IDW TMNT: April and Fugitoid Stories, plus Krang War

Hey guys, Raphael here of the Teenage Mutant

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Back Issue Classics. Join us as we talk about

comics from yesteryear. From DC, Marvel and more.

So open your ears to hear our discussion. the

older continuity's as the back issue classics

are also what's in the pull bag Hello and welcome

to the pull bag This is yet again one of those

back issue classics episodes, and I know everyone's

kind of like probably done with this podcast

after may considering i released third teen podcast

celebrating the seven -year anniversary of batman

promise is that will never happen again that's

too much work on my end actually uh... i am your

host issue mike and joining me is jory delos

hello how are you i'm tired uh... yeah very very

good working that hard for a bad man Yeah, I

know, right. 75 years, ugh. Alright, so we are

here once again to go back into the sewers and

maybe even to other dimensions because we are

here to talk about Micro Series Volume 2 Part

2 here in the pull bag, which is April and Fugitoid

Stories, plus Volume 5, which is Crang War. Yay.

Yay First up we're gonna tackle the two Single

stories not really single stories, but the two

micro series stories of April and fugitoid Since

you have to read those before you can read Crang

War apparently This reading water really sucks

when collecting it in trade So April the cover

that I have in the trade at least in the order

of the in the order of the book has um april

sitting next to her the front of her van with

the turtles inside and she's got mutagen in her

hand it's a nice cover yeah another one by david

peterson of mouse guard fame i i like his uh

his take on them although whenever there's not

a human in the picture everything he draws looks

like it's the size of a mouse like there's just

that much hatching and detail work that Well,

everything looks so small. I don't know how he

does it with just line like that, but you know

and We open with some April looking like a turtle

with an orange. Why is Mikey wearing a red wig?

Well, I look at that with the girl looking turtle

and I thought Venus de Milo no Don't say that

name It's a nice little nod to Venus though,

I guess Because April is is dreaming and she

says no more pizza at bedtime She goes on to

say strange dream like my reality isn't I like

the art in this it's the turtles here are they're

Would you say they're more animated than they

were in previous stuff that we've covered? Yeah,

there's less hatching and I'm looking at their

anatomy thinking they don't look giant, muscle

-bound. They're tinier, skinnier, and I like

that. They don't look like they're ten feet tall

in April faint at the sight of... It's just a

mask, it's just a mask, okay? Oh god, I wish

it were! so we go to the fact that either she's

she picking them up or what is she doing because

it says on the first page you know what a strange

strange dream strange you know strange reality

and all of a sudden she's in the van and the

turtles are in the van so how did the time progress

there that makes I don't know whatever yeah and

I can't even not entirely sure what she's doing

with them. I think she's taking them to stock

gen labs where she's still working and they're

going to sneak in and get information. But then

she gets in and goes in and starts poking around

like she like she would like she owns the place.

I like that. There's a lot of I don't know if

there's a lot of 80s nods in this, but I love

the 80s nod on this page. The fact that Donnie's

trying to figure out the Rubik's Cube. Because

Rubik's Cubes are not something you see children

growing with today. They make electronic ones

now where you push buttons on them and then if

they're just glowing lights that move around

it doesn't actually move. That is so lazy! Oh

my god, what culture are we living in where I

don't get me wrong. I am I'm a lazy person, but

even I Would get get a real Rubik's Cube. Oh

my god see April goes to goes to stock in And

I love her narration she's basically oh don't

mind me just a regular employee work with you

every day, etc, etc, etc It's surprised, see,

I didn't think she was still working for it.

I must have missed something, or I must have

forgot something between what we're doing right

now and what we've done previously, because I

thought she didn't work for Stock Jan anymore.

I think she just, I think, well, she's an intern,

so I think she can kind of take time off and

they don't really notice, but I, you know, maybe

it's just one of those things that happened in

the background of the comic book. Through comic

book magic, we are just to assume that... She

had still been going to work or something like

that On this pager she's walking around the office

Being a fan of the old Archie series growing

up watching that I immediately recognized Where

this was going when she was in that fish tank

or in the turtles old tank and she picked up

the little plastic palm tree because that was

a symbol for Who shows up at the end of this

book But it's a nice nod, and I absolutely adore

how this series continually picks up from every

single turtle verse. It pulls from a little bit

from here and a little bit from there, and here

we have a nod to the Archie series. Not the turtles

at their best necessarily, but they still pay

homage to it and give respect to the cool parts

and where this goes. So April meets up with Chet.

Now, I gotta say, when we first met Chet way

back when, I thought he was gonna turn into a

John Glover -acted role in Batman Forever. Or

not Batman Forever, Batman and Robin. He was,

um... Jason he was the scientist that that Pamela

Isley killed in the beginning of the movie I

know everyone wants to forget Batman and Robin,

but I did forget so I have no idea what you're

talking about. Yeah Well anyway John Glover plays

this guy this demented scientist in the movie

and I swear the first time I saw Chet way back

when I was like hey Because to this point and

up until what is revealed about Chet I had Zero

interest in this character And I think that that's

almost point really So April, you know, basically

she pulls a few blonde moments even though she's

a redhead and she spills, you know gets him to

spill his coffee and trying to find out all these

secrets and everything else and he He then oh

what happens here All the lights get turned out

and we see this stock gen stuff these different

vials and can not canisters with different vats

and Everything else and summer successes summer

failures And she says I'm sure you didn't mean

for that to happen No one's blaming you I can

help you clean it up Everybody out you can come

back when we give the all -clear So we go is

it just me or is April drawn differently Yeah,

this is a different artist on the inside Right,

not the April from Well, not the artist from

our usual Yeah from the ongoing but see here's

the thing Yeah, here's the thing though this

I Mean like this artist is drawing like it seems

to me like between the the panels where she makes

Chet spill his coffee and all that stuff To the

panels coming up with the turtles it looks like

the artist did a completely different design

because she looks slightly more I Don't want

to say adult in the Ron Jeremy kind of way, but

she I don't know her face just looks It looks

completely different on this page where she's

she's sitting around with the turtles and the

turtles themselves also look different here.

I Don't know. It's just weird I Had maybe it's

just up to the artist having put too much time

between two different pages Yeah, Marley Zarcone

the artist is it's a lady artist which we haven't

seen Yet, that's interesting and cool Mm -hmm

So they're based. She's basically telling them

what happened at that stock gen You know and

Donnie's basically saying I told you I needed

to pay attention that turtle tracker tech I Missed

the old T phones. I missed the 87 T phones. I

always wanted to make one of those I wish they

actually had I mean hell if they can make friggin

Talkboy from Home Alone 2 that could have made

a t -phone You know the turtle comes from the

80s cartoon yeah, I think the the ones from the

Four kids version are called the t -phone and

they're like more like a cell phone The the ones

in the 80s it was like a shell, but the shell

yeah split apart vertically And the screen was

in the middle. God, I've always wanted one of

those as a kid. I had one of my mom's ring boxes,

one of those snap -closed jewelry, little fabric

things that I made a turtle come out of. It was

very cheesy. Yeah, the only reason why I say

a T -phone is because that's what Mikey names

everything now in the new series. The whole time

she's explaining what's going on. what she did

that day for the turtles. We're getting these

snippets of a three -fingered hand hitting the

side of one of those vats that shorted out when

she spilled the coffee. And now we have eyes

opening behind the label of StockGen and those

vats. So whatever is going on at the apartment,

over at the labs, this thing is waking up. Yep.

