IDW TMNT Issues #33-34

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 pool bag Hello and welcome to the pool bag,

this is yet again another back issue classics

and Joe Reed and I are here. Hello, Joe. Hello

How are you? I'm well as usual that that is good.

That is good We are here and we are starting

this new trend of mine that I said we were gonna

be beginning When we did the Northampton run

where we review two issues of Turtles per podcast

we're starting with issue 33 because that's where

we left off after we did a neutron Empire and

Issue 33 for those who haven't listened to the

Northampton episode first of all go back and

do that second of all Basically picks up with

them coming back to New York before I forget

Where can the good people interact with you online?

Best place to look? Facebook .com slash geek

stuff garage sale. No spaces. And while I'm at

it, I'll say that the next geek garage sale is

September, Saturday, September 27th. It's in

Grand Rapids, Michigan. And if you go to that

Facebook page and take a look around, you'll

find dates, maps and everything you need. And

generally, though, if you just want to get a

hold of me and ask geek stuff, that's the place

to do it. All right, so issue 33 cover a is the

four turtles They are Leo is Looking around a

corner kind of sneakily looking around a corner

and they're all standing there. I like it. We

are back to the I Don't Santa Luco Yeah, it's

it's Santa Luco, but it's still that at least

on Leo. It's that egg -shaped baby type of head

design on Leo. On this cover it is. Cover B is

Eastman. I like Eastman's covers. Not so sure

about his art though. I don't know, it just...

He's gotten... Lazy is not the right word. He

just wants to draw fast, and I think that's what

it is. It's like, hey Eastman, we need another

cover from you. All right, yeah, give me 20 minutes,

ba -ba -ba -ba -ba, and he uses big fat markers

and then takes the toothbrush, dips it in the

ink, and all over everything. Wow. I'll let it,

I'll give him a pass because he's Kevin Eastman.

No, yeah, no, I know, and I'm not saying anything

bad about it either, but... It's very dated is

what it is. It's very 1980s. Yeah. Because that's

the era that, you know, he did. And I think even

the Heavy Metal magazine that he got wrapped

up in and managing and doing that, that was very

80s even when it was coming out in the 90s. But,

you know, hey, it's work. It's artwork. um...

yes yes it is uh... now right now we are in the

week of september third twenty fourteen next

week we're going to get to the annual the annual

that has been you know hooked up for god knows

how long most of this year twenty fourteen annual

for turtles uh... that one i'm gonna make you

do all the work in because when i read through

it the first time Know it's Eastman. I know he's

the co -creator. I Just can't get his art style.

It's it's very very difficult to follow Just

with what's going on because the it's it's almost

abstracted I've seen some beauty, you know, um,

this brings up a thing IDW about a year ago released

a large format Kind of card stock cover I don't

know what to call it, but it's like a it was

Kevin Eastman's ruffs for issue 50 of the Mirage

Turtles IDW released it Don't know why it was

some and it wasn't the 30th anniversary, but

they released it his In the roughs are done with

ballpoint pen blue ballpoint pen and they're

reproduced full -size in the bit with the color

ballpoint those drawings are Beautiful I could

not believe What those look like I'm gonna quick

type some things in here see if I can find the

name of that I think it was maybe the legacy

Legacy collection well Joe is looking for that

we start out in New York City with, um, a crime

in progress. Uh, you know, I love that Santalucco

is back on here. Um, when we get to do Turtles

in Time, I... their rotating artist pool always...

I love it for the most part, except for some

of Ross Campbell's egg -shaped designs for the

Turtles, um, and My Little Pony hooves. Uh, but,

um... I love this rotating panel of, or not in

that panel, but the rotating pool of artists

that IDW does use, because they go back to, sometimes

they'll use Dan Duncan, sometimes they'll use,

you know, Santa Luco, sometimes they'll use Ben

Bates, sometimes they'll use, you know, insert

artist name here. I can't decide at this point

if it's Santa Luco I like more, or if it's Ben

Bates that I like more, but honestly, if I was

doing a... top five IDW artists list they would

probably be almost tied for number one I think

Ben Bates would have to get my vote out of the

two of them but I still think my absolute favorite

is Dan Duncan I like how abstract it wasn't it

wasn't abstract abstract turtles but they were

exaggerated in a way that kind of conveyed motion

and attitude and I really enjoyed that first

12 issues is just really good and some of my

favorite. I'm actually looking at the the front

cover of mine and it shows the cover variants.

