IDW TMNT Volume 7: City Fall Part 2 & Villains Micro Series 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 pool bag Hello and welcome to the pole bag.

This is yet again another back issue classics

I'm one of your host if you and Mike joining

me today is mr. Joe Reed hello sir hello everybody

It's really funny. I would have to look this

up, but I believe it was August of 1984 that

TMNT started, so we are in, I believe we are

in the month that the 30th anniversary started

30 years ago. I'm sorry to say that was May.

Oh, okay, well. It was a free comic book day.

Maybe I'm thinking of, oh, I know what I'm thinking,

I'm thinking of a different franchise, but yeah,

no, 30th anniversary of TMNT, there's a whole

bunch of stuff going on. It's a new renaissance

for us Turtles fans who've been with it for...

me 25 years out of the 30 yeah I'm probably about

the same I would assume I know I wasn't into

the into the comics but I got into the yeah 1227

if you count it you know 87 specifically but

but yeah I mean Turtles has been around forever

they've had multiple incarnations the new Nickelodeon

cartoon is doing gangbusters, that show, sometimes

it's a little silly and over the top, like the

episode with them live -action role -playing,

but then they go and do continuity and finding

out about Splinter and Shredder and Karai and

all this and all that and everything else, then

they just flip you on your head and it's like,

oh my god. Yeah, I was... optimistic for that

TV series when I saw a clip before it had launched

where they were in the dojo and it was very serious

using the dojo terms that I was familiar with

because of my Aikido training and they were doing

wrist locks that were real wrist locks and throws

that we did in Aikido and it's like oh that's

amazing and then I watch it and sometimes it

just gets too silly. I want to love that show

so bad and I can't get into it, but I think it'll

be something that I will be buying on DVD, Blu

-ray, whatever, and watching with my son. He's

three now, you know, give him a couple years

when he can know the difference between hitting

somebody and... Saving somebody by hitting somebody

then we'll watch it. I think it'll be a show

we can watch together Oh, absolutely. I do know

that the first season is getting a complete season

release. Thank God. I don't know I don't know

if it's gonna be blue. I do know it's gonna be

regular DVD They have not made any announcements

about blu -ray for but I do know the first season

of the TMNT Nickelodeon cartoon is getting a

full season DVD release We are As of this recording,

we are two days away, or well, we're about a

week away, but when this recording goes up, we

will be two days away from the Jonathan Libsman

-directed, Michael Bay -produced Ninja Turtles.

Now, I... I know they initially wanted to call

the film Ninja Turtles and drop the Teenage Mutant,

but you can still see the Teenage Mutant in the...

Every piece of the logo that I've seen the only

place it doesn't appear is on the toys Because

the toys were went to production before they

decided to toss Teenage Mutant back on there.

Yeah, yeah I'm Cautiously the middle I don't

want to say cautiously optimistic, but I'm cautiously

in the middle I like I have No, oh my god low

expectations and no. Oh my god This is gonna

be the best movie ever which I don't think anyone

will be saying that after they see it Honestly,

the main draw for me for this movie is the fact

that one of my favorite composers is composing

the music Brian Tyler who did Transformers Prime

music who did fast -fire who did Iron Man 3,

who did Thor the Dark World. He is composing

the music that'll be in the Turtles movie from

Libsman and Bay, and honestly, that's the one

thing that I'm really excited about when it comes

to this movie. I keep hearing little bits of

news come out that get me more and more excited,

like seeing somebody pointed out N. Utram, one

of the little brain critters on a Japanese tapestry.

He's wielding a sword, little brain guy. Okay,

if that's indeed what it is, it's blurry, it's

in the background, but yeah, it's pink and it

looks like a brain. Things like that, things

finding out that the Eric Sachs character might

not actually be Shredder, that there's that shadowy

Japanese -looking dude, there are little things

that come out that have me thinking this might

be a pleasant surprise. Transformers 3 was a

pleasant surprise for me, and it's proof that

I can go into a movie... and telling everybody

and the internet and the friends this is gonna

be a terrible movie it's gonna be terrible and

then I go see it like no that actually was pretty

decent it's probably the best one out of the

four so I can go into this Ninja Turtles movie

saying confident in saying that yes it's probably

going to be bad but if I'm surprised I'm gonna

be surprised and I like it and and so I'm I I

am also hesitant to say cautiously optimistic

but I will go in there with my head nodding and

an open mind I think it'll be interesting Guess

we could say we're both straddling the fence

on which way we're gonna go as far as a negative

or a positive opinion about it You know I'm I

miss the old suit I miss the practicality and

the you know the actual stunts that were done

in the original film. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna

miss here. You know, I get it. It's the 21st

century CGI has to be done in everything. I just

I'm just not sure. Laird said a couple of years

ago, if if he were helping make a new Ninja Turtle

movie, that actually when the first It was when

the CG thing was just getting started, the CG

film. He said around then that if he did it again,

or if they asked him to help do it again, that

he would push for physical suits with computer

-generated faces, just to get the animated lip

reading, get that matched better. And I kind

of agree with that, but that's probably even

the way that I'd have done it now. Those suits

look great. Even, I just watched that film not

two weeks ago. And it still looks good. Jim Henson's

workshop, Brian Henson did a great job with all

of those creations. Absolutely. I actually, it's

so funny. I just cannot believe I actually have

the chance to tell you this. I think I might

have already told you. We, over on one of my

other shows, Pixels in the Animation, it's our

video game cartoon review show where my buddy

Neil and I go through... Every single episode

of nine different video game cartoons, we just

wrapped up on the Captain N episodes. And we

got to interview the voice of Captain N, Matt

Hill. Awesome! Turns out... Turns out he was

the suit actor in Turtles 3 for Raft. No way!

And he was the voice of Raft in Next Mutation.

No way! Yes way! That's amazing! Ah, cool! Alright,

so we're here today inside the pullback to do

like I said another back at you classics We're

covering hold on before we dive into the pullback.

I'd like to point out to you and our listeners

that there is an exquisite 30th anniversary Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles Documentary that is on Canada

Netflix Yeah, you've got a download if you if

you're in the United States like probably all

of our listeners you can download a Google Chrome

Plugin that will allow you to holla better internet.

That's what it is You download that you can trick

your computer into looking like it's from Canada

and you can watch The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

documentary there very very amazing. I believe

the turtle power documentary actually releases

August 12th I think that's correct DVD blu -ray

or is that yeah, it's it's it's it's DVD blu

-ray and In digital I believe I will absolutely

be buying that let me let me look here turtle

power Does it say does it say it's what is it

coming out? It doesn't say on their banner picture.

I believe because I saw the trailer for it. I

believe it's I believe it's August 8th. It's

either August 8th or, yeah, I was right. Pre

-order now, August 12th. So yeah. I totally couldn't

wait. I spent less than three minutes downloading

and installing the plugin, and then my Netflix

was watching it. It ends with Eastman and Laird

finally coming back together to sit at the same

table to sign autographs at Jetpack comics for

free comic book day at the 30th anniversary of

the release of Of the first issue way cool. They'll

probably never ever work together again. They

might not be able to but there it is I know they

did and we will we will be covering this eventually

they did that That that's special for IDW. Oh

god. What does it call like 30th anniversary

cover? Yeah, they Collaborated on a cover for

the first time in like 10 15 years. Was it just

the cover? I thought it was the whole book No,

the book in the inside the book are five to seven

page stories by a bunch of different artists

Eastman does a section of it, but Laird doesn't

he's Bless his heart he does what he does But

he's he's kind of not drawing as fast as he used

to and he when he draws he tends to go crazy

Detailed which was why the mirage books were

always two three months apart back in the day

Yeah, just a slow drawer. He's like me. He's

really slow Hey, I can relate to him awesome

So we've got turtles volume seven this is City

Fall part two The biggest event in TMNT history

continues. Shredder reveals his new second -in

-command and launches a full -scale war on New

York City. With allegiances shifting, the Turtles

must formulate a plan to fight back against their

deadliest enemy. Brought to you by, of course,

Kevin Eastman, Tom Walz, and Mateus Santaluco.

The trade cover is one of the City Fall covers.

