IDW TMNT Casey & April #1-4 Review

Hi, this is Bobby Curnow, Chief Turtle Editor

at IDW Publishing, and you are going to have

a shell of a good time inside the pull bags.

Welcome to The Pull Bags, 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

as the back issue classics are also what's in

the pullback Well, it looks like you're the one

who needs to be taught a lesson pal class is

paying 101 Your instructor is Casey Jones. Hello

and welcome to The Pullback. This is the 43rd

episode of Back Issue Classics. I am one of your

host, TFJR Mike. Joining me is Joe Reed. Hello,

sir. Hello, sir. Yes, and people have to excuse

my computer. It's, um... Oh, good. There it goes.

You know, I talk bad about it and it finally

behaves. Oh, I'm sorry, boy. Call me boy. Don't

replace me. I wouldn't replace the computer altogether.

I'd just get a new fan. But anyway, um... So

this is the 43rd back issue classics We've done

a lot of gem stuff recently with the IDW gem

series and because of my constant transition

in the past six months It's been kind of hard

for Joe and I to get together to do turtles stuff,

but we are here today to talk about that air

quote fantastic miniseries Casey and April I

heard lots of good things about the the writer

And the artist and it it seemed to be One of

not not fan service. That's not the right way

to say it But let's let's give our female creators

and female writers something to chew on. Let's

let them do something crazy Do you know anything

that the writer Mariko Tamaki has done? Looking

her and Irene Ko up right now as we speak. According

to Comixology, for Mariko Tamaki, this is her

debut. Okay. Nothing else. For Irene Ko, the

artist, she did, I guess, a couple issues of

the 2014 -2015 Secret Origins series for DC.

She did... Guess a couple of comics for sensation

comics featuring Wonder Woman and something called

1602 witch hunter Angela so But I mean, she's

got four credits to her name three those three

and obviously this I Remember not the most recent

interview. I don't think it was the most recent

interview We will have done two interviews with

Bobby Kerr now, but it might have we didn't really

talk too much about Casey and April were more

interested in Turtles Batman, but kinda sorta.

But Casey and April, folks, it's... I got really

excited for it because I thought something was

going to really happen with it. And I got excited

for it for what you had told me about some of

the old series, and we all know how IDW, you

know, the IDW series of Turtles is an overall

love letter to the entire Iran. And you had told

me last time... Casey and April had gone out

west, he ended up with some pregnant chick and

some baby, and she did, April went and became

some reporter, so I'm probably screwing this

all up here, Joe, but you know what I mean? It's

like, oh, cool, that means we're gonna, Casey's

gonna come back a dad or something and whatever

else. I need to preface this before we get too

far into it. I did ask Bobby Kernow before New

York Comic -Con, which was this past weekend,

where exactly does Casey and April take place?

It takes place during the events of TMNT ongoing

issues 47 to 50. So at the same time as the Stockman

Swarm stuff, all the way up to the final battle

with Shredder in 50, which we will get to in

the next couple of weeks, folks, Casey and April

takes place during that timeline. So yeah. don't

know initially I thought this was gonna be great

I thought we were gonna explore their relationship

I thought we were gonna you know the the copy

says you know introducing a very unique TMNT

tale starring Casey Jones and April O 'Neil by

acclaimed indie writer Marco Tamaki apparently

she did skim and this one summer According to

this, the couple take a road trip to the southwest

to dig up more clues about the mysterious pantheon

that has seemingly been pulling the strings on

the turtles' lives from the beginning. Casey

and Anfra will find even deeper mystery, unexpected

danger, and start a new chapter in their relationship.