On this one This issue made me quite angry. I

think it came out in May because they have the

jetpack comics exclusives I don't know if your

trade shows that but there was a Dan Duncan the

same four turtles that were on Issue one are

kind of put together in a different drawing say

they cut and paste kind of thing There's a retailer

exclusive for jetpack of the original turtle

the first turtle that Kevin Eastman did with

the nunchuck strapped to his wrist the one that

I just about spent too much money on ebay to

buy but i didn't buy it maybe someday i don't

know what the value is there's a another jetpack

exclusive with a kind of a tribute thank you

drawing to eastman and laird and all the other

mirage house artists laird doony farley freely

not trying to pronounce it either way they all

did this giant compilation of all of the mirage

house characters on one giant piece of illustration

board, and it's an eight -fold cover, and I really

want that one. Oh, that's cool. I lost it. The

trade for this isn't out yet. I have a subscription

on Comixology to the single issues now that I'm

caught up, but the single issues on Comixology,

it's weird. I have the green and red turtle's

Christmas inside panel where it gives you the

writer's names and stuff, but it doesn't show

the... The overall covers I guess because it's

a digital edition But yeah, no, I mean that that

that sounds really yeah that illustration section

and it's called the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Treasury Edition III Everybody should own that

comic go find it. I think it's ten bucks New

but it's very large format. It's got notes in

it all these handwritten the things on their

man this panel really sucked I really should

have moved it over but then this one's great

I love this but everything is beautiful with

with Eastman's pen on that they're just gorgeous

so yeah but that illustration the jetpack exclusive

is in that Treasury Edition full -size and so

I was very excited to get that and see that anyway

there's this robbery going on and our turtles

are going to do something about it Yeah, I well

I'm trying to think you weren't you weren't sure

when this came out and I'm trying to remember

if 37 was last month, I'm pretty sure this one

was May because when Free comic book day hit

that's when this issue dropped and at jetpack

comics in Northampton, Massachusetts That's where

you could buy these comics So I'm pretty sure

back in May I'm pretty sure this is after Yeah,

oh yeah, this is definitely after the passing

of James Avery, but when I saw the guard I'm

like is that an homage? Is that them trying to

throw away? Eh, not chubby enough. Not enough

beard. Exactly, yeah. Hey, yo, Uncle Phil, but

so we have this robbery and I have to say it

doesn't matter if it's these turtles or Anybody

else design doesn't matter if it's people that

are in comics people Anytime anyone draws the

turtles in shadow this bottom right hand panel

here. I Love it. I absolutely love it. I think

that's amazing So we get to this full page spread

where they are stopping these robbers And these

guys have no idea what's going on. Yeah, if I

were drawing Ninja Turtles, this is what it'd

look like. You'd never see the turtles because

they're freaking ninjas and you don't see ninjas.

Yeah, I mean, you know, you know, this goes back

to 87. Strike hard and fade away without a trace.

You know, this is amazing. Simply amazing. Absolutely

love it. So we get the turtles and they're all

talking to each other after they've foiled this

robbery. They're talking about What is going

to be going on here? You know, Donnie says no,

it's not Donnie Leo says they should stay in

lowland until the police get here And you know,

they're all kind of chiming in and Raph says

home sweet home Mikey says at least we stop those

dudes like You know real mass crime fighters

And then donnie and leo starred in and I thought

well, I think there's an important line in there's

like, uh, where did where does it say this? um

Oh Leo says we're not superheroes there we are

Um, yeah, remember to focus little bro. We're

not superheroes and this isn't your comics. This

is dead serious and I think In and in some of

the iterations of the turtles they've made them

kind of more superheroic And I'm I'm glad to

see them kind of acknowledging that with the

IDW run I don't know maybe some people out there

and in viewer land like their Turtles to be superheroes.

I like them I like them hiding in the sewers

and just leave us alone guys, but nobody leaves

them alone because they're turtles Mean it kind

of goes to what Mikey is kind of always had the

the obsession with yeah, you know comics and

heroes and You know there was I think there was

a few yeah, it was in the 2003 series. He actually

dressed up as a superhero And rafted it in the

the CG movie I thought that was interesting for

him to decide to go that way night the the night

Avenger yeah So You know, they still have surprise

on their side and we get to this bottom panel

of the four of them again, jumping across the

rooftops in shadow. I love this. I will send

you a link to a drawing I did of Leonardo jumping

with a silhouette. I have to find that. I think

it's in the other room. But if you like that,

I think it's one of my favorite, even though,

yeah, I mean, like, like, yeah, like I said earlier.