And we then... Oh no, yeah, so we go back to

the labs and she's... Is she attempting to sneak

in again? It looks like she's sneaking in again,

yeah. Oh, that's... Okay then, so she sneaks

in again. She has a stolen pass, so I think she

has a higher clearance, which is why she's sneaking

in. Right, yeah, and one of these stone soldiers

catches her. And sets off the alarm which is

like she doesn't even bat an eye when she walks

in and sees a rock soldier there Really does

when has she ever seen one of those? Yeah She

said her her monologue says I revised my earlier

assessment My name is now totally screwed No

stone gun, maybe he thinks I bolted for the exit.

Where am I? what is this? so she finds all these

vials of mutagen and everything else and the

stone soldier catches up to her says I told you

to halt I love how the writing is in this I love

how her monologue is like her internal monologue

that's so It's an interesting way to further

her character without having her needing to interact

with the turtles to tell part of her story. I

really do like that. The art is slowly growing

on me with this one. I mean, I like it overall,

but it's slowly getting better page by page.

On the bottom of the page where she squirts the

foot soldier with The the gas on a whatever that

was there's the picture below that where her

foot is up in the air There's a hole in her heel

and it looks suspiciously like an action figure

peg hole. I wonder if that was deliberate Yeah,

probably I Don't think I don't think playmates

has done comic or IDW figures, you know, I don't

know I don't see why they wouldn't because Okay,

sure, you've got the Nickelodeon line, but I

mean, hell, if the IDW Transformers comic characters

can have Transformers figures, and I know it's

two completely different companies, but... Oh,

that wasn't April. Okay, I was gonna say her

hand would be really hurting right about now.

But that wasn't able to punch the stone. The

stone warrior. That's our new friend there. Should

we just go ahead and say it? It's probably Slash.

It's Slash. Apparently grew up in that little

tank too and loves his little palm tree. Great

nod to the Archie series. Oh, yeah, I don't I

am flipping to the last page here I don't like

her her take on slash. I think the the one that

we get to see Actually, did we we read that you

and I with yeah, didn't we? Yeah, I like that

look but he's What 12 feet tall and gigantic

and evil -looking? Yeah, and it doesn't help

here with No, no the art on slash here. He's

not as menacing He's basically if you took Leo

Raff and Donnie and stacked them all together

and gave him pointy teeth and spikes Yeah He's

not No the design on slash here kind of stinks

But so a the final part of it is what I do now

is What I do now is who's going to be there to

stop them for talking humanoid tort turtles and

a hockey player with issues and me I do love

the alternate cover though the art by Marley

Zarcon her alternate cover It's April Holding

a stock -gen vile or canister and slashes looking

through a hole in the thing I really do like

that. It looks like he's wearing a hoodie in

that, so I'm not entirely sure. No, that's part

of the hole in the wall. I think. Yeah, that's

part of the hole in the wall and he is just in...

Oh, you mean the line around him? The line that's

to the right of his face. Yeah, no, I don't think

that's a hoodie because I think that's part of

the... The ripped wall there and the one I'm

looking at here is it's an inch tall. So it's

kind of All right Overall, I like the April story.

It's it's interesting. It's nice to see her out

on her own I mean sure the turtles were there

and I don't think Casey was was he not in this

one? No, I don't remember obviously she mentions

him and talks about him, but I don't remember

seeing him here so Overall, I like the April

issue. I thought it was pretty good. Moving on

to the fugitoid. The first cover I have is basically

the fugitoy being a Metal Gear Solid soldier

with his little question mark or exclamation

point I swear every time I see any character

doesn't matter what franchise it is anytime I

see a question mark or an exclamation point like

that the first thing I think of is Metal Gear

Solid And his story starts I've always thought

of myself as a good man, a man who knows how

to do the right thing. But it's easy to do the

right thing when evil is an abstract notion,

when courage and sacrifice are theoretical concepts.

Over the past two years, I've seen more evil

than I could have ever imagined. It's become

a part of my daily existence. I like the designs

on the Fugitoid here. I think they're really

cool. He's always been a character that's somewhat

interested me. The only time I've really seen

him is the 2003 series. And I never saw that

one. You've never seen the 03 series? I've seen

the first season of it and then it disappeared.

from my consciousness, don't know why, and I

started, I don't know, I streamed it somewhere,

episode one, and it was like, eh, it's okay,

it probably needs to take off a bit, but as I've

been reading, I just finished reading the entire

Mirage run, and in the letters column, Peter

Laird's constantly talking about how he is helping,

assisting, writing, producing the cartoon, the...

the four kids cartoon and and so i all hearing

him talk about all that it's like man a lot of

love went into those episodes i really need to

check that out and interesting with the volume

three volume four i think they call it they numbered

it weird the fugitoid is a huge character in

the ninja turtles uh mythos in the actual old

mirage run ridiculously important guy so it's

kind of i haven't actually read this since i

read some of those last issues but And his story

continues where it starts off two years ago.

He says, I've been a scientist my entire life

who used to bring me such joy. His name is Dr.

Honeycutt. And he's working on several different

experiments. He's mostly working on an experiment

to transfer his brain into a robot body. Wow,

I'm getting flashes of Transformers G1 episode

only human. Oh my god And He is working for crying,

you know general crying at this point And he

was actually human he did have a family And they

basically they want him to do stuff he's not

comfortable with doing pretty much we should

be Careful with the human thing, because I think

with the pointy ears there, he's a neutrino.

Okay, he's a neutrino. Or wait, what do they

call... Oh, they call him something different

in... But I think he's a neutrino, yeah? Yeah,

I think so. He's not a robot. He's not a robot.

Yeah. He's Vulcan, that's what he is. Yeah, they're

Vulcan. That's exactly what he looks like. He

looks like Evil Spock. Good luck getting that

out of your head now His wife basically wants

him to tell his son about what's going on and

what he's had to do as They're standing over

the construction of what looks a whole lot like

a techno drone back there yeah that's that's

why the krang well not the god i'm pulling into

the 2012 surface people that's why general krang

needs him he's he's having him build this humongous

techno drone that's no moon oh god you had to

go there You know when the turtles eventually

see it that that's gonna be the joke at least

I hope it is So we have An accident that happens

and Basically he decides to not work for Crang

and he goes off and does his own thing and but

Crang finds him and Ends up destroying him and

he says In the command center, which is that

way that I'm going that way those flames will

kill you You won't survive not in this body as

soon as I read that line. I'm like, oh hell.

That's how he ends up being the robot. Yep very

similar to the fugitoid in the Mirage series

he was a Well, a humanoid thing that put himself

in the robot body and then got trapped there

because his base or home got destroyed by...

And that one is the Triceratons, but... Oh, okay.

So very similar. I think it ends up being a shape

-shifting robot or he can... He's basically...

Yeah, he's basically like friggin' Zeta from

the Zeta Project. Gosh, you've name -dropped

three things that I need to go watch tonight.

No, you do not need to go watch the Zeta Project.