First of all, they didn't start a new damn chapter

in their relationship, they nearly friggin' broke

up. Second of all, the pantheon that has been

screwing with the turtles for the past four years,

are you kid - they found out nothing. Yeah, just

more mystery. This series I thought had a lot

of potential and I don't think it's because This

is Tamaki's first Turtles book or anything I

don't think it's because it's her debut for this

year, you know to come into the Turtles series

and be part of the team It nothing happens here

folks. The only thing that I well they They go

out West and then they kind of have an argument

and go their different ways they don't really

break up and it's a silly little thing that we

think the rat king is is kind of putting dropping

the seeds for it to get them to go separate directions

so it's not like a legitimate breakup so that

whole starting their new step in the new relationship

that's kind of meh but what i kind of expected

from this was a very heady psychological sort

of developing their love and relationship for

each other, something that was poignant. And

these weird things keep happening to them where

nothing happens afterward. I mean, nothing really

amazing happens till the last book. But I wonder

if there are things that are occurring in this

book that are in reference to some other Literature

where it's an actual it's actually a metaphor

an allegory for something and I'm just completely

missing it But I really don't think that that's

what's happening. It's just it doesn't seem that

deep to me. I Think they wanted to take you know,

because with the turtles fighting the stockman

swarm and all that stuff in issues 47 to 49 and

then obviously we get the big double size issue

50 Think with all that happening they need to

do something with Casey and April so they weren't

constantly the damsels and yes I use the term

damsels folks for both of them They weren't the

constant damsels in distress don't get me wrong

Casey and April are both very capable people

when it comes to being a part of the turtles

family, but Let's face it with what the turtles

were facing at the time this series is going

on Casey and April would have just been lost

in all of that Stockman Swarm stuff. And I think

they just needed something to do with them. I

don't think it was that they wanted to do anything

with them. I think it was like, oh my God, we

need to do something with the characters to keep

them going, to tell some sort of story. And I

think I did say they almost broke up. I don't

think I said they actually broke up. No you didn't.

They almost broke up. Going west seemed like

something they should have done had they broken

up and they went out west to make their relationship

better. That's what I was reading into what you

said because it seemed like that could have happened.

Maybe it should have happened. But no. This was

weird. The whole series was weird. I'm very happy

that this is only a four -issue miniseries. Well,

I want them to do it again and do it right later.

Because I think April does tend to get... the

short end of the stick unless you're you do something

really crazy with the character uh the archie

summer special book made her a mutant turtle

for an issue um i like what the nickelodeon series

is doing i'm watching that with my son i'm in

season two and april's picked up the tess and

then splinter's training her and she's kicking

butt like hey all right and then the the what

was it not 2010 2009 eight the the cg movie tmnt

uh she was an archaeologist science antique collector

dealer like and that's a logical progression

of her character um you you've really got to

make april interesting i am glad that they've

made her a smart character in this and then it

gives her a job she's a scientist not a reporter

i guess that's what i'm saying that the reporter

trope i think is done but um but i wanted that

to take her in a direction and utilize her in

some way That's what I was hoping this series

would do for both of I mean don't get me wrong

Casey on his own With all his issues with hon

his dad and everything else and you know Casey

wanted to fight and get through his egg. Casey

is a more developed character at this point,

at the point that this series starts, I think.

April's there. She's a character we all know

and love. Yes, the reporter thing is kind of,

I mean, let's face it, we don't need April O

'Neil to be a reporter anymore. We've had that

already. So the scientist thing is cool. It's

great. It's fun. But I just wish that this series

would have been more... Well, first of all, I

think Rat King was the worst fucking person,

and I'm sorry to say it, but is the worst fucking

person to put in this series. Like, they could

have put anybody else in this series, but like

I said, it seemed, and where did this four, is

it fourth or third, or where did this other sibling

come from? There's a lot of them. There are more

than even three, because, well, there's four.

Kitsune... There's this pantheon of gods that

have been manipulating human history for a long

time. Kitsune, who's obsessed with the shredder

and doing whatever he's doing. There's the Rat

King. There's the Ghostbusters one, the Chinese

one. And then this new one who shows up in the

fourth issue of this, some angel -winged old

lady. the side of April and protects her from

kind of how maniacal the rat king can be but

I Don't know what's going on. I don't know what's

going on This is the you know what this is the

series is just the seed of something that's gonna

get planted and answered in the next 50 issues

of the turtles book Let's hope so because this

is the worst plant job ever I mean What did it

take them? Three out of the four issues to even

get... I mean, yeah, sure, we as the readers

saw the Rat King, but it took them what? Almost

three out of the four issues before Casey and

April actually see him? That's too much. I understand

you want to leave him as a mystery after the

end of the first issue. At the end of the first

issue, it ends on him and his little... I don't

know. The first issue ends with... us seeing

the shadow of the rat king or the silhouette

or whatever else or you know the back of him

turned but they should have revealed it to them

in the story by the end of issue two not the

end of issue three yeah that whole end of thing

conflict where there's that's where the development

is that's where you grow the characters or made

it or made them go on kind of some heart of darkness

tour which they kind of do they're, they're encountering

the people who live in the area at the diner

at the trailer and, and all of that needed to

be weird, bizarre and lead toward this Pantheon.