Anytime they're in shadow like we like I I know

that's Donnie right there with his you know his

his left leg straight out backwards and his you

know because obviously he's got a giant stick

on his back but it's like just so cool so we

get to Yeah, that's right. We get to the next

page and scene where it's Bebop and Rocksteady

hitting an armored car Tearing it to pieces Pretty

much They were sleeping so we woke them up and

then we ripped them out of bed and it's their

their metaphors for Tearing open the armored

car and ripping them out of their chairs seatbelts

and all I think that's great. And so yeah, hun

was there and they Got a bunch of money from

the armored car. I Don't get it when I rob an

armored car in Grand Theft Auto 5. There's never

that much money in there. Oh Wait, I'm not on

the video game podcast. Never mind. Yes, you

I mean, not now, though. Oh, right, right, right,

yeah. Yeah, I mean, it surprises me that Bebop

and Rocksteady are with Hun, though. Like, I

know at this point, and we'll find out in this

issue and the next one that we talk about, that

Hun is kind of, you know, super trusted by the

Shredder. You know, but, like, I wouldn't think

that... Shredder would have Hun, Bebop and Rocksteady

working together because Hun is the purple dragons.

But I mean, I like this. I think it's really

cool. I love the art. I love all the colors on

the next page, how the backgrounds are all kind

of really, really light in comparison to how

dark Bebop and Rocksteady are and how dark Korai

is and how Shredder is. I really love that. And

this issue kind of turns into, you know, Casey

and his dad. I mean, well, it's Casey and his

dad, and we've got April and Casey, and Casey's

still not ready to face the truth. He's still

not, you know, he's basically being a recluse

at this point. He's, you know, going inside himself

and, you know, hiding the emotions. What I find

interesting, and I don't know if Waltz, Kernow,

and Eastman looked at the 2012 animated series

I find the scene with April and Donnie really

really heartwarming because it's more of friendship

and concern than it is of Donnie basically being

all goo -goo -eyed or like he is in the cartoon

series. I love this version of April and Donnie

as far as their their friendship. I think that's

great. I'm looking at page 7 with April showing

up I don't know what happened between the last

time that Santa Luca was on the book But he seems

to have forgotten how to draw April O 'Neil and

like this first page is okay But then we go to

the next page every one of those faces is terrifying

to me It's the hair dude she should have never

cut her hair we can blame Ross Campbell for cutting

her hair yes Let's hope it'll grow back overnight

One can hope I know it doesn't happen in the

next and this is this issue or the next one so

yeah Campbell's coming back So we then go to

the scabray or whatever the bar is called and

hun walks in and You've got Brooklyn, Han, and

these two other regulars that I guess used to

be his friends and he's looking for Angel and

Casey because what the Shredder told him was

that your son is basically a liability at this

point you either need to get him to be on board

with us or I'm going to have to hurt him even

more than last time. Boo! I do really enjoy the

page after these first two pages, the one where

it's his head, and it's all these images. Yeah,

yeah, where we find out that that's... Brooklyn,

the bartender, former friend of Arnie, now the

Hun, says something like, hey, you're gonna side

with the guy who gutted your son, and then Hun

flashes to... his conversation with the Shredder

where he explains, hey, family's important. That's

why I'm, you know, it's important to the foot

too. And your son will let him join if he at

la la la, he's, he gives them the ultimatum and

Hans made his decision throttle. And the next

panel is throttling Brooklyn for having said

that. And then Angel comes out to save the day

because that's her dad. Yeah. Um, and we get

this really, really awesome bar fight. Um, and

he you know he basically hit you know like you

said he hits Brooklyn he then you know the these

two other bar patrons here who I assume are all

regulars and used to be all I I honestly don't

remember these guys but I like that they're stepping

up to help Brooklyn and Angel because they're

loyal to them but Hun just decimates this place

And then you guys mind telling me what you're

doing to my little purple pal over there because

because Angels wearing purple Casey shows up

but instead of fighting says let's go outside

and have a chat dad and It's it's it I'm glad

that hunn isn't so totally gone that that does

turn into a fight that they are gonna Go outside

and actually have a conversation It gives me

hope But before they have the conversation, small

intermission. You know, I love that on this one

page here, at the bottom of it, where it's the

panel where Hun says, you think you're better

than me, girl? You're nothing. You're nobody.

Oh, he says it. I totally missed it. What I love

about this is what happens like. Because reading

this in Comixology on that Guided View Technology

panel by panel, I was like, okay, so we get it.

She's not going to give Casey up, you know, and

that's all well and good. And he says, sides,

you got it all wrong. I don't want to hurt Casey.

I just want to talk to him. This is why I love

the guided view is because they can do something

like put half of a speech bubble on one panel

And then you have to right arrow to the next

panel to see what the hell. Well, I'm right here

old man So why don't we go outside and it's like

oh my god It's like Casey's an action hero It

really really is because it's just so damn cool

So, we then go back to Leo and Splinter, because

when they got home, I forget who it was, it might

have been April. April says, yeah, Splinter's

downstairs meditating, he wants to see you, Leo.