It's got Leo on it with... in his... june in

shredder garden uh... i'd believe that too pictures

between city and fall is casey and it will be

i'm not sure uh... my cover with leonardo it's

got the sabat uh... clan leader getting around

here karai okay uh... that's what it is right

as soon as and on So we've got for the the creative

here we've got obviously Kevin Eastman Bobby

Kernow and Tom Waltz all did the story The script

was by Waltz Santa Luca was on arts Eastman's

on layouts. Hey that he hasn't done that in a

while. Yep It's only for issue 25 additional

art by Charles Paul Wilson the third Colors by

Rhonda Pat Patterson Additional colors by Ian

Herring of course letters by Sean Lee and Tom

B long of course Bobby's on the series edits

and Collected edits are done by Justin Isinger

and Alonzo Simon I you know Since the last time

we did one of these I was I'm really loving City

Fall I didn't I didn't know what to expect from

this and it's one of the like They should turn

this into it. This entire series to this point

should be a cartoon series, honestly. I'd watch

it. I don't think it would work for Nickelodeon

aiming at younger kids, but for us adults, oh

man, this would be amazing to watch. This is

some of the best writing, some of the best art,

best everything. We've got this first page here

where we open a New York City, and it's Karai

and the Foot Clan, and the Savat attack them,

and you see how they did City Fall Part 4? Yeah,

graffiti on the wall. How will Eisner's spirit

of them... Yes. Well, I was wondering... If I

didn't know where they were being on a rooftop

and the Savant jumped down on top of them I would

have loved it if they would have done the same

thing with the graffiti Except do it with some

guy standing against the wall with a newspaper

And he gets painted over So the savant and the

foot are fighting each other and and Cry says

foot they must not pass We are too outnumbered

not for long It's a very anime and style inspired

panel. They're not anime manga inspired panel

there with the very dilated pupils. Oh Yeah,

she looks like a zombie. Yeah So this fight between

the savant and the foot kind of comes to a head

when uh when leo shows up and two words destroy

them and the battle continues i love the dark

tones the dark colors and the backgrounds in

the beginning of this um and i what i like best

about this is how santolucco and and and pat

and patison and all the other colors and artists

that are on this what i love about this first

issue here is that The fight is all dark background

colors, and then when we get to the hospital

scene with Casey and April talking to Donnie

over Skype, I assume it's Skype, I don't know,

it doesn't have, it just shows a giant video

screen, it's light. So I like how they're going,

you know, a mix between the light and the dark,

I love that. uh... you know leo's you know basically

given uh... given the savat guy you know what

for uh... saying that the foot will no longer

tolerate uh... disobedience from you savat or

anyone else in this city tonight is just a small

taste of what will happen if you ignore what

i'm saying uh... so leo is pretty dark and This

really I don't know if it's just me or this kind

of reminds me of the opening to the 2007 CGI

film Where you know the turtles are all off on

you know of course Donnie and Mike year together

But Leo is off doing you know Leo was off being

a bad guy in this and then Raph is off sulking

somewhere Kind of reminds me of that opening

where it's like Leo left Donnie's tech support

Mikey's jet dress as a giant turtle going to

birthday parties and Raph has become the Street

Avenger I think that it This episode issue that

that series kind of drives home. How important

Leo is I think I'm a big fan of Leo, but a lot

of people relate better to the other turtles

and when you take the leader away from that how

the rest of them just begin to lose direction

it's He's a pretty important as boring as he

is for being you know, the one who walks the

narrow path and doesn't deviate He's integral

to keeping the team together You remove him and

everything falls apart and we get to see that

here. I Mean Mikey and Donnie are doing a fairly

good job here Yeah, but they're also sitting

on their hands in the lair not getting anything

done Well true So we get So we go to the hospital,

we see Casey and April talking to Donnie, and

Mikey pops into frame. They're filling each other

in on what's going on. Casey wants to get up

out of the bed and help. No, sorry. You got jagged

in the belly by Shredder. You can sit down for

a while. You know so So April's like yeah, no

you're not going anywhere You know and we have

this really touching moment between the two of

them and then BAM all right April all right Casey

So you know they're they're kissing and they're

you know I guess an item now Officially officially

yeah, so these first couple of pages here we

get What Leo is doing with the foot? We get Donnie

and you know Donnie talking to April and Mikey

eating pizza in the background and now we get

to Raph I love how they set this up where it

showed like It's just I'm trying to think how

to put this it's so great seeing how They transition

from character to character without it feeling

like it's a hardship transition where they were

You know how you sometimes might watch a YouTube

video and instead of a fade out they'll just

go to black immediately and then start the next

scene? They don't do that here. It flows very

well. It's very cinematic the way that they are

going from this and usually like the the and

I think what softens it doesn't happen on the

page we're looking at here but it happens elsewhere

the some character will start to say something

but then it will Finish on the next page with

the scene transition to the to a different area

to a different character And that just really

ties it together You can almost see that happen

in film where they'll cut to the next scene and

you'll still hear the person finish their line

and somehow in this neat artistic way it relates

to what's happening on that next page I Those

soften that transition and make it flow really

nice and they do that quite a bit in this book

Yeah, and it's very very awesome so Raph is out

uh... Raph is out trying to find answers about

Splinter and he's he's beating these guys up

and um he's basically kicking their ass and uh

damn it I don't have time for this crap oh god

I can so hear original Raph from the original

movie saying that oh man When they're not having

him be kind of an angry buffoon Sean Astin does

a wonderful job with Raph to better than I would

have expected Yeah, he does an amazing job I

think by now in the show We're so far along like

they dealt with his temper in season 1 and now

it's just kind of like a mix between You know

snarky and and him getting really pissed We get

to the next page and one of these guys Hits Raph

over the back over the back of the show with

a I assume it's a baseball bat of some sort It

looks like it's splintered out. It calls him

a mutant freak. Didn't I just warn you about

being stupid? That is awesome So Raph gets You

know Raph gets some information from this guy

and we then go back to the Savat versus the foot

And it well no, it's well we see the Savat kicking

You know what looks to be a foot ninja and this

is I think this is a different location because

this is the head of the gang here Yeah, that's

true. Yeah, and and the text that ties it in

on the previous page It's the thug that Raphael

was beating because this thing is going on in

the city. It's huge man next page It's going

all the way to the top and we're hanging out

with the top of the Savat gang. Yeah And I mean

they're just doing everything I mean we get We

get The Savat Gang, you know, talking about how,

you know, are they predators or are they prey?

So we get, we then go to Shredder, who's still

wearing his Snuggie. I'm never not going to make

that joke about this series. So Leo and Karai

are back and Master Shredder is asking for their

report. Kitsune is smelling the flowers, and

Leo gives the report. Karai says, I must voice

my displeasure with our recent mission. I believe

I serve a higher purpose to our clan and our

campaign than acting as a simple bait grandfather.

Why do you speak to me of this, Karai? It was

my chunin who made the decision to utilize you

in such a manner. I think there's some, there's

a little shred of Leo in himself right now. I

don't think, I know he's all, you know, big and

bad right now, but I really think that there's

a little shred that that little shred of himself

that he hasn't lost is actually what made him

user his bait. Don't know I could be wrong It's

a it's a it's a dirtbag move that that shredders

playing with Karai he's he's letting this person

who helped bring him back to life Get thrown

to the side and he's just so weary by her being

concerned by it. He just doesn't want her to

bother him about it, but She's still a useful

instrument to him. I can't help but think that

Shredder is playing an angle with her, like he

played with Kitsune in the one shot where he,

you know, killed her whole entire family and

burnt down her original home. Like, you know

that's going to piss her off. Why did you do

that? And why is he in Halepax? Thank you. I

don't remember what I said. But yes. Thank you.

you know he's playing I think he's playing angles

with both of them and I'm not sure that I've

seen the Karai angle pay off maybe he just wants

her to work harder I don't know yeah and so we

get yeah yeah he wants her to work harder so

we get Karai storming off and Leo asks him if

he asks shredder if he can do some training and

may he also go and the shredder dismisses him

and then leo sees his parents or what he thinks

are his parents or you know he sees something

of the past of shredder and and kitsune which

again this is another reason why i say that the

way that santa luco is is composing the differences

in characters i still say kitsune is a ringer

for tang shin i know she's not tang shin but

It just with what Leo is seeing here. It's like,

um, hey, they look like the same person. Well,

those noses are different Yeah, that's that's

true. Hey, maybe she had a nose job in the 20th

century So we get shredder and kitsune What I

don't trust her man, you know today there's And

I don't know what her motives are yet here especially

now like what is she after I don't know what

her mode I mean other than saving shredder and

and all that back in the olden days I don't know

what her motives are period Like she is a huge

question mark So we get You know her saying so

long as his family lives they pose a threat to

our work Yes, unfortunate situation will be rectified

in time, I assure you. Gosh, why does she think

Leo is so important? Why does she need Shredder

to be what he is? It's all... It's all crazy,

man. So crazy. So we get to... We get to the

next page where we see... You know it ain't right,

April. A good guy like Casey didn't deserve to

suffer like this, but the loser dad of his sure

as hell does. So, Casey's dad shows up at the

hospital, and he starts screaming, No more! No

more! He breaks a mirror, and we see this giant

green and purple dragon tattoo on him. Whaaaaat?

