IDW TMNT Mutanimals 4 Review

Hi, this is Bobby Curnow, Chief Turtle Editor

at IDW Publishing, and you are going to have

a shell of a good time inside the pull bags.

Welcome to The Pull Bags, back issue classics.

Join us as we talk about comics from yesteryear,

from DC, Marvel, and more. So open your ears

to hear our discussion. the older continuity

as the back issue classics are also what's in

the pull bag Hello and welcome to the pull bag

This is yet again another back issue classics

episode and we are interrupting the Robin Hood

spotlight month here inside the pull bag to Not

necessarily head down to the sewers, considering

none of these characters actually are in the

sewers this time around, but we are here to discuss

IDW Publishing's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Mutanimals 4 issue miniseries. I am your host

TFJ and Mike. Joining me once again and as always

for the TMNT stuff is Joe Reed. Hello. Hello.

And hello. How are you? I'm well. Yes. I've been

up to all sorts of goodies since I last talked

to you on a podcast. Ben to BotCon, that was

neat. They don't have a Ninja Turtles convention

yet, do they? Not a big one like that. Not like

that, no. Well, the Transformers one's the one

that I'd go to first. Ninja Turtles is a second

love only by chronology. Oh, hey, oh never mind

it won't it won't happen before this this podcast

airs There's a new convention in in Grand Rapids,

Michigan called great bit live. It's a video

gaming music and video gaming Convention, it's

free to attend. They got a massive donation to

the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital who's kind

of putting it on and so admission for everybody's

been taken care of and and even vendor spots

have been taken care of but uh By the time this

airs, none of you will be able to go to that,

so go back in time, tell yourself you need to

go to this convention, it's free. Go enjoy some

music and buy stuff that's video game related.

You can give me the info off air and I'll put

it up on the social media stuff. Alright folks,

yeah. So we've had, let's see, we've had Turtles

in Time, we've had TMNT Ghostbusters, we've had

Secret History of the Foot Clan, What other miniseries

have they done to this point? We've had the micro

series which is the individual spotlight stuff

And now we get to mutanimals as this is airing

in mid -july Mutanimals is over and they're now

starting the next current miniseries Casey in

April which will eventually Cover that as well

What was your first impression when you heard

that they were gonna do a spotlight series on

the Mutanimals? Well, I enjoyed that as a kid.

We're reading the Archie series and you know

the characters from that comic kind of either

wound up as toys or in the cartoon or From the

cartoon into the comic however that relationship

happened, but when they started to do this, you

know, I was like a little Worried at first because

you know, what do you do with the the silly thing?

That was a silly comic back in the day and then

I just relaxed because it's IDW and everybody

who's working on these books the Turtles books

loves the content like they're gonna make it

work and it'll be awesome Well that and I mean

meets animals have been around for a while in

the ongoing. It's not it's not like they're just

now introducing them You know, if you pick this

series up, folks, and you haven't, which I don't

know why you wouldn't have already read the past

four years of stuff from IDW with Turtles, but

they do make it easy for new readers to jump

in. It isn't as easy as jumping in, like, on

free comic book day with Prelude to Vengeance

or anything like that, where they wrap everything

up in one little issue. But it's enough where...

At this point, any of the special mini -series

they do, it's more for us than it is for new

readers. At least that's the way I look at it.

So we've got Slash and Mondo. They're pretty

much the main two that I know of, and we're gonna

get into it on all the other characters. They

actually added a new character. We've talked

about these guys before. They added Herman the

Hermit Crab. So it's gonna be interesting to

see and one of the reasons why I like that They

did this miniseries is there's not a lot of room

in the main title I mean there's room for them

to tell a story every issue, but there's not

a lot of room to Give us character development

on every single character that shows up I had

four long years and four wondrous years to do

this series to this point and that's one of the

reasons why I love these miniseries is because

you don't necessarily need to pick up the main

ongoing if you aren't there's something wrong

with you like i already said but it's one of

those things where if you just want to learn

about these characters that you might have remembered

from your childhood you can pick this up and

read it and for us diehards and i'll let you

speak in a moment for us diehards it's like hey

we get to explore new character depths new new

things that we might not have known before about

these characters because we didn't have a lot

of time to have everything explained to us in

the main ongoing. With the Mutanimals, this is,

of all the miniseries, this is the one that I

kind of wish were a standalone ongoing book,

you know, like it was. It didn't last very long.

I'm assuming numbers were low for them and numbers

would be low on this, but I'd still like the

room to tell more of a story. We get a very self

-contained composed thing and it's IDW's thing

to have the main book going, but then set something

off to the side. so that they don't crowd their

main book. And if I have one complaint, well,

I don't know, I'm sure I have several, and I

love the IDW series, but the one complaint I

have is, okay, it took them... 30 years to come

up with all these different characters. They

don't need to put them all in four years You

know unless their hope that you know, we know

it won't be around forever So you want to get

as much in as we can and they do everything with

love and they do everything well But I kind of

let them breathe let them slow down and here

they can breathe in this wonderful All right,

folks, we're gonna take a quick break come back

and we're gonna talk about issues one and two

after this It's action. It's drama. It's comedy.

It's to see in the superhero webcomic to see

it's got superhero antics and sexy girls read

it now at the Cn .com Das I en .com All right,

folks. It is time for mutanimals issues number

one and two the main cover for issue one He's

basically all the mutants. Pigeon Pete was the

other one that is with them. Pigeon Pete is easily

forgettable. And I don't think we mentioned old

Bob. Yeah, he's the leader. So the main cover

here is... All of the mutanals except for Hob,

it's Gecko, Slash, Pete, and Herman jumping off

of the Null Corp or the Null whatever the hell,

Null Group, whatever, I don't know. In some of

my spoiler -free written reviews on GeekCasterHero

.com sometimes I called them the Null Corp, sometimes

I called them the Null Group, I just couldn't

get it straight. What do you think of the first

cover here? It's a good one. It's I don't know

how to say, you know, you always want your your

dynamic hero pose at least they're not leaping

at us and that stereotypical thing but true very

true And we open this up and we get to a very

very cool blue and white background thing with

a paw Just to run down the creative team on this.

We have Paul Allor back on on story and writing

We've got Andy Kuhn on art. Colors is done by

Nick Filarity. Letters by Sean Lee. And obviously

Bobby Kernow does the editing. And it says, the

story so far. Old Hobbins, a sometime antagonist

of the TMNT, seeks to overthrow the human order

and grow the ranks of mutantkind. His group,

dubbed the Mutanimals, now includes the snapping

turtle slash Mondo Gecko, Herman the hermit crab,

and Pigeon Pete. Human... Ex -stock gen scientist

Lindsey Baker is grudgingly helping them to create

mutants so that she may further her research

To give our readers listeners some background

The Mutanimals was a side book that occurred

with the Archie Ninja Turtles comics back in

the 90s The Mutanimals were a group. I don't

think any of them made it Well, Wingnut and Screwloose,

and Ray -fil -A, or Man Ray, whatever, wherever

he was called, because he had two different names

depending on what he was appearing in. I think

they were the two that made it into the cartoon.

Oh, Mondo Gecko. He was an original member. But

they also had Jaguar, who was an anthropomorphic

Jaguar, Dreadmun, who was a Jamaican dog -like

creature. I'm not sure what he exactly was. And

I think that was like when you say that all I

can think of is friggin poochie. I don't know

that is From the Simpsons Homer Simpsons animated

character on itchy and scratchy anyway Yeah,

I think that was the main team so there's a couple

guys that we didn't get in this but Mondo Gecko

was the the the thread through it and slash yeah

slash he showed up later, but in the Archie comic

the Story was they were kind of like environmentalists,

you know, it was the 90s Earth Day kick they

would kind of went on and did things and it crossed

over in this massive event with the the Ninja

Turtles books and like the end of the World War

pestilence famine horsemen the apocalypse came

and and there was this neat little had to go

get the mutanimals issue to complete your Archie

Ninja Turtles run, but this is definitely a different

take With just a few similarities, but I like

where it's heading I like the, like, how many

total members did you, just numbers, how many

total members from the original group? I think

it was only six. Six. So basically, and you already

said it was the 90s and it was the environmental

thing, and the first thing I flashed to is earth,

fire, wind, water, heart. Friggin' cat to play

at it. I really want that to make a comeback.