Wants to see you, Leo. So, this is where Splinter

and Leo are going to talk about the next step,

you know, what's the next part of the plan. And,

you know, he basically says where all the turtles

are. Besides, obviously, he's right there. So,

Raph and Mikey are off doing something. Donnie's

busy doing techno mumbo jumbo. I like the interaction

here. I meant to mention when we did the Ultram

Empire one that in that... In those three issues

when splinter was shown. I really dug the way

he looked in that Versus how he looks here. Yeah,

Santa Lugo like forgot how to draw everybody

except for Casey So we get more of the conversation

between Casey and hun and hun basically tells

him and You know, Hun's made his choice. Hun

is with the Shredder. The Purple Dragons are

with the Shredder. They are with the Foot Clan.

And Casey's not having it. Casey's just, you

know, he's with the Turtles. He's with the good

guys. So it's kind of strange to me to see, you

know, it's not strange in a bad way, but it's

really strange to see how far If you think about

it, when we started this series for reviews in

the pullback way back when in volume 1 and issue

1, 2, 3, and 4, I wanted nothing to do with Casey's

dad whatsoever. I didn't want to ever see him

again, wanted Casey to get the hell out of there,

and I know you didn't particularly like that

they made him hun, but I thought it was a nice

little twist and it offers Casey some... It gives

him stake in the overall battle. He's not just

hanging out with the turtles because he likes

teenagers He's actually there because he has

he has skin in the game Exactly. My question

to you is especially well considering this scene

here where huns talking and he has dialogue Did

you watch the 2003 animated series? I Haven't

watched it all but I've seen a lot of it. I've

seen like the first I think two seasons three

seasons of it so but it's been a long time could

can you compare and contrast this hun to that

hun no okay not adequately i can't even i can't

even hear hun i i i don't have the information

in front of me whoever voices hun in that series

i love whoever voices him i love the voice for

the character but i don't even hear that voice

in this version of honka because it is something

so complete like if they had done that in the

2003 series and made him Casey's dad and then

you know this is kind of paying homage to that

and doing it in a different way or whatever if

they had done that sure I probably could have

but now no I mean this to me is like one of those

typical me when I mean typical I don't mean to

be insulting but typical New York guys where

they talk like this that kind of accent and You

know, um, like I said earlier, when he says,

you know, when he says to Angel, you think you

can beat me, girly? You're nothing. You're nobody.

You know, it, it's that kind of thick New York

accent. I can probably hear out of him, but I

wouldn't, I honestly don't think that the two

have anything to do. You know, I, other than

the fact that they're the leader of the purple

dragons, that's pretty much it. And let's face

it, Hun in that series. Bumbled everything. Haunted

in the cartoon series, I don't think he ever

succeeded against the Turtles. He seemed like

a serious character to me, not like a Bebop or

Rocksteady bumbling around. Oh no, he's much

more serious than Bebop or Rocksteady, but at

the same time, he is portrayed as being a consistent

failure. So we get this other page here where

Casey walks back into the bar, and then Angel

and her dad get into it, and she walks out. We

then go back to Hun, who is still outside, and

we see more of the stuff that's going on in his

head, and I absolutely love this. I love Santolucco's

imagery here with the top right part of the page.

It's Shredder, Brooklyn, Casey inside of Hun's

head. He pulls out this picture of himself when

he used to have black hair and himself and Casey.

Right here, Hun has made his choice. There's

no going back now. He throws the picture away.

Well, actually, I think there is going back some

I think someday, you know, like that he's going

to have his fist coming down on Casey and it's

going to stop like this is where I hope that's

how it happens. I don't know if it will, but

we'll see. And it might be for 40 issues. Hey,

well, we're on 33 now as far as the reviews,

if it goes to. Oh, you did that on purpose, you

jerk. What did I do? 33 and 40 it's 73 issues

So the issue ends with hon crumpling up the picture

and basically throwing it on the ground and walking

away And it says to be continued kind of in a

spider -man no more look kind of yeah I Thought

this issue was great I thought it was interesting

seeing them come back and have all these different

kind of like the storyline with April, Casey,

and Donnie. There wasn't too much Raph and Mikey

in this. because they're off doing something

for Splinter and then you know we see Splinter

and Leo kind of you know finding their way and

learning and seeing how how they're gonna progress

and then we have the Casey and Hun story like

it amazes me how much Waltz and Eastman and Bobby

can can throw throw all of you know there's at

least three to four different storylines in this

And it is just amazing. It still continues to

be amazing. I may complain every now and then

about an art piece or maybe somebody says something

that I don't like or something like that in this

series, but the story overall has never let me

down. I wonder why something like this hasn't

got even been nominated for like a best ongoing.

