

tone and you know, I don't. Don't know because

I haven't asked and I don't intend to ask but

I really don't think Pete had anything to do

with this book except to say When Kevin approached

him and said hey, you remember that old story

outline we did Can we do you think we could reuse

that and make it into a story that Pete said?

Yeah, sure. Go ahead I don't care and that was

the extent of his contribution to the last ronin

So I am I've gone all the way back to the front

Yep, and the only credit that Peter Laird has

is the story by credit Yeah, he had his story

by is Eastman Laird and waltz Script is done

by Kevin and Tom. Yeah, so the only thing I love

the fact that hey look Kevin approached him Kevin

was like, hey, let's can we do this? Can we this

can we that can we whatever? let's you know bury

the hatchet let's you know whatever whatever

whatever we're gonna do and figure it out so

it can be an Eastman and Laird thing again yep

that's all it is that's all it needs to be the

rest of it and honestly so if i and again correct

me if i'm wrong they both wrote it and they both

did art on the original series right They both

traded pages back and forth. Their stuff is all

over everything. So I have never, as I've said

already in this episode and I say in every episode,

I've never read it. I've only ever in the last

10 years been reading the ADDW stuff. So I either

hear... Tom's voice in my head or I hear Kevin's

voice in my head because I've heard several interviews

with Kevin since we started this I would love

to get mr Eastman on this podcast to get an interview

with him to talk about this and everything else

turtles at some point who knows if that'll ever

happen, but I Have no like this isn't me, you

know as a let's say in 1989 I found an issue

of mirage comics written by Peter Laird like

and hearing I I don't It's just a story credit

to me. I don't I don't disregard his contribution

I don't disregard that, you know, he's the go

I'm not trying to be negative about this at all.

I'm just saying like I Hear Kevin's voice in

this in all these characters. I hear Tom's voice

in all these characters I don't know what Peter's

voice would sound like with these characters

in this book Yeah, I think you know what if you

want to I think that the closest word we could

really get to hearing from what Peter's voice

sounds like is to listen to the four kids TV

version Okay of Ninja Turtles that was 2003 version

you made. Yep. He had okay got his hand on the

pulse of that the whole time he was contributing

Okay guiding And I like that show and it's funny

because last month for my birthday I finally

pulled the trigger and I got the complete DVD

series of that show because it is not streaming

anywhere other than I think whatever CBS app

it's on or whatever but it's not like it's not

on Paramount Plus it's not anyway so when they

announced that hey the complete DVD 2000 I'm

like yep yes please yes please just just give

it to me feed it into my brains yeah i have not

watched that series much uh at all and i i definitely

need to we will i'll make you go buy it after

this podcast uh all right where are we then okay

so we're back sorry for the tangent but it was

worth it oh no absolutely Okay, so we get to

the final scene here with with Casey April and

Mikey And the end of this is like I said lots

of catching up to do we then go to the tower

and we go to Hiroto and He is basically telling

his Soldiers to attack him to do this to him

to make give him a challenge And then we get

sewers it so they're giving him a challenge here

Excellent strike almost masterful. Unfortunately

for you. There's only one master God a very arrogant

Saki thing to do trade training with this guy's

and yeah, I'm just gonna punish my own people.

Yeah By kicking the living shit out of all of

them So he goes on to leave and he's talking

to his captain and The creature is perfectly

skilled in the shadows no doubt which means a

shift in the tactics is in order dear captain

a shift master Yes, I want all our troops engaged

in a full crackdown. So he's implementing martial

law is what he's going to do. And we don't know

how, we don't know whatever, but somehow this

Hiroto is in charge of the entire city and the

police have nothing to do with it, apparently.

And this is where we get to Casey and April and

Mikey and he she's telling him about the rock

bottom and the three levels of the city and and

So that's that's interesting and I love But she

wants to learn from him because she's learning

all these other things So Casey this young daughter

Casey has never known the turtles growing up

And has only heard about them from stories from

April and maybe from a few other people and so

they're like legendary in her head She's elevated

them to that mythical status. But now here's

this giant 250 pound muscle -bound turtle who

She wants to learn from go Absolutely and I like

this I like that out of all of them, the four

of them, since he's the only one left, Mikey

has to take on the role of Sensei. I love that.

Yeah, of all of them. Yeah. Well, I mean, because

Leo kind of always was, obviously, if Master

Splinter's not around, and Raf's too hot -headed

most of the time. But I just... I just love this.

I love this whole relationship that this since

I student relationship Where she picks up the

book and yeah, something like that. It was my

father's and can I ask you a question? Where

have you been all this time? Yeah that after

all the bad stuff that happened I was too much.

It was too much to handle. So I just started

walking back I've said we get to this is the

first time that we've seen the Kevin Eastman

flashback. Yes. Yep. So as we're going through

where Mikey went Mikey's He's headed to Japan

to meet with the hamato clans origins. Yep It's

all done in a very original Ninja Turtles style

black and white. Yep The only color we have is

Mikey's monologue Which I can't believe I missed

out realizing that that was orange It's like

I was completely colorblind to that. Yeah, I

mean it's so if you look at the if you Stop scrolling

there do your damn thing, right? So when it starts

so from the page where after all the bad stuff,

that's the main art It goes to the flashback.

I just started walking It's not the normal Mikey

I don't know which multiple variation of orange

you want to call it but it's not a normal it's

not like a Skittles orange or an M &M orange.

It's a sherbert orange. Yeah it's very there

you go. Frosted in the blazer frozen sherbert

orange. Yeah it's sherbert orange absolutely

it is and I'm gonna I'm gonna go find a picture.

I can taste it now. I didn't realize it was a

color before, now I can taste it. I just love

it when you can eat colors, folks. I'm gonna

now go get a screenshot of Orange Sherbert and

put it in the post because you're absolutely

right. I love this. I love looking at these pages,

at the art and where he's going, but I love being

able to read the story in the orange sherbert

and and how like First time my entire life that

I've absolutely have I loved Kevin Eastman's

covers that he's done over the last hour 2011

so For 13 14 years, whatever it is that IDW's

had the license for this whatever Have I loved

his covers? Yes. Do I like his art style? Yes.

But this is the first time where the Kevin Eastman

art style inside of a book actually mattered

to me. And it's the duo shade, man. It's this

duotone paper. And as I'm looking at this, I'm

a huge duo shade nerd. I love this stuff. I got

a commission from Jim Lawson on duo shade and

I didn't know it when I got it and I don't know

why he did it but it's one of the last sheets

of duo shade that he had and That was when I

learned that this stuff was disappearing the

company who made it went under and stopped making

it They sold all of their remaining stock to

Mirage who distributed it to the people in their

circle who wanted it and Eastman Mentioned at

a convention before I heard a mention at a convention

before last Ronan that he was down to his last

few sheets of it And he had given some to Ben

Bishop who posted art working on it And and because

I'm a nerd I'm gonna go into it. It's a it's

a white sheet of paper and it comes up two bottles

of this photographic Chemical and you dip a brush

into the first chemical and you paint it where

you want these little lines to show up and they

appear they kind of appear out of the paper if

you take the second bottle and you dip and you

brush over the same area it reveals little diagonal

lines going the other direction so you can get

white you can get the light shade the dark shade

and then you get black from your inks so you

have these four tones that show up and it was

it was a very because mirage was the only people

using it i mean it was a graphic design tool

from the 60s and 70s and Probably even before

that but Mirage was the last people using it

and I wondered if by the time this book came

out in the 2020s that it was all gone and that

there wasn't any of it anymore and I'm looking

at this first panel I just started walking that

little insert Yeah, the white outline around

that border is a very Kevin Eastman thing to

do where he takes white paint marker and highlights

things and I can see her on the outside that

he Drew that marker over the duo shade and you

can just barely see the duo shade showing through

the paint marker Yeah, that little artifact leads

me to believe that this was actually done on

real duo shade Yeah, which is incredible, which

means he had a num. He had a good number of these

pages left and that he did it on you on duo shade

and that so Like that almost chokes me up Because

I just I love it. I went so far as to recreate

duo shade as a Photoshop layer mask. Yep. And

I've sent it to IDW and I've sent it to the Mirage

people saying here this I made this. It's to

scale. It's the right color. Use it. And but

here is probably what we're going to see is the

last duo shade art. Yeah, I'm going to ask the

next time I see one of these people. This was

really do shade. I'm gonna say that it probably

is Yeah, and if it isn't folks just email us

feedback at key cast radio calm and let us know

But this is again going to going from the real

I don't want to say the real the regular the

main art of the story into a flashback This isn't

been this is completely different. This is why

I love When different artists do flashbacks because

you get a clear sense Like the time before this

was the the how the turtles all ended up where

they are on the post -apocalyptic thing this

is Kevin Eastman and Tom waltz getting to tell

Mikey story and getting to Have him remember

of where he's been all this time when they found

him and I absolutely love it And I love that

it gets darker like we started with the light

side with with you know So I just started walking

it gets a little bit lighter gets a little bit

lighter and then it gets darker and darker and

then we go back to the the main section of art

and It's so good And yeah, so we have Mikey's

whole journey We get back to him telling Casey

To complete my master's mission kill the last

Oroko and the last and this last page What's

it mean? Swipe and he takes it out of her hand.