And it kind of, I mean, that's one way to have

improved it. I chalked this up to, Hey, we're

writing a story about Casey and April and their

relationship. Let's give it to a young up and

coming lady writer who can handle it. And I mean,

I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm all for women.

Oh, yes. And all for all four women artists.

I mean, honestly, Irene Ko's art and who's on

the colors for this? Well, Paul Renwond was on

the colors for issue one, but Irene Ko's art

is amazing. I have nothing but good things to

say about her art. You know, but it's the writing

that really sucks it out of it for me. I just

wonder if this person does not have comic experience

pacing. But you know, I don't want to I can't.

I mean, I don't want I don't want this episode

to be a full on bash fest about. Yeah, I feel

I feel bad. You know, but and honestly, in what

a year and a half, almost two years that we've

been reviewing the four year long Turtles brand

from IDW. This is probably the first series we've

really spoken that badly about, because like

I keep saying, nothing happens. I mean, the coolest

thing for me that came out of this. was the hockey

heart logo that was the coolest thing that came

out of this for me but I mean issue one you know

it starts off and we have you know Casey and

April heading out of town heading out west and

we have them I'll say this about issue one I

thought it was really cool how They went ahead

and did the whole radio thing. Um, you know,

switching songs and, but the way she's right,

the way Tamaki is writing the characters, it's,

it's like, it's like they didn't go and look

and see what their relationship was before they

got a hold of it to write the script. I mean,

don't get me wrong, Casey and April just started

dating recently. You know, what was it as of

what? Technodrome, Attack on Technodrome, it

was in the last, well we're up to issue 50 now

for Turtles, it was in the last 15 issues of

the series that this just kind of started happening

between the two of them. And go back and look

and see how Tom Walts and Kevin Eastman and Bobby

Kernow write the scripts for Tom Walts specifically,

because he specifically writes most of the scripts.

go back and look at that stuff and get a feel

for what the characters are supposed to be because

the whole time I was reading issue one I'm like

oh my god are we in high school with these characters

seriously because they just look so distant from

each other they have they each have so much going

on in their own heads and hearts and everything

else and it just doesn't look like they're a

couple and they fake it with the diner you know

I mean, I like seeing the diner. I think it's

an interesting setup. You got to put somebody

out west for them to interact with, which is

fine. I have no problem with that. But I mean,

their whole relationship thing, they essentially

fake it the whole time they're in the diner.

The one thing I will give issue one is I'm kind

of re -looking through it here, is that one panel,

I think it's on... Let's see, it's on page nine.

The middle panel, this is what I was talking

about when we interviewed Bobby for the second

time, where I said that the free comic book day

issue was one giant catch up for anyone that

hadn't read Turtles for the past four years.

They did it again here with Casey and April's,

between the two of them, what has happened individually

to the two of them with the thing with the...

uh hob and the ooze and slash and and tuning

leonardo and metalhead and and then with casey

and angel and his dad so i love that now i really

love that panel that panel is amazing so i love

that catch up but i mean the rest of it is like

they're setting up to the rat king by the end

of the first issue here we you know we get to

the gas station and you know Obviously we as

the view we as the reader know you know the guy

in the you know fedora You know the guy in the

really old Dick Tracy fedora had his rad king

But he sets them on there on their separate paths

Overall when you read because I know you even

though Even though we probably don't like this

series that much. I still know you read this

in your car Honestly, I don't think I did this

time Seriously? Oh my god. I could even read

issue. Well, I didn't read issue 50 in my car.

Where did I read that? Oh boy Well issue 50 is

a whole a whole different animal. Yeah, but Overall,

what are your just you know main takeaways from

the first issue here? It's it's the same with

all of them. It's just not enough too slow they

could okay everybody knows that DC has has got

a couple of weekly series so they were doing

DC Comics had done a couple of weekly Batman

eternal futures and was the other one earth earth

two worlds and I think They, I know IDW doesn't

do weekly books. I get that. As far as like each

franchise, they don't do weekly books for each

franchise. This is a four -ish mini series. This

could have come out in one month. This came out

over four separate months and it was just agonizing

to read, like to read it. I will coming out.