You know, Daredevil is good. Daredevil is consistently

good. It wins Best Ongoing. Usagi Yojimbo, out

of hundreds of issues, consistently wins or gets

nominated for Best Ongoing. This really deserves

it. I mean, it's really one of the most consistent,

lovingly written books out there. It really does.

And we have got... Probably the day after this

episode goes up, I'm going to have to... to email

my contact at IDW. We got to interview Waltz.

We got to get Tom Waltz on here because... Oh,

yeah. Oh my God. I want to pick that guy's brain

like it's no tomorrow. Issue 33, amazing comeback

issue coming out of Northampton. It kind of felt

like... It kind of felt like that whole scene.

This is great, guys. Nice place. You coming or

not, dude? It really, like, especially in the

beginning of the issue when they're breaking

up the robbery. And Leo says, you know, we still

have surprise on our side. You know, I'm just

waiting for Danny Pennington to come in and steal

a picture. Don't shoot! I don't think it's loaded,

kid. Oh my god, I absolutely love, love this

book. We're gonna take a, did you have any final

thoughts really quick on this one before we go

to the next one? The next one puts this one into

perspective for me. Alright, well we're gonna

take a quick break. You're going to, I'm gonna

try to find some sort of metalhead clip or something

or other and we'll be back after this. It's action.

It's drama. It's comedy. 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

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Joe, Transformers, Ninja Turtles, He -Man, etc.

Where are you going to go to find this? Welcome

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star Joe's we host a podcast called star Joe's

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the force will be with you because knowing us

is half the battle. Alright, so it is time for

IDW Publishing's Teenager Ninja Turtles issue

number 34, the main cover is Eliminate Target

April O 'Neil. And it is all red. Deadly threat.

It's April and Donnie. And I love this cover.

This cover is so much different than any of the

other covers we've ever gotten. I need more metalhead

covers like this. What did you think of the cover

A, the red cover? I... That almost looks like

Ross Campbell's April that doesn't look like

Santa Luco's April Like it looks like Ross Campbell

did the face and he did everything Santa Luco

did everything else. I almost wonder I don't

know probably not because that would be weird.

He's not credited on here so The cover B was

Eastman and it's Eastman stylized version of

what metalhead Looks like in this turtles universe

Along with angel and it's basically them against

the night sky and the moon This one also had

crap tons of retailer incentive covers and comic

-con exclusive covers none of them Look like

anything I need to see it's kind of amateurish

Ninja Turtles here there and the next one and

then another Eastman cover for the Niagara Falls

comic -con Cool. Yeah, since we've been doing

this, I've kind of been following some of the

artists and stuff on Facebook and stuff like

that. And I saw that Santaluco, I believe it

was Santaluco, let me look and see if the image,

I think that was, yeah, it was Nickelodeon. I'm

trying to see if he put his, there was an image

that Santaluco put out of Metalhead. Of the IDW

metalhead and it gives a breakdown where he says

terminator mode Right -hand anti -grav gauntlet

speeder mode left hand and laser cannon machine

gun flamethrower Yeah, that's in the space on

the back page of this of the single. Oh is it

okay? Yeah And it just looks badass. I'm actually

gonna put this image in the post for this episode

But it's simply, simply amazing. And the fact

that they're finally bringing Metalhead in. Amazing.

I love it. I can't wait. So we are here with

Metalhead. Not exactly, because it does take

them a while to build up. And once it does, it's

just amazing. Yeah, I don't think I called. I

don't think I knew that that was Metalhead with

April's head in the crosshairs of that red cover.

Oh, in the cover? Yeah, I kind of got spoiled

by it because I was looking around for stuff.

And then I got spoiled by it because I saw the

preview and I saw the cover and I think one of

the websites out there that I go to previews

for said that it was the mental head issue. But

we start out with April. April and Donnie and

they're at the the van and Angel and Casey walk

up and April just kind of reaches out and Casey

has this knee -jerk reaction almost looks like

he's gonna hit her in the head with a baseball

bat and Wow Casey's not in his right mind Not

at all, especially after what happened last issue

So They have this giant conversation, and honestly,

I wasn't sure how Angel and April were going

to - Yeah. Especially after they kind of said

that April and Casey are together now. I wasn't

sure how that whole thing was going to play out

with - I think Angel had a history with Casey,

I think. She does, yes. But that's in the past

now. But I'm liking it. I'm really, really digging

it. I think it's really cool. And I think coming

up in a couple of issues, I think we actually

see the two of them team up at one point or another.

