IDW TMNT Issues 55: Mikey and the Mutanimals

Hi, this is Bobby Kernow, Chief Turtle Editor

at IDW Publishing, and you are going to have

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as the back issue classics are also what's in

the pool bag Hello and welcome to the pullback

this is baggage you classics episode 49 I am

one of your host Tf2 on mic and joining me is

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

Yes, we will talk about that much later in this

episode It must be somebody must have taken one

of those red pills or something who knows Because

holy crap. I didn't even notice like yeah, you're

the you're the one that messaged me on Facebook

Like is that I'm like where? so we'll talk about

that a little bit later but we are here it is

time to talk more tmnt the last tmnt episode

we did was 51 and 52 which according to bobby

curnaut is a two -part story there 53 and 54

also a two -part story uh so issue 53 the cover

is mickey hanging out with the mutanimals that's

a great cover there's just With the exception

of hob who always looks cranky. It's it's a moment

We don't get to see from the turtles in this

series a lot where they're just chilling Everything's

fine. They're enjoying television together But

this it's kind of nice to see this homey little

moment Is it just me or is Sally missing from

the thing completely? Yeah, she's uh, she what

do you call it? She's their pet She's not one

of these animals. They just keep her in the corner

Oh, stop. Come on now. She's more mute. No, you're

thinking of Pigeon Pete. Pigeon Pete's the pet.

They keep hitting the corner. Come on now. He

cooks. How else are they going to eat? I made

a pie. I made a cake. You guys totally made me

a cake. So we got Mikey, Sally, slash Pete. mutagen

man, Seymour, Lindsay even, and Mondo along with

Herman's eyes in the first panel here. And basically

this is this is Mikey not really joining but

hanging out with the mutanimals. This is I would

almost I would wager to say that he has or his

intention is to join them Mikey at this point

is coming off of Not being down with his family

We're starting to run the foot clan ran off on

his own and joins up with the new animals here

You know if I don't exactly know or remember

how this turns out But I would almost assume

that Mikey would have stayed with these guys

or would stay with these guys if that really

worked out It would have worked out if Hob wasn't

around. Yeah. He's got too many friends there.

He gets along with Slash. He gets along with

Seymour. He's fun with Mondo. Yeah, exactly.

So I think that would have been a really good

group for him to be a part of. Heck, if the Mutanimals

get another miniseries, having Mike tag along

might be kind of a neat way to mess with Mike.

Give us and give him some Mikey time. That would

be interesting. I don't know how that would work,

though, because of what happens in these two

issues. Oh, wait! Sally's the cat! Yeah. I'm

thinking Lindsay the human. Lindsay is their

pet. No, no, no! No, no, no! Sally's a full member.

I totally... Yeah, that's what I'm like, wait

a second, what are you talking about? No, she's

cool, she's cool. But she's not on the cover,

though. I don't see her. I see Hob. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I see Hob. I see Pete. I see, obviously,

Mikey, Herman, and Mondo, and then Slash, and

then Seymour. Sally's the cat. Duh. Let's use

only the background of that miniseries. I totally

didn't get to know her. Yeah. So we get... All

this fun stuff here with the mutanimals, and

I really do like this. I love seeing this. Before

I go too far, I should say that it is still...

Michael Dylenas on art, with Rhonda Pattison

on colors, as always, and letters are done by

Sean Lee. I just kind of love how he... , But

I do really love the art style here for this

issue. I think it's really really cool It's something

we haven't seen which is a good thing and that's

one thing this series has always done With each

new arc with each new story I mean, yeah They've

had main artists and stuff and I know you've

said a lot of times you want to see Dan Duncan

return From the very first arc and maybe he will

in the future But because this is a different

Shift of a story. This is a Essentially has nothing

to do with the turtles nothing to do with the

foot clan nothing to do with anything That's

really going on It's this is Mikey's story, which

is kind of you know When we interviewed Bobby

that second time and you know I asked him that

question about you know, okay, so we've had wrath

Leo and even Donnie go through a whole bunch

of emotional turmoil Is Mikey just immune and

all that? I said, oh no, Mikey's gonna get his

and I'm like, oh great, just don't kill him.

Let's, let's, don't say that, you're giving them

ideas. So Hob comes in and Hob basically just

ruins the party. Quite literally. you know I

still got my head and so do you which means we're

both doing better than some other folk we know

hey it just hold yeah it's just the way hob is

so go ahead from a old TV show ignore me anyway

So Hob wants some alone time with Mikey to discuss

stuff with him, I guess. Did you catch the Chef

Boyardee joke? No, I'm reading for it. Yo, Chef

Boy Birdie, hit the road. We need some privacy.