I wonder if this also kind of came out while

they were all working on. 47 48 49 and 50 and

if it didn't get the attention the editing attention

that it maybe needed and Maybe they gave it away

just because what we've we need to have a sub

book out While we're doing this so yeah, go go

run with that to Maki and co go make something

cool So the second issue is more of Casey April

being on separate paths and The sub covers really

nice. That's the best thing that came out of

issue two The sub cover yeah Yeah, I Don't know

what they're wearing, but it's really cool bent

photograph held by Leonardo. Oh Yeah, yeah, I

love that see I wasn't sure it was Leo at first

I was wondering I'm only guessing because the

black hand wraps and Leo had at that time he

had the gauntlets Yeah, that's okay. That's true

because at first I thought it might have been

raff or Mikey because let's face it ref and mike

you're usually the ones that are concentrating

on you know i mean look at the end of the movie

all right casey all right april you know you

know so in this second issue we have casey and

april split up divided by the rat king i think

casey's journey is more interesting than april's

here what do you think he's dealing with his

anger and knowing that's why april split with

him Because yeah, he had some problems And this

is the this is the issue that makes me think

that there's things going on that I am missing

April stopping to help the mom with the tire

and then there are the twins There's something

going on there and then April meets the hippies

out Having a drum circle like there's something

there too more than I there could be there probably

isn't because I'm usually kind of smart enough

to catch that. Now we have Casey meeting up with

the men's outdoor group. Oh god, I love that

first panel. Violent they don't say violent person.

They say assault or whatever whatever aggressor

Aggressor that's what it is. It's like. Oh my

god. They really put one of those kinds of groups

in this thing Exactly, I wonder at what point

this stuff stops actually happening and starts

happening in the realm of the pantheon Like when

is it become the hallucination? I mean are they

I don't I don't think it becomes the hallucination

until Well, we know the the mother and the two

daughters that was the rat king and two rats

So I don't think he set it up just yet. I think

it's after the call fail maybe and She looks

at the it's April Yeah, it's April that looks

at the photo and then puts her phone back in

back in her pocket and she goes to the trailer

and Some the colors are so psychedelic here that

I wonder if it's if they if they're being gamed

somehow because it's really rainbow colors and

the rest of the book is not like that. I mean,

the mountains are purple, the water is green

around the trailer, and it's reflecting off of

that blue trailer that's supposed to be metallic.

It's just, it's kind of, it's interesting. I

love the colors. They're wonderful. The art and

the colors are awesome in this, in this series.

So the second issue ends with Casey finding out

that, oh, It's a trap. It's a trap. And we end

with the second issue with the Rat King ready

to strike. And I think this, when April enters

this trailer thingamajig that doesn't really

look like a trailer on the inside, I think that's

really where the dream and all that, the whole

Pantheon stuff actually happens. Issue two it's

still I'm sorry when I first read this I'm still

I was still excited for it I wanted to see where

it was going by issue three. I'm like you people

better hurry the hell up Because issue three

is just I think it's because it is the dream

sequence. You know sometimes you know you Everyone's

had this dream at least once or twice you have

that dream where you're falling off a cliff or

you're falling off a building or you're You're

falling off something and it's just taking you

so long. You know, you know, you know what I

mean? And then you wake up and you're like, oh

my god, you know, you know, it's that kind of

dream for me reading this It just takes up too

much time Like I know that I think the only To

this point, the only three issue miniseries we've

had is Ultram Empire, right? Yeah. I think so.

Yeah, the only three issue miniseries we had

is Ultram Empire. If they had condensed half

of this dream sequence or this Pantheon screwball

thing with Casey and April, I get it. Casey needed

to go through his anger and I do love that in

this third issue seeing Casey going through his

anger and seeing him cop against his younger

self and all that I like that, but I still think

that This could have been done all done in in

three issues instead of four Yeah, and I all

the character stuff needed to be thought out

more So In the third issue here, my favorite

outside of Casey's inner demons facing his inner

child. My favorite panel is where they're, you

know, Star Wars standing, you know, and there's

no Luke to, you know, swing April across. I love

that giant panel with her on the left and him

on the right and they have the jagged things

in the middle that they have to essentially cross

to get to each other. I think that is so cool.