It said no peace no Nope, there will be no peace

is yeah What the last page of Splinter's journal

says that I think obviously Mikey wrote that

in there Yeah, probably and so we get Lip from

from Casey to Mikey and and I love this Well

too bad because I wasn't asking you wouldn't

even be standing here if it wasn't for us We

got trouble coming now that you stirred things

up So if you don't want to help taking out hero

to then stand in line and wait If you don't want

to help take it out, that's okay standalone and

he just says, hey, what's so funny? Just trying

to decide if you're more like your dad or your

mom. What a great lie. Yeah, what a great lie.

Then obviously we get back to, I love how that

fade out is where she clearly looks like she's

a female version but. Like the black hair, the

this, the attitude, it's clearly Casey, obviously.

Yep. And then you see, you know, it's your dad

or your mom, you see April. So good. So very

good. And then April pulls out the fugitoid head.

Who played a much bigger part in the original

comic than he has in most of the series. So it

was really neat to see him come back in this.

Yeah, it was awesome. Very very awesome. All

right, we're two parts down. What do you think?

I Like every time I reread something that I read

a long time ago and read it before the podcast

it grows on me so much more it it's Definitely

worth going back in once and then twice for that

deeper look because it just gets better Absolutely.

Alright folks, that's the first two issues. We're

going to go to a quick ad break and we'll come

back with issue three right after this. So, get

altered, get geeky with the Altered Geeks. Every

Friday on the Geekcast Radio Network. Because

the world needs another movie podcast. The Geekcast

Radio Network presents for your listening pleasure,

The Cinema Geeks. Hosted by Amanda, Kevin, Matt,

and Dan. Each week we dive head first in the

landscape of movies as we discuss movie news,

play movie games, go in depth on reviews, and

even have a top ten countdown or two. Also, don't

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Bottom line is, if you love movies and love podcasts,

you need to experience The Cinema Geeks. You

can find us on iTunes, Hey Jared, I have this

idea for a new show for the network. Yeah, what

is it? You know how I liked the 1990s comic book

series The New Warriors? Yes, yes. And you know

how at the Long Boss Crusade we're trying to

get the YouTube channel going? Yes, also correct.

Well thanks. How about you and me do a livestream

show about the new warriors? You've never read

the books before, and I have them, so that's

a great setup. We can give it a catchy name like,

come out to play. Don't you think that's the

greatest idea? Sure, sure, sure, Delvin, that's

a great idea. Just one question. Yeah? Why do

you have me dangling off this ledge, holding

me by only one arm? Oh, yeah. Well, you'll get

it soon. I hope. Come out to play. A new Warriors

podcast comes to you live on YouTube every second

Tuesday of the month at 8 p .m. Eastern on the

Longbox Crusade channel. If you can't watch it

there, we replay them on the Longbox Crusade

Network podcast feed available anywhere podcasts

can be found. We invite you to come along for

the ride or in other words, New Warriors. Come

out to play. A comic book podcast that actually

talks about comics. Yep, each week we open the

shop up and read and discuss a comic. Sometimes

we pair that up with comic book movies or TV

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books and sound effects. Oh yes, definitely lots

of sound effects. So tune in on all the major

podcasts and platforms for the Last Comic Shop

podcast or check out our library of evergreen

shows at www .lastcomicshoppodcast .com. All

right, folks. Hope you enjoyed that long commercial

break. We are back with TMNT The Last Ronin from

IDW Publishing. Oh boy, issue three, here we

go, part three, The Last Ronin. Fight or flee

or, no, fight or flight, that's what it said.

Oh boy, I was gonna say fight or flee. I'm not

awake, folks. And I'm not ashamed of telling

you people that... This part of the rest of this

episode is being recorded very early in the morning

and, you know, two different time people's things.

But we open with Oroko Hiroto and the Foot Clan.

And again, as we've been saying so far, the colors,

man. Like, just the difference in colors, like

from... Like, the previous issue with April at

the end, with Fugitoid's head, with where she

is, to the dojo or tower or wherever they are

in the beginning of 3. Holy crap. So good. Yep,

I think they're signaling another flashback.

This is Hiroto, probably in Japan, inheriting

leadership of the Foot Clan as he's finally come

of age. Yep, and I love how, and I didn't think

that they wouldn't do this, but I love how they

constantly do the, let's go back to the Clan

Hamato and the Foot Clan in Japan. Because they

didn't do that a lot in the cartoon, obviously.

Yeah, and they never explained why it looked

like feudal Japan in the cartoon, but then it's

modern day New York. Yeah. which is okay. I was

not asking that question as a child. All of Japan

looks like that, doesn't it? I wouldn't say that.

As an ignorant child, that may have been how

I excused it. He's getting the promotion to be

the Foot Clan leader and then we go into the

present where he is now. And what do you think

of his design here? Because so far, I think we've

only seen him shirtless. We now see him in the

Foot Clan robe or Dojo Kimoto or whatever the

hell it is. I don't know. This must be some kind

of futuristic fashion statement here with the

red paint on the eyes. I think that may be just

like a modern interpretation of a kimono kind

of thing. Yeah, this is what it's gonna look

like in the future guys Yeah, but do you see

how the kimono is designed with the shredder

claw? It looks like a claw. It looks yeah like

the oh It's a four slashes across his chest.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's got four slashes. I'm

surprised. They're not mom. Oh You bastards Four

slashes across this chest and they're all red

Yeah, uh -huh Uh -huh got it. Oh Tom walls Kevin

Eastman and all the artists. Holy crap. Gotcha.

Mm -hmm But to me at first it looked like just

like an homage to shredders his gauntlets his

his Can't open her hands. Yeah Do you still have

that? Yes sitting on the shelf right there Wow

That's awesome. You should take a new picture

of that. I gotta see if I can find the old picture.

You sent me an old picture of it when you first

made it 10 years ago, I think. So, Hiroto is

about to address the people. Oh boy. And this

is where he institutes martial law. And... I

do love how we get all of the various people

in New York like all like it's not just one it's

so like the panel where he says tonight and until

further notice the entire city will be under

blah blah blah. And you see all these varying

types of people from different races and ethnicities

and and everything else I absolutely love that

and then when we get to martial law, it's foot

robots I want a foot robot a Couple of these

things have been made into toys like we've got

a few different versions of Mikey is the last

grown in and they've released or are releasing

The last drone inversions of before yeah before

they before they kick it nice it would not surprise

me if we got a Hiroto and maybe some of these

foot robots to There's like a Ninja Turtle action

figure Renaissance going on right now. It is

dude. It's the 40th anniversary Renaissance going

on right now. I don't have that much money, man.

I Have to be very picky and choosy Don't know

where it is, but somewhere in here I have a Funko

soda last Ronin figure because Funko between

their Funko pops and Funko sodas They have done

a last Ronin figure, but I don't know where he

went. He went somewhere. I will probably Have

him by the end of the show after we go through

whatever next ad break we go through and So we

get this and we get your master has spoken and

we get down to the street and I don't think that's

a cop but I don't know who man this got real

bad real fast yeah and then yeah they're just

wiping people off the streets and yeah but I

don't like let me zoom in on this no it's just

okay it's just a normal it's two normal guys

At first, the guy on the left, the bandana he's

wearing or whatever he's got around his head,

I thought it was like, because my grandfather

on my dad's side, who has been long gone for

now, but he was gone before I was even born.

He was a police officer. And I always remember

the police hat that the policemen always wear

when they're in their dress. This guy isn't in

dress blues, obviously, but just the bandana

made me think of the old policeman hat. So I

was like, hey, no, it's just two regular guys.

Oh, it's not just two regular guys. It's the

it's Casey's crew. It's her two of her crew members.

That's who it is. Because the next panel we need

to get to Jones ASAP. Yep, that's. Oh, yeah,

I see it. Yep. Yep, and we get to Mikey and we

get to the end of the book. No peace. And one

of the. imaginary ghost ghost turtles there we

go ghost somebody called Casper oh man did you

notice this I didn't notice this when I was reading

it at first they all have black bandanas on the

three of them I wonder they've had color bandanas

at times I like this is to imply that they're

in the shadows or Maybe a different colorist

handled this page, but in this instance, it is

definitely symbolic of the fact that they are

gone with him at the same time. She's gonna be

good in the fight with Roto. Ain't that right

Mike and he's just He's so transfixed on splinters

book that he's not even listening to the Hallucinations

in his head of his dead brothers. Yeah Which

again it just is a complete and utter testament

to the writing of how these Between all of it

just so good. I Love the argument here though

About about Casey, uh, good call. She can't be

more than 17 years old 16 and already Tangling

with the foot clan Sound familiar. Yeah, it's

like she is already Yep, just like them that

they got wrapped up in somebody else's war. Yep

And this very next panel where they're talking

they go back to the classic design of donnie's

got the goggles on with the purple, Raph in the

red, and Leo in the blue. So it changes from

panel to panel with how Mikey's envisioning them.