Yours is green and purple? Or green and blue?

Well... Okay, blue and purple and red. I thought

you said like I was thinking yours was colored

different in your book No, it's it's my eyes.

I looked at it as like a bluish green And I just

said green all together He's not in purple dragon.

Yeah, he's the friggin purple dragon. We'll talk

about him a little later Because I think you

and I are gonna have very very differing opinions

on on who Casey's dad really is or who he really

was um so we go then to master splinter who goes

to old hob he doesn't look like a dog this much

like he in the in this issue he's not very, like

he's more rat -like in his face than dog -like.

And because of that I don't think he looks exactly

too much like Splinter anymore, but I'm cool

with this, I can deal with it. So Splinter and

Old Hob, he wants Old Hob's help in confronting

the Foot. And old Hobb is like, sure, I'll help

you out. I was like, if you help me out. Because

Hobb's whole thing is he wants his own mutant

army. Yay. Hobb with a mutant army, that should

never happen. 2837, hang on one second, I gotta

pause this. I gotta shut the window because I

can hear lawnmower sounds. Beep Okay, so we get

to We get to The foot the foot, you know Casey's

dad is a foot member of the foot and then we

go back to a raft He is still stalking these

these people He's actually Stalking the cops.

Wow And apparently they are crooked cops So so

at least they at least they justify it Yeah,

these are the cops who are turning their back

on the savant that we got a hint about that earlier

I do Again, I love seeing the turtles in shadow

Because Raph is like you should totally run dudes

I've got a story in my head that I want to Draw

if I could draw better With with the turtles

being like our stereotypical ninjas where you

don't see them. They don't They're not making

jokes. They're just in the shadows in and out

I want to do it someday because I think I'd like

to see it and since nobody's given it to me I'll

make it myself So, oh no, that wasn't um, that

wasn't Raph that says - No, that was Mikey. That

was Mikey, okay. Raph was snatched away from

the cops and pulled into the shadows. Right,

right, right. Mikey intimidates the cops to keep

him from trying to decide to go down the hall.

Right, right, right. It took me a minute to figure

that out, too, last time. Yeah, I - yeah, because

it didn't - it didn't sound like something Raph

would say. It sounded like something Mikey would

say, and um... So we get to I was just about

to find out where Leo is no you're about to poke

a cop's eye out Hey kid, you'll poke your eye

out with that sigh Out of control Raph I'll show

you out of control knock it off it It's refreshing

that it's Mikey that has to be the one to split

them apart I cannot believe Mikey has to be the

sensible one out of them all. And again, this

just goes back to what I've been saying the entire

time we've been reviewing these books here in

the pullback for Turtles. The fact that Eastman

and Waltz give Mikey more than what we would

ever expect from him. He's the heart of the team

and it tears him apart to watch his brothers

fight like that just to sincerely fight I think

he encourages it when you know, he's he's egging

them on and it's just yeah But when it's serious

like this, he's like, no, no, no guys. We got

to be Together it's it is a very refreshing thing

to see the obnoxious character Be given something

to do. That's important. That's that makes us

like him more So Raph, you know takes the blame

and realizes that it's all his fault and You

know, he says I didn't you know if I didn't lose

what lose it when shredder hurt him Leah wouldn't

have been gone like this Well, duh Raph yeah

Is he oh, yeah, that's right. He's still wearing

his coat. Okay, I cuz I'm looking at this bottom

right hand panel You know, they're talking about

so, you know, so where do we start looking? You

know, I I was like wait, why doesn't Raph have

anything on oh, that's cuz he's got his coat

on still So we get to We get back to shredder

They are going to attack the savat No, and alopex

is like this is all wrong and cries what is alopex?

Doesn't it bother you being put on the second

string like this Karai? I mean after all you've

done for the foot you have to step aside for

that reptile And Alpex has a damn good point.

My favorite reveal! Karai has a backup plan.

And just in case. And we are rockin' and rollin'.

Oh my god, they look so great. Rocksteady looks

like he's... it looks like he's plugged into

Bane Venom because you see that wire done by

his by his hand it looks like the wire that Bane

has in the back of his head and that's how we

we end the issue because Karai has has a backup

plan and we see the mutation of Bebop and Rocksteady

oh my god This is so amazing. Issue 25 is just

so awesome in every single way that you can think.

It's kind of a scary thing to take on Bebop and

Rocksteady. I mean, they were two characters

from the animated series and they were goofy,

they were stupid, they were easily defeated by

throwing garbage can lids and whipped cream pies

at them, but... You know, it's it's just like

IDW to take a character who was kind of weird

and different and silly or whatever it might

have been from some earlier incantation of the

turtles and then to bring it and do it incredibly

well and beautiful and amazing so I think you

know, I was right to be nervous bringing Rock

City and Bebop into it, but Hey, it's it I happen

to know what pays off. We happen to know what

pays off and oh, yeah So it pays off in so many

ways and you know folks Bobby kernel told us

and he's told everybody else The certain reading

order that you have to read to take to get these

issues You know story proper and we've already

met Casey's dad here with that purple dragon

tattoo And now here at the end of this issue.

We have bebop and rocksteady By this time they

had already released and also during this we

have everything with Karai So by this time they

had already released I believe karai hon proxen

do you have rocks yeah russian be bops one shots

which we will be talking about a little later

so that's why i'm not trying to hit too much

on these new characters because well newish characters

hon's not exactly the the revelation that casey's

dad is hon is new but uh... yeah i mean do you

have a russian they look great We get to issue

26, and I believe it's Leo and Tang Shen. I believe

it's Tang Shen, or it's supposed to be Tang Shen.

Because this is a dream sequence. This isn't

real life. So we start off... you know them talking

back and forth she says I love this garden a

delight to the eyes and to the nose is it not

I suppose please tell me my son what troubles

you I'm sorry mother I don't mean to be gloomy

it's just it's just that I feel so empty right

now and empty and lonely and you know even though

Tang Shen in the real world is dead Do love how

they are able to work her in through flashbacks

and through dream sequences I think that is so

and it's it to my well I can I think I can now

safely say since I've read just about everything

It's not something they've ever done before that

the turtles have never even concerned themselves

Really with who their mother was now. Yeah, they

were baby turtles and most incarnation so it

didn't matter but they didn't care who Hamato

Yoshi's wife was in any of the other series is

the first time where she's really been their

mother and They are just hitting that hard and

it's such a neat thing to see Yeah It really

really is She says here take this a gift from

your mother a reminder of my eternal love for

you. I know you are lonely and confused child

But please remember you are not forgotten and

you are never alone And we have city fall part

five spelled in the clouds. I So want to put

a Lion King joke right here Because I don't care

what anyone says I am still of the belief when

Simba Flops down and the dust comes up. It does

spell a certain word Disney would never allow

in their films I can see in that in the clouds

of incense in that panel where Leonardo's kind

of waking up from his dream sequence with tears

in his eyes the incense in the background is

Done with fingerprint that that blackness was

applied with fingers and you could see the prints

I love seeing that kind of stuff. It's so neat.

Yeah, let's you know is real So which Now, this

is a little weird for me. I... I'm trying to...

Because we go from Leo to the next scene and

it starts off... Wow. It starts off, next time

you go that slow, we ain't gonna be so understanding.

Forget it, man. We got the cash. Not for long.

And... Oh, that was Angel that threw the stick

at them, because I thought it was Raph throwing

the sigh. Did you notice something in the background

of this first panel? Nothing important. Santalucco

has his own liquor store. That says Marcelo?

Is that his first name? That says Matthias. Oh,

okay, well then. I thought it was one of the

other artists or something. Flippin'. Yeah, you're

right, it is Matthias, but I just, I don't know,

I thought it was a callback to somebody. Because

I know some comics and some TV shows or cartoons

will do that. They'll put, like in Transformers

Animated, there's a scene where they go by Wyatt's

Toy Store, which is a put -in for Derek J. Wyatt,

the art director. for the show, so I thought

that was a little callback to something from

Turtles. Yeah, I know the volume one, two, and

four of Turtles. Everybody in the background

was named Chet. Chet's liquor store, that scientist

they bump into for two panels is named Chet.

And then they did that with making Fugitoid's

character named Chet when he's in disguise as

the human. To see that stuff going on No So we

get Raph and Angel stopping these guys from robbing

a liquor store Let's see So Raph assists her

He asks her why aren't the other purple dragons

with you Uh, the Dragons are dealing with some

funny business right now. What you might call

a family squabble. Um, and Raph says that seems

to be going around these days. Um, I wasn't sure

where they, like, how they were gonna use Angel.