I noticed reading my copy that that's where the

staples are and like how much thought had to

go into this full page spread falling on the

page with the staples so you can actually open

the book all the way. Like did they have to plan

ahead? I mean did that interfere with the layouts

on issues one and two? yeah i'm not sure all

is i know is digitally on comics ology it's so

clean no staples needed because that that's a

discussion for a completely different way but

yes magazines and comics and staples and i guess

that i get that's how they have to do that but

so we've got casey and april making their way

towards each other here in issue three and then

the rat king shows up and That's you know, that's

where you know, it's left off they get to each

other they dive in and this is where they meet

the rat king like I Don't know it just And why

do they care about these two? It was a page from

the foot clan book that brought him out there

But I don't you know and that that whole thing

isn't addressed very well as to why they're out

there and And why they're getting screwed with

by the rat king. Why are these two people so

important? See that well, that's what I'm saying.

Why it's not even that why are Casey and April

important? Why the rad King like if you're gonna

tie this all back to foot clans instead of introducing

a new character that I've never seen before in

this bird lady thing Why not have kitsune show

up in some? Astral projection or something or

you know obviously kitsune couldn't be there

because of whatever she's doing with shredder,

but I'm just saying it's like Why do we need

a brand new character? To my knowledge. I don't

think I've ever seen this. I don't think so either

My only guess is that I think I think they're

getting brought together with the good one of

the Pantheon so that they can Eventually stop

kitsune. Maybe that's where this is going Ranking

is too self -serving and disinterested and more

interested in screwing with people than than

anything to be yeah, but In in his entire and

I mean entire the whole franchise He's always

screwing with splinter. He's never he's not I've

never noticed rat like it's obviously splinters

a rat and he wants Normally rat King wants splinter

to you know betray his sons and blah blah blah.

It's like like you're saying it's really You

know treatment in my head. Yeah, why is he why

is he screwing with a Casey in April? I mean

the the rat King is It's a character that started

in the Mirage books, and they haven't exactly

answered all the questions about him. Some really

spooky stuff happens. The earliest we see him,

I think, is in A Tales of the Turtles issue,

and he's teaching Splinter a lesson. Splinter's

hallucinating, injured, and he's just egging

him on. Really drives Splinter to do some nasty

things that... he wouldn't ordinarily do to survive.

And he says something at the end of this issue

where he kind of saves Splinter by making him

do things he didn't want to do. Splinter's alive

and survives. And he says, when you die, at the

end, I will be there. And like 90 issues later,

boiler alert, stop reading, stop listening, and

you are never going to read the Mirage books.

When Splinter's at the farmhouse, he clutches

his chest, has a heart attack, keels over and

dies. There's one panel where the Rat King is

in the background watching, but he's not in any

of their panels. He doesn't say a word. He's

just there and then he's gone. Some really weird

stuff happens in in issue 29 I believe the 30

31 the last one 32 it would be now because they're

releasing them weird Where stuff with splinter

happens and like man is the rat king involved

is there but also in the mirage series? There's

a pantheon as well, but they're The pantheon

is about kind of the animal kingdom and the rat

king is the king of rats But there's eagle kings

and lion kings oops and all these other things

There are all these other pantheons and and they

kind of make a pass there that says splinter

was chosen to be the new rat king So basically

what you're saying is it's a giant circle of

light And it moves us all Yeah, so we get to

issue issue number four here the final issue

we start off with April and the Turtles with

you know what now seems like ages ago when she's

off getting ready to go off and do her thing

and she and Leo have a moment and we get back

to you know the present with her and Casey and

Rat King and by this time When I was reading

this, not just for this podcast, but I actually

wrote written reviews for this series, or I tried

to. By the fourth issue, I was ready to just

rip my beard off at the time before I got my

haircut. I was ready to rip all my hair out.

I was like, oh my god, somebody do something.