I still like to think, even though it's more,

like you said, it's more symbolic of them not

being here, I still like to think every time

there's a black bandana, it's because, on them,

on the three that are not here with us, it's

a slash reference, but that's just me. So we

get that, and we get Donnie Singh. Applies to

oranges. Apples to oranges, Mikey. We trained

our entire lives. And she ain't a mutant, bro.

She's just a kid. Casey and April's kid. And

we're Splinter's kids. And Karai was Shredder's.

And Hiroto's was hers. And here we all are. Back

to square one. Back to the dark. Hi. Uh. And

here comes Casey. She comes in and they have

a conversation and. Well, just like April and

a number of iterations, she has her own will.

Yeah, like like, no, I'm going to fight this

fight. You just stop me. And like he's trying

to save her from the fate of being a child soldier.

Absolutely. She gives him directions to April's

lab, straight ahead and to the left. Mom's in

her lab. Kid thinks she knows everything. Smartass,

stubborn little. And she's way too damn young

to be that old. Hey, when you see stuff, man.

Sigh, same as it ever was. And he goes into April's

lab and she has... Kinda sorta rebuilt fugitoid?

Yeah, she's jacking into his brain. Oh, no, okay.

Yeah, she's yeah, she's okay The table that she

has him on has his head on looks more like For

half a second there. I thought this was gonna

be some sort of metal head head body situation,

but no, it's just a table that she has the head

on and Yeah We get to so they you know that they're

having the conversation here and And he says

I think it's time we got busy with that catching

up. You keep talking about April. Yeah me too

and we get to flashback flashback with fugitoid

and Wow Oh Everybody's alive except for RAF because

RAF went first all right, but it looks like they're

setting up a distraction strike extraction the

foot clan is promised a Truce because a hero

to says and yep this war it's time to end. We've

both lost people And so he invites the truce

Donnie and splinter Need to get out of the city,

which has been locked down And huge toy is helping

them Yep Set up the ship to cloak it to get out

to create a distraction Because Baxter is back.

Yes Baxter Baxter is back. All right John Carlo

Esposito as Baxter in all yes Just wish he would

have gotten more screen time and that we could

have seen that Baxter, but it's very cool. Was

that in the 2014 one? That's the new one. What?

Oh, you may have. OK. Oh, that's he voice. That's

I was thinking. Never mind. I was thinking I

was thinking live action, but OK. Harry. No,

no. Oh. So we have the turtles trying to sneak

around and they get ambushed. We got movement

on. Oh no. Here we go. Fight time. We're under

attack. Idiots. Less than 30 seconds to compromise

the entire mission. I'm a little lost as to what

people's motives are here, but Baxter was...

He's in charge of the power for the whole island.

So from what I remember, just based on from what

I from what I read it, he has let's just I don't

think it's called Burnout Island in this, but

let's just say it is. He has the island and he

is giving power to the entire city to help Heroto

control the entire city. So basically he works

for him. He works for a sake again. Damn, how'd

they find us? Fugitoys head, maybe? Or Fugitoys

himself, not necessarily his head, because he

has his whole body currently. So, yeah. So the

turtles are talking about how they're going to

deal with this and all this and all that. And

I love this art. This art is... Casey looks so

good. Yeah, ben bishop dude gotta get him. I've

been trying for years to get him on the podcast

Maybe I haven't asked directly enough, but maybe

I should start after this because holy crap.

Yeah, he's he's kind of the I don't know the

he's been adopted by all these different aspects

of The ninja turtle world he's illustrating the

book kevin eastman has him doing So many different

series he works with Peter Laird and shows up

at conventions where Peters at yeah I love every

once in a while. He'll post a picture on his

Facebook of a child him Sleeping on a Ninja Turtle

sleeping bag and like yeah is us yeah growing

up and he's worked himself in and and practiced

and Applied and and succeeded in Building himself

to be somebody that is worthy of being in with

the group and I that's just it's just so cool

Yeah, it's amazing and not to mention his own

stuff is oh, yeah, too. Yeah Like I said, we

will figure out a way to do the aggregate at

some point. I think he's I think he's going to

the convention I'm going to in April and I will

definitely Say hey, you know, I do this thing,

you know Uh -huh. Yeah, we want to interview

you And so we see them making all these plans

we see the the battle that they're doing and

then like like I said, we see Casey and The next

week we see Leo Casey about that backup hurry

I Just love it nasty looking boogers. Yeah, I

told you Guys the foot clan are nothing to be

nothing but liars Yeah, because they're supposed

to have a truce, but now they're here. They are

not letting them off the island. Exactly, you

know This is not an island I suppose yeah the

Baxter's on Staten Island where the power plant

is Okay, it's Staten Island. Wait not Staten.

Oh golly Between it's in the middle of the river

on They mention it yeah, we'll see it eventually

but It's up Baxter is really the one trying to

keep them on the island. Yeah from leaving Maybe

that was the plan so that it didn't look like

the foot plan was keeping them on the island.

Yeah We get to the panel where Leo and Casey

are on the roof, which I get it, it's Leo, he's

the leader, but I don't know, roofs and Casey,

I always think of Casey and Raph, not Leo and

Casey, but here we are. Leo's like, what the

hell are those things? They can't be human. And

Casey, in true Casey fashion, let's find out.

The class is paying 101 and your instructor is

Casey, no! And we get the goongaloo, so we got

the Casey references in. I think the only thing,

if I, I don't know, we'll get to it if it even,

I think the only thing that isn't in this that

I didn't notice was a four, because I don't think

he uses a golf club at any point. Nope. The hockey

stick breaks on this elite foot robot, so he

upgrades to the cricket bat. Yep. Which also

doesn't work. No, and then he brings out the

sledgehammer, which uh actually does its job

Yeah, well, what sport is that in? Cricket you

gotta know what a crump it is to understand cricket

I'll teach you. Oh boy so we get to Little baxter

just yelling at people imbeciles send in the

mousers now all of them These are not normal

mousers. These are upgrades, I think. Yeah, little

flying mouser heads. Yeah, like... Off with your

heads. No, they're spider. Okay, I see now. Yeah,

they're flying heads, but they turn into spider

Mouse. Oh You gotta be creepy I can deal with

mousers being rat like but spider like no, thanks

and then Baxter blows everything up Yeah, so

yeah, this is where that Donnie splinter Mikey

April and they're getting on the cloak jet to

leave and honey cut says no no no let me help

as Leo and Casey are trying to like Leo did in

the last issue he's covering the rear so that

they can escape and Baxter wants fugitoids so

we can access the technology and I enjoyed the

line he says I know you've come for me stockman,

but i'll self -destruct before I let you hurt

my friends or imprison me again And he says you

shall not pass the good lord of the rings reference

And uh, I can't have you nobody will and then

it blows the place up so that essentially takes

out honeycut, yep, leo and casey and Yeah, but

look at like, okay So we get the explosion and

the page before we get back to the current stuff

the closing page of the flashback Holy crap Leo

sword Casey's mask like wow. Oh My god, so good

So we get to Casey Marie And she's a Casey's

crew reacting to there being martial law. Yep

And she's running through the sewers or not sewers

She's running through the train station to get

to them and and everything else So we get to

a panel where she's she's running everyone underground

now We see the the foot robots halt stop and

be identified I had visions of Tron in my head

With that, because it's like the Tron guards

at the end of Tron Legacy, where they're like,

present your identification, and Jeff Bridges

just hits the guy in his, you know, in his helmet.

Like, you will let me pass. Okay. You're good,

sir. I love how they're doing this various different

thing. You know, everyone underground, everyone

else, over the top. And they're like, we'll meet

at the place in an hour. Do we even have an hour?

So she's running through the through the sewer.

She gets to the streets. Halt! Crap! Stand and

be identified! Help! Someone help! Foot bastard!

Identify this. Yeah. If you're going to create

a character that's the spawn of Casey and April,

this is the way to write her. Yeah, I wish we

would get more with her. I actually find her

interesting. But, you know, that's when you can

create a new Ninja Turtle character and make

us appreciate them. Good job. Good writing, because

we're hard to please. Well, I don't know. So

far. In 10 years, there hasn't been many negatives

that we've pointed out. We're usually just sitting

here gushing over everything that they've given

us. But she's doing her ninja thing and more

robots show up. I don't got time for this crap.

Get out of here. I'll take care of these two.

Scumbags whoa, man, and of course we get bleaker

and Sullivan So there's the 11th and bleaker

or not 11th and bleaker, but there's the bleaker

Street sign I really gotta get back to mom ow

Seriously, just just hurry up. I hate needles

and Stop squirming. I only need a few more vials

Leaving him dry mm -hmm well Mikey's just like

me. I do not do needles whatsoever. I Donated

plasma For a while and yet, it's awful first

couple of times then I stopped hearing Go get

your trainee Practice, you know It's April and

Mikey and you know, he's complaining and I get

that you scientists can't help poking and prodding

everything but Am I gonna have any blood left

after this? What are you, five years old? It's

barely any blood. I need to see what your advanced

mutation is doing to your body, but I can get

you a lollipop when I'm done if that helps. Whatever,

just hurry up. And let's see, we get to, so how

badly damaged is the fugitoid? Is Honeycutt still

in there? Uh, I don't know, I think so. I hope

so. And she's like, I'm just pretty sure that

once we turn him on, Stockman will find us immediately,

just like last time. And Mikey asks her, April,

after the explosion, how did I end up here? Didn't

happen overnight, that's for sure. After the

smoke, the rescue team pulled me out of the rubble

and got me to the hospital. And we go back to

classic Eastman and Laird colorings with this

flashback. This, to me, just like the last one,

is super interesting because, again, you're showing

a different set of... So the first flashback

that they used, Kevin and Peter coloring the

black and white, the... What did you call it?