Like, at all. And it's nice to see that she kind

of becomes a part of the family like April and

Casey have. We don't see that right away here.

But we see her and Raph kind of teaming up and

being on the same side. But as the series goes

on, we see her becoming more involved with the

Turtles and Splinter. And I love what they do

with her later, which we'll get to several episodes

from now. Yes, very much so. Raps you know raps

like all right cool. I gotta get out of here.

I'm gonna make one more stop before I head home

for dinner And we see Woody and he's got some

pizza what he's back what he's back You got a

license to drive that boat Mike stir Wow man,

I didn't expect to see you Sorry for bothering

you Woody, but I was hoping maybe you might be

able to help me my brother leo's in some trouble

and wait micster before you say anything else

there's something i just gotta get off my chest

when when that slash monster attacked me i totally

freaked like my first brain bailed on me then

i bailed on you bro but since then i've been

a lot i've been doing a lot of thinking about

things and what i realize is i've been a crappy

friend mike the worst and though i don't deserve

it i hope you can forgive me Are you kidding?

All that stuff with slash was spooky, but that's

old news as far as I'm concerned man Like my

bro Raph always says crap happens I don't think

that's what Raph says I know what they're saying.

Yeah So So what again and that's kind of again,

you know what like you said earlier Mikey is

the heart of the team You know and that that

letter that Woody sent him that was just heartbreaking

I mean that was like wow so he gives him a couple

of pizzas and Woody gives him a tip he says you

know actually I did hear something about the

foot from some creepy dudes I delivered pizza

to earlier They were talking about a street war

brewing. Crazy stuff like that. Seriously, what

else they say? I honestly didn't stick around.

Let's just say there are some places I don't

like to deliver to these days. So we get back

to Donnie and April. And they're at some garage.

warehouse something or other you know that's

not april's antique store no oh so yeah i remember

where they're at now oh yeah i forgot what this

guy's name is um oh i know where they are they're

at um crap um Harold's yes This old guy he's

so hilarious oh Man so hilarious He says And

you thought I'd help you out right even though

your personal problems have less than zero to

do with me Yeah, something like that how obtruse

I think do you know April let it go trust me

So he basically tells them anyone gets Blown

to smithereens. It's their own damn fault not

mine. You hear me loud and clear I'm looking

in the background of that panel for things that

are important for later episodes but I don't

see anything in there. No, there's no suits.

There's no giant suit which will come up later.

We then get back to the Savat who are planning

their move against the Foot Clan. These guys

just... It reminds me of Raph talking to one

of the guys earlier, you know, just when I thought

you were done being stupid I mean these guys

are just just crazy So the foot Leo and the foot

break in The foot no shit you think Kill him

kill them all and Shredders in here getting his

hands dirty not wearing a snuggie He isn't oh,

oh yeah good for him So they've infiltrated Elopex

and Karai rush in I Mean this is a great great

battle scene Santalucos aren't on this battle

scene was amazing. It's interesting too. I know

When we were interviewing Bobby Kurnow, he says

that Nickelodeon has a problem with the turtles

killing people which they did without much thought

in the Mirage run, but Shredder, Karai, the other,

both the Savate and the Foot, no qualms at all

about having them kill people. Not a one. There

are people getting cut to pieces in that page.

Yeah, that is very true. And then Leo's back

there kneeing somebody in the face as swords

are sheathed Yeah, Leo kneeing somebody in the

face that's that's pretty freaking awesome now

I know that Laird had secured The rights from

Nickelodeon to produce 12 or 13 Ninja Turtle

comics a year is set in the mirage universe.

I wonder if he has to Go to them for any approval

at all or if he's completely free to do whatever

he wants with them. I'm not sure. That'd be interesting.

Yep. So we get to Splinter, Old Hob, and Slash.

And what Old Hob wants is he wants Splinter to

steal some mutagen for him. Because as I alluded

to earlier, Hob's whole storyline is he wants

his own mutant army. So Splinter breaks into

this place. And we see him go to get the mutagen.

We then go back to Leo. And he's going to kill

one of the Savat leaders. This is the same guy

he was fighting earlier, too So they get into

a knockdown drag -out fight We then see Leo basically

kicks his ass He's knocked out And Shredder tells

him, you know, stay your hand, you know, we need

him alive, basically. What do you think of this

battle scene? Beautifully drawn. I'm always up

for seeing Shredder get proactive, especially

this version of them, because he's so much more

terrifying than 90s bumbling cartoon Shredder.

Yeah, he's more along the lines of 2003 utron

shredder or 1990 movie shredder that dudes terrifying

too Yeah, that's very true with with the savant

leader knocked down on the ground should have

a step back Leo We don't we don't want to Jerk

with him the I wish I knew his name the savant

leader picks up a gun points at the shredder

shredder dodges the bullet and flick snicks off

his His whole hand and the weapon saying that

it's a coward's weapon. Bind his wounds and do

not allow him to bleed out. That panel is brilliant.

That panel is brilliant, but that's also a George

Lucas move. I heard an interviewer, George Lucas,

talked about that. It's a neutering move. When

you cut the hands off, it means something. You're

taking away their ability to do things, to do

anything, you know, that takes our hands. It's

a symbolic gesture as much as anything else.

And we know in this universe, he's probably not

going to come back with a robot hand later. Well,

no. Darth Savat. Oh my God. Wow. So after this

We get back to splinter who's trying to escape

the mutagen he gets caught He basically rushes

the guy, you know throws the mutagen up in the

air rushes the guy and Catches the mutagen again.

He says please please forgive me. I Did not wish

for this to happen And then we have Raph being

all stalkerish. Casey goes, so are you going

to mope in that window all night or are you going

to come in already? I thought you were sleeping.

How did you know I was there? Turtle B .O.'s

pretty distinctive when it's the last time you

had a shower, bro. Oh god, that's hilarious.

Raf and Casey have a few good laughs. They talk

about stuff and Kind of deal with stuff in their

own way We get back to splinter and old hob Gibson

mutagen Damn that was quick. I need to have you

do favors for me more often No, my errand is

complete. There will be no more favors only you

delivering on the promise you made me So he asks

he says I'll be calling you on you soon old hob

and I firmly recommend you respond promptly when

the time comes Old hob asked to last did you

finish? Yes finished good. I guess we're done

here then No more pain. Nope big guy. No more

pain and He blows up the entire place of stock

Jen Yeah Stockton is um The generator has been

blown And it doesn't matter to stockman right

now because he's hanging out building the technodrome

somewhere Yep So So cry comes crying alopex and

cry is storming back here Where is my grandfather?

Karai, we did not expect... Answer my question,

imbecile! So we see, you know, Karai is looking

for Shredder, as I said. And, you know, Shredder,

you know, she oversees and overhears Shredder

talking to Leo. Look out there. All that you

see will belong to us soon, very soon. And this

is only the beginning Yes, yes it is and that's

how that one ends 26 was really really interesting.

It does a great job of continuing The The story

and moves along in a very good pace. It's not

too fast And it's not too slow which is a really

really good thing because sometimes pacing on

comic books I find when I'm reading them especially

in trades more so than single issues when I read

trades and I read for the story I don't see the

transitions being like a hardship for me when

I'm reading the actual words sometimes when I've

done reviews for trades I will say that oh my

god that they're transitioning too fast here

it's not like that at all it really really isn't

and it's you know it is so so great I can only

imagine I said this I've said this every single

time since you did these in singles you know

and I'm doing a mostly in trade it had to have

sucked this month for city fall part five the

single issue To leave off it at this final page

it and then we'll wait an entire month to see

part six. It's it's an exquisite pain My wife

I've tried and tried to get her to read comics.

She's read the occasional Trade paperback, but

reading them single issues. She can't stand it

She's a big reader of books. And so when she

reads her books, she reads them Two three hundred

pages at a time and she'll devour a book in three

or four days and get an incredibly deep Big experience

but comics because she's such a fast reader she

can get through one of those and five ten minutes

and then. And then it's like all crap you mean

have to wait thirty days to find out what happens

like yeah that's the point it's like you get

to feel that in your tummy you get to get excited

you know you have. You have thirty days to talk

about it with your friends and so I don't I don't

it doesn't hurt so well yes it does hurt a lot

but it's exquisite you know. Do I wish I could

snap my fingers and have everything IDW will

ever publish turtles in my hand where I can tear

through it in three or four days? Yep. But this

is fun. This is okay. I don't mind. Yeah, I mean,

this is, I mean, these, these two issues alone,

I mean, they, it's like, you know, re like for

me reading it in trade because Cityfall is in

two trade paperbacks. Um, it's one of those things

where, it from issue 24 which was the last issue

in the first part of the volume one trade or

the volume six trade from 24 to 25 it's like

even though it's been a while since I read volume

one and since we released the volume one episode

it's like no time has really passed for me I

mean, yes, in the beginning, in issue 21, when

they started out with Splinter being the assassin,

that was a little confusing, but where they left

24 off to here, it's like, hey, it's like, and

this week on the Turtles cartoon, it's just one

of those things where it's such a nice flow,

and I love how they're flowing between the trades.