I don't know if that'll happen. Not a lot of

people love that show. They've been trying, it's

been, the movie rights have been going around.

There's a script out there. Oh no. Um, yeah,

I mean, the Mutanimals, I think for the IDW continuity,

considering where we started with Slash being

in stock gen. And I don't remember, did we ever

really get, oh no, yeah, we did. We did get an

origin from Mondo. He was created with Herman

by Hobb and Lindsay, okay, yeah, yeah. Ladies

and gentlemen, four years of comic reviews and

one and a half years. It's a lot of stuff to

go through and a lot of stuff to remember. No,

but I like that it kind of really all started

with slashes origin way back when and you know

We eventually got Mondo and Herman and and Pete's

just Pete. I mean, I Don't know what else we

can say about pigeon Pete. I need I need to watch

an animated show To really see who's I haven't

seen that the cartoon and many of the new one.

Yeah the new one is He shows up every now and

then in the new one, but he's just as annoying

as I don't know I'll have to find a clip on YouTube

to show you or something because it's it's good

it works and and they are actually And I'm sure

this is part of Nickelodeon's big old, you know

giant plan for the brand As this was this series

was going on they were actually having a few

episodes that dealt with the Mute Animals on

the show. So we got to see them. It was, yeah,

no, recently. It was Slash, Corey Feldman's Slash,

Robbie Rist's Mondo Gecko, Pigeon Pete, and a

couple others, I don't remember, but... Mean

if you haven't seen that Mondo Gecko episode

you really need to because oh my god, dude 90s

Mikey Robbie wrist as the voice of Mondo It's

like having Mikey right there except. It's not

it's not 90s movie Mikey it isn't but It took

them three seasons to find a way to bring back

cowabunga All right, so Mutantimals number one.

This one starts off with Pigeon Pete and Lindsay.

And Pigeon Pete is in the process of being kidnapped.

And this is essentially, this first issue isn't

even really an introduction. It's more of a chase

kind of thing. They try to kidnap Pete and...

As that part of the story is going on, we also

have the story with the Mutanimals at home and

trying to figure out what they're going to do

in their downtime when they're not out, you know,

busting heads. That's one thing about this series

that I absolutely loved, was seeing the downtime.

Because you don't see in comics, there isn't

a lot of downtime for character growth. And that's

one thing I think Paul Allor did very well in

this issue. We get even less downtime with the

Turtles. They never let those guys rest ever.

Well, no, but they work in... They work in so

much character development as shit hits the fan

with the Turtles. I mean, you know... I mean,

just... Even Paula Elor. I mean, it took me...

I don't know. All of one entire podcast to convince

you that old Donnie was was pretty cool And he

had wrote that I believe Paul had written the

Turtles in Time issue with old Donnie and You

know, I just I've said it before on every single

Turtles episode we've done the team that they

have of writers There's absolutely no disconnect

from anything. They are they're all telling different

stories, obviously Waltz and Eastman and in Kern

hour the main on the main book, but Every time

they bring somebody in for one of these miniseries

or one of the one shots or whatever. It's all

so fluid It's not like I'd expect something like

this like if it was at a different company to

be so disjointed and not at all put together,

but they have the continuity like down just amazingly,

it's it's One the the talents of Bobby kernel

and also Being they aren't tied to all these

other books, you know, Marvel has to worry, Daredevil

has to worry about the other books that are happening

at the same time. And, you know, maybe that writing

team would have gone on forever, except, you

know, Secret Wars comes in and poops on it. In

this, in this, they don't have to, and they can

plan the long game. And, you know, occasionally

Kevin Eastman comes in with an alternate cover

that's late and it delays a book a little bit.

But generally they have it, they have it, you

know, they're, they're two years out with ideas

and they have the time to play the long game.

Absolutely. So as this issue progresses, what

do you think of Andy Kuhn's art in this? It took

me a while to warm up to his style, but I kind

of like it. A little bit looser. I'm looking

at page five, a picture of Old Hob, and I'm looking

at the colors, the way that the strokes are applied

to his hair. I'm trying to figure out what Photoshop

trick he used to do that because I need to go

replicate that. Right. I love how they change

the scene colors on the background to show you,

hey, look, you're dealing with the dirt. All

the stuff with the mutanimals at home is like

a brown and blue kind of thing and tan. And then

when we get to Lindsay and Pete, it's all blues

and purples and whites. White and green and gray.

Yeah. And as this first issue rolls along here,

We meet Lindsay's ex -girlfriend Jillian who

is working for this new company. This isn't stock

gen folks This is the null corp or whatever I

Don't think we've had enough To deal with with

Lindsay mm -hmm, and that's one of the reasons

why I liked this and okay sure give her a girlfriend

fine You know who cares whatever. That's just

You know Whatever, that's just her character.

I guess I just wish there we had a little bit

more on her background before this so we would

know what we were gonna get into and I guess

they didn't do that because They were gonna explore

it here and all this dialogue between her and

Jillian thoughts on these two do you Are these

characters you want to see again, or are these

characters you had any inclination towards before

or after this? Don't care, still don't care,

but if they need scientists, I'd rather they

use these two again, because if you have already

got them built, then let's keep them built and

enjoy it. And it's, I don't know, they're not

uninteresting, they're just not the people that

I want to pay attention to in this book, they're

not the characters that I care about. And I don't

know, maybe it has to do with that I don't...

Know them from an earlier book. But even if I

did I just know I'm here for mutant on mutant

action. Let's see it. Come on So we have the

whole scene with Lindsay and Jillian and Pete

and all that and and we have some really interesting

character development with that and then we get

to the car chase, you know the car chase hob

and slash and Herman and they're gonna break

Pete out of the van and I Love I I know a lot

of people might be screaming bloody murder that

it's not wingnut or whatever from the original

That they created a new character. I don't care.