I could be wrong, though. I don't remember. Rough

top my head. I don't remember either. And we're

getting into the issues that I read like only

a month ago. Yeah, this is just way too much

going on. What do you think of these first two

issues or the first two pages? It's it's tense,

you know Casey's going through a lot of stuff

You know just basically saying goodbye to his

dad and the man that he was which you know Even

though he was an abusive alcoholic It's still

difficult to turn your back on your dad like

that and he knows he's got to do it You know

something his ultimate fate So we then go to

Harold's place And Harold is Donnie's friend

from way back when during the Donnie one -shot

during the Donnie one -shot He's Kirby fan. Oh

one he was back then so they go here to you know

Get some new tech and see, you know, see if Harold

can help them build the Teleporter yeah, the

teleporter we learned about at the end of utram

empire empire. Yeah, they They Drop that on us

in that yeah I don't think anybody'd have any

clue how Donnie got this teleporter thing unless

they read the time Empire stuff, right? Go read

utram empire then listen to our podcast. Yes

So while they're here April and Donnie are talking

to I want to I don't know why I want to call

it Chet, but he's not Chet. Harold. I did the

same thing And while they're talking to him Angel

is looking around and checking stuff out Harold

just isn't very happy with any of that. He doesn't

want You know this chick who he doesn't know

Looking at his stuff and she sees this new suit

that he's working on and I'm sure you got it

right away I didn't I didn't get it until the

very end oh really so so there's this new suit

and you know he's trying to Harold is trying

to streamline all of his inventions into more

efficient I guess you could say kind of things

And again, I love the art. The backgrounds are

light and bright where some of the character

designs are a little bit dark, but not too dark.

I love the contrast on them. Yeah, there's that

fancy thing they're doing where you lighten the

line work and the characters whose line work

you don't lighten pop forward. Just started doing

that on some illustrations digital stuff and

it's like wow that makes it look like it's it's

either in the distance or glowing It's a new

new neat trick Yep, absolutely. Here's for actually

paying attention to how people draw things Yes,

and we as this is going on we get to angel keeps

You know tinkering around and looking around

at stuff and and This is all this back and forth

between her and Harold and Dying out April And

we get to a point where Donnie says You've been

busy Harold you said he says you don't even know

the half of it Yo, what's under here, and we

see a leg you see a leg under a tarp I told you

not to touch anything What Whoa It's metalhead

and It's pretty much metalhead out of the cartoon

series. I mean, yeah. Yeah, this is similar to

It's similar to what he was in the toy line and

what he was, you know, in the old series and

stuff like that. But this, this squat size of

Metalhead is Metalhead as of what the 2012 series

did with Donnie creating Metalhead. You've seen

Metalhead in the new series. Okay. This is basically

that. Except this one has a hell of a lot more

guns. Because it's Harold making him not Donnie

So what did you think of the reveal of metalhead

this one did not strike me? I don't fondly remember

metalhead and and I think he's one of the sillier

things that that has come out of the animated

thing and so I wasn't like yeah, okay, it's metalhead

and I Don't know. It's not as not as traumatic

as hun being Casey's dad but not also not as

like oh, thank god That's cool. How that happened

as rocksteady and be about this. I'm kind of

mad about metalhead Okay, then Harold I thought

it was cool. I thought it was interesting that

he Like honestly the only thing I really remember

metalhead from his alley cat blues Yeah, honestly

like it's the only thing I remember him from

his team and t4 Turtles in Time alley cat blues

and he uses his go -go gadget arms and legs to

try to you know Kick you in the face And his

guns and everything else so I thought this was

really cool. I Thought it was really cool that

they Made him have multiple functions. I don't

want to call him a transformer because he's not

even though he does have a different mode I wish

the toy did that that's kind of If the new animated

toy would have turned into that little car, you

know sliding a couple of pieces I'd have bought

that instantly even as little as I care about

metalhead. I'd have bought that So we leave The

shop and we go back to splinter and Leo And they're

talking about, you know, Leo's talking about

the new technology, saying that Donnie thinks

it'll be too tempting for Harold to resist, especially

when he knows more about the technodrome threat.

And Splinter basically says that it doesn't help

us in our efforts against the foot. We must not

split our focus. With each moment that passes,

we lose our opportunity to strike at a Rokosaki

while he least suspects. So I do like this exchange

between them kind of still planning and plotting

and kind of you know going back and forth back

and forth And I really really like this I'm not

seeing too many after effects of Leo's brainwashing.