And it makes it so much for easier easier reading

we get to city fall part six and I I Like this

placement, but I don't know what building would

have this on the side I get what they're going

for. I'm not really complaining about it, but

like it just these look like billboards and I

don't know what building would have that on the

side of it as a billboard Don't know York. It's

pretty wacky That's that's true So we got Woody

and Mikey delivering to the place that he doesn't

normally deliver to Dressed up like a chef He's

the pizza guy i mean what do you want him to

do you want him to you know um i don't know but

it is hilarious he reminds me uh dressed up oh

my god imagine if mickey was swedish mickey is

the swedish chef in the new muppets movie is

the first thing i thought of um Pizza we didn't

order no pizza Wait, what the hell are you supposed

to be? Oh This is just a costume man, you know

Mikey's turtle pizza where you always get a shell

of a good deal Mikey's turtle pizza never heard

of it So he says Don't matter, pizza's pizza,

and seeing as we got no time to stop for chow

before that big foot meetin' tonight, that works

out perfectly, especially since this chump's

gonna give it to us on the house. Ain't that

right, turtle boy? On the house, how about on

the face? Wham! And I like the right hand coming

under the shoulder to deflect the gun. That's

a beautiful move. I like that. That's, yeah.

That's somebody who knows martial arts drawing

that panel or at least being familiar with it.

Oh Yeah, I mean and that it you know normally

Mikey the the Mikey the bumbler Mikey the comedy

relief normally would not Do that kind of thing,

but because Mikey is written so smartly here

He he is doing everything that a neutral should

be doing So you dudes got a big meeting to go

to huh, how's the guy score an invite? So we

get back to the purple dragons now Where hun

and an angel are arguing back and forth They

haven't explained how, uh, how come Casey's dad

got so gigantically built yet because that happened

in the one -shot, correct? Yeah, that happened

in how... Okay, so man, I didn't catch the readers

of just skipping those one -shots will say, man,

Casey's dad was built. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because

the last time we saw him in issue 25, I think?

Yeah, just last, uh... He wasn't this ripped

at all So he and angel have words and you know,

she's standing up to him and you know She says

maybe because I'm the only one who's not afraid

to You know and he's like, okay, you took your

best shot my turn and we see someone from the

from the distance stop We and who is this supposed

to be is this just supposed to be some master

like Well, I know this isn't true. It's a foot

messenger. Nobody in particular. I think so he

He gives the message to on he says Attendance

is mandatory disregarding the simulation is tantamount

to death you either serve the foot or you die

So yeah, he's really taken on all comers The

shredder is is really really working this stuff

out And who I'm just going to call the Hun from

now on, or Hun from now on. He's taken charge

of the dragons and just decides immediately,

we're going to go to this meeting and throw our

weight behind the shredder. Yep, pretty much.

And we get to kind of see the... Well, that's

not really the origin of the purple dragons being

attached to the Foot Clan, but because they've

been... this comic series they've been around

before apparently he was the leader of them a

long time ago but interesting to see how that

gets attached hey there's a punk in the background

wearing bebop glasses and a mohawk but we know

that's not bebop anymore I don't think that ever

was I'm trying to think if that's because they've

already been mutated by this point Let me go

back a page and look because I'm not sure Yeah,

you're yeah, you're right that's no that's most

definitely not Not beep up at all So we we turn

the page and we get to We get back to the lair

or the church or whatever they're calling their

new home now The railing to down the stairs is

still mangled from when slash came through and

they're still just using it Yep So we get Leo,

or not Leo, I'm sorry, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey

in Splinter in April. It looks like they've brought

equipment from that scientist. Harold's. Thank

you, Harold's lab. The anti -gravity gauntlets.

Yeah. I'm going to use them to... Oh, and yeah,

Mikey comes back in and says, hey, I found out

where this meeting is going on. This is what

we got to crash to get Leo back. Yep. Yep. Once

again, the background art, the difference between

the different scenes is just amazing. The art

in itself is just so good. I mean, so good. I

still kind of don't like the... egg -shaped heads

for the turtle. Yeah, that really bothered me

on 25. It's gonna bother me more when we get

to Northampton, but for now it's just kind of

like, hmm. Yeah, well Santalucco and, oh gosh,

Campbell, Ross Campbell does their turtles with

that. I was looking at Dawn in 25 and what it

looks like. he's trying to do or the artist is

trying to do with with the big forehead like

that is they're giving them the the human proportions

when you draw a human you draw the oval and then

you put the eye line midway down the face the

tendency is to put the eyes near the top of the

head but we humans have a giant forehead that's

usually covered by hair and you know if i take

my little fingers and measure Donatello's head

those eyes are in the middle yeah same thing

with Mikey so they're trying to give him human

proportions but they're turtles it's okay if

they look like turtles you know i oh well the

funny thing is and i i know i'm probably gonna

get hate on this but um i would rather have the

egg -shaped comic versions of the turtles here

in idw than the noses in the new movie the noses

and lips wrong decision i think um and i hate

coming down on both santa luco and Ross Campbell

because they're both a better than me and be

they have jobs drawing pictures of turtles where

I just do it for fun and free most of the time.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I am just so, so loving this

story. I mean, this this story is so, so great.

So we get to Leo. He is sleeping with his...

Wasn't it Raph that had a little plant? I'm trying

to think, like, I remember someone had a binky

at some point in history. I don't remember who

it was. Raph in the animated series has the stuffed

animal with missing an eye. That's what it is.

Because I keep looking at that flower and thinking,

oh, that's Leo's binky. Well, I thought that

was a lotus that his mom was holding. But if

it's in a flower pot like that, it's a lily.

So he's got his mom's lily. Somehow. Well, I

think he probably took it out of Shredder's garden.

Oh, probably. So we get Leonardo dreaming. Shredder

shows up. He says look at those who will die

with you this day executed by the very clan you

chose to dishonor with your base treachery And

we're flashing back to shredder killing Hamato

Yoshi's children Only Leonardo's in place of

Hamato Yoshi Yeah Yeah, that's a little creepy

he's he's the leader of those of those three

because of how he's backstabbed them or stabbed

them in the back by going to the shredder's side.

The people he cares about are going to die. The

people who he's in charge of being responsible

for are gonna die. It's a message from his mom.

And the mustard, I don't want to say piss because

it's not piss, but the mustard yellow background.

along with the black Between Leo's black and

the black like this shredder here This I don't

think it's I don't think it's it's not monochrome.

It's um sepia tone Yeah, the sepia tone shredder.

That's the shredder that I want in current day.

That's the shredder When I draw shredder, he

looks more like this than regular shredder That's

brilliant Yeah, very much is So we get Leo waking

up no bandana on all blue background with blue

lettering his mother So you can kind of see that

he is kind of Kind of coming out of it a little

bit And so Karai is there I heard you cry. Do

your new duties haunt you in your dreams? And

he says, I don't remember inviting you here,

Cry. That's because you did not. When I heard

your shout, I thought you might be in danger,

Chunin. Yeah, I'll bet. We then go back to April,

the turtle's splinter and old hob, and they are

sitting up for this battle. Casey texts April

Case helping turtles find Leo be be with you

soon xoxo Which is really nice I Love her line

here though at the end right before the texting

panel April O 'Neill professional getaway driver

Add that to the long list of job descriptions

she has you know my thinking about this the other

day with April being so important in this series

and news reporter in that series and scientist

in that series. In the Mirage thing, she's introduced

as Baxter Stockman's intern, a blackie in his

business, just company, but scientist, respectable

job. And then for like after that, the rest of

that series, she's like t -shirt. Sweatpants

tank top never has a job and her and Casey as

they become a couple are just nothing but kind

of grubby rednecks and they're content, you know,

they they keep together jobs enough to make rent

work in the antique store, but I Was like, you

know, come on. Let's let's give let's let's give

April and Casey a real job that we can look up

to but no, they're content They're happy. They're

regular people Yeah, I Mean we don't need like

in this series. We don't need April, you know

running around With a microphone and a camera

crew. We don't need that. We don't need that

in any incarnation But we're gonna see what that

is in a couple of days Well, I mean I I do like

April as the you know, you know God Jeez geez,

what were you thinking? You know, I don't know

couple throw pillows You know, I mean I like

it sometimes when she is the channel six or channel

five or channel Whatever they decide to use I

do like that when when she's that reporter, but

I'm loving this series that she started at stock

Jen and she's kind of like in the middle right

now of where she's supposed to be or where she's

gonna end up and what she's gonna end up doing

I don't know if Eastman Kernel and waltz are

going to do reporter april at all but I mean

it's refreshing not to just have that because

as much as I love the 87 series for what it is

week after week after week of we gotta go save

the reporter lady it after the fifth season it

kind of gets old a little bit doesn't it yeah

and and back in the day the little kids didn't

care I didn't care I didn't know what I wasn't

getting back then Yeah, so we have kitsune and

alopex having tea together Hmm interesting She

says kitsune says to alopex know this alopex

We foxes must be both sly and cautious for our

treasury lurks around every corner We must always

know when to watch and when to act What's she

trying to tell her? I don't know and who she

who she care more about this mutant Fox who she

can relate to or shredder who she can get something

from that We don't know what that is yet. I Was

interested by this scene Yeah, I'm not really

sure so we go back to the hospital and We see,

out of the corner here, EO Jones, April, what

the heck are you up to now? An angel shows up,

look what I found. Where'd you find that thing?