No. If you want to learn about Zeta, all you've

got to do is watch the Batman Beyond episode,

Zeta. You do not need to watch that series. It

is so bad. I mean, you want to talk about bad

cartoons. That is one of the number one bad cartoons.

honeycutt uh... his family is stuck the door

won't open uh... he's finding the uh... he's

finding the uh... the override goes he's like

that does it does that do it and i think that

at that point after i read that line i'm like

okay that's where eventually he's going to get

his speech impediments because he has a severe

speech impediments so his family doesn't the

rock soldiers show up screw everything up his

family doesn't end up surviving you know he could

he can only just stand there while his family

basically dies and he does that he decides to

survive and he goes through a portal and ends

up with the neutrinos. And then one of them is

saying, are you fellas promoting a movie? Look

at the costumes. Wow. I'm still really digging

the art in this. I love the reds, the blues,

the gold of the fugitoid, the backgrounds, the

people. All the neutrinos here look great. There's

a really nice purple and yellow color palette

on the next page. That's Quite nice Yeah, there

is very much so Hey talking to you is maybe pay

attention to the colors slightly more on purpose.

I you know Like I told you last time when we

did volume four When I sit down to read these

to know what the story is before we record the

episodes Read it for the story and then as we

go through it I then make my assessments of the

art as I go through it because I already know

the story So we get to the fact of 18 months

ago and General Crang is basically Performing

Baxter about the fugitoid And we see Chet in

the background. I love Baxter's line though.

I really dislike that man. Talking about crying.

So that's the origin of the word fugitoid. That's

not his name. I mean it was in the 80s cartoon,

but he's a... fugitive Android so they that's

like a contraction but his name is Professor

Honeycutt and he is the fugitoid which I think

the the old the old comic the the old fugitoid

one -shot made that clear and none of us ever

knew that growing up I had that fugitoid toy

he was a cool one the chest opened up and the

little red things plugged into it and he had

all those claws and guns that strapped to him

Wow. So we, where do we go from here? Oh yeah,

while we're talking about Fugitoid and the old

design, there is on the miragelicensing .com

website, you can for 15 bucks order a Fugitoid.

little statue it's about the size of an action

figure totally chrome silver and when you buy

it it's autographed Peter Laird and I think it

comes with an autographed comic of some sort

as well as a freebie but I think it's 15 bucks

shipped and and totally awesome so have you bought

it yet? oh of course I did I bought that a long

time ago so we get the his exchange between Chet

and Baxter and we go to the present day and he's

basically running around he's trying to find

um he says that i realized my robot body wasn't

a curse not not as long as honey um not at all

as honey cut i couldn't get near krang or anyone

he knows but in this body and it goes um hi my

name is chet Chet Allen, he's expecting me and

it's really interesting and then we get to the

fact of where he injects splinter in the turtles

and he's talking in his speech impediment because

his vocal box I guess was damaged in the explosion

so there is that You know, he says my wife was

right fighting evil is never easy painful and

ugly sometimes you have to make compromises Okay,

that is Leo. Where is he? Where is the rat? Because

this takes place when splinter was kidnapped,

right? It's a it's a flashback. So it takes all

of it takes place whenever they need it to yeah

find splinter, you know And then we see Him with

the foots like I wasn't expecting this last page.

I honestly wasn't We see him with the foot soldiers

and shredder and he says this isn't the right

thing to do isn't it? And it and yeah going going

to the foot clan to help bring down the crane

Yeah I think that's going to lead to putting

the two bosom buddies together eventually oh

boy I don't think it's happened yet. No And then

we have The alternate cover which is just the

fugitoid with a black and green background kind

of a spotlight the trade has some interesting

stuff after that it has Splinter designs by Charles

Paul Wilson the third Two full pages of that

it has Casey and April with sketches and samples,

and the last page is a Fugitoid concept art by

Paul McCaffrey. I'm jealous! Overall, you know,

the April and the Fugitoid stories are really

great setting up those characters. April, because

of... the artist and constantly changing at least

to me constantly changing how the way April looks

throughout the book and the fact that Slash just

doesn't look how he should look he doesn't like

when we see him full on it's like oh you're not

menacing at all you know you're just a big dumb

giant come on now I'm gonna give April Probably

four out of five, which is I think really liked

it What about you for April final thoughts? Oh

that breaks my heart with your really like it

being before Because that means I probably should

give it a three because it's I it's a necessary

read But it's it just doesn't I don't know ring

like the other series do I think it's important

because it's it's a it's an important story that

ties up so many other things in all of the books

so you need to read it yeah but it's not it's

not special it's it's not special no I mean I

could probably go down to a three and a half

which is liked it and three is basically barely

passing three is okay three and a half then yeah

I didn't know half score is there Yeah, yeah,

yeah. Yeah, I can deal with three and a half.

The art just, the designs, the constant change

just wasn't. I didn't notice the constant change,

but I do like how human April looks in that.

It's not like cartoony. Yeah. And I think that

just comes from, well, you know, I hate to sound

sexist, but it comes, I think, from the female

artist. Being more familiar with that than when

I try to draw women, it just doesn't work. It's

because that's not what I usually draw. I don't

have the practice at it, but she's good at it.

And thankfully, I didn't notice the inconsistency.

And I don't mind her turtles because I would

rather see the turtles look like skinny teenagers

who are exceedingly flexible and athletic, not

built Arnold Schwarzenegger's with shells. I'll

be back I can't even do an Arnold Schwarzenegger

saying cowabunga For fugitoid I don't want to

give it a perfect it's not a bad book It's not

a bad story I like seeing his I like seeing this

I think what's great about it with the writing

is his struggle to Do the, you know, trying to

figure out what the right thing is to do or who

the right people are to go to. Um, so I like

that. I'll give it another three and a half.

I agree. I liked it. It was good. There, there,

there weren't too many art issues for me, um,

with that one. So we'll have to see. We're going

to take a quick break. I want to come back and

talk about. Volume 5, Crang War. Roger Dodger!

He must have stopped the Technodrome under the

Global Trade Center. That's one way to get a

parking space. Go back, go! Stop, stop, stop!

We was just starting to have fun. Shut up! You

are Craying Stone Warriors, are you not? Yeah,

so? There is something I must show you. We've

gotta catch those kids! Technetron must be right

under that tower! That subway's the only way

down! Let's do it! Am I seeing things or do we

just get buzzed by a couple of rocket -powered

lowriders? You aren't seeing things. What strange

plan is the Shredder hatching this time? I don't

know, but we better find out. Gun it, Ape! Kids

must be around here somewhere. Craig! They couldn't

have just vanished. Oh, sorry, Lord. Lord Crang!

Don't look at me! My Lord, what has happened

to your body? It's a long story. I lost it when

they banished me to this miserable mud ball.

Those three youths just blasted their way right

out of my technodrome. The neutrinos have eluded

us! Neutrinos? Running loose here on Earth? Suck

it, you imbecile! What did I do? Who are these

neutrinos? a gang of juvenile delinquents from

dimension x they're a threat to everything we

stand for they hate war they refuse to join any

army and what's worse they encourage people to

have fun all right folks Teenage Ninja Turtles

volume 5 Karang War by Eastman and Waltz and

we'll talk about the artists here in a minute

uh the cover on the trade is um very looming

Explosive piece of Krang because it's Krang's

brain spewing out of his chest This model the

the robot body model the face it reminds me and

I can't believe I'm I've made two Metal Gear

references now It reminds me of big boss from

Metal Gear for some reason and when he was in

that giant gray suit In one of the games. Hey,

I don't think I played that one I think it was

in Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty. Yeah,

that's what it was. He looks to me, he looks

like one of those mask -wearing Sith from the

Star Wars animated thing that I haven't watched

all of yet. Yeah. I mean, I like the cover. It's

a cool cover. It just, I don't know, the design

on Krang in this series, on the robot body is

a little strange to me. Now, this is just exclusively

for the trade, so you don't think that, oh my

god, I don't have that. The opening page, the

illustration on the trade is Mikey saving the

princess. Oh, I don't have that either. That

comes inside the book. Night night, Oliver. Sorry.