I love Herman the hermit crab. You're a pigeon

don't jump soldier fly I just love that. It's

absolutely amazing and And Pete I can fly I can

never mind I can't fly I can't fly and he oh

god the way Andy Kuhn draws this and the way

that uh Filardi colors it his bounce oh man it's

like oh my god it's like a skipping stone right

right across the water poor pigeon pea He might

be annoying as all hell, but you know I mean

last thing we need to see is one of the mutants

just bouncing around He doesn't annoy me in this

series. I imagine you know given the right voice

and the wrong animation he would Video but in

this he's he's endearing endearingly cute and

naive And I can I can appreciate naive and cute

So we get to The interesting thing about this

series is the character developments between

the team and hob as their leader His gecko asks

him should we stop and help him and and hob is

just focused on getting the you know these guys

aren't gonna get away they're gonna pay for what

they did and That's a pretty horrible car crash

that van is not gonna drive anywhere So we get

Mondo on his skateboard. Oh so cool We need more

of that. We really do Get Mondo on his skateboard

messing these guys up and and It's slash of all

people to kind of interrupt hub and be like,

you know, hey look, you know, we we don't do

that You know, we're not gonna sit here and kill

these people over over kidnapping Pigeon Pete

it's not like they physically hurt him or anything,

you know, so and that was what was really cool

to me reading this series as it came out was

you have Mondo and Herman on one side and you

have slash and hob on the other and pigeon Pete

somewhere in the middle somewhere like and you

know, but You've got four out of these five characters,

two are on their own journey with character development,

the other two are the same way. Absolutely love

that. And so we're watching old Hob become a

leader and we're also watching him. And I don't

know if this is a good question for you. Do you

think this is against Hob's character to begin

leading a team? You know eventually in and starting

right about here where slash pulls him back from

killing these guys He's turning into a softer

more lovable hob. I mean still gruff and cranky,

but You think that's too much of a character

ship for him, or do you think he'd be like shut

up slash BAM? I'm gonna shoot that human I think

since we've been reading the series and reviewing

it that it's a natural progression for him because

he's got Don't even know I wish I I wish Bobby

or Tom or Kevin were here and we can ask them

I'd like to know how much time has passed between

the time we had old Hobbs introduction in the

one shot and now Because if it's been two or

three years if it's been six or seven months

my point here is I think that Back when when

he was when we first got introduced to him. He

needed to be that hard -ass He needed to be the

guy that oh my god I just need my mutant army

and nobody's gonna stop me but as He builds his

army and he builds a rapport with his soldiers

as Herman would put it There has to be give -and

-take and everything else, and I don't think

it's out of his character I think it's growing

his character of an absolutely I think too that

slash is acting as the conscience of the group

And he's holding hop back because if I think

if any of the mutant animals could Find out a

way to kill hob if he went too far it'd be slash

doing it because he could But but he's being

the conscience, and I think that's appropriate

for him absolutely And we even see as, as this

progresses and you know, Bob says, no, I've been

in places like this. It's not a lab. And we see

a flashback to stock and we see a flashback to

his origin again. Even though I feel this series

is for us, the people that have been reading

the IDW TMNT for the last four years or however

the heck long. It's still giving a new reader,

hey, look, see, look, this is what happened to

Hob. So you're kind of caught up. And I just,

Nick Filari on the colors with the lamp and the

light and then the eyeballs. Oh, it's just so

good. So good. So Hob kind of loses it. Find

all the mutants and kill every damn scientist

in this place and oh Boy all hell breaks loose

I love I love the panel and I again I wish we

had more of this the panel where as we go through

this all hell breaking loose thing we get to

a panel where Mondo's like where's that scientist

boss lady Lindsay where'd she go and he's just

rolling up on her on his skin if they ever do

more micro series Mondo has to be on his board

the entire time oh so good So good and even the

panel with him just zooming off to find this

Damn I love this I could read Mundo Gecko all

the time. It's so hilarious So we have more character

development and explanation with with with Lindsay

and and and Jillian We have this Hollywood looking

type attacked attacked by what? and we see this

like shadowy figure this boss figure CEO whatever

and we can clearly tell that this person is not

human because they have devil horn coming out

of their head or at least once the panel with

the office chair there This is and this is almost

exactly how null was introduced in the Archie

books because the turtles came across null first

and in the beginning I think it's just a bald

human and then as the turtles grow more and more

a pain in his side the horns show up the The

skin changes color and you know kind of the same

reveal that we have at the end of this They don't

ever explain it either. I don't think they ever

said what they what He was in that series and

in this one we are about to be revealed, but

it's a lady Nice change doesn't matter. It's

a lady now But the one thing I did not mention

when we were talking about the team earlier is

because it hadn't happened yet I didn't want

to spoil it for everybody, but we're obviously

gonna have to spoil it now Hob and slash and

Mondo are all looking for other mutants and they

come across yeah if they come across at mars

attacks italy and all and i'm sorry but i don't

know no seriously come on now that you say that

i didn't wait and waiting for us to do this episode

so i can bring this up if you ever and we'll

talk about this later as we talk about the other

issues but seriously come on mutagen man himself

not counting his casing and not he looks like

a mars attacks he just does we see this and they

end up rescuing him and uh the story goes that

um you know they need to get the hell out of

there and Hobb's like alright let's go they all

pile in one of the null uh security guys says

hold your fire boss's orders they've got precious

cargo dun dun dun And we race off. And of course

it ends with Hob saying, we've got ourselves

a war. First of all, none of these, okay, well

maybe, okay, Hob most likely, but the one thing

I've noticed throughout this series is how they

use the logo. Like if you look at the very beginning

of the page, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Mutanimals, it's a giant paw. And I kind of forgot,

I don't know how the hell I forgot it, it's staring

me right in the face that... Hob is a cat. But

at first I thought, hmm, where's Alopex when

we really need her? Not that she's a part of

the Mutanimals, but when I first saw that paw

on the To Be Continued, I'm like, hmm, that could

be Alopex. Maybe she will be someday. Alright,

so issue one, overall thoughts, sir. When you

said it in the beginning that it's basically

just a car chase, it made me realize again, flipping

through here, how quick that issue was and how

they didn't get too much done besides the reveal

of mutagen man at the end. A lot of exposition,

but we get our introduction to these guys. Yep,

absolutely. 2247 edit. 2254 cut this shit out

Ha I'm trying to move windows on your screen

You can't move windows on my screen Okay All

right folks issue number two same creative team

on this one the cover is the null group or the

null corp Basically fighting off the mutanimals.

What do you think of this cover? I checked its

null industries no okay he was in the back behind

the lady in her chair um i just remember the

solicit saying either null corp or no group i

maybe they haven't decided maybe it's different

every panel i don't know it's just no i mean

this point has been null and voided indeed oh

it's a great cover that i didn't notice before

down in the bottom right is um who ends up being

Ray Filet or Man Ray or whatever they're calling

them in this series. Yeah. Yeah, I, this isn't

one of my favorite covers out of the series and

I'll say it right now. I think that issue one

and issue three are my favorites. Issue two and

issue four are okay. They're not bad covers.

I just, it's a fight cover for issue two. I like

it. So we got the opening with the logo and all

that stuff and the creative team and the story

so far We open up at home now. This is the one

that I was yeah that I was really looking forward

to talking with you about because This is what

I was mentioning earlier where you have Mondo

and Herman and Mondo's like late battle munchies.

It's like My golly, I'm we're I'm watching this

on screen share since I lost my issue to My house

ate it somewhere, but seeing these panels blown

up this big they're beautiful The art is gorgeous.

Yeah, it really is. I'm telling you man. I know

you're against digital, but if you get a comixology

account And you only get the turtle stuff from

IDW. I mean, it just, it's just amazing. And

this is how I read them every month on everything.

It's just so good. Cause for me personally, on

a personal note here is when I read comics, I

have to, even when I have my glasses on, sometimes

I still, cause I'm so used to holding them straight

up to my face. Cause I can't see very far. I

can't see super far away. But I can see up close.

So with this, it's like, oh my God, I can just

sit here right now and just read all of this

without having to squint, without having to get

super up on the screen or anything like that.

He's eating cocoa puffs. I know that's cheese

puffs. I think they're cheese puffs. Probably

cheese puffs, but it's just I totally want a

cheese puff now. Yeah. So Herman says. What oh

Mondo yes, I'm fine. I'm just never sure what

to do with myself off -duty I live on the battlefield

that I need to learn how to unwind during R &R

You seem to have no such problem This is what

I love about these two characters. You've got

Mondo Who is super chill and relaxed and you

know when he needs to fight he can fight, but

when he's not he can just Relax and be fine where

you have someone like Herman who? He always has

to be battling something. He always has to be

doing something. He can't just be a crab in a

dumpster. He can't be a red repaint of Oscar

the Grouch. So we've got all this chill stuff

and we then go to the null industries. For a

second there, I'm like, when's Tony Stark gonna

show up? And we see the red -headed lady quite

literally folks. She is a red -headed lady No

hair red skin red everything and just like the

Archie series She looks like what we would kind

of call a devil in that in that Old -school biblical

sense of the thing So this is where Lindsey and

Jillian are getting in getting in trouble and

talking to her In her office here Yeah, I At

first when we first met Lindsey when she was

in trouble and the turtles had to save her from

Hob I kind of cared but you're right I want to

know more about the mutants not necessarily what's

going on with the humans And we need to do this

to keep you know get the story moved and whatnot,

but it's it's a hard part to Pay attention in

character, and I don't I don't necessarily always

need action in fact sometimes. I don't want action,

but You know it's exposition and the characters

aren't that interesting or that Important to

the overall story, and I think that's why Yeah,

I mean and it's not Paul Alar's fault at all.