This is gonna be the most sadly anti -climactic

story at the end of this. It's like I think it

fails from needing to plant the seed and that

they couldn't really let it come to fruition

Because I mean even going back and kind of looking

through this like like we've already said in

this episode of the show You know the Honestly

for me the coolest part of this is at the very

end when they're let go And we see them get back

together and kiss and what like when they're

on their way back to New York or whatever We

have to go back no You know, it's like I had

some pizza the other day I mean it I mean it's

that kind of feeling for me when they're heading

back but like there's no the whole time I was

reading the series folks I wanted a bunch of

character explanation I wanted to know why the

hell the rat king was there why he was screwing

with them how he is you know part of this godlike

pantheon whatever else and his sister or whatever

Really by the fourth issue when we're introduced

to the bird lady. I really wanted to know all

about her I didn't give a crap what happened

to Casey and April but you know once we met her

I'm like, okay, who is she? What is she doing

now? I wonder now we've met kids soon a What

ages and ages ago at this point like city fall

at least by city fall? Maybe before city fall.

I don't remember off top my head. So we met kids

soon a we then you know have two new yorks on

flipside coins we go there we meet uh chinese

whatever with the ghostbusters um and then obviously

we already kind of knew about rat king a little

bit so that's three of the four siblings now

we meet this other one i really know nothing

about any of these characters like kitsune out

of the four of them is my favorite because she's

the one that i know not necessarily most about

but She's the one that's always there because

she's always with Shredder. The other three,

I'm like, just wash my hands of all three of

them. What? I'm reading the the Rat King section

of the IDW section of the Rat King page. They

mention. But the the Pantheon from the Mirage

comic series and it's Chi Yu is the Chinese Yeah,

yeah Seeking to subvert humanity to their will

via subtle game of intrigue and manipulation

Yes, subtle game of intrigue and manipulation

that means something like we're never giving

you any answers whatsoever Not so we actually

know what our questions are going to be and then

we'll write a really cool plot around it three

years Later and make it pay off Just like just

like Krang showing up in the teleporter ancient

Japan and it's shredder But they didn't identify

him as crying until way later and that came out

in our first interview with Bobby I asked we

I think it might have been off the air when we

were asking him questions that we didn't want

to ask on there I says all right that that utram

who shows up at the end is that krang he says

well we left it open because we didn't know where

we were going to go with that but we wanted it

it's krang now we're sure it's krang like oh

sweet okay and it was shortly after that interview

that the battle happened on the boat and they

made reference to yeah i saw you in that teleporter

so they're just planting seeds badly yeah and

i hate to say that about my my favorite series

right now. But, you know, that's what happens.

At least the main series is kicking ass. So overall,

I don't even know. I think we ought to go to

a commercial break before I can collect my thoughts

overall about Casey and April. Issue number four

left me more with with more questions than friggin

answers. Like I already said the coolest thing

for me is when they're heading back to New York

or back to back east or whatever the hell so

We're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna come

back with final thoughts and ratings after this

It's Decian, the superhero webcomic. Decian's

got superhero antics and sexy girls. Read it

now at Decian .com. D -A -S -I -E -N .com. So

let's say you're looking for a podcast of your

favorite 80s comic books. G .I. Joe, Transformers,

Ninja Turtles, He -Man, etc. Where are you gonna

go to find this? Welcome to Star Joes Podcast.

I'm your host Ryan. And I'm Chuck. That's right

everybody, we're the Star Joes. We host a podcast

called Star Joes Podcast, where we talk about

your favorite comic books, your favorite toys

of all the 80s properties. Star Wars, G .I. Joe,

Transformers, Mask, Thundercats, Voltron, you

name it, we cover it. If it's in the 80s, we

will cover it at some point. Yes, so what you

want to do to find us, you can go to iTunes,

you can go to www .starjoes .com. And remember...

The force will be with you because knowing us

is half the battle. It's Showtime Synergy. The

latest review podcast from the GeekCast Radio

Network is here. So join TFG One Mike, Nicole

Hailstorm and myself, Lady Rec, as we will be

reviewing all 65 episodes of Jow in the Holograms

in a 25 episode long podcast. You can find Showtime

Synergy on iTunes and GeekCastRadio .com. We

are the truly outrageous podcast that you want

to be listening to. No, but I was - You just

shut up and kiss me, okay? I got a report to

do. I'm never going to be pushy. Alright folks,

we are back and I have collected my thoughts.

I'm sure Joe has collected his thoughts. We're

each going to give you our final thoughts on

TMNT Casey in April. I want to preface this and

say that we understand this is Mariko Tamaki's

first foray into Turtles. I personally hope it's

her last foray into Turtles because what little

character development we got from Casey in April

I liked. But the rest of the writing was just

so goddamn boring for me. And I hate saying that

about something dealing with Casey in April.