Sorry Children in podcasting yeah, hey That was

coming to say good night. Um when well about

the crank design I uh I I'm neutral about the

robot body because it's it's crank that I'm interested

in as right here Yeah, but I you know I I thankfully

I'm just not I'm not upset by it, but interesting

point of fact if you're following the Krang character

in the when we first saw Krang first time it

was in the cartoon and But in the comic, in the

Mirage comic, there are all of these things that

aren't named Krang called Utram and their brain

thingies and all of these wonderful things I'm

learning in the letters column to the old Mirage

book. Krang in the animated series was not an

Utram. He's not a species of brain creature.

They say he was actually an evil warlord who

had his brain removed from his body and, you

know, he, to keep himself alive, found these

different ways to do it. This krang in this series

is an utrom and there's more of these brain critters

but the utrom in the old books aren't brains

they're just pink slimy tentacled creatures so

it's not actually a brain when you when you I

suppose if you cut them open you might find something

that actually is a brain inside I don't know

but then then we have the krang krang from the

2012 series where that's like all they say and

what they're called and whatnot which is an interesting

take on it. And as far as the covers, if you

were reading this single issue, you were surprised

completely taken aback by this cover because

it shows who we all know as the hot -rodding

teenagers from Dimension X. And my little brain

is going, no, this is gonna be terrible. Those

characters are stupid. Well, see, here's the

thing. As soon as I read this, I was like, yup,

I gotta go back to the 87 series and capture

the quote where Crane says, neutrinos, and what's

worse, they hate fun. Or they love to have fun,

they hate, oh god. So, this collects issues 17

through 20. The opening credits for the trade,

specifically, It's Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz,

script by Waltz, art by Ben Bates. So another

new artist. I don't mind it since it's like arc

by arc. Yes, thank God. Colors are still by Rhonda

Paterson's letters are still by Sean Lee edits

by done done by Bobby kernel the picture on this

in the trade is basically a very large face shot

of crying screaming red eyes His tongue looks

like it's gonna dart out at you It's like he's

coming at the camera. You know how they do you

know those in -your -face camera shots sometimes

that's what it looks like Now the cover that

I have in the trade it's an orange It's an orange

background cover with Mikey and Leo. Yeah, it's

Mikey and Leo and it says crying war In this

series There is nothing that calls it crying

war which is interesting because I think all

the others did have subtitles the first actual

page that I see is on Planet Neutrino with ships

and ground -to -air missile laser blasters and

It's interesting it really like I was like when

I think of something called crane war I'm thinking

like I Don't know. I wasn't thinking of the utroms

versus the neutrinos. I really wasn't at all

Was really surprised by this story and at the

same time I was kind of taken out of it a little

bit because I'm like Well, we have all this stuff

going on on earth and now you're gonna send them

to dimension X really now is when you're gonna

do this I Don't dislike it. It just I Don't know.

It seems like it's a disconnect from the story

that's going on her on earth And I'm reading

this and kind of thinking the same thing that,

you know, they're doing this and then they're

taking the break. But since I started reading

this, I keep talking it up, I go back and read

the Mirage series. And this entire book is doing

the Mirage run at a slower pace, in more details

of their way to say it. So they... The Turtles

have their first battle with Shredder and find

out his history and then it's only issue five

in Four in fact in the the old book the Turtles

find out who the Utroms are and then get sucked

out to what is essentially Dimension X where

Professor Honeycutt is hanging out and and where

these other alien things are and and so the the

Turtles story goes from Shredder to Mousers to

Space and that's kind of exactly what this book

did only it it took, you know 18 issues to do

it instead of four So it's not surprising me

that this is where the book is going And and

once again, I mean you've kind of alluded to

it already Even though we were dealing with a

really kind of cheesy thing from the 80s cartoon

the neutrinos as a planet -wide species battling

Krang Really is kind of cool and it makes them

neat and it fits them into this world in a way

that doesn't make you feel like a nine -year

-old reading cheesy comics in an adult body,

you know, I guess it Oh Absolutely, it doesn't

work out and the whole time not when I was reading

it but now that I'm looking back on it all as

I can picture is that the king the queen and

the princess it's like King randor queen marlena

and princess adora like prince adam he man is

missing what's going on here like as i'm looking

at this art again it's like oh my god because

this king uh zentir um his when when we first

see him with the with the internal line that's

the yeah the internal line appears our old friend

Krang is no longer satisfied with simple occupation

of our world it looks like there was a Masters

of the universe classics figure that Mattel put

out before they put out the original The real

king randor the the cartoon version of king randor

They put out this king randor that swear to god

dude. It's a double of the burger king And i'm

looking at this thinking i'm looking at this

thinking hey, it's the burger king, but he's

vulcan So we have commander dask and and I like

this that these guys like Love the turn here.

They're not just out to have fun. Don't care

about the war They are all three neutrinos are

in the resistance and It's really really awesome.

Yep. I think that's great So we we go back to

New York City Donnie I believe they're at their

new layer. Yeah, everybody's kind of settling

in and Donnie's fixing the generator and... Donnie's

fixing the generator. Splinter is meditating.

Donnie says, I know exactly where I want to set

up our lab once we get the power up and running.

Splinter's monologue says a well -oiled machine

finely honed components combining to form an

effective hole. When the individual parts function

together as intended, as designed, the result

is pure power. Turtle power? No laughing, alright,

nevermind. No, I got it, I got the joke. But

if the disorder enter the works, then the machine

is at risk for malfunction and for failure. We

see the others. We see Mikey, Raph, and Leo,

and Leo is also meditating. Raph is, you know,

working on his abs, and Mikey, poor Mikey. You

know, people always say that they like Mikey

because he's the party animal, because he doesn't

take anything seriously. Mikey in this, he is

that, but... He's also very, like, he's holding

this note from Woody and it's still tearing his

heart out. Yeah, I like that they've made Mikey

not the funny comic relief party guy, but he's

the turtle with the heart. And I think that's

ridiculously important to grow that character.

Yeah, he was the one who annoyed me growing up

because I didn't relate to that kind of... not

taking anything seriously, so I was annoyed by

him, but making him have heart and actually enjoy

life, I think that's a much more interesting

way to handle him than him just being a comic

relief character. Now, when you read Casey here,

do you hear the old 87 cartoon voice? Do you

hear Elias Kodius? Is there any voice in your

head? when you hear Casey Jones speaking in this

at all? You know, he's probably one of the characters

that I have the clearest voice with, and it would

be kind of 90s movie Elias Codeus. Is that how

to actually say that last name? That just looks

like something I've never said out loud in my

life. I believe it is, yeah. Okay, I trust you.

I hear kind of that, but a little higher pitch.

New York accent, totally. Yeah. Because it's...

I don't know. I like this Casey. I really do.

I think they've really dug into his story and

we've had his whole background to this point

and now we move forward with him being a part

of their family and he goes, you know, Pete's

is here. Casey Jones, your timing is excellent.