And oh, what is it? Oh, you know, Pete. Worst

cook ever. He's never gonna win a Food Network

Channel star thing. Whatever That's kind of like

Mikey from the from the TV series They he's the

cook but I don't got ever really seen him make

anything that the turtles actually wanted to

eat There's the pizza face episode retrashed

the pizza and then I'm remembering just from

the first episode the algae and worms I made

a cake out of algae and worms No, thanks Mike

So we have Hob and Mikey going back and forth

and back and forth And Mikey just doesn't want

to talk to Hob, I mean he just doesn't you know,

yeah, they've got history Well, yeah, but the

whole thing is, you know, Hob is like You know

You know The whole thing is pretty much, you

know, you might be here with us, but you're not

You're not joining us blah blah and You know

so He would rather just be with his friends then

then talk to and you think it's how might just

know that He's up to no good and Mikey's too

much of a goody -two -shoes for him to be able

to manipulate Like he could have can manipulate

Everybody yeah on that team. I mean with the

exception of maybe slash who has a conscience

Yeah, but I mean man Ray filet man Ray, whatever

they call them in this version seems to sympathize

a little bit certainly Herman likes taking orders,

but Pete Mondo all the others he can manipulate

into compliance, but but Mikey As simple as Mikey

is he's beyond corruption Yeah, and the thing

and that's what's gonna you know eventually when

we finish the talking about this issue in the

next one 54 that's essentially what's gonna happen

is it's gonna realize that it's gonna come down

to Everybody needs to make a choice and some

are more than willing to follow hob and some

aren't So we get to Casey of all people He's

just hanging out on a rooftop Talking to Detective

Lewis is that this is Detective Kara Lewis. Yep

And because he's he's wanting info on hon wants

to be able to find him Etc etc And then Yo, who's

Kara? Huh? And does April know you're up here

talking to her on the phone? Oh, hey Raph Yeah,

sure exactly I mean Casey he's got band -aid

on his face. He's got his mask up and You know,

I really wish the trench coat and fedoras would

come back people come on Give me one one trench

coat and foot aura shot. I'll be happy for the

rest of the series run So Casey and Raph have

a discussion which again is really interesting

because they're all talking about alliances and

allegiances and who's where and and You know

Raph's like You know, because Casey's like, nope,

cops don't get a line on him. Well, don't sweat

it. Thugs like him can't stay out of trouble,

only for so long. You know, it's in their DNA

or something. Yeah, says the guy whose old man's

trying to turn a bunch of ninja killers into

saints. You've got a point there, I ain't gonna

lie. I think we're really seeing Casey on this

downward spiral, too, of wanting to hunt his

dad, wanting to clean the streets up, and just

getting a little... Overdone with it taking it

to too far degree His his anger issues are really

starting to come out which is interesting for

Casey I mean, we all know that Casey always has

had anger issues in this series, but this is

the first time as the 53 54 and 55 come along

well 55 is kind of a 53 and 54 these two issues

here, it's that it's showing you Casey's going

to the somebody's gonna go to the dark side at

some point you know what I mean it's like we've

already had Leo go evil we've already had you

know other things happen so Casey's had a lot

of character development throughout the series

but this is the just that next evolution of it

I guess so we then go back to the mutanimals

and apparently Pigeon Pete is the king of checkers.

I love what Man Ray says, our scientist friend

hip hypothesizes that it's an anomaly in his

mutated brain structure. Did I say anomaly? I

meant annoying. So Hob comes in says they all

have a mission And they all go back to a Hob

all loaded down with guns Mm -hmm They're all

gonna go stop some bad guys We then have April

and her mom with a conversation Which again,

it's nice building the characterization of these

people because when When most people, I would

say most general readers that go into a comic

shop that's not us, that are not Die Hard, they're

assuming these issues are just gonna be turtles

fighting, you know, whoever, whatever, Krang,

Shredder, even though he's dead, you know, all

this stuff, or... But what it's really doing

here is, at this point in the series, I mean,

we're five years into the series now. Oh my god,

this is going on for five years. we're five years

into the series now and at this point at it just

north of the 50 issue 50 mark they're i see now

what they're kind of doing with casey and april

remember when we did that interview with bobby

and i was pretty much like yeah casey and april

i don't want that the the miniseries he's like

yeah but it's gonna play out so that's With Casey

and April, it's starting to really kind of play

out, because I believe in issue 54, when we get

to that, he mentions the Rat King or something

or other. Yeah, something happened to the two

of them there. Yep. April's mom and April's conversation

essentially turns to relationship advice, which

is interesting. We go back to... The Mutanimals

with Mikey and Hob, and they're getting ready

to go liberate some weapons. Get them off the

street, finger quotes. Yeah. Yeah, really. And

Mikey's like, man, this is so great doing the

right thing for a change. Speaking of doing,

get to it, Mondo. Get into it. Oh, man, I love

Mondo. look at that art on that panel invisible

month chameleon Mondo cuz he's a he's a gecko

etc but he essentially goes chameleon and the

guys like you're hearing that yeah roller skates

or something please I love that Just love that

so many channels break in art on ray right there

is amazing Yeah, it is the whole the the you

know all right news animals. Let's take them

down. Yeah, it's just great So they all barge

in Mr.. Lupo you got to be freaking kidding me

more stinking mutants, but then they don't belong

This is the second time Lupo's gang has been

Trounced by either the turtles in the foot or

the mutanimals since issue 51 happened when we

first met Lupo with the What are they called

the the jammers or the? Street phantoms that's

what it is. I was thinking of star jammers from

x -men for some odd reason So we have this really

really awesome fight look at that art look at

that that splash page With them firing on them.

Oh so good Yeah, this this art grew on me I don't

think it struck me until I think the issue before

this was like it's yeah, it's really finding

its stride and oh man, there's a panel of hob

here with the black background and the Backlighting

on the side. That's gorgeous. Yeah, it is It's

just so mr. Oh, yeah. Well hub has always been

pretty sinister. I mean this is nothing Yeah

Yeah, nice work meat animals So Hobbs gonna take

care of it and everybody's gonna go home without

question Yeah, come on guys Know you kind of

trust hobb, but come on seriously Yeah, I Well

Nope, I was gonna say did Mikey stay and watch

because that's something Mikey would have done.

He wouldn't Trust how but no he's back celebrating

with the mutanimals Then we meet some little

special agent dude special agent winter So there's

something going on And what why is it in the

panel where where he says? Where where is his

comlink says leave the street wars to the police?