I mean he's Leo again, and he's I Don't know

because I I honestly don't I mean, we're 34 issues

into the main ongoing. And I very... At this

point, I can barely remember what Leo was like

before he was brainwashed. Like, I don't know

if he was always this... Discussive, like, talkative

with Splinter about these things. It seems, in

thinking just a few issues ahead, I think Leo

is hesitant to get violent. Yeah, he doesn't

want to get into the fights or he's avoiding

it. He's not going out I don't know if that's

even a conscious decision on on his own. I think

he's just kind of avoiding it the he's Discusses

things with splinter like up until the issue

that I think I just remember reading and they're

having the same debate That splinters like let's

go shredder now. Let's go get a Roku sake. We

got to do it He's kind of getting spl I'm kind

of worried about splinter because he's one track

mind back on that revenge sort of kick and that's

that's not where Splinter should be I mean It's

totally makes sense and I it's not healthy for

splinter to be there. It's cool for splinter

to be there though and and Leo's then Stuck in

the middle of let's you know fulfill our our

ninja duties and take care of this guy who killed

our mom But then he's also well, yeah Donnie's

right the world is going to end if we let this

happen We can't and so he's stuck in the middle

and and I'm not sure who he wants to please I

don't think he's sure who he needs to please

But it's an interesting spot for Leo and and

And I think when he eventually does get into

fights, or if he ever has to face Kitsune or

Shredder again, that it's going to be very difficult

for him to do. Absolutely. So we go back to Harold's

place. Harold, what the hell is this? Like I

said, I've been busy. Donnie, it looks just like

you turtle dudes. I love the... Didn't do nothing

look on Harold's face when he says that I think

that's great, you know Absolutely interesting

So he's talking about Harold's talking about

You know how he and Donnie meant at the fake

contest He realizes two things one I needed to

beef up my personal security And to despite his

low tech design Donatello skills agility speed

and flexibility encompassed a an Armored casing

struck me as adaptable And he goes on to say

but it's he says He says, it's still in the early

stages and needs extensive beta testing, a few

glitches here and there to work out of its programming,

but it's coming along quite nicely, if I do say

so myself. April chimes in. It's creepy. It's

creepy. Ditto. So Angel comes up with the name

Metalhead, which I don't mind. The whole point

of the thing is to homage the character, so I

don't mind that at all. And we find out that,

like the Flyborg for Stockman, Harold controls

Metalhead by a controller, just like that. Well,

Harold doesn't have the cool headset that Donnie

has in the 2012 series, but he activates this

thing and... We see that it's fully functional,

getting stools for people. Until it... On the

Twitch, in the bottom left panel, I love that

kind of... That look. We've all had that feeling

when you hear something that grates on your fingernail

chalkboard, like... And we know that something's

not going to go right. Yeah, no, not at all.

So the thing ends up going crazy because it is

targeting April We find out that Harold programmed

it with all these stock gen employees Why did

that make any sense? I don't have any clue So

we get a battle scene here And we see Metalhead

transform, for lack of a better term. He looks

creepy in his transformed state. He's got a spoiler.

Yeah, he's got a spoiler. So, you know, Angel

is gonna, you know, she's gonna go get streamlined

herself and she puts on the suit. Basically kicks

metalheads ass and see at this point still didn't

get it didn't didn't know what was going on yet

And she says at the end of the battle, you know

Honey god damn it. I almost called him honey

cut Harold Says what'd you say? Your name was

again me I'm nobody and that's when I wet my

drawers right there because When I read this

I had just finished Mirage Ninja Turtles Volume

2 and at the end of that somebody that showed

up a Superhero showed up at the end of that that

showed up in one of the early tales of the turtles

Nobody was a cop Dressed black skin suit with

a mask and a big old cape and that was all you

really saw There wasn't any technology about

him and he was basically Batman I mean, maybe

not quite as cool or powerful but in the original

series the turtles help him in Massachusetts

get something done He was a cop secret identity

and getting things done his own way at night

pretty cool character then he showed up at the

end of the volume to run and big giant thing

turtles needed lots of help and and he was there

to help him out and he supposedly we think he

died at the end of that. But of all of the Mirage

stable of characters, not the animated, not the

other, you know, Leatherhead, Renette, all these

other people, nobody in my opinion is the coolest,

while also being Underutilized I would love for

nobody to show up in the animated series the

new animated series I think he was a he and then

I think he was underutilized. I am so happy to

see them taking Angel here, and I think we heard

from Bobby kernel that it was no no no no This

this this part right here excited me so much

that as soon as I finished the issue I wrote

a letter to the Ninja Turtles book Saying oh

my god. Everybody's freaking out about metalhead.