I mean... The two of us love all of the most

of all of those characters. I don't think I've

ever heard you say if there are any characters

that you absolutely cannot stand with any, you

know, well, Venus doesn't count. No, Venus doesn't

count. And IDW has been has done a wonderful

job of making me like characters that I previously

hated. Even when they do something crazy with

them like Han, like, dang it, it is such a good

idea. OK, so I chuck this. unfortunate thing

up to an inexperienced writer, maybe somebody

who's written not for comics before and doesn't

exactly understand pacing, and maybe an editing

job that was halfway because they were working

on bigger, heavier things. And I hate to say

it! I don't want to say anything about the editing

job, because as we all know, Bobby is an excellent

editor, and I know he... believed in this series

and was really excited about this series and

I don't know if anything you know behind obviously

you know we're not flies in the walls of IDW's

meetings or anything although that would be really

cool but you know and yes folks I know I made

a Baxter Stockman joke thank you but it's one

of those things where Don't want to fault Bobby

really because of if he's working on something

else or whatever because I mean this man At this

point as of this recording I read an interview

with him with Bobby Tom and Kevin About issue

50 which issue 50 for us in the inside the pull

bag will be in a few weeks We have to get through

47 to 49 first and then we're gonna do issue

50 But I read this interview, and I think I sent

it to you, I don't remember, but I'll see if

I can find it again. Where they're talking about

issue 15, in it, Tom is praising Bobby, and he's

like, yeah, Bobby hasn't slept in four years.

I think... Bobby might have taken a nap Don't

get me wrong. I don't want to I don't really

don't want to say disparaging remarks about Bobby

But I think Bobby might have taken a nap during

this series and I don't think it's his fault

Really, but I wouldn't even say it's a nap. He

was handling he is constantly handling a lot.

They needed a mini -series happening while they

were working on the big stuff, and I think it

just, it fell through the cracks a little bit.

I wouldn't mind seeing from Tamaki again if the

story's right, if the support's there, if Tom

is there backing it up. with with story comments

or ideas I don't want to write her off yet and

I'll even find other stuff she's done then it's

it's it's a supporting story and it's not necessary

to read but it's true but I mean if you like

the characters you want to read it I mean we

all like Casey and April for the most part I

mean you know you would want to read this but

see for me like I wouldn't mind any other female

writer. If you need to have a female writer on

another Casey and April story, dealing with their

relationship, anybody else but Tamaki for me.

I wouldn't even sit here and say there should

be a male writer on Casey and April, a new Casey

and April series after this. There shouldn't,

because... Female writers are more than fine

and they do an excellent job I would say maybe

ask Marigold Scott, but she's a little too busy

with all the transformer stuff at IDW and I don't

know if she's that internal so It's one of those

things where Casey and April for me what really

excels is the quote -unquote Breakup of the relationship

in the beginning and the quote -unquote get back

together at the end the middle is just kind of

For me, this is the first time ever in the pull

bags history that I've given a rating like this.

I got to give it two out of five. And the only

reason why it gets two stars out of five is because

of Irene Ko's art. and the colors. So for anyone

interested in knowing, and I will put the link

to our GCR and Universal Rating System in this

post, two out of five stars means I disliked

it. The positives serve as a reminder to the

latent potential that was never fulfilled. The

product is often a victim of poor execution or

an inability to focus on a clear path. It fails

in large variety of different areas, and the

failures are not too much to the extreme, but

I just, even reading it a second time, I was

bored to tears in the middle of the story. Yeah,

that's not a good place to leave your readers.