No, he's writing them very very well We're not

sitting here trying to you know sit here and

say negative things about its writing. It's just

We don't have anything here to make us super

invested in Lindsay and Jillian mm -hmm So as

this goes along let's see here You know, she

goes on and says, but you're just here for science,

isn't that right? The chance to break new ground

in your field, backed by an obscene budget and

a tough flight facility. And, you know, they're

basically trying to make a new deal with this

boss lady so they don't end up getting killed,

is really what it ends up. And Lindsay has all

that mutagen knowledge that no lady wants. Yep.

That they need. so we go to the null industries

training facility no it's like right row no it's

right outside null that's what it is because

we then get to hob and slash on the roof and

this is where their character development comes

in and this is what I love slash isn't he'll

be coming a little bit later but he isn't The

monster he used to be mm -hmm They've written

him in a way now where The only time his rage

really comes out is on the battlefield if it

ever does and to this point in You know the first

issue we saw a slash fight without him needing

to essentially Hulk out mm -hmm And he doesn't

like to Hulk out. It's something that he wants

to actively avoid absolutely Absolutely So Haben

slash You know like what's the plan? I don't

know I got a plan go in there and kill them all

he doesn't say that folks but So we go back to

Mutanimals headquarters, and we see pigeon Pete

and mutagen man and mutagen man is newly on the

scene and This is interesting to me because The

three of these well three that are here Mondo

Herman and Pete They're all used to being able

to be free and mutagen man isn't he's been locked

up for however the hell long null has had him

locked up and He doesn't know what to do with

himself. He doesn't know what's okay. It's like

This issue is a turtles version of Shawshank

Redemption busy living mutagen man busy living

or busy dying and as we go through this you know

he eventually starts they start calling him Seymour

and Mondo's like hey you want to play a little

dragon wagon and I'm not sure what okay this

is perfect for you mr. video game guy what the

hell are they are they referencing double dragon

are they referencing dragon warrior is it any

kind of real world video game reference that

you would know of it's not a direct reference

to anything they're making that up and that controller

is totally uh bonkers as well but hey that'd

be that'd actually be a nice controller that

actually looks like a cross between a playstation

controller and an n64 controller oh wait they

already did that with the snes uh... and this

is where mom uh... usually ends up character

comes in he doesn't get it he because he's so

used to tests and experiments and everything

else he's not sure what the heck to do and mondo

sits there and you know tells him hey no look

this is just for fun and they go into the whole

thing of do you have a normal name And he says

I've never needed one and they eventually Moe's

Tavern that's all I can think of is the old Bart

Simpson phone jokes on the set So Mondo names

him Seymour because when he looks at him he can

see more guts so I can't remember if that was

his name if they gave him a name in any other

previous incarnation I I don't remember him from

the old animated series right yeah I don't I

honestly don't remember mutagen man from the

old animated series either and I had to go back

and look on YouTube and try to find the old Mondo

episode at one point because I did not I knew

Mondo was in the old animated series the 87 series

but I did not remember where or how it happened

So we've got that going on and You know first

time he ever laughed and I'll say this about

the art I'm not too sure about the glow here

off his little dome I think they did that for

this because it's a little it's a sentimental

moment. It's the first time I ever have laughed

You know, in lieu of being able to make him look

like he's crying, they give him that glow. And

that's a very effective glow. The new trend,

and it took me a while to notice it, was when

they need things to glow, they lighten the previously

black and white line work. The black doesn't

get black anymore, it's lightened. And I think

it's incredibly effective. I talked to an Inker

at a convention a while back, a little more old

school guy. 80s 90s, and he says he absolutely

hates it when people do that to his line works

if I made it black It needs to be black. He said

but I look at this and go No, you'd lose all

sorts of emotion from this that that Luminosity

that you get by blowing out the black line work

is really effective I did one of my own drawings

and I approve so I approve of this of this panel

Kuhn knocked it out of the park if not He didn't

color it who colored that I'm looking already.

Yeah Fullardy knocked it out of the park. Absolutely.

And I don't think we always need, you know, black

outline. Sometimes black outlining is too hard

of a thing. It's too hard of a sell for me. And

I think pretty across the board with the IDW

Turtles series, the black artwork goes away when

it's a flashback or a dream. And I really appreciate

that touch. That's been pretty consistent, I

think. Mean look at the dream sequence in 45.

I mean It's all green and purple because it's

Donnie you know So we get to slash and hob and

Hobbs ready to torture this poor guy this the

scientist from from no and And slash says a mutant

bat in your coal mines is good, but a mutant

with DNA of a bat and an ant and a gorilla You

know, so they you know, they're they're arguing

about all this stuff and and The guy says it's

an insane plan by insane people people in and

Hobbs says people like you mean I'm just a guy

with a mortgage Like he's not underplaying his

worth here So hob is getting super frustrated

and he's probably gonna kill this guy or he wants

to and he kicks his chair over and He's still

asking the guy where are they where are they

and he's getting ready to find and we see the

claws come out That's beautiful, man. That is

so awesome Between Coon's drawing and Filarity's

coloring. Oh It it's like Freddy Krueger has

a catclaw He says there's more than one way to

skin a human I'd love to try them all No, you

don't says no And this is the The the moment

here where the two of them kind of argue back

and forth and hob needs to calm down and You

know he needs to listen to slash So we find out

that the other meetings are at the train yard

supposedly, but I'm sure it's a trap most likely

Slash once again gets in Hobbs way for killing

who's about to kill this guy and Omen look at

that Look at the two of them. Kuhn's style is

really loose. The lines don't always end where

they should. It's really quick, but boy is it

gorgeous. And I think it's... You know what?

I even think those black flecks around the gun

are probably eraser doodles that still were left

on the paper. It's really gritty, but I really

enjoy seeing the evidence of the artist. And

90 % of this is lost looking at it in print.

You don't see the full beauty of this without

it being blown up. I mean, this is probably larger

than he drew it when I'm looking at here on my

monitor. Yeah, I mean, because essentially when

we go to the full one page scale. Yeah, it's

an inch and a half tall. Yeah, I mean even if

even if on the two page scale it's that that's

one of the reasons why I absolutely love the

comics ology guided view technology because we

get to see things that are more in depth than

what they would have been Just buying the print

issue. No, don't get me wrong, you know buying

print issues will you know help your local comic

shop and everything else and if that's the way

you like reading them fine, but ever since I've

gone digital like I still buy print stuff, I

still buy stuff in trades and stuff, but I'd

rather spend the money on, you know, the money

that I can spend on the digital stuff. For our

listeners' benefit and mine, I suppose, if I

bought it in print, do I still need to pay full

price to get the comixology version? If you bought

it in print and your comic shop has a discount,

then if you get the discount at your comic shop,

you're not... you're not going to get a discount

on ComiXology. So I'd still have to buy it for

$3 .99 from ComiXology? Yep. Yeah, see I couldn't

I couldn't do that just cuz I know I could I

can resell my my print copy if I had to that

breaks my heart I might write IDW just to see

no see that's the thing I honestly I think we

ought to because Marvel includes digital editions

with some of theirs like you know 399 499 books

whatever and they include a little tag in there

where you can go on their app and if if Marvel's

app is attached to your comics ology account

If your Marvel account and Comixology account

are attached, anything you add to the Marvel

app automatically shows up on Comixology with

that free... I think all the comic companies

need to have digital codes in all the books because

they want you to buy the print books. That's

where they make their money. No, I disagree.