Looks like it's the Punisher a little Punisher

esque Yep So The Street Phantom dudes go back

to What's his know what's his name Looks like

the big detective from chew Yeah, you know this

kind of wow you read chew. Oh, yeah I read I

read it for a while and then kind of fell off

and yeah I'll just do the trains and then the

value on the books shot up, and I was like dang

That's still hasn't come to light So This dude

who I don't remember his name, and I don't don't

see his name being said here so let's see get

new villains filling shredder's shoes oh mr.

done that's what it is it's right there in the

building say it's mr. done okay so mr. done here

is all pissed and everything else he's like get

me the inventor and I'm thinking wait who's he

talking about is he is he gonna go kidnap Harold

or something I don't know I don't know what inventories

talking about capital T capital i and it's a

new villain but yeah good good thinking um hey

how does the new digit man eat yeah i i don't

know you're a tube probably yeah he's excited

to see the pizza the celebrate celebration pizza

yeah At least I don't see any bugs on this pizza.

Uh, Lindsay says slash. Oh, no, wait. Slash,

yeah, you just, yeah. That's true. Slash would

eat it. Well, yeah, but... So Hob comes back.

And, uh... Mikey and slash have a conversation

about him and Slash is essentially whatever he's

doing or whatever. He does. I'm sure it's in

our best interest Don't have can be crude, but

he's a good guy. Just like us now Mikey Mikey's

not too sure that's a gorgeous panel One of my

yeah skeptical Mikey, you know, what's you know

thinks that panel it's Rhonda's colors. Oh, yeah

Can't wait to talk to her. So good. I hope we

talk to her. Yeah. Yeah, I'm still waiting on

word about that. Good. So Mikey excuses himself

and basically, he basically Dick Tracy's hob

pretty much. He's like the kid from Dick Tracy

hops in the back of the car. and Mondo actually

sees this and doesn't do anything but I don't

see how Mondo could see it like from where the

where the wind where they are oh I see no I'm

looking at the panel word where the truck is

the windows to the left to the right of the truck

okay so yeah that okay that's gonna work that'll

be yeah that'll okay so Mikey trails hub to wherever

he's going and we We find a warehouse full of

guns full of weapons and another amazing Close

-up on Mikey. Oh And again, like you said Rhonda's

colors and the shading. Oh my god. The shading

is so great He's like, oh no, and all I can think

of when I see this giant room of weapons is from

Beverly Hills cop Jesus, Billy, we really gotta

talk. I haven't seen that since I was a child.

So long ago that it doesn't even count that I've

seen it. I'll have to do that. But! Mikey shows

up at this warehouse where there's full of guns

and says, Our best interests my foot. And who's

behind him? Bud Hun. Dun, dun, dun, dun. Yup.

That's not good. what i love about this issue

is there's still it's still a family book doesn't

matter if it's the turtles family or the mutanimals

it's still a family story it's still a family

book because you have two separate family entities

here whether it's you know the mutanimals and

hob or whether it's the turtles and mikey and

whatever else but oh man And yeah, what are your

overall thoughts here? Like a lot of these books

that aren't these stories, it's way better on

a second time through. It seems like I should

read this in the parking lot after I buy my comics

and then read it again before the record and

like really get to see how much more tasty it

is that second time. And that doesn't, I never

read a comic twice. Very, very rarely. See because

I do the show most of it well pretty much all

the time But I have to read like I'll do what

you're saying. You know the date the day it comes

out. I'll read the issues and I'll be satisfied

with you know reading the story But in order

to refresh myself because there are times in

the pull bag where we won't you know? When's

the last time we did yeah one of these January

so it's almost a month and a half two months

ago, so You know Still need to go back and refresh

my memory because I'm so old and my memory is

so shot these days You know so I Mean that's

you know that's that's just one of the ways that

I can come up with and and just kind of Refresh

my memory even though most the time we end up

going through the issue anyway It doesn't really

matter because I still want to read it to notice

things that I can point out to you that maybe

you missed or whatever else. So issue 53 is part

one of a two part story with Mikey and the Meat

Animals. Issue 54 is that second part and the

regular cover is a giant purple dragon. That's

beautiful. With Mikey trying to fight it. I think

it's supposed to be Hun's tattoo that's on his

back. Yep, and that is just exquisitely drawn

and somebody should get that tattooed on their

back I'm trying to see here I can't I can't make

out that signature Michael D 'Alenis. Oh It was

D 'Alenis, okay. I'm cheating and looking at

the inside cover. Yeah, so am I And I hope I'm

saying that name right. I think I went to Google

and had it pronounced for me phonetically but

uh... so issue fifty four has four covers on

it as the regular covered as the subs the retail

incentive cover the subscription cover and the

eastman fun club edition is that uh... that's

not the end of the club is that the fan club

it is isn't it i thought it was issue fifty five

he was selling 54 and so ladies and gentlemen,

there is now a Kevin Eastman fan club. You can

join I believe it's 30 bucks for six months 50

for the year. I believe those prices are right

You have access to Kevin Eastman store where

you can buy original art There's a lot of once

you sign up to it. There's sections of the website

that have photos from his personal collection

high -res files to look at but one of the things

that you can also do from there are order very

very very limited printing covers of the comics

so you know you pay your 30 bucks your 50 bucks

and then for 8 to 15 depending i think even you

he'll do them signed but that signed when i saw

the signed cover it was 35 signed 15 unsigned

yeah and these are low print run like 500 issues

Less yeah, so and and yeah, the ones that are

signed or signed the ones that aren't aren't

so it's 500 That's a way low number Which hurts

my soul because I'm not I'm not gonna catch all

the covers guy, but we don't lie. Yes, you are

I I don't Like I'm on this particular. I got

the one I want the main cover. I don't even I

don't want the sub cover I don't want the retailer

incentive cover unless it's by an artist that

I know or of an image that I like But I don't

there's there's a guy at the comic store that

that I go to who? He's told the comic store guy

to order ten of the books Just so he can get

the one retailer incentive and he's giving him

the money that it costs him to order those other

books Just so that he can buy the retailer incentive

cover. I don't do that, but When you say something

like limited print run of 500, that's where I

get a little kind of like, oh, I want that a

lot. But I really can't. That's more money than

I would like to be able to spend. But Eastman's

coming to a local convention in October. And

I'm going to try to get a sketch commissioned

beforehand. make me feel better about not ordering

this fun club cover, which shows the three turtles

that are with the Foot Clan still and Splinter

in the front. Yeah. The other covers, the interesting

thing about these other, well, subscription cover

is your standard Kevin cover. And I don't mean

to say that by cutting the guy under the rug,

he is the co -creator of the turtles, but I mean,

it's your standard Kevin Eastman style cover.