Ready to dig in, are you, Master Splinter? When

I read that line, I'm not sure if I hear, you

know... per scrubbing pukes I Just don't know

if you know, I might be hearing the whoops when

he you know at the end of the movie, but yeah

So they all gather around for another family

meeting and I gotta say Ben Bates Does an amazing

rat for splinter? He doesn't look like a dog

here Yeah That vial of mutagen that splinter

is putting into his kimono in that shot that

comes up many many issues later I completely

forgot about it and now that I'm looking at it

and know what happened later because of this

so that thing's important Don't forget that Mike

I Don't even know where he got it, but he got

it from somewhere got it from somewhere So they're

having a meeting and then we cut back to the

planet neutrino The important thing about that

family meeting is that they consider Splinter

considers all of them family The turtles are

his sons and then April and Casey are his adoptive

children I guess you could say is the best term

I could use for it because I'm trying to remember

does April have some I I'm trying to read does

she have somewhere to go or some I know she's

got her own apartment. It's uh, it's not him

Important and I can spoil this but her she's

living in New York going to school here I think

she's from Northampton, Massachusetts her Mom

and dad live up there. Her dad is I kind of Alzheimer's

patient living at home with Lucid mother it's

better than getting mutated into a bat. Yep way

better than that And that's funny that you mentioned

Northampton because that's what volume 8 is for

the trade. Which is exactly what happens in the

old Mirage line. There's a whole... There's a

lot of time they spend up in Northampton. Things

slow down. Let me ask you. You know, you've said

this whole time that they're basically following

what happened in the Mirage line. Do you think...

That's because Eastman is a part of it. Do you

think they're retreading? Because I'm kind of

wondering how much of the writing in the story

is Waltz's and how much of it is Eastman's and

as far as like the choices and you know where

because if if you're gonna say to me, you know

when we do City fall and and all that, that hey,

they also did this. I'm like, so wait, they're

just retreading the old stuff, really? There

is enough new stuff in this that it's a completely

different story. It feels to me more like they're

paying homage to it, and everything is just a

little bit different, but City Fall is returned

to New York. After that is the... The Northampton

run and you know, it's a it's not that I say

that out loud It's it's a little out of order,

but very similar things are happening And and

I think that they're going to have to deviate

Really soon because they're gonna run out of

real Mirage volume one stuff. Yeah. Yeah, there's

there's interesting gossip. I'll talk about at

the end of the show Eastman and layered I've

through the letters columns. I've put together.

I think what happened Oh no. Yep. You think you

know where the dissolution of friendship happened?

Yep. Yep, I do. Oh boy. Oh boy. Alright, so we

head back to Planet Neutrino. Now, okay, so Planet

Neutrino and Planet Uttramanam or Uttramanim

or whatever the hell the stupid name of the planet

is. Uttramanamana. Yeah. Manamana. Yeah, exactly.

So these are two planets within dimension X or

like how does the name demand I forget I can't

remember how the name comes into play I don't

remember if it does in in a mirage world. There's

no dimension X There's just really really far

away in another part of space and I think that's

what's going on here But it doesn't really matter

either It's really far away or it's really close

in a parallel dimension and it doesn't matter

in it But they the point is you can't get there

in a boat Yeah, true. Alright, so we go back

to the planet and we see Cramie's there because

he has brought Baxter with him. Because guess

what? I'm a brain and a belly! Be out with it,

Baxter! I do love how Baxter is just constantly

mouthing off to him where he's like, yes, well,

a bit of advanced warning would have been nice.

I don't do nice, Stockman. Really, I hadn't noticed.

And I really, what do you think is your voice

for Krang in this? Because I definitely don't

hear 80s cartoon Krang when he delivers lines

like, I don't do nice. No, I... That's really

the only... I don't remember the voice from the

03 series. I really need to go back. I need to

go back and watch that series again. Frayn wasn't

in that, was he? Shredder was the U -Tron. Oh

yeah, Shredder was the U -Tron, duh. No, I don't

hear Pat Fraley, but I don't know, like... I

don't hear screaming memes from the 2012 series

and I sure as hell don't hear Roseanne. You have

seen the season one finale, right, where she

shows up as the headcrank? No! You haven't seen

that? That was Roseanne Barr? Oh my god! Or whatever

she calls herself? I did see the end with the

big brain, but I didn't know that was... Was

that her? Yeah, it was Roseanne Barr, yep. No

way! Yep. Totally need to go watch that again.

So they basically say Let's see here Let's see

the escape robot. Yes I believe these blasted

neutrinos know where the future to it is hiding

and before this campaign is through They will

tell me exactly where he is then once I have

him in my custody again You will have all the

help you require to complete your work We go

to So, Krang is like, Captain Trag, Bernal Island,

this is Trag, bring us back. Roger, Captain Trag,

stand by. Stockman, you stand away from me, I

don't want you getting sick on my boots again.

So, he brings him to... dimension what I'm just

gonna call it dimension X he brings me the planet

neutrino I mean he brings me the planet neutrino

shows him all this stuff says this stuff about

hunting honey cut and then takes him back to

a burnout island really seriously that was fairly

quickly the first time in what seems like forever

we go to the foot clem compound And Shredder's

like, why have you not begun the search, Kurai?

Your mission to bring me the one called Leonardo.

I have begun, grandfather. Your orders are my

priority, as always. And they have a nice little

back and forth. I'm slowly getting used to this

design for both of them, for Kurai and for Shredder.

It's just weird to me seeing him without the

mask. Like, the whole point of him! He wears

the damn mask all the time until he wants to

reveal himself to Splinter in the turtles at

least that's what I've always thought and you

know, I'm open -minded to what they're gonna

do with him in this story As long as his chest

doesn't open up and shows that he's an actually

a neutron I mean not that I minded that in the

oh three series, but this would be a little too

strange here Secret history of the foot clan

man. Oh We'll get to it. We'll get to it. After

looking at this here, I'm surprised Shredder's

even eating. Don't spoil it. I won't spoil it.

So, we then go to the park. And Chet and April

are there. April... Now, I want to know if this

is before or after Chet went to the Foot Clan.

Yeah, that's what I want to know too because

I would assume it would have to be before I Don't

know nothing goes down badly here. I don't think

oh Yes, it does flipping head. Well. It goes

half bad to the foot clan show up No, the foot

clan didn't show up. I think crank showed the

neutrinos show up The neutrinos follow follow

Krang because they're looking for Professor Honeycutt.

Dax, Zack, or Dask, or whatever the hell his

name is, Zack and Kara. They all show up. And

I love this battle between the neutrinos and

the turtles. They're like, who the hell is Fugitoid?

Or who the hell is Honeycutt? He is! Who? Him!

They're talking about shit So Casey's whole thing

in this is he wants to protect April Because

he doesn't think she can take care of herself.

She's a woman living alone in New York City case

They can always take care of themselves. Yeah,

but these are aliens with laser blasters He I

Know not I'm not justifying that he wouldn't

be any different than some old lazy Some old

lady having an alien laser blaster, you know

back of back away punks So the turtles and the

neutrinos are still fighting and they They disappear

in a fume They are gone. They are sucked through

time and space or wherever the hell, and they

are sucked into Planet Neutrino, Neutrino Resistance

Fighters Combatant Center. And the rock soldiers

are waiting. That's, you know, usually how it

is. You head towards a giant moon, it's going

to shoot its tractor beam at you. So, this is

interesting because you have the rock soldiers

fighting the neutrinos, you have the neutrinos

fighting the rock soldiers, and you have the

turtles fighting the neutrinos, and the neutrinos

fighting... It's like a six -way battle here.