They make them off the digital because printing

is god -awful expensive. They only need to do

the digital art and then millions of people can

buy it at no further cost to them except... Bandwidth

and that's dirt cheap on the commercial end of

things but they want you to buy the magazine

print things because You know that I I don't

know. Do they I have we'd have to ask, you know

This is another question for Bobby write it down

on our list because I'd love to get him back

But oh we were gonna get him back once once SDCC

is over. Yep. Yep I will write IDW a letter after

we are done reading recording our podcast So,

uh, Hob just essentially tells Slash, fine, just

make sure he's wrapped up good and tight. Uh,

they all, um, you know, kinda, they're all about

to leave, but Slash and Hob have one more argument,

and he's like, find the other mutants, bring

them all back, and kill anyone who gets in our

way? Sure. Why not? And they still have this

argument, and, um, and... Slash makes a point.

So let's act like heroes and not act like a bunch

of terrorists and way to go slash Yeah This is

kind of like that that Lex Luthor line in Justice

League Unlimited the return when he kind of antagonizes

a mezzo after he gives him this poignant speech

and It's one of these things here where you know

Hobbs just ready to kill slash I guess who comes

between them? Pidgeon P. Can't we all just get

along? He doesn't say that, but... Is he blowing

bubbles? He's blowing bubbles, yes. Oh my god.

Pidgeon P. is so strange. So, they still have

this argument, go on and on and on and on, it

eventually... you know comes to a point where

they are and are not in agreement and Hob needs

to see this. Hob needs to see Slash's point and

this is what I was saying earlier when you asked

me about the character development and it isn't

so black and white anymore. Like originally when

Hob wanted to start his army it was his mission

was mutants rule I hate to say this but Hobbs

essentially Magneto. Yeah, yeah. Slash is essentially

Professor X at this point. So we get Seymour

and Hobb talking and Seymour introduces himself

and Hobb's just like, okay. They drive off to

the train yard not the docks. Why did I want

to say the docks? They drive off to the train

yard and It's an ambush That guy lied through

his teeth And slash even says I knew we weren't

properly prepared for this mission not the damn

time slash and They are severely outnumbered

severely I don't know how the hell they're gonna

get out of this and Coon's art and Florida's

colors. I mean just look at this. It's so gorgeous

It does Herman sleep in his dumpster. No when

he was at home his dumpster was parked he was

okay I every time I see him in the field. I know

he keeps all his weapons in there, but every

time I see him in the field I always want to

ask this is he really sleeping that thing I Got

some badass colors and shadows It's just so so

well done And they meet the the null lady and

she's one of these people that needs to be there

no matter what and mutagen man's like oh no it's

her it's no oh no and we you know she goes on

to say thank you so much for coming back to us

and for bringing along these mighty mutants who

have been causing me so much trouble if I can

offer a professional tip next time you torture

a scientist for information make sure you ask

him to keep it secret And Munition man's having

doubts about himself and That would be an amazing

panel to have on a wall or a poster having hub

firing the gun. Oh So cool, so he looks like

he shoots at the null lady But that probably

isn't gonna stop her. Haha, nope. You stupid

cat. You can kill me, but that hurt like hell.

Take them. And a all -out war happens between

the mighty mutanimals and the null industry's

people. Look at that. Wow. That's awesome. It's

slime. It's... God, it's slime. I was like, I

think it was worse slimer when you really need

them. um wow so we have this battle and i really

like this that was good that's some good color

oh i'm getting shocked uh with with what i'm

assuming are industrial cattle prods yeah absolutely

and the colors and the lines and the art they

all go together so well so mondo uh... looks

like he's about to escape munich and manon homer

captured uh... slashes trying to fight but she's

not exactly doing it uh... uh... very well and

i'm says no slash if you can run so this is where

it's a brilliant panel so i don't get that the

second uh... uh... so someone needs to escape

someone needs to rescue us and Slash this isn't

where he hulks out folks he hulks out a little

bit later because when he because we haven't

seen slash full -on animalistic since his Introduction

yeah, he he's you know he came to us in the turtles

comic as the monster as the the mindless killing

blood machine But he got hit with the chemicals

and his brain came out and he became an articulate

speaking thing Just like the rest of the Ninja

Turtles, but I think we learn in this series

that He's in control of it, but can lose control

and revert to that beast again It looks like

it I mean if I were to guess this would be the

panel where it happens, but I know that happens

later He's throwing off 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 guys

in that kind of Hulk picking up the thing pose

You know pretty much I love this panel It's better

than sneaking out from under the pile of guys

and the pile of guys just keep punching Nothing

after they suck out. It's like the opposite of

that It's kind of like It's kind of like and

I know not a lot of people love turtles, too

But it's kind of like the opposite of turtles,

too Yeah, yeah the turtles sneak down to the

sewer and Mikey ends up tickling tokers Feet

so crazy so We meet two new characters here We

don't like the train car in the yard. Yeah, they're

inside the train car in the yard in a jail cell

And we find out their names are Sally and right

filet It's it was a licensing got mixed up between

the comic and the cartoon and the action figure

and I can't remember which is which but I don't

know her from anything if she is from I think

she's yeah I think she's a new addition so they

throw Pete in they throw Herman in and she's

ready to just break the cell open and we've got

helicopters all over the place and we've got

slash slash and Mondo uh who escaped and it kind

of ends with oh my god we're gonna have to rescue

these you know we have to rescue our friends

that's and that's we're gonna be the mighty mutanables

and he's just shaking mondo and the last panel

is ow to be continued what did you think of um

issue two overall after issue one this is the

one where i say now we're talking Yeah, pretty

much. Yeah This one really Brought up all of

the character development. I was talking about

earlier. It really did Kill it on the non battle

scenes it introduced us to several new characters

And it was just Really, really cool. Allor is

writing along with Coon's art and Filarity's

colors. This is the perfect team for this series.

It really is. I'm sure the other artists and

writers would have done just as well, but we

needed Allor as a voice here for these characters.

We needed Coon's drawing for these battle scenes

and even some of the scenes that were at the

lair. This is absolutely awesome. So we're gonna

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

with issues three and four after this It's Showtime

Synergy! The latest review podcast from the Geekcast

Radio Network is here! So join TFG One Mike,

Nicole Hailstorm, and myself, Lady Rec, as we

will be reviewing all 65 episodes of Jow in the

Holograms in a 25 episode long podcast. You can

find Showtime Synergy on iTunes and geekcastradio

.com. We are the truly outrageous podcast that

you want to be listening to. Seriously, that

is all you've got? Alright folks, we get Mutanimals

issue number three We have Paul, Alor, Andy Kuhn,

Nick Flaherty, Sean Lee, and Bobby Kernow as

the team This one starts off with... Oh no Please

tell me they're going to do alphabet names. Come

on. They're fixing a rotten truck. It's been

a long time since I've read this issue. Because

this came out a few months ago by the time this

aired. And it's been a long time. And all I can

think of is, oh my god, they're watching Donnie

and Casey. So you got Slash and Mondo. getting

this truck going and you know we're heroes big

man and just to focus on that part we see the

train again and hob is waking up and he meets

the new mutants here um i'm trying to see if

it says his name and it doesn't uh so i apologize

for my friend sally pride it does he still doesn't

say his name though We have Sally Zitt for now.

Well, that's the girl's name. Oh, his full name.

Well, they call him Ray, so last issue. So everybody's

in jail except for Mondo and Slash, and Sally

and Ray have this conversation with Hobb, and

he's like, oh no, where are Mondo and Slash?

And Herman's like, current whereabouts unknown,

but I believe they escaped, sir. And look at

the truck going up against the train. It's like

something out of Fast Five. And it's a jailbreak,

folks. And Slash just jumps for it. And he grabs

Mondo with him. And he makes it onto the train.

They hook on, get in. they're about to rescue

everybody except the null people come in and

start fighting everybody so you've got all these

people and all as I can think of is friggin astro

train jettison some weight or I'll never make

it to Cybertron all I can think of here I love

the art with it like this is a whole different

Obviously a whole different scenario here with

them fighting on the train, a whole different

color scheme. It's more gray and white and some

blues and I dig this. This is so cool. Oh, Mondo.