The coolest thing about the covers with this

issue is the regular cover like we've already

said with the purple dragon and Mikey and then

the retail incentive cover the art is done by

none other than Transformers robots and disguise

artist Andrew Griffith with colors by Rhonda

Pattison so issue 54 here picks pretty much right

up where we left off And Mikey ends up in a headlock

thanks to Hon. And the whole first half of this

issue is basically Mikey and Hon, or this first

section here is Mikey and Hon fighting it out

until Hob comes in. And is it just me or does

Mikey have like a titanic kind of pose going

on in that final panel right there before it

switches? When he's laying on the ground, it

looks like he's posing for Leonardo DiCaprio.

Under the ship of the Titanic. Oh my god So we

go back to the mutanimals we see them pick up

right where they left off and basically, you

know Mondo says no, dude Mikey took off went

with Hobbs somewhere This is what gets Sally

talking about oh, no if we're supposed to be

family Why is he off doing this? Why is he off

doing that? Why isn't he including us in it?

And he shouldn't have any problem with us showing

up Unannounced yeah, let's go shotgun. Yeah Yes,

yeah shotgun. Yeah We have agent winter still

monitoring the situation We then get back to

hub Mikey and hun And it's hun folks We've been

doing this for two and a half three years now

as far as talking about the comic So if you've

heard any of our old episodes, you know the path

that hun has taken And I wasn't sure how, and

I'm still kind of unclear on how Hun fits into

the story at this point, outside of him versus

Casey. Like, the Foot Clan's kind of gone good.

Shredder's dead. There are really no purple dragon,

like I haven't seen a purple dragon gang fight.

Well, they, yeah, they stormed Casey's shop.

Well, yeah, they did but they had this one one

was with the yeah, that's what hon was with them

but like right now as of now when all of that

happened and hon got away I wasn't sure what

they were gonna do with him next and now they

have him with with hob and they're doing something

no one really knows and basically the way hob

explains it is that he's using hon to Mass weapons

and power and whatever else he's bringing the

guns to hun For hub to use I I couldn't figure

it out either, but I have yeah Once again The

colors the backgrounds did the next two pages

here. Yeah There's a point where huns smacks

hob and the smack you basically just It's beautiful

job, but look at that splash in the background

Look at the pinkish red splash and then the next

one when he's going all crazy with the girl The

the orange yellow. Oh Rhonda's so good on the

colors She never not needs to be on this series

she needs to be doing this the rest of her life

I'd rather not she says So we have a really cool

Mikey inside joke of putting Hun on a shelf,

quite literally. That was awesome. And this is

pretty much just a knock -down drag -out fight

until the equalizer comes in. Because the mutanimals

show up and Slash basically comes in and saves

Mikey. This was one of my favorite parts Yeah,

and then and then hun basically just punches

slash right in the jaw and That makes slash go

the way he used to be It's I this sound this

sounds like a whole line to me. So so slash comes

in tries to hit Well, actually bends his arm

over Hunn, but then Hunn freaks out goes kind

of Hulk I'm gonna waste you to smack smacks him

again head butts him kicks him in the stomach.

Well, that's over you hear it's over No, hun

slash just starting Oh, yeah, he just comes back

and starts beating the snot out of him but that

I Enjoy those moments. I get a little geeky when

that level two strength kind of kicks in Level

2. It's more like level 10 with Slash. I wasn't

even sure if they were going to be able to get

him to stop. So they kind of team up various,

you know, two, two -on -two kind of team member

thing. And they, uh, they do eventually get Slash

to cop down. Well, he's working for us. What?

What? What are you saying? And this is where

Hobb comes in with his whole monologue of why

Slash's, or why, why Slash, why Hon is working

for them. You know, and he's basically saying,

oh, we need to be prepared for Y3K and all that

stuff. And Slash obviously isn't really cool

with this, because the whole point with Slash

is, he wants to be free but he also wants to

be he doesn't want to be a villain he wants to

be a hero and his his view of being a hero and

Mikey's view of being a hero are essentially

the same thing you do good you don't do underhanded

things um and this is where that that breakdown

was coming that i was what i was saying about

earlier that uh Mikey didn't really join them

he was he was hanging out with them Because as

these next two pages show, Hobb just basically

slashes his arm. Which, I don't... I don't know.