It's really awesome. The art is great. And the

turtles are completely out of their, not out

of their skill level, but they're just witlessly,

oh my god, what did we just walk into? We're

mutant turtles in the middle of this war in a

place we've never seen before. Yep, pretty much.

Ah, April and Casey didn't come with him. Just

pressed her honey -cut on the turtles. I don't

know how that worked because they were all right

there. I think Casey took out April and moved

her away and that's why he wasn't nearby with

her. Yeah, and this is really where we get the

confusion. Again, with the honey -cut. Who is

that? The fugitoid. The what now? And I can't...

Oh, that's... Donnivus says that. Man, I'm sick

of getting shot at. And Mikey's kicking ass and...

They get the all clear and... We all settle down.

And they figure out... They basically figure

out that they're on the same side and whatever

else and we go back to April Casey and splinter

and she She basically master Splinter is there

cleaning up at the shop and they tell them that

the turtles have disappeared and he says it's

all his fault and again he is responsible and

Splinter freaks out? That's a rat, ladies and

gentlemen. That's a rat. And April and Casey

are just speechless. It's the Raphael and Splinter,

the attitude, the anger. Mm -hmm. Yep. That was

unnecessary. Yeah. And then April and Casey are

like... never piss him off please let's just

slowly back away out of the room I'm gonna put

this stuff down and we're gonna let you go meditate

master splinter so we then go back to neutrino

more fighting more fighting and Some girl is

screaming put you that put me down you bully

I have her let's go. We're done here By the creator,

it's the princess. I said, let me go and Mikey's

like princess princess And you know what the

sad thing is all as I can think of is well, excuse

She looks like Princess Zelda to me. Yeah, a

little bit. She is wearing the pink. So Mike's

looking to have himself a Star Wars moment and

takes off after the soldier, the rescuer. His

little trick doesn't really work since... The

the soldier is made of stone This would be neat

to see a live -action scene Mikey leaps into

the the the troop transport carrier as it's taking

off with the princess Totally annihilates three

four yet four rock soldiers in there and then

in a glorious panel with backlighting and Glare

and glint Michelangelo rescues the princess and

leaps out of the departing transport Yeah, now

the the leap that you're talking about That's

basically what the very that page where he's

leaping out of the transport That's the image

that is the very first when you the very first

page when you open the trade So it's that They

basically took that image, enlarged it, and made

it the volume five first page. So yeah, he goes

and rescues the princess. I get flashes of like,

hey, did J .J. Abrams have something to do with

this? Because of that flash of light. The lens

flare. Lens wearing comics? No! It's not that

bad. I mean, I'm not going to take a point off

of it. I actually kind of like it. I think it's

really cool in this. It's cute. And, uh, in a

way that you can kind of see inside Michelangelo's

psyche to what he thinks it all looks like. Being

heroic, rescuing a princess like that. Yep. And

the rock soldiers are like, she escaped. Forget

her. We have the other two. The princess is like

mom dad no And then we go back to stock Jen and

Casey and April and April sneaking in again What

is this like the fifth time she's stuck into

this gee guys Do you really think we should fire

that old Neil woman? Yeah We found her in restricted

areas like four times and She keeps coming in

smelling like turtle or something Yeah, so she

has this exchange with this other co -worker

She basically gets her to talk about Brunei Island

and General Krang and The interesting thing here

is Karai is spying on on Stock Jam Which I'm

not sure Don't think the foot I don't think shredder

has met Stockman yet has he no So are they basically

setting that up with Karai stocking stock gin

in a way I I don't think My memory says I don't

think that they've made the connection yet a

relationship between Baxter and Shredder yet

But it's there. It's it could happen very easily

So I think we're okay. So we then go back to

Planet Neutrino and we figure out that Chet is

Professor Hunnicutt. The look on the turtle's

faces, the jaws dropping. Michael Angelou. Sick.

Look at Donnie. Donnie's the same. Leo is the

same. Raph is the same and Donnie is the same.

Mikey, he's frowning in the first panel. When

he says sick, he's kind of smiling. That's classic.

I really like that panel. That's a pretty awesome

panel. Dude, Chet's totally a robot. I know,

Mikey, it's amazing. And then Raph's like, okay,

well, the nerd twins drool all over themselves.

I still got questions. Like, where are we, and

how the heck is Chet a stinking robot? And Leo,

and for once, for once and for all, who is crying?

And then Zach basically just goes off on them.

And they give the history of the Utroms and how

Chet became basically what we've already seen

kind of a little bit in the one shot. Hey, there's

a crane there that has glasses and a tuning fork

head like the 80s cartoon. Look at that. That's

a nice old nod. Supreme Commander Quain. Eric

Quain. I wonder if that's Krang's dad from a

later book. Possibly. Well, no, they mention

his dad here, don't they? Yeah, it might be.

I'm browsing the actual line. Yeah. I think they

do later. So, we get... Get the princess saying

that is why my father sent commander das to get

you either. We stop crying now We're all is lost

this image of her here She looks like a cross

between Zelda and sailor more sailor moon Mikey

Donnie's like he looks so pink and squishy gross

See this the thing like Mikey can be a party

animal But he can also be just fun -loving and

I think that's what this Mikey is. He is He is

all three. He's a party animal. He's fun -loving

and he's also serious when he wants to be So

we get crank going off that's a nice little angry

crank design and we um so let's see what does

he do he does um he says this is your last warning

cretins of neutrino either you provide me with

the future toys location by this time tomorrow

or your beloved king and queen will die followed

by the rest of you pathetic world shortly and

he um He basically turns off the TV, and we go,

damn you, Craig! And Zach, this Zach is way more

violent. Well, all three of them are. Yeah, he

shoots the TV. I think I'm on to my next book.

I think that was issue 19 here. I think so. I

haven't seen... Yep, there we are. Yeah, chapter

three is issue 19. Yep. Well wait, so if that's

if we're starting into issue 19 The page where

we leave off See so first page here is uh, right?

Yeah. Yeah, you're his pranks. Yeah Yeah That's

not very much of a I don't know it's not very

much of a cliffhanger for for Well, you had the

gun pointed at their heads in my last panel.

Yeah, that's not... I mean, that's exactly what

I have too, but that's not exactly... It's not

a very good cliffhanger, but... So, we... We

find out that, you know, they need the Fugitoid

and need them to work for them and... i'm still

loving this i'm like ben bass is doing amazing

stuff here i mean the turtles all looks no offense

to any of the other artists the other artists

have been great too but now that we're 19 issues

or you know five trades into this thing they

all look so much better so much better design

than i think it's because at least for me they

all look More like the animated designs than

they did as far as the coloring goes Like Donnie's

um bandana and Leo's bandana all the bandanas

have never been this bright before It's the coloring

is just amazing I'm sneaking ahead because I

have a feeling this artist is only on this story

arc and then he goes away forever. Oh That that's

a shame That's a shame so we get to Karai and

she's ended up on burnout island we then go to

splinter Casey in April They're trying to figure

out You know what what's going on with the turtles

where they went what is Baxter stockman doing

at this place with this general crane guy who's

this weird shadowy thing with the Yep. Brain

in his chest. Only, I don't think they know that

yet, do they? No. Nope. No. I don't think Splinter

Casey and April know that. No. The turtles do.

Dude, it's pink and squishy. Yeah. So, we get

to Bernal Island and Karai basically dispatches...