Near the scrub, Bray, where you and Raph got

jumped. Been meaning to bring it out to you,

but things have been kinda crazy. So, she brings

him back his hockey mask, so he's, he's kind

of, um, kind of whole again now that he has the

mask. Mean he's still you know hurting from from

his injuries, but You know she tells him about

his dad You know tells him about hon and he's

like, okay, come on let's go Casey ready Casey

Jones is gonna kick ass So, let's see, we get

to Donnie and Raph. Where's Mikey? Oh, there

he is, there he is. He's just down in that middle

panel. We get to Donnie, Raph, Mikey, Splinter,

Old Hob, and Slash. And they are gearing up to

crash the Foot Clan party. This is getting exciting.

Yeah, this is getting very very exciting because

Shredder is gonna kill this about in front of

all of these other thugs of New York Yep And

we see that Leo is hearing voices again She says

see that this is no place for you The time has

come to save Leonardo. We can wait no longer,

says Splinterin. Old Hub, bless his evil heart,

he is not subtle at all. As he fires his rocket

launcher outside the theater to blow up one of

the cars. He is just not subtle at all, which

is a good thing, in some cases. And shredders

like so we have uninvited yes destroy that I

were meeting Victor's same fate It appears that

a further demonstration of my power is an order

And Leonardo says aloud mother you know what

possesses you Kari says whenever death appears

your precious tuning disappears. Mm -hmm. Well,

yes it does Yep, so Splinter and the Turtles

all go gung -ho into it. Hun is basically holding

them, but he's actually fighting Slash, which

is interesting. And then Casey and Angel show

up. Massive internal bleeding, no doubt. Yeah,

you think? But he recognizes the Hun as his dad.

Leonardo you fool kill them. Oh crud So they

try to get Leo to stop but I mean this design

of Leo's as shredders tune in is Amazing like

I wasn't sure what to think of this at first.

I'd like that as a toy I think Kurnow and the

IDW folks really need to talk to playmates and

Nickelodeon about getting some of the figures

done, maybe one wave, and maybe pack in a small

comic. I think that would do wonders for them.

Oh, so it's so - I'm surprised Nickelodeon doesn't

cross -pollinate like that. You know, there aren't

ads for the cartoon in the comic and there aren't

- Comic ads and the toys or the you know, it

seems Like you could really help bring in everybody

to your property Well IDW has this thing and

you know this they put all their ads at the back

of the book IDW is not DC and Marvel where they

feel like they need to whore themselves out to

any and all advert, I mean This is a topic for

a completely other episode, but I, you know,

when I pick up DC and Marvel books, there's ads

for kids stuff. There's ads for other comics.

There's, there's ads for movies. There's ads

for crappy TV shows. You know, there's ads for

everything. Um, thankfully IDW does not do that,

uh, in their single issues. That's also why we

pay four bucks a book instead of three or four,

you know, 250, three. Yeah. Interesting. I'd

rather pay four bucks and get my get a short

section of ads in the back. Certainly Yeah, well,

I mean, yeah, that's that's the good thing. So

Leo Well, well Donnie is gonna fight the shredder

says you will die for this insolence and Donnie

just Gets the gauntlet and pushes the gauntlet

on shredder. It's like hmm. Why didn't we think

of that? so so Donnie's like we don't want to

hurt you well I want to hurt you and and Raph

basically comes in and this is where we kind

of get the whole Leo Raph rivalry here a little

bit so we then go to shredder again and we see

him with alopex uh where they're escaping where

the devil is cry i am here grandfather okay this

is a problem and tonight belongs to the foot

yeah what she said i can hear the snort as rocksteady

and bebop are appear in the Hold in the side

of the theater wielding a chainsaw and a sledgehammer

a very small looking sledgehammer compared to

how gigantic Rocksteady is oh They look amazing

and all as I can think of with him holding that

damn sledgehammer all I can think of is that

old Peter Gabriel song Heard an interview as

I switch comics here from one issue to the next

heard an interview Rocksteady and bebop They're

gonna if if this Ninja Turtles movie does well,

they're gonna try to get them into the second

movie. I Hope they don't do to Rocksteady and

bebop what they did to the turtles There's a

couple of really good pieces of art out there

of Rocksteady and bebop that look Incredible

like yes a movie version If the movie version

looks like that, done. That's all you need to

do. Yeah, I mean, I just so cannot wait until

they premiere in the cartoon. Do we know they're

coming? Oh yeah, they're coming. We've kind of

already got a sneak peek of who is going to become

Bebop and it is really, really cool. We haven't

seen, I haven't noticed any Rocksteady stuff

yet, but I've seen who might become Bebop, and

I just so cannot wait to see what they do with

them in the cartoon series. At least in my humble

opinion, with Rocksteady and Bebop, you can't

do what they've done to somebody like the Baxter

Fly mutation, who's legitimately terrifying.

And in fact, I don't even think you can take...

Them as far as they took Casey Jones. I think

you've you've kind of got to keep like the turtles

and like shredder and like splinter You've got

to keep them Mostly recognizable and and I think

they don't raise are too far But I mean I'll

tune into that episode certainly The way that

I see, and this is kind of off the comic a little

bit, but the way that I see Dog Pound becoming

Razor, yes, Razor is a little dark, and he's

not as, I guess, puppy -like, kind of like the

Razor from the second movie. Babies! They're

babies! Babies! Mama no master But what they've

done with Again, I assume this guy is gonna become

bebop, but he has Technology in the episode that

he appeared in that allows him to Go super fast

and through everything So he kind of he's kind

of like a combination of like what would happen

oh god i don't want to say this i know people

are going to cringe at me when i it's kind of

like what if sue storm and johnny storm were

not brother and sister they got married and had

a child it's like combining the invisibility

and the speed power all at the same well um no

actually take it back uh so we don't have to

go that creepy uh what if sue storm sue storm

and either barry allen or wally west uh uh had

a child. But yeah, that's the end of 27 where

she shows up with Bebop and Rocksteady. The opening

of issue 28, chapter 4 in the trade, we have

the turtles just being demolished and Bebop's

like, oh, shake them out, Rocksteady, they look

so sad. Those voices too. I can hear it. I can

hear it. Oh, yeah Almost like these chumps ain't

too happy to see us. Huh be about me. Yeah, I

can so here Crap cam Clark and and and and Barry

Gordon in my head. Oh my god So amazing So we

get back to angel Casey and hun That any way

to greet your old man pointing them bad at me

like you gonna like you want to bust my skull

open I ain't gonna lie to you Casey that hurts

Shut up dad. I don't want to hear it. I put up

in your crap for years hurt. You don't even know

what hurt means So it's basically Casey versus

his dad and he He pretty much hits a grand slam

right to hun's chin And what I love about this

panel here on this other side of the page where

we see Casey swing in the bat, you don't actually

see the aftermath of Casey's swing. You don't

see him actually swing into contact. That's awesome.

That you just see the after effects. So we've

got that. We go back to the turtles, shredder,

karai. Bebop and Rocksteady And shredders like

Karai who mutants grandfather hybrids of my making

Culled from within our ranks and designed to

serve the foot loyally Yo rock these dudes got

hard candy shells Let's crack them open and see

what kind of goodies are inside Sounds so wrong

So, let's see. We're watching how many pages?

One, two, three pages of Bebop and Rocksteady

completely thrashing the turtles. Yeah. And all

I can think of is at this bottom panel here.