I like how it looks, and I get that Hobb was

mad, but I still don't know why he had to hurt

Mikey. That just... I don't know. Hob is essentially

saying that the snake in the grass was Mikey

not not not Not hun so We What I just it just

I wish Mike you would have had the the guts to

to not miss not kill him but to take Hob out

of the equation at that point snake in the grid

No, no Hob. You're the snake. No chuck to the

face. I just Feel bad, but here we go with Mikey

not belonging somewhere again, and that really

is affecting him Yeah, and you know he says that

you know he and slash have this really awesome

moment at the end here where he says You know

I'm gonna go back to the old layer You know fix

it up make it a bachelor pad kind of thing you're

welcome to join and Slash whoever thought slash

could be this this emotionally coherent I'm not

saying the character is generally dumb. Slash

is no bebop and rocksteady. I mean, Slash is

a pretty smart dude. But once again, bringing

back to his origins of being trapped in a cage,

and he's basically telling Mikey, I'd just be

trading one cage for another. And he appreciates

the fact that Mikey offered this to him, but

he's not going to take it. We then get a little

epilogue scene, and we meet Agent Bishop. I did

not know until I had to go I had to go to the

Wikipedia somebody said there Oh, there's you

better pick up issue 54. It's a first appearance

issue You're gonna want it and like first appearance

of who and then that guy showed up and so Bishop

who but apparently he's from the 2003 series

which I have not seen all the way through so

that's why I haven't heard of him 53 Or 54 I

should say, 54 was an awesome conclusion to that

story. Absolutely loved it. I wonder now where

this is going to take Mikey and his personal

quest. Because I don't think he's going to go

back with them right away. I don't think he's

going to go back to the turtles and splinter

right away. and at this point at the end of 50

to now we're four and a half issues of Mikey

being by himself and I almost kind of like that

because again it's going it's showing character

development for him and even though the other

turtles are missing him what I almost want to

see more of is like if and I know this probably

isn't gonna happen but if you know we see more

of the fact of Like what we saw in issue 51 where

Raff and Mikey Kind of have a whole discussion

on coming to the foot or not coming and Raff's

like oh I could I could make you he's like I

know you could Raff but you You know I want to

see I want to see Mikey and Leo run into each

other in a dark alley or something like I want

to see if they're gonna continue Mikey on this

path of being by himself and not being cool with

what's going on with the foot clan Want to see

more like little mini team -up kind of things

Yeah, what are your Mikey keep he should I think

we're out of cool groups to stick him with but

putting in places where He's not gonna fit in

again and then getting heartbroken about it Yeah

That's the thing throughout this entire series

Mike he's always getting heartbroken whether

it's woody and then the woody the pizza dude

whether it's his mom and in the secret of the

foot clan whether it's oh Mike he's always getting

his heartbroken, and it just kills me Any other

thoughts on 54 good issue better the second time

around still All right, we're gonna take a quick

break folks cuz we need to compose ourselves

cuz something extremely awesome has happened

so 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 dot

com I am shocked and dismayed Well now you can't

be both you be shocked I'll be dismayed coming

in 2016 Steve Megachon and myself TF2 and Mike

bring you a brand new TV review show Welcome

to podcaster meets world That's right. We're

launching a boy and girl meets world review podcast

here on the GCRN It'll take us 70 episodes of

the podcast to review all 158 episodes of boy

meets world after that we will tackle girl meets

world You can find Podcaster Meets World on GeekCastRadio

.com and iTunes starting late summer, early fall

2016. So come on and walk through the world with

us. As I've said before, and you know, it's no

secret, I am on IDW's media list. Essentially

what this means is I get access to their review

copies pretty much eight days before the comics

actually come out. Now this episode of The Pull

Bag, BaggageUclassics episode 49, will actually

be released the day TMNT issue number 55 comes

out. And I'm just going through and looking through

the review copies for the week of... February

24th, and I'm like, okay, so here's TMNT 55.

I know Joe's gonna want that because I've essentially

corrupted Joe at this point. Joe, I know you

still, you know, read your comic in your car,

but since having this service, I essentially

corrupt him every month and basically say, hey,

here's the file for you if you want to look at

it. And as beautiful as the art is, and the review

copies have this... Waterbox on them so you can't

that's but yeah I read it here and then when

I get the issue in my hand I go I could put this

right in a poly bag now and I don't even open

them and so Yeah, you've corrupted me, but yeah,

so I suppose I've corrupted Joe But you know

this time around when I was grabbing when I was

grabbing the review copies I just grabbed them

and sent them to different, you know, the different

podcasters I podcast with etc, etc, etc didn't

really look at anything, didn't really think

of anything. All of a sudden, I text Mike and

said, Mike, did you see the top of the cover?

You need to look at the top of the cover. Of

issue 55. Now, I don't know if there... I know

for the month of... Well, for this... I know

various IDW covers have quotes on them as of

late. I would say in the last, well... the month

of February, because I've seen other ones have

quotes on them from other websites and stuff,

but I was so not expecting this. We are quoted,

or it's probably something I said most likely,

if you have ever been a TMNT fan, you need to

check this out. I don't remember if it was you

or I that said that, but... It came from our

podcast, and that's the cool thing. Yeah, so

if you ever... If you've ever been a TMNT fan,

you need to check this out. Dash Geekcast Radio.

I think it's great, absolutely awesome that they're

doing this. The main cover is Alopex and Kitsune

with Casey and April in the background. Almost

has a Valentine's Day feel to it because there's

a lot of pink stuff floating around. Those are

lotus leaves for Kitsune. So, our quote is actually

on the three main covers. The one main cover

with Alopex and Kitsune. The retail incentive

cover with Mikey, Raph, and Leo. I don't know

where Donnie is. Oh, he's back there. Is he?

Yep. I don't see him. To the left of the eye.

Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so it's all four turtles and it looks like

they're throwing a manhole cover at somebody

and then the Subscription cover which is the

Kevin Eastman cover also has the quote So this

this might might be the first comic book in the

history That might actually be worth slightly

more money if we put our names on it I doubt

it. I totally doubt it The interesting thing

about that quote is like I see that and like

oh my god Something one of us said is important

like we did this thing and then the other part

of me is like no no Serious serious face. This

is this happens all the time. Surely our opinions

are well -informed and thoughtful So yes, they

would put our quote on there. Thank you're welcome.