The guards and she captures one of them to take

her to where she wants to go Don't do it. She's

gonna kill you yeah, we then go back to Planet

Neutrino and we see that Professor honeycutt

has found his friend. What's his name? Felix

so he's found his buddy Felix and he's alive

What's interesting here is how the turtles all

go their own ways because they have a different...

each of them have like Donnie needs to stay and

help and Leo and Raph go to help Dask and Zach

and Mikey stays with the princess. Of course

he does. Yeah, that has me interested too. No,

I don't think any of our listeners will probably

not be reading volume 4. Mikey totally shags

some alien princess in the comic. You mean the

old Mirage comic? Yeah. Oh my god. Mike's a daddy.

Oh my god, no, don't do that. Don't fucking do

that. Oh god, I have to sleep tonight, you know.

Thank you very much. I couldn't believe they

went there, like, really? You know, that has

not resolved. They haven't gotten... I mean,

the rest of the issues are nearly impossible

to find, so I haven't read them, but yikes. It

was kind of scary. They're 35 by that point.

They're not teenage anymore, but still... Still,

that's a little creepy. I mean... Merry Christmas.

It would be different if it was a little mini

Mikey inside a human body like in men in black

You know it would be different if it was something

like that, but oh You know what no offense to

the old stuff, but I'm so glad I I'm not reading

that right now because that would just scar me

for life. That's about how I feel, man. I don't

know what's worse, that or any of the Freddy

Krueger or Jason movies. Alright, so we get to

this whole thing where they're each splitting

up. Raph is doing what he does best. He's gonna

fight and he's sitting on the... You know so

raps like I'll see you when the butt -kicking

is done bro. He's like and Leo's like you better

and they're all in communication with each other

and I Love this shot of Downey and the professor

where he says I must thank you both again. Having

a functional voice box is beyond relief. I feel

like a new robot. Sure thing, Professor. I love

that shot of Donnie. It's always been interesting

to me to see how Donnie moves as a ninja with

the staff still in its holster or sheath or whatever.

Yeah, that's a whole lot harder to do in real

life. It's harder enough to walk around with

one of those in your hand. Yeah. So we get some

nice moments between them. Again, the art is

spectacular. I love this artist. No colors are

out of place from Ronda Pattison and Bates' art

is just simply amazing. We get to Karai back

on Burnout Island and... I warned you she was

going to kill you. Yep. She's gonna kill him

when she kills him. She finds the brains Anyway,

you slice this this is madness Our chances of

surviving this attack are about a million to

one And we have some really great battle scenes

And Krang is just, Krang's just going off his

rocker. But idiots, they would rather face me

in open battle than just give me the wretched

robot. I forgot why Krang wants him. Is it to

build the... It's to work on the technodrome.

It's to work on the technodrome. It was to build

the teleporter, but no, Krang already has one

of those. He doesn't need... Because that's what

they were after him for in the old book, is he

was the one building the teleporters. And they

needed that technology to teleport warheads places.

But he wouldn't do it. And again, I know I've

thrown a lot of references out in this episode

of the podcast, but all I can think of when Mikey

says this, just stay close to me, Princess. I've

done this like a zillion times. All I can think

of is Hot Rod and R .C. in the 86 movie. Stay

close to me or see he says basically the same

line and then she reverses it on him because

he nearly gets shot and she saves him she's like

No, you better stay close to me So like I said

really amazing battle scenes Again the colors

just explode off the page with these battles

absolutely awesome And it's pretty much a battle

it's not I mean that they are saying stuff and

they are doing stuff as far as the story But

I mean it's That stuff's got to be a pain in

the neck to draw and plot and paste like I don't

know how you yeah sketch those But it's It's

just absolutely amazing. So we then get back

to the command center and we have Donatello and

Honeycutt working on... Excuse me. We have them

working on... Adjustments have to be precise

if this end missile has any chance of working.

So they're working on what I assume is their

version of EMP. Donnie is saying this technology

really blowing my mind all the things you've

invented professor. It's so amazing Heck even

the stuff. You said you did at Stockton. I mean

even if you're if you really think about it.

You're invented my family, too So that's an interesting

Way of going about the whole reincarnation thing

hmm So we get this giant missile and it's gonna

go into battle It looks like a predator drone

to me. Yeah, pretty much So we get that we get

warm battle scenes we get a scene with Krang

Zach and Raph are like, um, yeah. Oh this could

definitely We then go back to Burnell Island

and Karai has absconded with a vial of ooze.

Killing an utrum in a test tube in the process.

Yep. That won't make Krang happy? Nope. I was

half expecting the ooze to say TGRI on it. I

really was. Because if you look at the canister

that's in her hand, it looks exactly like the

canister from the second one. Yeah! That's interesting.

It's totally stock -gen. I'm sorry, listeners,

that I keep referring to that Mirage run. It's

fresh in my brain. The TCRI, Techno -Cosmic Research

Industries, in the comic was the ootrum. The

ootrums invented the ooze. It was a waste byproduct

that they accidentally let out. Here, I guess

it's an intentional thing, but from just stock

-gen. Chet having produced it So that's kind

of interesting. Yeah, I wonder if somehow TGRI

or TCRI is going to show up here That would be

interesting to see if they would That would be

very very interesting Right, so we go back to

the battle and the battle is going fairly well

Leo throws a bunch of old CDs at Greg what what?

They're they're ninja stars spinning really fast.

That's no that's bull. No no see cuz they get

pranks glass in the next shot Okay, yeah, but

they look like compact discs they really do I

guess so when I'm making that indie film with

my friends if I want to look like I'm throwing

a ninja star really fast and just throw CDs at

the camera. Throw CDs, yeah. And then CGI in

the actual star later. Clang, it's an AOL disc,

what's that? Oh god. A beautiful pile of Leo

landing down there, that's a nice shot. Mikey's

like, dang it, he's still coming, nothing's gonna

stop. But ugly brain boy and all the second I

hate to make this reference but also I think

it was a damn starship song So we get This is

where we get Leo and Mikey. That's a notice page.

Yeah, this is where we get them fighting crying

this is the the front cover that I have to open

the book not not the main cover before the the

trade titles but the actual cover that they use

before the first issue starts before before issue

17 starts so that's the image that they used

for the first cover there So we get to Kala and

the King. Dask asking him if he's alright. We

get to... You know, this thing just doesn't give

up and they gotta figure it out. Again, the art.

Oh my god, what did you say that thing looked

like earlier? A predator drone. Predator drone,

yeah. They're gonna crash Soundwave into it.

Aw, damn it, you beat me too. Goal in Transformers

Prime time, oh boy. Yeah, I was gonna say, I

wonder if it's gonna transform. Crossover! So

this Predator drone comes in, and we have, um,

Krang basically saying, my people's destiny will

not be denied. Please stay down, your majesty,

we must guard you. Nonsense, I've already told

you we are fine. And it's back and forth, back

and forth, and then Dask basically gets shot

to hell. by a stone soldier. I believe that's

Captain Trag. This is one thing I wish they would

have done with this. Just call Krang the evil

warlord or whatever and have Trag be the damn

general. It always confuses the hell out of me.