Dual shade. Dual shade. Was when Mikey was telling

his story of where he went blah blah blah So

I that's what I love about this is that every

part of each flashback is so different that it

stands out and So we get April's flashback here

Where she found out she was pregnant and I ended

up staying in the hospital a long time physical

mental therapy She hears news of the, um, wait,

what is this? Hold on. What's that panel there?

Uh, meanwhile, Hiroko and the Foot were taking

control of New York. This is where they put up

the wall, keeping everybody in. Keeping everybody

in, yep, yep, yep. When they finally discharged

me, I had a shiny new arm and leg and a shiny

new baby to go along with them. Things were getting

really bad in the city, so I moved us down into

the lair. More like, hit us, but... It was okay.

So we get a nice shot as she's talking about

that. We get a nice shot of Casey in the dual

shade style and then we get the photo of them

all with the store destroyed and everyone gone.

It was all I had left to remind me of. Well,

you know. Okay, all done. So how did you get

Futuretoys' head? Some of Leo and Casey's strike

team who weren't killed in the battle recovered

it. That's a lot of blood. That's six vials?

Yeah. That's not normal. And it's black blood.

It's not red. Which, again, to your point earlier

about how graphic this is and it's showing blood

and everything else, that's black. That's not

red. So I guess that's a way they got around

the whole island and technically she's not be

hello She's being a nurse to him. But like I

don't know. It's just yeah, I think it's Bloods

really really dark when it's like that, you know

when you cut your finger. It looks bright red,

but I think in a If you're muting all of your

colors to make it look like a certain lighting

it's probably gonna look black. That's that's

my My hypothesis And she asks him, but she didn't

say, how the hell you got all the way over there

in a fog mostly. Last thing I remember clearly

was trying to get to you and the fugitoid to

safety. And then we get more of Mikey's flashback,

which is just amazing. 40 years, folks, I never

thought I would say it, because I was never into

the, this wasn't my art, but. him going into

the sewer, him looking at Donnie's monitors,

him looking at the weapons. So I grabbed some

things from the layers, weapons and other stuff

and started away on a plane to Japan, the journal,

started away on a plane to Japan as fast as I

could. I was hoping I could reach them in time.

I just didn't know what else to do. We get to,

what does April say here? She says, I think I

know how to beat Hiroto and Mikey just looks

at her with a Like a scrunchy face on his like

just his face is all scrunched up and out of

the back there Well, then you need to show us

right now mom cuz all hills breaking loose and

rock bottom dum dum dum and We go back to Hiroto

Every time we see him. He looks different. Yep

We're only in the third issue of Five Folks and

he's gonna have plenty more looks as we go along.

This whole scene here, he's up on the tippy top

of his building, I'm assuming, having himself

a little villain monologue. Yep. And he's freaking

out. Mm -hmm. I give them orders and still they

whine and protest and I have been far too indulgent.

Fools forge who rules all here the fools forget.

Wow. I can't read this. Oh god. I can't read

today Well, yeah, but I Am their God incarnate

God made flesh flesh and blood I am their master

Well, we don't ever get from His character is

seeing how he went from being the guy who gets

inducted into the foot clan leadership. She's

the sword and said this war is over to the person

who's trying to break the truce. Yeah, this guy

who's turned into full maniac. He had some kind

of descent into madness that we didn't get to

see. Yeah. Oh unless this was who he was the

whole time and everything else was an act, but

we don't get that and so don't get that either

Yeah, and yeah, you're right his design changes

all the time from whatever to whatever and I

think it's because it's a way for the artists

to homage Every single version of shredder that

there ever has been because he's wearing a purple

cape here yeah shirtless purple cape just like

the action figure the hood yep yep yep yep and

then later oh boy oh that 2003 reference later

jesus ah so good he's like i will rise rise he's

just going nuts yeah he's under leaping around

talking about how good he is but then he falls

off yep his tower trips and falls, and he doesn't

seem to care. He's laughing as these robot arms

come out to grab and save him. Yep. And we get

back to Mikey and Casey and April and all that,

and Mikey's like, you're crazy. More like our

only shot, Mikey. There's way too many variables.

I love Casey. Every plan, no matter the odds,

has risks, you know that. At least these are

better odds than a hundred -year -old mutant

attacking Hiroto directly, Casey yells at him.

This isn't about permission, it's about reality.

Do you all have a death wish or what? Look who's

talking. That we were dying before you got here,

you just made it worse. Enough. Yeah. April's

still definitely the mom. Come with me, Mikey.

There's something else you need to say. April,

they're just kids. You need to let me do my own

thing. Just humor me, okay? Fine, but I won't

change my mind. I love how... stubborn, like...

Okay, it's Mikey. We know it's Mikey and... From

the scene earlier with her and him, with her

taking his blood in him, acting like a five year

old, to now where he's practically wrath. Oh

my god, this writing is so good. Yeah. It's just

so good. Mikey's dead. He's no longer Mikey in

this. And he became that kind of out of madness,

really, I think. Yeah. Absolutely, he was always

in the I guess in certain iterations. He was

always questioning their their feud with Yeah,

a Roku sake and like why don't we just kind of

go over here and get away? Why do we got a fight?

Why do we got people we know are getting hurt?

But then he's just lost everything and now he's

the ones that that's all right. Yep. That's it

Let's kill everybody and nobody else has to do

anything. I got it. Yep And I think it's, I think

the reason why he's taking that on is not because

he wants to be like his known brothers who were

known. He doesn't want to be ref. He doesn't,

he wants to be himself. But what the part of

him that wants to be himself is the reason why

he's saying nobody else needs to die. I've got

this is because he doesn't want to lose anybody

else. He's lost. Everybody has lost so much already

in this series. Like he's trying to do. So others

don't have to so what she has to show him is

a green version of the tumblr from 2005 it's

Batman's Batmobile I kind of wish that that scene

right here would have been like a Through like

the Batcave with all the different batmobiles

Yeah, unfortunately this panel isn't big enough

and then they jump to now so But yeah, that would

have been so cool to see the turtle vein, the

turtle blimp, the turtle cycle, did they have

to have the turtle cycle? And every version of

the turtle van, the shell raiser, the little

beetle, the little bus. Yep, all of it. I'd even

take the garbage truck from the movie. The bad

movie. Oh, yeah, I know which I know I knew you

were talking about the bad one because the only

time we saw a garbage truck in the first movie

is when shredder went day You know when Casey

pulled the lever oops You just straight -up murdered

the shredder Not really he murdered his helmet,

but yeah So we get to now April this isn't like

are you in possession yet? Dammit told you guys

this is gonna be a bad idea and Casey here kind

of looks like a combination between Nightwing

and Angel because her suit is all black and nobody

because her suit is all black and purple but

I swear that domino mask reminds me so much more

of Nightwing than it does nobody because I think

didn't Angel have a helmet too? Yeah, Angel had

a helmet and the old school nobody was a full

head mask. Right. Yeah. Which I like. I'm not

saying anything against this. I like this. Hello.

It reminds me of one of my favorite comics characters.

Yes, please. That's fine. So here comes the security.

So they go fighting. And we see Mikey's monologue

easy to easy. Don't get cocky, Mike. So I love

that he's still talking to himself. What the

holy hell? Some of these designs man like you

said earlier like we need toys of all of this

because some of these things are really cool

It is kind of neat on these pages where they're

attacking Stockman's Island Yep, and all these

robots are coming out that there are little visual

cues in the robot shapes and the the Masses that

look like Peter Laird's old robots that he was

drawing in The Archie series covers I'm thinking

like the the shark piloted a mech on the cover

and layered drew that cover And he always he

liked those little kind of metallic crater shaped

discs like what's on the ear on Stockman's ear

or on their robots chests later. That's a very

layered thing to do so I Wonder if that was deliberate.

I'm gonna pretend that it was Mm -hmm Yeah, we

always pretend that everything is deliberate

with the nw turtles like it doesn't matter which

turtles version it is if they're Doing something

that we think it's referencing something. We're

always gonna assume because yeah Somebody loved

it as much as I did and is doing it for the same

reasons that I would And I love this this final

panel here at the end of this battle with her

with the mouser's head in her hand Thought I

told you to stay put you did I didn't terrible

discipline excellent initiative. Don't do it

again understood. Yes, sensei And we get a flashback

to Yes, and say I'm learning to then with Casey

doing her Decent technique, but she's developed

some bad habits And so it's Mikey watching her

And then this is kind of where they, where they

start sparring, but this, again, throughout all

this entire series, folks, like we've said, Mikey

is who he is, who he's always been, but certain

parts of the other brothers take over his personality

at times because of what has happened to him.