You're welcome IDW comics for us giving you that

quote that you can put on You know, the geek

in me, the guy who grew up reading Ninja Turtles,

like something, and you know, I'm taking, it's

something I said is like us as a podcast. Something

I said is on the cover of this comic book. Holy

crap. Well, how amazing is that? So it is flattering

that IDW - That's so awesome. Somebody at IDW

went and pulled that quote somewhere. Somebody

listened to the podcast from IDW, so - I've said

it, I know I have said that so many times in

the past. Oh yeah. You know two and a half three

years. I know I've said it so many times. So

yeah, I mean it's great and You know, yeah, I'm

assuming maybe we said it to Bobby at some point

and that was Yeah from but you know, thanks to

IDW for one making an awesome comic something

that a 35 year old adult can read and say wow

this I don't feel like a child for reading this

And thanks IDW for you know plugging our podcast

essentially Well, not just our podcast but your

entire podcast network. Yeah the whole network

Well, you can take a little bit of ownership

there. I mean you you've been on the show for

two and a half three years, so Regular cover

also, you know is done by Michael Delinas as

well retail incentive is done by Ben Bishop subscription

by Kevin with colors by Rhonda and then We have

the second of the fun club, because this lists

it as a fun club, not a fan club, so I'm wondering

if that's a misprint or something, but it says

fun, Kevin's, it says Eastman Fun Club Edition,

so. And then again. Yeah, so there are the four

main covers, and then we have three blind box

exclusives. This is obnoxious. So blind box is

another subscription service like Loot Crate,

but it just does comics And and I think you can

buy different levels of a blind box subscription

to guarantee yourself certain covers But I just

read an interesting article on one of the many

websites the editor of I think it was the editor

of image if not the editor one of the artists

who says that this multiple cover thing is going

to take is gonna be a part of destroying the

industry again or weakening it or and Seeing

this happen is obnoxious. It's obnoxious to collectors

and and when everybody I don't know. Maybe it's

socialist of me, but everybody Deserves the right

to access the art and everybody deserves the

right to access the story when you're putting

it behind Ridiculous paywalls, you know putting

the art behind ridiculous paywalls. It makes

it less fun But okay, but how many people are

actually gonna go to blind box comics online

or wherever wherever the hell the thing is and

actually get that because they want that like

For me personally, when I was buying print comics,

because I get all the stuff digitally now, when

I was buying print comics, like you said, if

the cover speaks to... For me, the way it was,

and I've said this before in the past four years

of this podcast, I told my comic shop, look,

it... They said that there's going to be subscription

covers for what, it doesn't matter what comic

it is. Could be anything. Could be this, could

be Jim, could be Trance. It doesn't matter what

it is. If there's a subscription comic and they

say that the way to get the subscription comic

is to have the title on your pull, you know,

on your pull list or in your pull bag, then you

should be getting the subscription. So for me,

I felt entitled to the fact of, okay, if I'm

going to put this on my list or in my pull bag

or whatever you want to call it. You better be

getting me that sub cover because that's the

whole incentive of having the title on your list

now There are some sub covers that I haven't

really cared for or you know that kind of thing

like you were saying earlier about the whole

You know you just like what you know You know

whatever image Lately for Turtles, for me, it's

pretty much been the main cover. Yeah, I haven't

been after the sub covers very rarely. I have

my whole box of IDW comics back here. I was looking

for other issues and you know, every once in

a while I've got a sub cover in there because

I liked it more. But, you know, I don't know

what the collector in me 10 years from now is

going to do when I flip through that box. And

am I going to need to go back and get those covers?

Because I'm a completionist. I have every Ninja

Turtle book, except for first print number one.

But, you know, I don't have every cover from

IDW and I have no intention of hunting for them.

But, you know, so there's three, six, nine, twelve,

fifteen blind bag blind box, rather blind box

covers coming, which I won't be getting, but

ultimately I wish, you know, maybe when you buy

the trade paperback, when that comes out, it'll

have the covers printed in the back. Oh yeah.

But absolutely. I wouldn't, I wouldn't see why

they wouldn't do that. Um, but I mean, like,

you know, that's for someone that you know, is

online that wants, you know, that actually wants

a comic subscription box thing, like you said,

like Loot Crate or like, you know, whatever other

nerd block or whatever other things that they

have now. I've never gone into those subscription

box things. Oh, no, it's gambling. I don't like

gambling. Yeah, I would rather just, but I mean,

I don't think all the covers. You know like you're

saying, you know hiding it behind a paywall.

I think that's just something it's an exclusive

It's something for those really really die -hards

like you're still get you can still go into any

comic shop The day this releases the day this

episode comes out you still go to any comic shop

and get cover a For issue 55. You don't have

to go hunting for anything You don't have to

but I was like sold out. Well, yeah, and and

that that dude who who i told you about who orders

10 of the books so that he can buy the subscription

um he's not paying for all 10 he's letting the

other guy sell them but he's paying to have them

shipped to the store uh he's he's gonna do something

like that because he has every cover ever yeah

but so this issue fifty five because it's coming

out the same day that this episode is coming

out we're not going to spoil it we're not going

to go all the way through it we're going to give

you those the story points not spoil the story

but give you the main like who's in the issue

but bobby has said and i believe thomas said

that uh... this is a standalone issue uh... and

it's Basically picks up, though, where 54 left

off, where Mikey said he was gonna go back to

the lair. So we have him in the lair, and he's

remembering all these times. He's remembering

when the Turtles were hanging out, you know,

playing video games, trying to beat Mikey's score,

or when Mikey made something for Splinter for

Father's Day. The story also picks up with Angel

and Alopex. and Alopex is still being controlled

by Kitsune. I don't know if I'd say controlled

yet or influenced. I'm not sure. We aren't sure.