He swings, he misses. No way, totally a foul

tip. All I can think of is... Cameron Fry and

Ferris Bueller swing bad about about a swing

bad about Yeah, I mean they are just decimating

the turtles like they have no chance against

these guys At the moment it appears they have

no no pain No worries about taking any kind of

hits. They're just kind of marching through Absolutely

I and and I you know like It's there. They're

hard characters to deal with when you're pulling

from the series where they can be defeated with

Sausage nunchucks and and a pizza thrown in their

face, but here. They're just marching through

everything And not because they're skilled, but

because they don't have anything to worry about

just fun takes on them No, this is this issue

actually I had to go back and look at a certain

other issue because I so totally did. I understand

that Bebop and Rocksteady came up from the Foot

Clan's ranks, but I so totally did not remember

this. Ain't that the turtle dork we rumbled with

before, Bopster? Yeah, that's him from that time

with Alopex. See, Raphael Miniseeds. I so totally

did not remember that. Yeah, the two thugs that

looked like Bebop and Rocksteady. And when I

read that and saw the purple glasses and the

mohawk and the helmet, I didn't think that they

were actually going to do Bebop and Rocksteady.

I thought that was a nod. Like, hey, there are

those two guys. You'll recognize them. Ha ha

ha. But no, they ended up actually using them

and turning them into it. So surprised and pleased.

Worried, I mean, you know when I knew they were

coming. I didn't know what they were gonna do

with them, but Yeah, so April shows up with this

invisible shield Donnie's like April what what

the heck are you doing? I thought maybe you could

use some help Beta testing Harold's gear seems

to work great, huh? Yeah, it does She pulled

the wall down on the rocksteady, taking them

out of the equation, temporarily at least. Yep.

And Shredder is talking to Leo. You know, recover

your wits, damn you. He basically smacks him

right in the face. Wow. Uh, so we get, you know,

Shredder smacked Leo and out of the corner here

we get, um, you did not touch my son, Devil,

ever! So this is what it's come to, huh? And

we get back to Casey and Hun, and Hun basically

just... He... just crushes Casey. And then Angel

comes in and of course he turns on her and...

Basically, I like I cannot believe he would like

I know huns a bad guy in all this but wow He

is just like staying he He's basically pulling

an undertaker or a Brock Lesnar where they just

stand on someone's face or chest or something

And then they step off and walk away out of the

ring. It's like oh my god How bright this book

is is amazing now like, you know, I mentioned

earlier with the previous issues We've talked

about today how I like the contrast between the

light and the dark This is light and dark all

at the same time and it is amazing Yeah, these

colors we haven't seen these colors in a while

it's kind of making we're definitely sure this

is the the Climax to the whole thing. Oh Absolutely

So we get to We get Splinter and Shredder having

a knockdown drag -out fight and Leo's like Master

Shredder Not so fast, bro. Me and you've got

to chew the fat first Raph and Leo again While

Bebop and Rocksteady are helping Karai April

is still invisible And I love this panel with

the two of them and it's basically the the the

shredder gauntlet thing here You know nothing

about me. Yeah, actually, I know Just it it doesn't

seem like either one of them is angry or snarky

by the word balloons But you can tell they are

by their faces But I don't know I like I didn't

hear a lot of snark and raps voice when he said

that No, I think he's he's pretty well in control.

He's at this point. Yeah learned and is remembering

that if he loses his cool that's when bad things

happen and he's keeping it keeping it together

and I think it shows in his in fighting style

here he's not bruising it he's using the martial

arts and being gentle with his attacks it's not

you know smashing people smashing Leo here in

this case to settle the point yeah exactly he's

being dainty enough that he can have this conversation

with them Yeah, I love the image of the sign

the ground that was that's awesome That is so

cool We get to shredder and splinter Look here.

She watches your momentary advantage quickly

slips away and becomes my ultimate triumph We

were a clan of brothers once I I Your clan leader

But you defied my will and betrayed my trust,

and in doing so, dishonored the foot. The foot

was your family, Yoshi, before Tang Shin, and

before these abominations you call your children.

And I will never forgive you for forsaking us."

And he just took Splinter's ability to be a player

in these fights away as he smashes his foot.

Shredder, rather, smashes. Splinter's foot and

probably why he'll be on a cane for the remainder

of the IDW series Yeah But then we get a reprieve

here because a Lopez jumps in And she is like

how dare you speak of family And cry basically

dispatches her And somehow Leo is is now out

of his trances as shredders tune in You know,

but I thought you were dead You know, they're

basically, you know reuniting but also getting

the hell out of here Which in all honesty is

a damn good thing that they're doing it And we

get to let's see we get the slash You know time

to go I Got Leo come on April About stinking

time me and slash had this thing cleaned up out

here before way before now Just remove us from

this place old hob quickly yeah, yeah keep your

undies on Not so fast to weaves. We ain't done

yet. I so can hear My god, I can so hear Barry

and cam in my head when when bebop and rocks

today speak So hub guns it they get away I Think

they broke my spleen We still gonna get a paycheck

So shredder brings before him these these three

gang leaders is one of them all is one of them

hun nope okay my mistake then those are these

like mob bosses that are paying yeah well I know

because when we get to the hun micro he does

put on a suit at one point in the micro so I

thought that might have been hun on the far right

there so we get to Kurai's punishment which really

isn't a punishment he says or she says master

there are no signs of the turtles or alopex we

will continue to silence you have created mutants

without my knowledge you have acted independently

of my will and disobeyed my authority this gross

insubordination is punishable by death do you

deny it I do not, but all I did, I did in the

name of the foot. Everything I do, I do to honor

the clan. I accept my fate. Very well. Rise,

Chunin. So Karai is now his Chunin. And we see

Kitsune on the side here. She's up to something.

I don't know what she's up to, but she's up to

something. Yeah, she there was a point where

she was serving the The utram in the torii gate

But I don't know she hasn't had a chance to connect

with him or at this point several hundred years

I Don't know what she's thinking. I Don't know

either Honestly, but I'm loving it. I mean, yeah,

it's nice not knowing everything. I'd rather

Be surprised. I can't complain So the final page

is is them trying to Get you know Casey and Leo

back to health get him in the van and Leo's like

don't don't touch me So we get Leo the entire

world lies before us and There is nowhere that

is safe from our for enemies to hide We get the

most significant point of the entire story at

least for for me for part of this is Leo gives

slash his black bandana So now slash is the fifth

turtle Unlike some other 90s stuff that happened

And next up we go to Northampton that'll be in

the next episode of the full bag We still have

to do the the one shots here the art gallery

We have the Leo page the Leo cover we have Mikey

and Donnie I love the Mikey and Donnie city fall

cover that is so awesome. I accidentally bought

two of those issue that issue. I don't know how

that happens We have hon as a city fall cover,

which is really cool as well And then we have

which is so an Eastman cover. I believe it's

um It's Leo as the tune -in. I believe it's for

issue 25. I could be wrong. We have Shredder

and Leo attacking. Again, art by Eastman. Also

we've got the opposite page here is Mikey swinging

with pizzas in his hand. Also by Eastman. Then

we I've got this beautiful thing here. I assume

this is Eastman art. It's shredder versus the

turtles Versus bebop and rocksteady. It's all

in red and orange and it is just um, it's a full

page two -page spread It's the cover B For 28

Yeah, I mean it is just awesome And then we get

Mark Buckingham uh... with his uh... this actually

reminds me of the the ripped apparel shirt that

i bought for turtles that ripped apparel dot

com had a turtle shirt where uh... it's the four

turtles inside a silhouette of shredder and then

inside the silhouette of shredder is new york

city it's simply awesome uh... there's also the

next one is uh... by kenneth lowell and colors

by ian herring of shredder, hun, and the turtles

and the final one is bebop and rocksteady done

by nick patara and colors by megan wilson that

looks awesome overall cityfall i can't believe

it's over like it didn't seem like it was going

to be Like it just it went by so fast I Mean

it was just one of those things where You blink

and you're gonna miss everything but it was such

a good story arc it It has stuff that I never

expected would happen like I never I didn't expect

Bebop and Rocksteady to show up in it Even though

I know I knew from reading the one shot that

that they do show up I'm so happy for that. I

love that they did that. I think that's amazing.