But this whole scene here, It's like leo splinter

and Mikey with the comedy all in one like hit

me as hard as you can now what what? Figures

only but a child pretending to be work a warrior

child She goes to Good thing you yelled first

or I might have completely caught me off guard

Dodge this yawn So this is the mickey part, dodge

this, yawn. Your legs are weak and slow. But

not as slow as your fists. Which allowed me,

all the time in the world, to do that. I wouldn't

get up if I were you. Yeah right, you were warned.

Looks like we have a plan this time. Okay. White

belt quality kick. I think this is where Mikey

realizes I'm looking for the line, but I think

this is where he realized that Casey is stronger

and faster than a regular human. Yep. And he

confronts April about it. Yeah, it's coming up

here. That move only works in the movies or on

people without training. This is neither you're

wasting energy running on fumes Very tired and

you're done never Take it easy on the bricks

they're pretty old you would know what was that

Okay, okay, I give I give That's not the point

to give up. Even the greatest of warriors can't

punch their way out of every confrontation. Sometimes

it pays to be subtle, fluid, evasive. Yeah, Mikey.

As he's tried two full frontal assaults on...

Yes, well, you know... Yeah, I guess. And...

Oh, the hug at the end. I love that. All right,

you're gonna train me. Yes, you're gonna train

me. Yes. All right first lesson tomorrow And

this is where we get to Mikey and April again

Sensei April I was just I How long were you watching

long enough, I'm sorry, I hope I didn't overstep

Time is always short life is short what you just

did. It's more than I could have hoped for Splinter

was there for all his sons, all of us, everyone.

He thought of us as family. Until the very end,

Casey Marie's only had me, and I can only do

so much. She's tough, has her dad's courage,

my brains, but she needs something more. And

a place to direct her skills soothe her anger.

Thank you. And speaking of splinter you never

finished telling me what happened in Japan Mikey

I I need to know I know I'm sorry it still hurts

so much everything does but your family you should

know Once the plane landed in Japan and we get

back So we get this Or Mikey's like, I ditched

the cargo hold, snuck out as much as I could.

When I saw lights in the distance, it was the

first sign of life for miles and I was praying

they could help. I told them who I was, Michelangelo,

son of Master Splinter of Clan Hamato. They just

grunted and pointed to the village. Good boy.

I am Master Shinichiro. I'm probably butchering

that, but please - Oh, that was good. Okay, good.

Sounded like a butcher to me, but please follow

me. We will speak further inside. And yeah, Mikey

basically finds out that they're not there. Splinter's

gone. And we get your father master splinter

was all of these so we so we get a nice line

of a splinter and then we go back to Wait, is

this this is another? So this is a flashback

finding out what happened to okay what clan Hamato

in Japan. Yep Seriously like okay, so we have

the the duo shade flashback which it's weird

that the Mikey's inner monologue orange color

Call it sherbert earlier. The sherbert is interfering

with my enjoyment of the actual art behind it

and I can't believe I'm saying that but Monologue

and it's yeah Yeah, and then we get this flashback

and then This flashback goes from like dark to

super bright. It's kind of like, you know taking

one of those newfangled, like a Samsung S24 Ultra

right now. Oh, it can go from 1 % brightness

to, you know, 2000 nits or whatever the hell

they are nowadays. But yeah, so we get this flashback

of Master Splinter and... It's also interesting

to note that This is the first time that I can

remember we've ever really seen a clan hamato

of humans. Yes. That's a substantial number.

Yes. Yeah, this has to be the first time because

most of the turtles things are origin Japan.

Saki kills Yoshi, kills Shen and Yoshi. Or, no,

he kills Shen, Yoshi then flees to America, Saki

follows him, Yoshi finds turtles, turtles get

mutated, blah blah blah blah blah, and then we're

all in modern day. We don't ever really go back

to, and again, I need to go back, and I'm still

working on my rewatch of the old 87 series, but

I don't remember if we ever go back, go back

to the old... Japan stuff in the 87 series and

I think they do some stuff with it in 2003 but

are gonna catch up on all that Maybe excited

to hear how that is. Yeah, I watched it a little

bit I was in college at the time. So I was not

paying that close attention Yep, yep, so like

I said we get this flashback And you will call

me Master Splinter. I call you Hellbound where

the rest of your, you and your revolting family

awaits. Grand Warriors of the Foot Clan, attack!

And it, oh that's right, this is just Splinter

and Donnie. Really? Yeah, where'd Mikey go? Yeah,

where's Mikey, Raph and Leo? Uh, Leo's dead.

Okay. Raph's dead. This was, they were going

back to the... Right, right, right. This was,

yeah, this was the peace treaty. Right, oh yes,

yes, yes, yes, this was the heroic, okay, got

it, got it. Ah, so you came with weapons. We

also came with weapons. Yeah, neither of us were

supposed to. I guess that means we're not actually

having a peace treaty, and then they attack.

And then they attack. Got it, got it. Right,

right. Yeah, but where's Mikey? Huh, weird. I'm

looking. He must have stayed back at the... Yeah,

wait a minute. Where'd he go? Because he wasn't

still in New York. No. Because that's part of

this. This is him telling the tale of the truce.

And if it's him, Splinter, and Donnie, then they

should all be there unless Mikey's just watching.

Don't know but anyway we get back to Mikey doing

his duo shade part of the story I Think Mikey

got so I see that Mikey got separated somehow

All right, did Japan and then he had to put it

on foot to get there and he that's He was too

late and he couldn't say that's right. Yeah.

Yeah got it got it And then we flash back to

the present as the last of my kind, a Ronin,

that is... When I decided the feud must end,

I would follow Father's journal, train, and complete

the mission we were intended to from birth. All

Oroku must perish. And if I had known you were

alive, it might have been different, but the

mission would still be the same. I'm sorry. Don't

Mikey please there's no way you could have known

and the rest I understand what mean what needs

to be done So, yeah Or Mikey, you know, yeah

all the guilt the guilt of that last thing there

too. Yeah, absolutely Here it is You asked where

it was. Yeah your design. What what are you talking

about? What are you gonna tell me about Casey's

extra abilities April? Why would you keep that

away from me? I wasn't keeping it away. Not exactly

you didn't inject her. Did you? You know me better

than that. I would never do that to my child

I've run thousands of tests since she was born

looking for the origin. As far as I can tell,

trace amounts of the mutagen DNA were passed

on from her birth parents, who happened to have

nearly lifelong exposure to it from the company

they kept. Wait, seriously? Us? We contaminated

all of you you didn't know you all we all didn't

know Look, she's basically normal in all aspects

other than strength and speed and her healing

ability All of which have increased with age,

which is why I wanted samples of your blood.

Does she know? She's aware she's different, but

I have told her everything not yet at least but

soon. Oh she knows She's a teenager she knows

she's figured it out. Yeah, she can tell And

We go back to the battle Yeah, that was like

three flashbacks deep there for a second More

like seven. It was probably only three, but it

felt like seven. Like that's like a hundred years

in like ten pages. Holy crap. So we get Mikey

and Casey back at the battle. Follow Casey and

throw everything you have for covering fire.

Let's roll. Yeah, this is just so, this is just

so fun. It's so good, and I just, I love the...

Damn it, airborne sitting ducks for the remaining

gun towers. Stupid attack plan, stupid. This

is a terrible idea. It's a terrible idea, terrible,

terrible. This should help them get on the ground.

Now to figure out how to keep this from becoming

a complete massacre I Love his design. I love

it all get down to the courtyard and in your

interior positions I Didn't notice it the first

time I read but as the mini mousers the mini

flying mousers are attacking Yep, the the new

weapon that Mikey has the tonfa the yeah sticks

If he clacks them together, it lets off a small

localized EMP. Yeah, use that to fry robots Very

cool. Very clever. Yeah, this is very clever.

Very awesome We go to the tower master Hiroto,

we are receiving multiple reports of gunfire

and explosions on Roosevelt Island. Oh, it's

Roosevelt Island. That's what it is. There we

go. There we go Casey and crazy old Baxter, maybe

he'll blow himself up this time. Leave me alone,

I'm working. Wait, on second thought, send a

squad over to make sure he's not blowing himself

up. Yeah, these flying boutsers. Oh boy. And

yeah, that... That weapon he has now. Ooh, boy,

that's a... That's one hell of a weapon he's

got there. Very cool. April shows up in the Tumblr.

Yep. Yep, yep. Just need to make space and in

you go. So she plugs in Fugitoid's head and now

lots of power. Honeycutt, here? Fire everything!

Kill them all! Baxter, um, he don't look so good.

It's an interesting design on his head, but he

don't look so good. That's Al Simmons when he's

not wearing the spawn mask. Yeah, you're not

wrong. And yeah, April versus Baxter. I love

this. What do you think you're doing? Saving

the world! But first, this is for my husband.

Ah, damn woman. I nearly felt that. I'll finish

you momentarily. My god. He's gonna feel this.

Uh -huh. What did you say? Honeycutt's head.