The readers aren't sure to the extent that Kitsune

is in Alopex's head, but there is definitely

something going on and I can't wait for that

to culminate. In this part of the story, basically,

you know, Alopex basically says she hasn't slept

in days and days and days, and she's had all

this stuff in her head and everything else, and

she just doesn't know what's really going on.

She's kind of out of it. Angel basically says,

go home and get some sleep. We then have Casey

and April and April's parents on a double date?

At something? That looks like let's see Yeah,

it's a pub. Oh, yeah always I'm really I Almost

wish it had a different name and it said something

about you know where everyone knows your name

Yeah, I was in Boston, but still I mean yeah,

so so Casey's pretty much being a douche he's

he's Completely showing attitude and giving lip

and it's going it's still going down the path

of him being Angry he's yeah distant and preoccupied.

I think he wants to be out there busting the

skulls and and you know, nobody wants him doing

that because it's not safe and It's it's one

of those instances where you know, the you you

have your plan but the people around you love

you and want you to take want to take care of

you and don't want you to go down that path but

then you're bitter about having to listen to

these people who you know have your best interest

in mind it just causes all sorts of internal

conflict yeah then there's a scene with alopex

and and kitsune where we learn more about kitsune's

control and basically for Because this is a standalone

issue. I don't mind they did this even though

it does continue the overall story They're basically

catching up any new readers with Giant splash

page panel of alopex in the center and everything

that has happened to her in the run of the series

since we met her Since we met her way back when

in the in the one shot and then we got her origin

story I love that giant page So good So I just

and again the colors You know that that muted

purple blue Yeah, he Even the muted kind of red

thing on on raffler in the bottom right just

awesome We have some really cool drawn and colored

pages colored images on the next page here where

alopex is leaving kitsune and You notice if you

scroll in to the bottom middle panel. Yeah, I

just saw that back there. Obviously, he's on

the bottom right panel, but I never noticed it

at first in the middle panel. But basically,

Splinter is watching because Splinter is in charge

of the Foot Clan. Yada yada yada all this all

that but basically he's watching kitsune and

watching alapex go away and alapex saying so

tired You know, it's probably the first time

in five issues that splinter doesn't look like

a dog I'm very glad that splinter saw this. I

don't know how much of it he saw but it's I'm

glad that he's aware Absolutely looks far too

concerned in that panel for me. I don't know

what exactly he's thinking but I feel better

now that he's aware. Yep. And we then get to

a whole section of Casey and April. It's a beautifully

drawn Volkswagen bus. I love that panel. Nod

to the old movie van, yep. If you're a fan of

the Volkswagen buses, you need to buy this issue

just for that panel. We need to buy the issue

just for our quote of the cousin. Yeah! I'll

sign your book for you. Mail it to me. I don't

know if we could go that far. If somebody wanted

me to, I would, wouldn't you? It's not about

the book being more saleable, it's about the

emotional connection you have to it, so. I know,

but I just... Maybe I'll get two covers and sign

one. So we get Casey and April going back and

forth, back and forth. With their relationship

and then Casey sees a guy litter and this sends

him into The deepest anger we've seen to this

point We then get a scene over at Burnell Island

with the technodrome with fugitoid and Harold

on screen, which is nice And the final two panels

are just epic. Yeah, I don't think we should

spoil that. Nope. We're not going to. Not at

all. Nope. I will say the top of the second to

last panel. Uh, yep. I'll say that, you know,

Mike, he said at the end of issue 54 he's gonna

go home and fix up the old layer and... you know

he does he he says not too shabby but man i'm

starving well then you're in luck kid that's

all i'm gonna say because the final two panels

might be the best panels since 50 but we can

talk about the cover for the next issue Yeah,

we are actually gonna talk about that in a minute

when we talk about this. That's beautiful. Yes,

it is Issue 55 Even though Bobby is stated. It's

a it's a standalone It doesn't really feel like

it stand alone. There's nothing in this series

that stands alone. It all interconnects Which

is beautiful Maybe he meant It's not going to

relate back to the turtles is what it is. The

cover that I'm looking at right now, beautifully

colored, probably done entirely by Santolucco,

technodromes in the very distant background,

backlit by the moon, reddish hue. There's water

on the bottom two thirds of the page that's gold

that turns into yellow with leatherhead. with

his yellow glowing eyes, you know, doing that

alligator thing on the surface of the water.

Yeah, he's an alligator alligator thing going

across the top. Beautiful cover. I'm assuming

we're going to get Leatherhead's story in that

issue. And in that way, it's going to be a standalone

thing. But well, yeah. But I mean, like, of course,

it's going to tie in. Well, yeah. But I mean,

compared to 54. And then 55 brings up elements

that were left off with the 54, but it doesn't

really. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. OK, folks. So really

quick before we get out of here, we're going

to go through the solicitations coming up for

March, April, and May. In March, we have TMNT

Deviations One -Shot written by Tom Waltz, art

and cover by Zach Howard. In a world where Shredder

leads the Turtles, all hope seems lost with the

Turtles brainwashed to follow Shredder. Splinter

forms a new group in Elastigyver to save his

sons and New York City. 40 pages 499. uh... the

bullet points on this one extra length one -shot

find out what happens in a world where the shredder

leads the turtles a twist on the classic city

fall storyline part of IDW's deviation five -week

event i assume you're going to be checking this

out oh yes what do you think of the overall teaser

for the solicitation here i uh... i was going

to say with the covers that we're seeing and

the way that they tease them they're doing like

this wonderful golden age thing of look at the

cover wanna buy the book they're just they are

nailing that and i don't think that happens with

a lot of other books no uh so all right also

in march we have team and t issue number 56 Waltz

Eastman on writing, Mateus is back on art and

color, art and covers. The turtles return to

the technodrome to monitor the revival of the

utroms. They are surprised to meet a new mutant

there, Leatherhead. Will the mysterious mutant

be friend or foe? Bullet points for this one,

fan favorite TMNT artist Mateus Santaluco is

back. At long last, introducing fan favorite

Leatherhead, variant cover by Pablo Tunica. Coming

up in April, issue 57, Tom Walz, Kevin Eastman,

Mateus also. Leatherhead part two, mysterious

intruders bring death and destruction to the

new inhabitants of the technodrome. Does Leatherhead

know more than he's letting on? Who can the turtles

trust? Dun dun dun. Bullet points for this one

mutant murder mystery TMNT style. Oh Interesting.