I love Mondo's facial expressions. He's just

so cool. What are you thinking so far for this

one? They almost miss an opportunity here to

kind of play up like the the the the heist the

moving train heist they get a really gone with

their gun and had some fun there, but That's

okay. We get to see slash ripping the door off

the side of a train and or the cage out of a

train I guess too at the same time and I approve

of that kind of destruction Because as well I

approve of that it sounds like a comic nerd thing

to say but I really appreciate the art of that

panel That's just so beautiful. I mean it's for

as abstract as his style is and as Hard edge

this is style is there's a lot of volume. There's

a lot of space in that panel the debris in the

foreground Herman in the extreme foreground.

I just that's oh man and even the blur the motion

blur happening outside the window the streaks

that's just skillfully done When we get inside

the trade and all the battling happens we get

to a point where They've captured them and they've

captured slash and they've put him in a cage.

Slashing a cage is not a good idea. It's not

a good mix, folks. Because, and you can't, because

I turned off the screen share, so you can't see

this, but the panel where we see his side profile,

it's my entire screen. It's not even like, you

know. Certain panels will have like the panel

right before it where he says it wasn't supposed

to go this way we're the good guys where That

panel has like whites. It's kind of like a letterbox

thing, but this is the full screen and then he

just This isn't the explosion I was talking about

of this isn't the Hulk out that I was talking

about But this is the second one he's done to

this point in this series, so he's a He's actively

not necessarily letting himself go but every

time he hulks out it gets worse Until it gets

really bad his speech balloons have gone back

to the to the white on black like it was when

he was Running around growling, you know, I just

you gotta love stuff like that Absolutely, and

as we go along here when his speech balloons

have gone white text on black background we get

to a point where he pretty much throws three

to four of these guards just out of the train

and not even out of the door he throws them through

the wall of the train i love the little panel

where it has the ting and the wheel comes off

the track i thought that was hilarious because

it looks like with all his force it looks like

a screw is coming loose on the wheel Stupid humans

no more stupid humans. Yep. He's reverted No,

this is the one this is the okay I thought there

was another Hulk out, but this is the one where

Mondo's like dude and everybody's just like what's

going on here, and he hulks out even more and

The train just gets to strutting You know It

runs on steam, Marty. Not this time, Rock Brown.

Not this time. No humans. No pain. No time. And

he reverts back and, you know, we don't have

much time, Mondo. Why don't you? Whoa, stay back,

Slash. Just stay back. What's wrong? And he doesn't

realize he had reverted. Well, he does, but He

at first when when he asked him what's wrong

he doesn't realize and then he slowly does and

we eventually get to know with the helicopter

and Lindsay and and Jillian again and more exposition

Yeah, the null lady continually she kind of reminds

me of Please tell me you've seen at least one

episode of the powerpuff girls She reminds me

of there's a character on there called him It's

supposed to be a devil like character in this

these two panels here where she's bright red

Kind of reminds me of that character from Powerpuff

Girls So they're arguing and And Lindsay says,

yes, you like to intimidate people with your

horns and your red skin and all these little

hints that you're some great evil, the devil

metaphorically speaking, but it's all bluster

and it's not going to work on me. So Lindsay's

basically standing up for herself. And the devil

lady kills one of the soldiers and she essentially

turns him into what Donovan looked like in Last

Crusade. He chose Polly. I think she's, what

I think she's doing, she's sucking the life force

out of him to stay young and healthy is this

power that she has. Yeah, because if you look

at her at the panels before when Lindsay's arguing

with her, she's kind of looking a little old

and not necessarily gray, specifically color

wise. But yeah, you're right. She's, oh man.

She's essentially once bit it once biting him.

Oh boy that old 1985 Jim Carrey vampire moving

once bitten. Oh Boy so So she goes on and says

She says go back to the lab work with Jillian

Tell her everything you know about monsters and

mutants Tell her all your dirty little scientific

secrets or you or I will crack your head open

and pull them out myself metaphorically speaking.

Oh, that panel, that last panel of her in the

shadows with the light hitting her eyes. Oh,

that's so good. That's something that a lighting

director would do on a movie. Oh, absolutely.

So Lindsay and Jillian go back to the lab and

have an argument and talk about their relationship

and lying and all this stuff. Mr. Allure, I'm

sorry, sir. I love your writing, but... I just

don't care about these characters. I don't know

what it is. I just... Because he essentially,

you know, this whole exposition between the two

of them, this is the emo part of the book. So

the soldiers, you know, I've been asked to escort

you to the lobby, and then back to your lab,

and then we go to Slash and Hob, who are having

a discussion about... how Slash you know You

know has a lot, you know allowed himself to lose

control and he goes on it says I'm as bad as

them and You're gonna look at them the mutanimals

in this series all of them I think it's probably

the exception of Mondo All of them have their

issues Seymour He's not sure how he's going to

fit in because he's so used to tests and labs

and whatever. He's not used to having fun. Herman

always wants to be on the battlefield and doing

something with himself. He doesn't know how to

relax. Hob and Slash, Slash is essentially self

-deprecating. I mean, he looks down upon himself

and Hob is just so, he's been so head. He felt

like he had to have been so violent for so long

that it's hard for him to use restraint. And

out of all of them, I'm not counting Pigeon Pete,

because Pigeon Pete is essentially just a side

character for the most part. He's the comic relief

in the group. Mondo is the only one that we don't

really see a lot of... He's too laid back to

struggle. He's got that kind of... Right. uh

teenage nothing matters mindset not really teenage

minds but it's it's uh oh i don't know almost

buddhist you know you got to worry about what's

in front of you and then when you're not worrying

about anything you might as well eat cheese puffs

you know yeah i mean this is why i want a mondo

micro series issue because i want to see mondo's

i want to see how first of all how he became

mondo gecko You know second of all Was there

anything it like, you know, and we've talked

about this a million times Look at Casey. Look

how far Casey is come with him and his dad and

all that I want I love that Mondo's just constantly

laid back and what but I want to see How he got

to that point was there something in his life.

That's that made him be like, okay I'd love to

be able to control this and say I just, I want

to know more about Mondo Gecko in this, in the

IDW continuity. And I just don't think there's

enough time with the events that happen in this

four issue mini -series that they could have

dedicated to giving us more Mondo, other than

the cool moves and lines and whatever. So we

get to Sally and, and Hob and their, uh, her,

uh, Herman Seymour says they're going to create

more mutants to replace us and they'll throw

and They'll go through what I what we all went

through all over again. Yes Seymour. I'm afraid

that's a logical assumption So why are we sitting

or is this is Sally? Why are we sitting around

here? We need to destroy that lab agreed So we're

going back to this and destroying the lab and

I don't think Hob is developed enough as a character

for him to be a fully all -around effective leader.

He is being a leader. I'm not saying he's not

being a leader here, but he's being a leader

in his own vision. He is looking out for the

entire group, but he wants his plan to be done.

And Sally kind of agrees with him for the most

part, and she asks him, do you need a driver?

We see Mondo, not Mondo, her, Seymour and Pete.

Where should it go? Where should it go? Pete,

is that you? Yeah, it's me. What are you doing

in my room? I'm giving it, oh, he's giving everyone

that. This is why I said Pete is... There's no

need for character development for Pete. I want

the character development for Mondo. I want to

know. Pete, I don't need to know because Pete

is nothing but the sympathetic character filler.

He's a lighter side. You know, Mondo is really

chill, but Pete needs to bring the light and

funny into it, and he's trying to find where

to put a nightlight in Herman's or in Seymour's

room. And, you know, Seymour and he have a little

conversation. Is it just me or the panel where

Seymour says mine are different? Did his arms,

like, just hulk up? Or something or were they

always like that? I think it's weird They look

furry and lumpy and not well. They kind of have

growths. They look organic. Yeah, I thought they

were robotic but All right time to go grab the

other issue here just for a quick second They

were probably organic, because they don't make

mistakes like that. Yeah, they're organic. Okay,

it's just the way the panel looks when he says

mine are different. His arms just look like they're

not proportioned properly for his body. I don't

know, it's weird. So we got Herman and Mondo.