Yep. No, stop! You shall pay. You shall not pass,

but you shall pay. For my family and this I Know

this is fugitoids doing but this panel here Where

it's him saying for my family, and it's Ronan

oh God mm -hmm love it you you always mention

how When you read these you hear Robbie wrist

or Josh pay us or any voice actors and you are

a voice actor guy. I was thinking this morning

that I don't always hear it like I have my favorite

voice actors but when I'm reading it I don't

always hear it in those voices with the IDW series

everybody has in my head kind of had this idealized

voice that just that is what they sound like

and they don't sound like any of the actors.

Quite there but. Ever since the 2012 series,

wherever I read Fugitoid, Professor Honeycutt,

it has sounded like David Tennant. I can hear

it with the electronic filter that they put over

his voice, his accent. Honeycutt is David Tennant

now. Again, I have to do some research and I'm

not going to do it right now, folks. I'll have

to look it up. Again, I'll probably tell you

guys later in the episode after we come back

from the second ad break, or different ad break.

I don't remember who voiced him in 2003. Yeah,

I don't remember him from that series or from

the original cartoon. I don't think he was in

the... I could be wrong. He was a toy. Yeah.

I know he was in... the 2003 series because I

remember them doing Triceratons and this and

that and everything and so I remember from that

but yeah. So Fugitoid basically says for my family,

it shows Lassrona and for my friends, it shows

Casey. It shows for everything, it shows one

of the grunts here. And Baxter, go bye bye. So

no fly for you. disintegrates him and then what

I think happened here yeah okay so Baxter had

nanobots in this person and once he died he's

now no longer in control of them but yeah Honeycutt

I think is controlling yes yeah and they shut

down the power to the base and the entire city

and all of the robots all the robots have control

You're not going to believe this. You're not

going to believe this, Linda. Everything's shutting

down, even the foot cops. Which, it makes sense

because now we just have them versus Hiroto.

Yep, and any human foot soldiers left. So that's

why they did it. And I love how we cut to the

the foot clan headquarters the tower so I'm full

technical alert I want everyone and everything

with a weapon in this tower now And I want stockman

standing in front of me within the hour That's

not gonna happen. That's gonna be kind of hard

there. Uh -huh. Yep For rock bottom here. What's

next the bum? Love it. Every time I hear the

bum in any of these, I always think of the...

What say you, oh honorable Sensei? Throw the

bum out. Throw the bum out. That's right. I always

think of that. So, Mikey and April. They are...

Mikey, April and Casey. What's Casey say here?

Thing went too far. Here we go. I think we won.

This battle, not the war. And not at a price

I'm willing to pay anymore. So Mikey goes back

and he starts pondering and the brothers show

up and Leo's in his head here. They're all in

his head, but Leo starts talking and The last

drawing part fuck look. I don't even know where

parts. Okay, so we did part three I remember

that Lee that was all of part four and then we

get here like Wow So wait what the Yeah, the

last the last pay the last panel of four is but

not the war but not okay, okay And then I had

to wait like three months until that's Unfortunately

when the pandemic happened as we've already mentioned

folks I don't think it had anything to do with

the pandemic. I that's just old old mirage habits

well, no there was because there was a Big thing

between the the just the distributors and and

every like Diamond who was the district? Yeah

Diamond comics like the whole comics industry

was getting out of diamond comics because diamond

was doing Like some sort of shady stuff or whatever.

So yeah, so we get part five here. We get the

the final issue of the last room and Do you realize

what this is? The crucial piece of evidence we

were looking for? The clue which will lead us

to the heart of the evil ninja empire? Not even

better! It's a place where we can get some pizza!

Right on! Okay, I'll head up there and check

it out. No, no, April. It's too dangerous. You

wouldn't last five minutes in a ninja pizza parlor.

I love saying lines like that. We'd better go

with you, April. That's right. And besides, we're

hungry! Alright, so before we get too far into

part five, folks, we're gonna go to a quick ad

break, and we will be right back right after

this. I'd like to invite you all in, but, uh,

I really don't have anything to offer you guys

except for a frozen pizza. Let's go for it! Hello

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no they won't no they probably won't all right

we are back The last Ronin issue five. Holy crap.

We're there. We're there. And I wish I'd have

picked up this retailer incentive cover, because

even the regular cover looks a lot like one of

the Dark Knight issues. Yep. But then they actually

did, and a Dark Knight homage cover. Eastman

did that with the blue lightning bolt and the

characters and silhouette, which. Solidifies

that thing that I should have noticed from the

beginning that this was totally Stylistically

inspired by thematically inspired by Dark Knight.

Yep, Frank Miller I mean that they got the car

and everything. I mean, yes, you're right. You're

oh jeez It's not even thinly veiled. No, I mean

like like I've read the first issue the there's

a little turtle in there that says Thank You

Jack Kirby and Frank Miller Like Frank Miller

Premiere inspiration for this. Yep. Absolutely,

which is awesome. That's so cool Yeah, and again

you can have you know inspired by but this is

a holy Turtles story. It's a it's a turtles.

It's it's a dark turtle returns Story or whatever

you know, whatever so we start out with you know

I think I was only ever in this room once when

father was still alive looks exactly the same

Whatever Don how much longer you gonna just sit

there Mikey until I'm done. That's how long stop

talking So this whole scene is Just Mikey being

fed up with his brothers They're trying to give

him advice but they keep saying the same old

same old to him and And you guys sure like you

happen more than you do listening and I'm getting

sick and tired of repeating myself I want you

all to stop talking now As he gets all his gear

on Right, you'd be lost without us. No, no, I

wouldn't it's worse now than When you were alive

constantly telling me what to do And what do

I have to show for it? all your orders and knowledge,

this. This is all that's left. He shows them

the leftover weapon bits. Weapon bits in the

book. Too many innocents getting hurt. Yep. So

we are now at the beginning parts of this final

battle. No, it's an important thing as he leaves

to note that he leaves the journal behind after

writing in the last page Uh -huh So it was it

so wait a minute, but this is the This is the

now right? This isn't a flashback. Yep. So it

already had no piece in it, right? Yep So then

do we ever see what he writes yep, okay I It's

been a while folks. So But yeah, we get down

to the down to the street level down to the rock

bottom where Casey is Giving orders and Casey

we just got word The power outage is causing

flooding in the sewers. Oh no the layer We get

to her Oto. What do you mean? You still can't

reach stop when you're dead Master I I silence

Yep, and yeah, I was right every costume change

that her Oto does it's an homage to every single

shredder design over the years because whatever

this one is this black and purple look this doesn't

look like movie shredder because We should have

had a cape still Unless it well, I guess technically

it could be homaging the end of it where he took

the cape off because I recognize that It's kind

of like raff in 87. I recognize that water used

chewing gum anywhere. I recognize that shoulder

pad anyway, it doesn't have blades on it, but

You know, maybe it's a skin suit for what he

starts wearing later. That's true And he says,

and bring me my armor. I'm going to hunt and

kill a mutant. I love this. This look of Mikey

just standing there looking at the tower. That

is so cool. So Casey gets back down to the sewers

to try to find April. The sewers are flooding.

She's looking, looking, and April's trying to

get the stuff to work and everything. This is

where we get the explosion of Casey's emotions

because, what, hey, no, we didn't even say goodbye.

He didn't even say goodbye to me. He went to

ask him to help with the pump, and he was already

gone. Dammit. Casey Marie Jones, stop it. You'll

hurt yourself. Will I? Will I really, Mom? I

know I'm different. I'm a mutant! Us? Look, long

before I met the turtles, long before you were

born, this war was happening. And they trained

their entire lives to end it. Yep, we get back

to the tower. And we get a nice little... He's

just marching through all of these foot soldiers.

They might have been well trained, but they got

lazy with all those robots around. It's like

leaving a Raphael -shaped wake behind him. Pretty

much, yeah. Yep, yep, yep using the katana time

to get up close and personal Hold on crows attacking

on command something is not right here more synthetics

So he destroys all the birds And more robots

and this wing for I'm gonna say wing thing, but

I swear that thing where the page where he says

that hurt Where where is dead? Where'd you go?

I Swear that was willing nut, but it isn't wing

nut. It's a different it's a Different robot

thing. That's a another one of the robot things

there and these robots aren't a separate power

Yes, it says that they yep Another hit and I'm

dead. Need something big. Oh man, I love this.

So we get to... We get to the top of the tower

as we're in a video game here. All I know is

this has been a long time coming and all you

need to know is I'm the one who's gonna finish

it. The last of the Oroko bloodline ends tonight.

You. And your mother says the worthless Ronin

who couldn't save his own master. Oh boy. He's

monologuing like a good Rokusaki does. Yup. Monologuing

and transforming because here is... Let us begin

the end and this is the 2003 Shredder. This whole

liquid metal suit looks so much like when 2003

Shredder super upgrades at some point in the

series. Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Oh, and then I'm

enjoying that full splash page. Yeah, that battle

is amazing. And then we get back to Casey and

She's watching the battle. Comms are coming back

online, and my mom's still nowhere. Okay, just

keep trying. This, this is gonna hurt. Oh boy.