Yeah Part of IDW's art appreciation month promotion

variant cover by Kevin Eastman. He always does

variant covers So I don't know why that's a surprise

I'm not saying is anything wrong with with him

doing them. I need to probably the guy is the

co -creator of the thing But 56 57. Oh, I can't

wait until I can't wait until I eventually have

Steve put the main covers of this together, the

one you were talking about, the one with Leatherhead

in the water with the Technodrome in the back.

I want to have him put that together with the

main cover of 57, which is the Turtles and Leatherhead

walking through the hull of the Technodrome.

And then the final regular cover for 58, which

is Leatherhead in the shadows with the Utroms.

There's got to be something with that color scheme.

Somebody fell in love with red, orange, pink.

Yep. absolutely oh yeah it is alright so we also

have coming up we've got TMNT volume one shell

unleashed this is a new trade paperback collecting

the first 12 issues of the series now I assume

they're doing this to get new readers into the

trades because that's what I assume that they're

doing with them we've got see what else we got

here we got okay so coming up in May we have

issue 58 and there's something else coming up

in May I don't know what oh no I don't know if

the covers in the ones I sent you I Might be

it might not be but it may apparently T is your

ninja turtles amazing adventures Carmelo Anthony

special This is the amazing adventures line.

This is the other comic thing that they're doing

the amazing adventures is used to be The Nickelodeon

series run, right? Yeah, what is it used to be

called? Oh god, it was It was just adventures

wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, so anyway, it's it's the

more cartoon thing so essentially that this is

nice There's something we're gonna be covering

right away, but um the TMNT meet NBA superstar

Carmelo Anthony in this oversized special when

Carmelo is captured by the foot clan He'll be

up to the turtles to save him like an episode

of Scooby -U But after Carmelo is mutated someone

may have to save the turtles instead Yeah, you're

right. It does sound like an episode of Scooby

-Doo. One other thing I want to hit on that I

believe is coming in May is the the again the

new rerun of Allies and Enemies. Mike Costa,

Ben Epstein, Barbara Randall, Kessel, Dustin

Weaver, Joshua Williamson all in writing, Mike

Henderson, Marlee Secone, Ben Bates on art. The

spotlight shines some of the Turtles best friends

and fiercest enemies. These individual stories

focus on Casey Jones, April O 'Neill, Bebop and

Rocksteady, and General Crang in the new Turtles

world of the current ongoing series. So again,

they're... Oh, that's why they're re -releasing

the trades. Because TMNT 2 releases June 3rd,

2016. Oh, everybody's gonna want it. Okay, so

issue 58. This is the final solicit here for

this podcast. Walt Neistman on writing, Mateus

on art and covers, Leatherhead part 3, a violent

skirmish between different factions breaks out

in the technodrome. The Turtles will have to

make a difficult decision if they are to save

the Utroms race. bullet points for this one,

the conclusion to Leatherhead's debut storyline,

variant covered by Paolo Villanelli. I don't

know how to say the name. But yeah, so Leatherhead

is getting a three -issue arc storyline. Which

I'm glad I like the Leatherhead. Yeah, we all

like the Leatherhead. One of the variant covers,

which we're not sure why, and maybe I will tweet

at Bobby on Twitter and ask him why, one of the

variant covers, the art edition cover for issue

57, is Raph as the Mona Lisa. You made the joke

earlier about... Well, you know, Leonardo da

Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, so why isn't it

Leonardo as Mona Lisa? Maybe because he was painting

the picture of Raph dressed up as... And that's

why that's why rap looks so cranky like you made

me do what And the art joke here they they even

Did the thing Leonardo the horizon doesn't line

up behind Mona Lisa Yeah, so they've even included

that which was a nice touch very awesome Alright

folks, we're gonna get out of here coming up

next. I have no idea It could be ponies, it could

be no clue. I know we're not doing Marvelous

March this year, I'm just so out of even knowing

what's going on with Marvel at this point, and

there's so many other things I'm more interested

in at this point. So we are gonna have other

coverage in March as well. Probably we're gonna

do the Leatherhead arc all in one, most likely.

Depends on... What issue 59 and 60 end up being

so we'll have to see what what happens with those

with turtles, but That's gonna do it for us anything

you would like to pimp out sir. Uh I don't think

so yet. We might have a geek sale Second or third

week of June, but that's I've not decided yet.

We'll figure that out in April But but no you

can come tweet at me anyway or post on the Facebook

page No, I was gonna say you don't do no, I don't

I don't tweet me I have an account somewhere

the I Think it's at Joe Reed geek. I think is

what it is. That's the gosh the garage cast Knows

and I think it changed to Joe Reed's Hawaiian

shirt Like they found they got my password and

changed it started tweeting at this convention

from my Hawaiian shirt He's got his arms folded

across his chest. I can't breathe, you know But

but anyway, don't tweet at me go to the geek

stuff Garage sale Facebook one word you can you

can message me there or if you get a message

to Mike He'll forward it along and I'd be happy

to reply All right, folks, that's gonna do it

for us. Make your great escape into comics and

we will catch you next time. Hey, this is Tom

Waltz, IDW's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles writer,

and you are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

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

the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

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