Who cares about metalhead. You brought nobody

back guys. This is amazing Thank you for loving

us and I got that letter published in the last

issue, which I think was 36 that that hit the

shelves 35 or 36 you're probably right. You're

you you're probably right and Bobby says that

it was Eastman's idea to make nobody angel and

so like yes, thank you for putting I mean, this

is a huge love letter to So the old school fans

and not necessarily. See, that's the beautiful

thing about having Eastman on the book. Like

I know Waltz does the majority of the scripting.

I don't know how much Eastman lends. I mean,

I know Bobby told us that he, you know, kind

of, you know, lends his ideas and stuff. And

then Tom goes off and writes every once in a

while. Yeah. You know, but I mean, everything

about this series is amazing. They're doing like

they're not just throwing character after care

like they're making it work for the story like

Bebop and Rocksteady hun now angel is nobody

they're they're making it all work the The final

couple pages here we get we get to see an old

stock gen employee Lindsey going to her car She's

on the phone with her mom. She drops her keys

and lo and behold Hey Yeah. Old hob and slash.

I think your job hunt is over, Lindsay. And looking

at Lindsay and her design, I so badly wanted

her to be Irma. I know. I thought it, like, until

he said her name, I thought it was Irma. I thought

it was gonna be Irma, and not the Irma that we

knew and hated because she's obnoxious, but...

Irma that we could love in the IDW series, but

that's okay. I can live with this. Maybe she'll

show up someday She's in the new animated series.

Yeah, she's April's friend at the school, right?

Yeah, kind of she showed up every you know a

couple episodes here and there What I love about

this last page here is the juxtaposition of the

streetlights Where hub and slash and Lindsay

are all positioned and you can see? just how

enormous slash it like old hob only comes up

to his chest I mean I love the size difference

here between the three characters it's an amazing

final page absolutely love it issue 34 it was

great introduced Metalhead I don't know how often

they're gonna use him, but it introduced him

entered, you know made angel nobody that was

interesting and for me that I didn't know anything

about that character But I caught the thing with

hon. Mm -hmm You know saying girl, you're nothing.

You're you're nobody, you know, I caught that

You know, I caught that and I thought it was

I thought it was damn damn cool Overall, these

two issues, 33 and 34, continue to amaze me.

The art is wonderful. I'm very happy with Santolucco

on the art. I'm very happy with Rhonda Pattinson

on the colors. Yeah, this last page, if it were

the CG in a movie, I'd say they spent all the

money on this page, but that's not how comics

work. But the last page is beautiful. Yeah. Mean

the art overall in these two issues is amazing

except for April. I don't like April. Yeah Yeah,

I think he forgot how to draw I don't know what

I don't know I really don't know any other way

to yeah Yeah, pretty much I don't even think

it's about Santolucco drawing her. It's... Santolucco

drawing her after Ross Campbell gave her a haircut.

It's not... it's not... it's the friggin haircut

that still bothers me. Like... Give her a ponytail

for a few episodes or a few issues or something.

Don't cut it... have her cut it all off. I mean,

I understand she wanted a change and I understand

that Ross at the time... being the artist on

the books he was that he was doing it for wanted

to have her you know have a different look but

she's uh... all here on it's like uh... just

she doesn't have april in the idea of the reverse

i know they'll never make her this she doesn't

have to be yellow jumpsuit you know every guy

falling all my god you know visions of april

dancing in their heads it doesn't have to be

a sexy april doesn't you know it doesn't have

to but don't give her a boycott. I mean, come

on now. That's probably the only thing. Outside

of that, issue 33, 34, I'm going to give both

of them four out of five stars. I'm going to

take one point off for how April looks. But the

rest of it's great. I don't even think I could

go there. This is back to the turtles that I

love where they're not all mopey and hiding in

Northampton. So I think I know do we give half

stars four and a half or five stars? Yeah, you

can give four and a half or it's up to you or

in three quarter I'm gonna make it difficult

on you Luckily, I don't do any math on these

episodes All right. Well that's gonna do it for

this one Coming up next week as I said September

is kind of turned into Kind of turn in turtles

month here on the pull bag We are, let me just

make sure I have this correct. Jump to October.

Next week, we are gonna be doing the 2014 annual,

which Joe's gonna be doing all the snopsizing

on that one. And then we're gonna do issues 35

and 36 of the ongoing. So that's what's going

on there. Remind the good people if they missed

it at the beginning of the show where they can

find you online, sir. Best place to find me is

on Facebook. So facebook .com slash geek stuff

garage sale send a message there and I will happily

excitedly reply to you Awesome, you can find

me tfgmike on Twitter and Facebook You can follow

at geek cast radio on Twitter search for geek

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We are out of here make your great escape into

comics. We will catch you next week What's going

on Donnie? It's a crank sweet 16 birthday party.

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