Falling, falling to their doom. But they're still

alive. Yeah, if that's not a I mean, I know this

isn't the the dark night thing But when I saw

the this this is gonna hurt panel with them like

oh, that's very dark night No lightning, but

very dark room. Mm -hmm So they crash into the

water tank and nothing broken. I think at least

nothing important Your heads long gone, dude,

uh -huh. Yeah There What's this? A scratch? And

I've only recently had this polished. So Mikey

notices that it's a nanotech suit thing and he

has to keep at it and at it and at it until he

can find another opening. And I love his monologue

as he goes through here. That fall did more damage

than I thought it did. I'm practically moving

at half speed and he knows it. He's taking full

advantage. Yeah, Mikey's getting beat up. I love

it, but a gift from Raphael. Yeah, he uses a

grenade of some sort to take the armor off his

hand. You know stabs him with the side through

his hand. Yep Yep, yep, you're on hello ground

now chump and your fancy armors busted Fine I

yield you win. No, no, he doesn't know There

is no winner lose today only an end you're right

This is an ending mutant. Stupid cocky fool.

Yours. Oldest trick in the book. And I fell for

it. Need to regroup. And Donatello's bow staff

gives him that space and Casey goes to save her

mom because her mom's underwater. Oh, yep. They're

trying to fix the pump to keep the sewer from

Yep. Flooding. Oh, that's awesome there. That's

where the fight ends up after they've fallen

off the building there in the sewers in the water

fighting now. Yep. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Once

they get the April and Casey get the the pumps

flowing and so then their fight. interrupted

by the rush of water and it sweeps them out of

the underground. The water takes them and we

get out to wherever it is there now. It dumps

them out into the reservoir, whichever river

in New York it is. There's a bio -duct here.

Head spinning guts leaking can barely stand You

will not survive this mutant I cannot be defeated

he's right this whole thing's been one way a

one -way ticket So he's finally getting a one

-up on him, yep Yep, yep and Hiroto's dead, Mikey's...

Barely pulling himself out of the water. Yeah.

Okay, this is just me, folks, and I'm sorry,

but, and it works, like, I'm not complaining

about the writing, but when Mikey pops up, heh,

some god. All I can hear in my head is Hulk,

puny god. Puny god. That's all I can hear in

my head. I'm here, Sensei. It's me, Casey. No,

no, you're not leaving. I can't. I brought the

journal, see? Oh, boy. Yeah, this breaks my heart

here that he never got to trainer. Yeah. Not

directly. And see, the journal, what he wrote.

I see it. Yep. He just changed it. From no to

no. Now he K -N -O -W's piece. Yep. No piece.

And that's a lesson to Casey. Yep. Absolutely.

Oh, Mikey. Goodbye, my sweet friend. And then

we get that EKG callback from earlier in the

book going flat line. Mikey, wake up already,

geez. Damn it. And here's a nice, you know, another

testament to Ben Bishop and what he's done with

the turtles is we have this kind of afterlife

sequence with these turtles who look younger.

These aren't the same old fart turtles. No, these

are classic. And Ben's always been able to differentiate

the turtles really, really well. Even when they're

in a basic costume like this. This is them at

their prime. They're living their best afterlife.

Yep, yep. Yeah, it does. Smells like home. But

that's not... I mean, that's the... That's Mikey's

end. That's Mikey's end. Yeah, but we get to

the epilogue and Casey And she just keeps training

and training I'll keep training and keep learning

and I'll keep getting better sensei. I won't

let you down We see her in April She's wearing

the yellow number five shirt from 2012, you know

Very cool, very cool. And they are growing turtles.

Yep, because of course April had to fart around

with that mutagen. Of course she did. Oh, yep,

there's a TCR eye canister in the background.

Yes, there is. She's baking turtles. Which means

that, yes, Mikey's end, but this is to be continued.

Which, Brings us to TMNT to TMNT the last ronin

to re evolution or re Revolution or whatever

whatever the subtitle is for there is a second

book folks It is out. The first issue is out

now as you're hearing my voice, but we are waiting

I'm sure Joe will read it to read it as issues

come out I am waiting because I just love reading

it in trade. There's something that came out

before this That was still last ronin themed

and I don't No, we're in the lost years. Yes

lost years Yeah, so we will have to cover that

at some point because I think the lost years

is either the if I again I'm not looking it up

folks, but if it's either the making of or it's

The stuff that we've wanted this entire podcast

episode that we didn't get in this trade Yeah,

I read an issue or two of it a while back and

it was covering what Michelangelo was doing on

his kind of self -imposed exile because he tries

to leave the fight right after everybody's gone

and The fights come and find him and he is he

has it. Yeah, that's it. Okay, and yeah So I'm

sure later in the year this year We will have

I will make room for the lab for the lost years

at some point once I actually get it And then

we will just be waiting until last ronin 2 gets

collected whenever that is but covers the first

cover I have here is the last ronin done by Eastman

with colors by Brittany what's the name there?

Brittany Pazilla So there's that one. There's

one done by Mateus Santolucu, which is nice.

That is really cool. Love seeing Mateus's art.

Esau and Isaac Accorza did a cover for it. I

think my favorite cover, and I'm pretty sure

looking at all of these, probably the cover that's

going to be the podcast art is the one that's

done by Sophie with him in the shadows pulling

out the sword. That's good. In the back of issue

one, there's a page with 40 covers in it. I'm

trying to look at those one by one. Ben Harvey,

Sean Anderson, Stan Yack, Ben Bishop, Freddie

Williams, Francesco Matina. There's just endless,

endless. So many covers. There it is. Nope, that's

Scott McFarland. I thought that was the Sophie

cover you're talking about. No, the Sophie cover

is basically all it's it's um It's all black

black with a little bit of white on his leg But

it's him in it's him in shadow pulling the katana.

It's Yep, I need to find all my variants of this

too because I was buying quite a few When I saw

them. Oh, nope here. Okay, not 40 60 Five, 65

different covers. Wow. On this page, that's why,

yep, there's Sophie's. Damn. That's crazy good.

Yeah, folks, team and team the last round and

this was amazing. This was awesome. Yeah, and

better. It's always better the second time around.

It's interesting how it's almost like nobody

listens to music. Like they did in the old days

where it was a social thing You'd invite people

over and you'd put the record on and you'd listen

to the whole thing front to back together Yeah,

and I think I get so much more out of these comics

reading it during the podcast than I ever did

even reading it on my own and I kind of makes

me think man everybody Casual readers should

read these things socially May not even like

read it Separate in separate rooms and separate

locations then come together and talk about it

like no, no, no You got to read it page by page

together. It's yeah such a different experience

Yeah reading reading groups and reading Reading

meetups and all that kind of good stuff. But

yeah and There isn't anything in this that I

don't like there isn't a single thing there the

art is amazing the writing is the store The story

just is so intense, and for this to be a 32 -year

story in the making at the time, I think it was

32, whatever, whatever it is, like 35, whatever

it is. But we are at now, as we're recording

this, at 40 years since that TMNT number one

debuted. Any final thoughts from you before I

read the afterword from Mr. Eastman? Nope. It's

brilliant. It was as good as they said it was.

Yep, absolutely. So in March of 2022, Kevin Eastman

wrote this afterward for the trade here. I remember

peeling the wallpaper of the tiny living room

at 28 Union Street in Dover, New Hampshire as

Peter Laird and I took turns filling the last

black square of an organizational chart that

represented the workflow of Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles issue one. It was now late spring and

the 40 pages of story that we created, wrote

and drew together were completed and we couldn't

have been more thrilled. It was the longest story

either of us had ever produced and good, bad

or ugly, it was all ours. With Altless Wet Equity

coupled with a $1 ,200 loan from my very supportive

uncle Quentin Eastman, the final product was

sent off to a local printer. If we were in luck,

we'd get it back just in time for a local comic

convention our friend Ralph DiBernardo was hosting

over in Portsmouth. The stars aligned and everything

arrived in time and on May 5, 1984, we unleashed

our creation. on an unsuspecting public that

was 38 years ago so at the time of the collected

edition yeah 38 years and we are now at 40. We

had produced the story with the beginning middle

and end and origin story leaving the door open

for more but we never planned a second issue

the public however had other plans for us. By

1987 the dream had more than come true we were

drawing comics full -time following in the footsteps

of the creative heroes that inspired us. and

the things that couldn't have been any, and things

couldn't have been any better. As we built out

our character's universe, we wondered how long

this would all last. We had our beginning, lots

of outrageous adventures, but what would the

end look like for our creations? Their final

story? Question mark. What if we looked 30 years

into the future and explored a story set then?

So we wrote it down, but this time our characters

had other plans for us. 32 years later, and in

the year 2018, the time to re -explore that idea

had arrived. The extremely gifted writer Tom

Waltz with an incredible army of talented artisans

was heading toward wrapping up 10 years and 100

issues of the IDW TMNT universe, and Tom and

I had the same conversation Peter and I had all

those years ago. Where does it go from here?

That original draft was dusted off and the idea

of the last drone had began to take shape. The

approach was completely organic like the old

days when Peter and I worked together. The final

story steadily evolved throughout the years of

rewrites, designs, and layouts including tweaking,

dialogue, the night before it went to press in

order to make it perfect. It is one of the most

challenging projects I have ever worked on and

one of the most rewarding. Thanks doesn't say

enough, Tom. Besides the brilliant Tom Waltz,

series artists Esau and Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop

topped it off with Clarice Lewis and Tony El

Delgado, our two true dream team without them,

as well as series editor Bobby Kernow and designer

Sean Lay. And the entire IDW and Nickelodeon

cruise, this book would not have been possible.