I give it a three, we're just barely passing

because it is, well, with everything IDW has

done is I have to believe that there were seeds

planted here and that in a year and a half, we're

going to Be very thankful that we read it because

things will get revealed but they're the what

your number two says about execution is is true

The execution just sucks As far as how the rat

king is like we don't even get to know any like

I already said we don't get to know anything

about the bird I don't even remember the bird

lady's real name I don't even remember the name

they gave the bird lady. I just know it's a bird

lady, you know, it's like Don't know But folks

that's uh, that's Casey and April I know we kind

of trashed on a little bit and it pained us to

do so because we really I really wanted this

series to really be all about Casey and April's

relationship and Every time in the beginning

parts Like the whole distance thing in the very

beginning. It's like wow. It really feels like

we're back in high school And I didn't want to

hate on it because I want Bobby to come back

and talk to us again. I'm sure in a year and

a half, almost two years of us reviewing this

four year long franchise, this is probably the

only first bad review. I mean, we've nitpicked

stuff, but this is the first bad review we've

ever given anything. So I think he can be, you

know. a little bit understanding that considering

we're probably not the only ones that deals with

on a daily basis for his negative this is just

the first time we you know what i mean uh...

so i folks on the pullback coming up I'm not

sure between October and November what's going

to happen. It's going to be a surprise every

week. Like I said, I do know that Joe and I are

going to be doing issues 47 to 49, which is the

Stockman Swarm stuff leading up to issue 50.

We'll do that one as well. And then depending

on how the story goes after 51, we might wait.

and do two issues at a time, so 51, 52, 53, 54

as one show, whatever. I'm not sure. Turtles

Batman will be handled as we handle all the other

miniseries. It'll be one podcast, just like Turtles

in Time was and Ghostbusters was and all that.

As far as other content for the pull bag... This

will go out before Halloween. So I think we're

gonna have Last Stand of the Wreckers for episode

112 of the pullback. Oh, I want to read that

really bad Gonna have Transformers Last Stand

of the Wreckers. We're gonna do that Because

coming up later this year, they're doing a sequel

series sins of the Wreckers So yeah, I read it.

I read what Last Stand and it was awesome. That's

what I'm told That's where I start if I want

to read uh... transformers IDW we can talk about

that offer but uh... it was a whole lot of long

discussion uh... so we're gonna do sins uh...

not sins I'm sorry we're gonna do Last Stand

of the Wreckers uh... for episode 112 of the

podcast episode 113 of the podcast is gonna be

our Halloween episode where Nicole and I do Mars

Attacks Popeye from IDW. And then after that,

I don't know, episode 114 will probably be the

TMNT 47 and 49, 115 might be TMNT 50, I'm just

not sure. I know that all of this is gonna be

leading up to dark side December, where we will

be doing some Star Wars comics coverage. So,

that's what's going on right now in the pull

bag. Do you have anything you want to pimp out,

sir? Um, nope. All my pimping is done for the

year, actually. The Geek Stuff garage sale's

over. Grand Con is over. Uh, oh, oh! There's

the Grand Rapids Comic Convention in a week and

a half, but I think by the time this airs, that'll

be over. 16th? This'll go out the 13th. Hey!

No, the 14th. So yeah, what about um, what about

that garage stuff? Don't you have any garage

stuff? You want to talk about no garage sales

yet? Because I'm moving here. What you first

what about the cast? Oh the geek stuff garage

cast. Yeah I'm a Go listen to that. It's GeekStuffGarageCast

.com and you can check us out there making fun

of each other and talking about all things geeky.

I gotta catch up because in my transition over

the last six months, I have listened to nothing.

Not just GeekStuff GarageCast, but anything.

I don't listen to anything either. That's because

you hate the sound of your own voice, right?

Hate the sound of everybody's voice He's using

his Batman voice the only good line to come out

of that movie I Like the one I Like the one in

Dark Knight Rises where he's like, oh, so that's

what that feels So alright folks turtle power

we will catch you next time We're very much looking

forward to 47 or 49 and obviously 50 and I'm

Really looking forward to what happens after

50. Yeah, we're gonna get that Mikey arc. We've

been clamoring. Uh -huh. Absolutely So make it

your greatest game in the comics and we will

catch you next time folks Cricket. Cricket? Nobody

understands cricket. You gotta know what a crumpet

is to understand cricket. I'll teach you. You've

just heard the latest episode of The Pull Bag,

the GCRN's 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 all of our different

podcasts. You can rate our show on iTunes. Be

sure to leave us feedback. Call the voicemail

line 502 -526 -5821. Please remember to tell

us the show you're leaving the message for, and

your name. Become a fan of us on Facebook by

searching Geekcast Radio Network. Send us an

email feedback at geekcastradio .com. Follow

us on Twitter at Geekcast Radio. So until next

time. Make your great escape into comics and

unleash the geek in you.