Outside they're talking about You know a laser

on his skateboard and I was like for what purpose

how would that even work beats me? I just think

lasers are sick as hell So they're talking about

weapons upgrades and they see Herman or they

see Keep screwing the names of folks. I'm sorry.

They see Seymour running away and this is where

Seymour's selflessness comes into play because

we get to a point in this issue as Seymour comes

back and he has wired himself to blow. And that's

where this one ends. And he basically says, or

Gillian says, Minjuman, what did you do? What

I had to do and you're wrong. No one knows this

suit better than me So I fixed up my wiring made

a few changes and now I'm overheating in a few

more minutes I'm going to explode and then none

of you will ever hurt another mutant again. It's

Half selflessness half doesn't value himself

at which they put him they made him that way.

I Think it's cool I'm not saying it. I don't

mean to say it's cool in a good way. I think

it's a cool character development for the character

because as I've already said in this episode

of the podcast, we are looking at these guys

and girls because now we have Sally. We're looking

at them and they are all so different from each

other. They all have different needs. They all

have different character traits. Um, they, you

know, Essentially, if you look at these, you

got Slash and Mondo. You got Hob and Slash, Mondo

and Herman, Seymour and Pete, I'll just say for

example, and you got Ray and Sally. So you got

six people, two at a time on teams, that kind

of go together but really don't. And then as

a group, they find a way to have... You know

everybody be on the same page even though hub

needs to kind of calm down a little bit on the

killing thing If only the suicide squad would

be disorganized Overall thoughts really quickly

on issue for issue 3 for we dive into issue for

ramping up getting good So we kick off issue

four with a cover of I believe that's no holding.

Yeah, she's got. Oh, God. She's she's tried it.

Yeah, she's trying to choke slam him. She's not

the giant red machine cane. She can't choke slam.

What the hell? This is not WWF. Oh, boy. WWE

now. Whatever. I still call it WWF. I give you

permission. You're a bigger wrestling fan than

I am, so you shouldn't make that mistake. Well,

I wanted to make the old reference to the old

Kane, because now he's more corporate Kane. Anyway,

so this one's a little bit different than the

other three, because we have a creative team

change. It's not really a change. It's more of

an addition. You got Paul Allor on story, art

by Andy Kuhn, colors. I wonder if we're going

to be able to notice when that change happens.

I wish they would have notated it. Because sometimes

comics will notate like if you have two different

pencilers on a book. They'll say, OK, this guy

or this girl did it from page 2 to 10, and then

the other person, they didn't do that here. kind

of stinks, but I mean just the fact that it's

both of them together. I was kind of wondering

when Rhonda was going to jump on one of these

other issues. So we start off with the Joyriding

Mutanimals van jumping the curb there. And we

have Sally, Ray, and Hob in the front. And they're

about to just run into Null and just destroy

everything. Meanwhile, Herman, ah, shut! Seymour

is going to blow himself up, and Lindsay's trying

to talk him out of it. She basically tells him,

no, I'll be trapped, and he basically shoots

all the mutagen. uh... hobb and sally skimp under

the door ala indiana jones uh... uh... and mondo

no this is totally bogus so they get in mondo

and ray don't get in uh... and we get this uh...

this confrontation between seymour and hobb and

you know i was asking what's the plan you have

on somewhere on your suit uh... lindsey's like

no he is the ball uh... and seymour says is that

you said of any sacrifice to make sure no new

and this i think more so than when slash was

trying to convey out this is where his softer

side comes out Because he's looking at Ed Seymour

and be like no this is not what I meant at all

and you see that look in his eye You know and

he finally realized that's what slash is trying

to tell him you know he was right So and he asked

him who do you want to be Seymour? I don't know,

but I want to I want to and boom I guess it was

just a like a discharge or something because

everybody's still there in the next panel Yep,

Seymour is still alive and Lindsay says that

wasn't the big one What the hell sir, we have

breached the compound's defenses Locked out as

rough should everybody run Not you doctor, whatever

So the meat animals are all together Lindsey

and and Jillian are trying to get the bomb out

of there and mutagen man can talk and It's uh,

you know, it's kind of like I have an immediate

happy ending like oh, you'll be alright. No bomb

need to go off today I love the way that in this

next panel after they do that when Lindsay faces

Hob the up close shot on him where he says fine

we understand each other but you're not coming

with us. I love the drawing on him here. This

is probably the most polished I've ever seen

Hob. Usually we see Hob not necessarily saying

the drawings are ratty but Because let's face

it if they tried to make him look like a rat

it would be splinter all over anyway So discussion

for another day. But anyway, I just I love the

way they give him the facial features that he

has here and just the way that I Mean you can

really see that he has changed and it's taken

him all of the three issues prior to this to

realize his Unless I don't say he was wrong but

for him to realize, you know, what Slash was

trying to tell him. So he actually goes to Null.

She says, Old Ham, I'm glad you came to see me,

because if I can tell you a little secret, you

guys are really starting to piss me off. That's

the idea. So we have that. We have... the null

people on on the helipad here and You know they

say We're trained and we're ready and we know

what to expect and then lo and behold I knew

quite literally This isn't happening along Wait

a minute, this doesn't happen in a long friggin'

time, but I quite literally, reading a TMNT issue,

quite literally fell out of my chair because

the 87 cartoon robots are mimicked. In this next

few battles. Yeah, they're they're no industries

robots But those two little guys that dug up

out of the earth and got the war I know in the

war hog dragon back under and they made an appearance

in the video games As the little the little one

-wheeled robots that go back and forth that they're

here Also, I can think of is the one robotic

line I don't even know if a voice actor actually

did that line, but all right, buddy. You're coming

with us I'd have to go back and find that and

throw that in here somewhere into the show So

we got Herman Seymour and Mondo coming down the

stairs Yes, sir, but there are security cameras

out here and yet boom That's not good So we get

more character development Lindsay and Jillian

and I guess we should pay a little bit of attention

to this because It is the final issue and Lindsay

says it doesn't matter what you think Jillian

This is your chance to stop running and stay

together. We can continue our work with the mighty

mutanimals. She doesn't say mighty but Hobbs

said he would take both of us in but first we

have to do this we have those are the terms and

they're the best you're gonna get and And she's

like, uh, okay, sure. Why not? And then Lindsay

just punches her. I was not expecting that at

all. More than just say, Lover's Quarrel. Yeah,

uh -huh. Absolutely. Well, you know, the arc

that happened with these two characters is that

Lindsay's actually got kind of a conscience,

and Chillion was like, no, let's work for these

people for money and who cares what we do because...

And you know, maybe she was that way out of fear

of what these people can do, but Lindsay's had

enough of it, has taken her out of the equation

and knows she can't save her from that path.

So we get Lindsay running away, we get more of

the awesome robots, and we even get drill bits

on their heads in this panel. Good. Oh, that's

why they come up out. Wow. I forgot they did

that they come up out of the ground I didn't

notice that person. Oh awesome So we have the

mutanimals versus the robots and Pete gets injured

and slashes all pain. Oh, no I think this one

and This one the fights in this are so good.

The art is so good. The writing is really good

I think at this point because this Series is

that an end here issue for I don't think there's

more character development that Alora could have

thrown in he throws in just enough and he basically

shows us that hey, this is all a team effort

and and you know, we all need to help each other

and It looks like the mutanimals are all gonna

get captured and everything else but Sally comes

crashing in Sally and Ray come crashing in and

Literally, crashing a helicopter in. Yeah. And

there's a panel later here where Sally says,

now let's kick some robot ass. And all I can

think of for what she's holding in her hand is

cricket. You've got to know what a crumpet is

to understand cricket. I swear, it looks like

one of Casey's cricket bats. Oh, it's it's the

swash blade from the helicopter. Yeah, it is

the swash blade from the helicopter, but I mean

just look at the the The position of it how she's

holding it just it look reminds me of one of

Casey's old cricket bats. Oh Jose can say go

mad tell me you didn't pay money for this and

once again slash outrages himself and Herman

goes ballistic with his guns and And we see something

that we've never, to my knowledge, and Bobby

or anybody can correct me on this, have ever

seen. White text on black background where slash

is actually being intelligent. That is so cool.