I would like to dedicate this book to my awesome

co -creator Peter Laird, as we did in 1984 with

issue number one. I would also like to dedicate

the last joining to Jack Kirby and Frank Miller.

The team at T would never have been possible

without you. Also, this one's for Courtney and

Shane with all my love and gratitude for your

support. My heartfelt thanks go out to the fans.

You've given me the greatest job and the greatest

life, and I couldn't have ever imagined I will

continue to try to earn it. Ben Aisman. Wow.

Yep. So as I am a blubbering mess, folks, we're

gonna go to another quick ad break and we're

gonna come back to close the show right after

this. Whoa! And I thought insurance salesmen

were pushy. Hi, welcome to Up Nerd. What is Up

Nerd? Up Nerd is a podcasting network of shows

hosted by me, The Uneven Flow. People have told

me I like to talk at them about a pretty wide

range of topics, comics, games, movies, books,

whatever, and now I'll be able to talk at you.

Along with the weekly show will be two bi -weekly

shows. First we have Fine You Pick, a show where

one host picks a movie, then both hosts have

to watch it. Then the next episode, the other

host picks the movie. Each show will have a breakdown

of why it is that movie was picked by that host,

after which will be a discussion about what it

is we just watched lastly we have the show top

three bottom three similarly to fine you pick

one host picks a television series and the next

week the pick alternates to the other host here

the episodes of the show are chosen by the top

three episodes and the bottom three episodes

as rated on imvb .com Yes, this is probably the

worst way to watch and review a television show,

and yes, that's the idea. On our shows, I'll

detail out how you can suggest things for us

to watch, you can reach out and talk with the

hosts, and maybe even appear on an episode. I

hope you'll join me for this exciting new podcast

adventure. I swear we're gonna make it more than

eight episodes. We are back, folks, and holy

crap. The Last Ronin. Love this story. It was

awesome. It was fun. Five out of five, no matter

what. Yep. Five out of five, and I completely

underestimated it at every turn until I read

it this time. I saw it as... I love IDW. They've

given us the best iteration, but... When they

play the variant cover game and when they do

the reprints, it only reminds me that IDW kind

of rode the turtles hard to survive as a company.

And so sometimes the things that they do feel

like a disingenuous money grab. But every one

of the creators involved loves what they do and

they love creating it for the fans and That's

kind of what I thought the last Ronan was, you

know, hey, here's here's a we're gonna imagine

how many copies we're gonna sell because we're

gonna put Pete Laird's name on the front of the

book and it'll be like they got back together

and Yeah, but the story is great. The art is

great the way they handle The flashbacks is artistic

The story It is just phenomenal and how It parallels

with kind of the real world coming back to where

they all began where the turtles began. It's

poetic and No, it's it's a it's a really good

book. I Mean the cover game and the in the reprint

game if issues sell out and they go to reprint,

that means it's successful and they can continue.

That's why we have a C. I don't think they were

gonna do it, TMNT Last Roman 2, re -evolution

or re -revolution. Again, I'm not looking at

the stuff, folks, to know what the subtitle is,

but I don't think they were gonna do a second

book after whatever, but because of those reprints

and all of that stuff. And you know that that

means hey, it's popular people want it Let's

do more kind of thing and yeah, but yeah fives

all around Like there's nothing in like there's

no and I'm not one to be offended Quote -unquote

offended easily or anything like that. I have

a thicker skin than whatever but There's nothing

in here that usually stories any story in any

medium If there's too much drugs if there's too

much this if there's too much that whatever Sometimes

that'll turn me off or if there's a character

moment that that that Just I don't like or whatever

that might turn me. There is nothing in this

book that turns me off to it and that's the only

reason why I Yeah, I enjoyed every second of

it. So yeah five out of five. Yep Alright folks

coming up for myself and Joe. We've got other

episodes in between all this but We have got

a fully loaded April May and June this year because

in April We will be doing radiant black volume

4 Which is the fourth trade for radiant black

and then radiant pink which is collects the five

issue story for radiant pink In May, we will

get back to the IDW Reborn because we are doing

volumes five and six in May, and then seven and

eight in June. So yeah, that's what's going on

here inside the pull bag for myself and Joe.

As far as the rest of the pull bag, coming up

next, I'm not sure. I have something written

down here, but it only depends on when I can

get it recorded. and all that stuff because the

person is having some Family issues go on so

I don't want to reveal too much about that But

I may need to change the next episode of the

podcast But we will be doing Ryan and I will

be doing Superman Unchained at some point We

will do another origins episode JT from Saskatoon

and I will be doing Batman Beyond Neo Gothic

which is the second story from Colin Kelly, Jackson

Lansing, and that team from Neo Year that they

did a couple years ago. I have written down here,

and we have to get on this and figure this out,

I have written down here that we're going to,

in the future, potentially, hopefully, do an

interview with Rhonda Pattinson. Oh, yes. Pattinson,

I should say. There's no N. Pattinson. Sorry,

Rhonda. He was an awesome Batman and that so

good movie was just too long like he was an awesome

Batman But that movie with three hours is too

long for a single Batman story to me and then

for the rest of your folks, I don't know I have

big plans and I keep saying I have big plans,

but I So if you I'm just gonna pull this up now

while I'm thinking of this if you go to our website

folks geek cast radio comm You will see the very

top of the main page usually has If it'll load

and I will edit this out as I'm saying if it'll

load open damn it open. Yes, I'm ultra Magnus

I'm so glad this is not multi -track recording

because This is gonna be so much easier to edit

with us on all one track. Okay, so if you go

to geekcastrader .com, folks, you go to our main

page, you will see, and the reason why I am not

really waiting, but hesitantly thinking about

this is because the six main things that you

see at the top, the six main posts that you'll

see, you'll see... Right now, three Altered Geeks

and three Studio 2009 episodes, so there's six

of each of those. Over on Altered Geek, we did

streaming services exhaustion, we did Hollywood

Go Home, nobody's watching new stuff, and the

state of video games in 2024. And then for Studio

2009, we're in the middle of our 12 months of

Star Wars series. My buddy Sean and I did Ford

versus Ferrari, and then I've launched The Gamer

Origins, which is 30 questions all about video

games, which I will talk to you about that off

air. So yes, but these six Links these six images

these six whatever they're all the main arts

for the podcasts well If and the reason why I'm

bringing see doing all this and saying all this

is my plan for the pull bag at some point This

year has been to take it daily which means a

lot more recording a lot more editing on my part,

but Yeah, so basically I need different arts

for every episode and it would basically just

take it over So I'm basically probably going

to ask Steve to take the pull bag out of the

featured rotation at the very top of the Main

page and just have it somewhere Closer to the

bottom of the main page if I end up going to

daily content I've wanted to do this for 11 years

and I have a somewhat sort of plan of how that's

gonna be done But I don't know yet So that's

what I mean when I say past what Joe and I are

doing and what I've already mentioned that will

be coming out Past June. I do not have a plan

yet, but there will be a plan in place at some

point I'm going to do some written pieces coming

up as well, I think I've got a couple of very

important, not large, but important conventions

coming up and I like to blog sentimentally and

I'll get that content out there so that people

can read it. Should be fun. Hey, just come up

with a title for the thing, whatever you want

to title. Joe goes conning or whatever. I don't

know. I'm not thinking of whatever just come

up with the title for it I'll just post it on

the website. Yep. Cool. That's fine. It's no

problem with me. Hey written contents always

great content. So That's what's going on folks

Anything else we want to bring up? I'm definitely

doing a geek sale this fall, but that's a long

way out Yeah, this is March. Yeah, sometime.

I think last time I asked you about Geek Stuff

Grouch Sale, you said sometime September. September,

yep. Yep, that's usually our plan. Yep, yep.

All right, folks, I think that's going to do

it. Thank you for joining us here inside the

pullback. If you'd like to get in contact with

us, we'll leave feedback for the show. There

are several ways to do so. Visit the website,

geekcastradio .com, where you can listen to and

comment on all of our content. Send us email

to feedback at geekcastradio .com. You can check

us out on any of the podcasting clients you choose

to use. I prefer Spotify, but that's just me.

We are on Twix or X or Twitter or whatever the

hell it's called now, at GeekCast Radio for the

show, or for the network, at the pull bag for

the show. I am at TF2 and Mike. You can check

us out on Facebook. Go to facebook .com slash

geekcastradio .net. We also check out the pull

bag as well as the geek stuff garage sale. As

well, join us next time when we will be talking

about some sort of comic. I don't know what we're

doing yet because I don't want to make a plan

and then the plan goes awry. So for now, I am

TF2 and Mike with Joe Reed. As always, make your

greatest game in the comics and we will catch

you next time. Bye bye. Tonight I dine on turtle

soup. You've just heard the latest episode of

The Pullback. The GCRN's first comic review and

discussion podcast. There are several ways to

get in touch with us and leave feedback for the

show. You can visit the website geekcastradio

.com where you can comment on the episode and

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So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you. Frisbee.

Also cool. Who frisbeed me in the face? I'm outta

here.