I don't know. Trag's due for a promotion. It'll

happen. You think? Yeah. Yeah. Trag's due for

a promotion. Russian So they've got nowhere to

run nowhere to hide The predator drone basically

goes off It's a magic EMP where nobody's shooting

anymore, that's that's yeah, I kind of figured

that's what it was gonna be And that's what it

was hey there's raf thank god bro i never thought

i'd be so happy to see a bunch of super nerds

in a space car that's so funny um so we get all

of this um We get all this and crank still wants

the fugitoid and and he's going to go with him

Donnie objects, obviously And You know honey

cut says for all my friends and Trag asks and

your other troops general Leave those cowards

to rot in this dumb heap for all I care. I'll

just make it Boom and they're gone So we get

to Mikey and Raph wow crazy day you ain't kidding

little bro Commander you're wounded He'll he'll

end up being fine. Everybody shakes hands. Everybody's

alright and everybody's fine We get back to Casey

and April and looks like they're gonna have a

moment And all I can think of is the end of the

first film. That's all I can think of right here.

9 .95! Alright Casey! What the... Cripes Casey.

That anyway to greet your long -lost pals and

they're all back and everything else and... Leo

basically goes up and hugs his father and and

That's pretty much how this arc ends is wait

till we tell you where we've been Overall, I

love this story. I was really conflicted when

I first started reading it like to actually read

the book I'm like no cuz see here's the thing

I get so hooked into The the shredder story of

him thinking that Leo is gonna be his new second

-in -command that I'm like, okay Where is that

wouldn't when's that gonna happen? Come on now,

and then they give us this and I loved every

minute of this It was a fun, you know turtles

in space kind of ride You know, I thought it

was great The in the trade we have the the art

gallery, which I know you're going to be jealous

of you've got to scan it for me yeah i don't

have a scanner sadly uh... so we've got uh...

uh... a cover that uh... is the asking versus

uh... the turtles and he's got leo it's basically

a lot of it's doing to a lot is remember the

very first scene when the turtles fight the foot

soldiers in the eighty seven cartoon when when

um... it's the one where uh... uh... raf goes

uh... uh... clang did you say clang? you know

and and and and donnie's like dudes nuts they're

robots and mike's like robots let's so it's got

him like bursting out with two nunchucks like

like that shot And it's got Dask over Leo with

his gun pointed at his face, kind of like what

Shredder was doing in the 90 film to Leo at the

end. Yeah, yeah, I saw that. I hadn't thought

of that. Yep. The next one is basically Planet

Neutrino with Krang on three different TVs. It's

got a bunch of flying vehicles, the Turtles,

the Fugitoid, all fighting. Yeah, those are my

covers. Oh, are they? Okay. The next one we've

got Mikey and Donnie? Yeah, Mikey and Donnie

and Leo and Raph and Casey are all in the bushes

while we look on to April, while they're looking

on to April and Chit talking in the park. So

that's an interesting shot. And then the, I believe

this is the last one or second to last? Yeah,

second to last. Oh, I can't wait to talk about

one of the ones coming up. We've got, let's see,

page and opposite. Both of these covers are done

by Eastman, colors by Rhonda Pattinson. Or, Patison,

sorry. And the second cover is basically a red

sky neutrino with blue laser blasts all over

the place and fighting. And we've got... Art

by Andy Coon with crying in the background crying

in the foreground in his robot body in the background

is all the green crying brains The opposite page

art is by Mark Torres, and it's Michelangelo

It's basically What if Michelangelo was the baby

on Nirvana's Nevermind? Oh, man. Oh, my God,

I love it. This is my favorite cover out of all

of them. It's him as the baby with his nunchucks

and everything. He's not a baby, but it's, you

know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. I'm watching that.

And instead of whatever the original thing was

on the album cover, it's somebody has a piece

of pizza as the fishing lure. Who's the artist

of this? Mark Torres. T -O -R -R -E -S. It's

simply amazing. That is by far my favorite cover

out of all of them. Oh, I see it. Oh, man. That

is so nice. I'm like, hey, never mind. That is

so cool. The final two are done. Oh, no, there's

more. Sorry. Sorry, not final two. Next two are

done by Ben Bates. One of them is the turtles

and the neutrinos fighting. The next one is Krang

holding their bandanas like he's conquered them.

And then we get the one by Nick Pitara, which

is the main cover of the trade, the Krang. thing

in the city. The opposite page is done by Langoon

Foss, I assume the sound that's pronounced. And

let's see, the final actual cover by Eastman

is Leo fighting, fighting, crying. In the in

the background is planet neutrino and then there's

a shredder sketch. There's actually several stretch

sketches There's a shredder sketch. There's Casey

and cry sketches. There's turtle sketches The

shredder sketch makes me want purple and black

and gray shredder in this And that's pretty much

it Overall, I loved this. I thought this was

great. I wasn't like I said, I wasn't sure how

I was gonna feel about this when I first started

reading it because it was basically a mishmash

of what's going on on Neutrino and what's going

on back in New York. But it turned out, it was

damn good. I really dug it. Yeah, I think the

turtles that I like the best are the ones where

they're dealing with foot soldiers in New York.

that drama and I'm less inclined to appreciate

it when they go out to space or when the really

weird psychedelic stuff starts to happen but

what I do appreciate about this is that it brought

such a big chunk of the 80s cartoon to this and

made it cool. Yeah. Because that 80s, that's

kind of garbage now. I mean, we all love it because

we grew up with it and it was how I got introduced

to Ninja Turtles. But, you know, it's very difficult

to watch as an adult and the initials on the

belts, I mean, really? And so... Oh, I didn't

even... Oh, you mean for the cartoon? Yeah. See

I like the initials on the belts because you

have to be able to tell them apart I Don't know

the colors enough for me but And the colored

elbow pads that was that's a lot too But but

but the point of all that is that they they brought

something So cheesy to this comic to this whole

world and made it amazing like everything that

they do with the story they pulled it out I think

yeah they absolutely did you know I thought it

was absolutely great so for this trade I thought

everything came together well the story came

together well the art the colors came together

well there are a few times Where Crane kinda

just freaked me out in how he was designed. Not

necessarily it's a bad thing, but... I don't

know, I'll give this a 4 out of 5. I agree. I

kinda didn't think I would be doing that, you

know, giving a 4 to this book, but yep, that's

where it is. I mean, cause honestly, the... The

big stuff the stuff that we've been waiting for

is coming. I mean we're almost at city fall Because

the next Let me see here in this All -important

reading order. Okay, so next time ladies and

gentlemen We're gonna have to do this again because

I'm gonna do it in trade, but we're not do this

again I might be able to find the singles. I

don't know if I can find the singles would be

easier, but Next time around, we're going to

do Villain Micro Series Part 1, which is Crang

and Baxter. And then in the same episode, we're

going to do the Secret History of the Foot Clan,

issues 1 through 4. And then after that is City

Fall. Yay. If you and our listeners have a chance

to go dig up some of the old Mirage run, the

return to New York is one of the best. Very short

arcs in the old Mirage line definitely worth

reading But it concludes where It concludes a

set of issues that the first live -action movie

was based on and so you have the the fight in

the In the antique store, that's where that occurs

and where things go south from there But they're

relatively common issues And so it's worth peeking

at. Absolutely. Alright, so that's going to do

it for us here in this back issue classics. I

think coming up next, we're going to have the

pull bag underbase crossover with Transformers

Windblade issue number two. After that, we might

head back to Gotham City to see what Batgirl

is up to. And then later on this month in June,

we might go get some punishment. So for now,

I am TF Joe Mike with Joe Reed. Make your greatest

game into comics and we will catch you next time.

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

the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

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