I didn't notice that. Thank you for pointing

it out. He says, because Mondo is worried, he

says, Slasher, you, it's under control. Now let's

finish the plan. And Null is ready to destroy

Hub, and he basically just backhands her. Breaks

out, backhands her, and he wants to finish her,

but then... uh... seymour comes in and the best

i think i i think i even screen cap this i don't

remember if i tell you about but i remember screen

capping this is what you have my review of issue

number four on the history of com he says uh...

he says use show she says you see that i can

you manage to distract me but did you really

think that that would hurt me and seymour comes

in He actually points to Seymour and she goes,

no, but this will. And Seymour has a Wile E.

Coyote rocket launcher. And he blows null to

smithereens. So you know. We get to the exposition

of the end of the book where we'll set your research

back by years We'll expose all your dirty little

secrets. We'll make your stock prices plummet

And when you finally manage to claw your way

back to where you were we'll do it again and

Yeah, so put your efforts elsewhere here cancer

set up a mining colony colony on Venus develop

a sports drink Or a blueberry cola. Or a blueberry

cola, the pigeon Pete says. Do whatever you want,

just leave our kind alone, because if you don't,

I will find you, I will hurt you, and I swear,

I will kill you, even if I have to put you on

a rocket and shoot you straight into the sun.

Way to go, Hob, for doing something nice. Yeah,

in a very mean way. so we get to later we get

to the the mutanimals uh base and you know we

got sally helping out mondo and she's like oh

don't go anywhere doc you're next up for some

first aid and we have this kind of camaraderie

kind of thing happening between all these characters

and and it's just so cool it really is What are

your thoughts on these final scenes here? I Always

am glad that we get when we get a little bit

of resolution at the end of it You know it could

very well have ended with you know the last panel

of the previous page But to see everybody settle

and put themselves back together. It's really

nice Yeah, and I think this is the only way this

should have ended honestly because you see everybody

come together, and I think you needed to see

that to Complete the journey with these characters.

I think I man, you know, I I want them to do

another mutanimals in it in six months in a year,

you know, maybe when April and whatever next

one they decided to do wraps up it'd be good

to come back to this team and Watch them evolve

Yeah Like I've said before the mutanally at first

when I first read through this I wasn't sure

Like as the issues progressed you kept saying

oh, it keeps getting better better better And

at first, when I read the final issue, I was

like, wow, they are wrapping this up pretty quick.

Yeah, I felt that too the first time. As we've

gone through it and talked it out, I don't feel

like it wrapped up as quickly as I initially

thought. It played out very well and just kind

of ending on the whole, hey, let's all. sit around

and have thanksgiving earlier. That's really

that final image, that final page where it says

the end. That's really what a, like hey, a mutanimal's

thanksgiving feast. Alright folks, we're going

to take one final break. We're going to come

back and talk about some other turtle stuff and

what's coming up for Turtles Coverage on the

Pull Bag. We'll be back after this. Alright folks,

we are back and Mighty Mutanimals issues 1 to

4. We're gonna rate it overall for the story

arc here. What are you gonna give the Mutanimals

for issue 1? I'm gonna give it a 4 .5 and only

a 4 .5 because it's not the Ninja Turtles and

I want to read them but otherwise it was a as

near perfect a side book as you could get. I'm

going to give it a four. There were a couple

of things when I read through it the first time,

and there are a couple of things even now that

the main reason why I'm going to give it a four

is until the final issue, I didn't give a crap

about the relationship and background for Lindsay

and Jillian. I like Lindsay as a character. I

like her as a character, but Jillian, until the

final issue, I really had no interest. in what

happened to her whatsoever. And I'm interested

to see that Lindsay is kind of becoming the human

character, April O 'Neil, to the mutanimals.

And that's a dynamic that the mutanimals didn't

have. They didn't have a human sidekick. So I

think this is going to be good to have her there.

Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, folks. So

we've got several things coming up here in the

pull bag over the next few months. I don't know

when we're going to be doing this, but it still

has to play out. Casey in April is out. I have

written a spoiler -free review on GeekCastReview

.com, the first issue. As always with the miniseries,

we will be waiting on that until the fourth issue

comes out, which is the final issue for that

one. How we're going to cover issues 47 to 49.

We're gonna do it all in one episode because

issue 50 of IDW's TMNT is gonna be a double -size

issue We're gonna need a whole podcast just for

that one issue. We cannot double up on Because

that's gonna be a big one So that's the plan

there. We're not gonna go through solicitations

this time around We'll go through them probably

next time when they're you know when they're

past issue 50 and go going to 51 I'm really digging

what's going on with all of the Turtles stuff.

I haven't read the new adventures or whatever

the new cartoon version is, but on the core series

here that IDW has been doing, it's just nothing.

They would have to do something so drastic, and

even quote -unquote killing Donnie wasn't drastic

enough for me to stop reading the series. Any

any final thoughts anything you you want to get

off your chest or what you're looking forward

to before we get out of here I just don't know

what's coming up for for 50, you know I mean

at this point April and Casey aren't gonna be

there and I I don't know I don't know what it's

building up to yet You know, it's I honestly

thought they were gonna leave the technodrome

for 50 So I don't know what they could do. You

know, it's just it's it's just Baxter and his

Stockman Swarm and and shredder, but so I don't

know where the big danger is yet But I know that

they're gonna pull something out of the hat and

that our minds will be blown Hey, maybe maybe

Bobby finally got that. Okay from Nickelodeon

and whoever else to get You know You know, a

little mist, a little Primatine, clear that right

up. Maybe they got Tatsu. That would be so good.

You know, honestly, out of all the mutants that

we've seen in the past four years, I really want

to see if they ever get a hold of Tohka and Razar.

I don't think anything from the movies could

come in. They couldn't get Jordan Perry either,

Bobby mentioned last year. It's probably caught

up with New Line Cinema. Well, Razar is in the

cartoons. You're right, they have Razar. So,

I don't know. They certainly could now that you

say that I don't know so that's weird. I wonder

how they did that Who knows All right, folks.

We're gonna get out of here Hope you're enjoying

this episode as well as all the other Xenoscope

entertainment Robin Hood episodes in this special

Robin Hood spotlight for for that this month

Next month in August. I'm not sure what's gonna

happen with the pullback. I'm not sure what we're

gonna be covering I know at some point we'll

be covering uh... more gem stuff more uh... i

will say right now uh... september is going to

be supergirl september my buddy uh... michael

bailey from the fortress of bailey tube is going

to jump on with me and we're going to review

all five volumes of the dc new fifty two supergirl

series in preparation for the new television

series over at cbs So that's that. Where can

the people interact with you, sir? Don't you

have a GarageCast? Yes, we have, well, two things.

My baby is the Geek Stuff Garage Sale and we

have a dot com now, so you can find us, geekstuffgarage

.com. We're also doing the geekstuffgaragecast

.com. You can find us there, download our podcast

where we just sit around and be nerdy, and hopefully

make insightful comments every once in a while.

At least one and a half per episode, probably,

you know, who knows, but you can come listen

to us there. Yeah, I need to catch up. I've listened

to, I think, the first one and a half episodes.

I need to catch up. I hear the episode where

I was not there was really good, but I don't

know. That's a joke, I think. I don't know. I

thought they usually made that joke about Sean.

And Art. Yeah, it was a great episode when Art

was gone. It was his podcast. No, we have a lot

of fun over there. Yep, absolutely. All right,

folks, make your greatest game in the comics.

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

the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

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