The whole Cityfall thing is it's easy for me

to get confused. I think with IDWs following

the Mirage continuity, they're kind of running

parallel to it with their own take. There's an

initial battle with Shredder. Which happens in

episode one of the mirage and then some stuff

happens They go to space like they did in this

and then they come back and then there's a second

battle with the shredder and then they go to

north hampton and But this city fall feels a

lot like the mirage episode or issues um I want

to say 50 through 70, but I think it's earlier

than that either way. There's city at war Where

the foot plan are involved in a couple other

groups and this feels more like that to me It's

bigger than just the second battle with shredder

But it's still neat. I wonder if they're going

to continue that running parallel with the mirage

continuity they don't have to But it's interesting

that they've done that for so long Yeah, absolutely

All right, we're gonna take a quick break and

we're gonna come back with the villains say your

prayers titles i have served the shredder most

of my life i have been his most loyal soldier

but lately i have failed him too many things

have gone wrong on my watch i can create it more

mutagen a few chemicals and some stuff That should

be okay. Master Shredder. Is the mutagen ready?

Prepare to endorsements of occasion. The servant

DNA is ready. No! You wouldn't! Make sure she

is secure. You are more ruthless than I thought.

Mutating your own cub! I have no intention of

mutating her. She is bait. When the turtles attempt

to rescue her, I will bump them into the mutagen.

This will mutate them into mindless serpents.

I want Splinter to witness his own pupils become

one of the rat's deadliest predators. Then, when

his spirit is broken, I will shatter his body.

Alright folks, up next we've got... Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles Micro Series Villains Part 2. And

this has Karai, Hun, Bebop and Rocksteady, and

the Shredder. You know, as much as I complain

about the main trades, about not doing the actual

numbering of the issues in the trades, These

I actually like because these are meant to be

single, you know, character driven stories. And

what I love about these so much is they basically,

you know, you open the trade and you get, you

open it, you open that first page, you get a

basic table of contents and you get four chapters.

But it, you know, it sits here and tells you,

and they do this with the regular trades. I mean,

they do it, you know, with the various. Stuff

but what I love is because they have so many

different people on these I'm actually gonna

go ahead and read off the the cat of the The

creators Now instead of having to flip back for

each each chapter we do we got four chapters

here today Like I said, we got Karai it is written

by Eric Burnham artwork is by Corey Smith Colors

by Ian Herring and the lettering is done by Sean

Lee Actually, the lettering is done by Sean Lee

and all four, so there's that. Hun was written

by Mike Costa and Ben Epstein. Heartwork was

done by Mike Henderson. Colors by Ian Herring.

Bebo and Rocksteady was written by Ben Bates

and Dustin Weaver. Yay, Ben Bates is back. Art

and Colors by Ben Bates. And Shredder was done

by Dan Duncan and Paul Allor. I assume that's

how you say his name. in the art was done by

Duncan, colors by Ian Herring and letters by

Sean Lee. I know you've mentioned this before,

Joe, where you said you like when they bring

back previous people that have worked on the

stuff. Yeah, Dan Duncan coming back again. Yeah,

and Ben Bates, too. I forgot what he did. He

did, oh, oh, oh, he was in the, yeah, that was

the second story arc after Dan Duncan. Figure

these guys are IDW house artists and it's a matter

of hey do you want to come to do issue 22 through?

28 yeah sure all right and Calling on them. Oh,

yeah, absolutely I Assume that's how it is with

all comic companies mm -hmm. You know every comic

company has their their creative teams and usually

sometimes with the big two they go back you know

sometimes somebody will leave DC to go to Marvel

or vice versa and whatever else but like I don't

normally see people from DC or Marvel doing okay

Gail Simone does Tomb Raider for Dark Horse And

she did a couple of other things for other people,

but like the core DC and Marvel guys, I don't

see a lot of them on other stuff other than those

properties. Yeah, or the Vertigo adult imprint

of their home business. I mean, I remember Bagley,

the ultimate Spider -Man guy who was on that

book for God knows how many issues. Then he left

and went and did Superman. Batman Wonder Woman

Trinity and then now he's back with Marvel like

that's What I I'm looking at these micro series

books and seeing all these creative teams coming

to it Now that they're kind of out of characters

to do with micro series I really want them to

revive the tales of the Ninja Turtles tales of

the TMNT imprint and Get some weird guys from

other companies to come in and do one issue Ninja

Turtles or maybe a two or three issue story arc

and put it under the tales imprint here's something

that's out of continuity but I would love to

see Brian Bendis's Ninja Turtles I would love

to see Mark Wade's Ninja Turtles just get them

in there for one issue let them play and then

you know without having to work but you know

I think I think Nickelodeon might have problems

with with that might I don't know Think the thing

with this one is with these micro series Yes,

sure. We have kind of run out of characters after

this, but I'm sure they're going to be introducing

new characters That's you know, I'm excited for

the nobody single issue Well, I would say that

in the current the current storyline that's going

on we just a few months ago we had issue 34 come

out and issue 30 no issue 34 35 which one was

it one of the newer issues had the debut of metalhead

i would love to see a metalhead single story

um you know if they ever bring in leatherhead

oh yeah leatherhead will get a one shot do that

He's got a huge backstory. Even though they introduced

the Rat King in issue 36, I'm sure they could

do a Rat King story. Like how the Rat King became

the Rat King considering he is who he is and

who he's related to, which I'm not going to spoil

for the readers in case you haven't read that

yet, because we'll be getting to that eventually

here. I would really like them to see, let them...

go get Jim Lawson to do that since he created

Rat King for Mirage back in the day. I don't

think they would. I know he's done some covers,

but he'd do it in a heartbeat if they asked him.

Oh, I'm sure. So we start with Karai. The main

cover that I have in the trade is her standing

on a rooftop in some Foot Clan ninja pose. The

art is done by Tyler Walpole. Like the cover.

It's it's pretty cool. I mean you you get a sense

of who she is she has a smaller version of the

shredder snuggie around her neck and You know

it's funny. I don't I don't mind it around her

you know I've minded around him because his is

so much larger, and it takes up half his outfit

This is apparently IDW foot clan signature thing

You know let the I don't know It's alright, I

ignore it. I've grown accustomed to it, I suppose.

So, we start with Karai, and it's always interesting

to me where they put the title of the story.

They put this right on the, I believe it's a

roof. Yeah, it's a rooftop. It's a rooftop, that's

interesting, where they stuck the title for her

story. And we are at the Foot Clans training

facility in Westchester County, New York. Hey,

shouldn't they be going to visit a school of

mutants? I'm going to go look up where that is

on Google Maps. They are training. The sensei

says, and remember you must move as one, a simple

thing, but it will help you learn precision.

And precision is a valuable asset. And the sensei

says, I wish you wouldn't do that to my students.

It serves a purpose. I now know who is able to

steal themselves against surprise. Really? I

thought you did it because it amused you. So,

Korai and this sensei have a history, obviously.

I... what? You know, it's a martial arts movie

thing, how there's the... that the old sensei

and then the young students were all led to believe

that Korai is one of the top martial artists

in the books but then there's this 70 year old

sensei who's training new foot soldier ninjas

and like is he not better than her after 70 years

really or is she just that gifted you know just

kind of magic movie magic that you can't really

discuss before it starts looking weird On this

first page where we see the two of them before

we go to the next page when it shows the the

close -up of him Always I can think of is throw

the bum So this continues he tells the students

to continue and he and Karai talk about how the

How the foot clan is is basically She's trying

to find her way and and and trying to bring back

the restore the foot to their former glory I

Love the art Like earlier when we were talking

about city fall part two I mentioned how I like

the contrast between the light and the dark all

of this for the most of most of it it's an uh...

it's an indoor outdoor kind of thing it's all

very light there's not really a lot of dark and

i'm sure it's some points in this you know in

one of these stories you know it'll be a little

bit darker but i like how this is how the how

the backgrounds you know just kind of not really

blend in but easy on the eyes i think you could

say And it's one of those things that just really,

really surprised me as far as, because I wasn't

sure what to expect with these. I really wasn't.

They seem to desaturate the colors when they

go into the flashbacks. Korai's talking to the

sensei about her misgivings and how she's not

exactly happy with her position and how she was

the one who the Foot Clan existed as a business

corporate thing and she... saw that as a kind

of a bad thing and wanted to make it as powerful

and as evil, I guess, maybe as it was in its

past. And when they go back to discuss that,

it's all in this kind of sepia tone, no popping

colors. And I love it. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean,

I absolutely love it. It's so great. so and it's

interesting because i think where idw really

shined with this this uh this one shot for her

up until now we haven't been able to hear a lot

from like she talks back to shredder every now

and then but she usually doesn't um Mean we we've

heard her talk to the turtles and talk to April

and all this and all that in You know in the

previous issues and stuff in the main and main

part of the ongoing But like to actually hear

her internal monologue. I absolutely love that.

That's that's amazing to get her perspective

on all this So, let's see she says I hated when

my mother treated me like an idiot, but at least

she had Hadn't sent me to my room. I enjoyed

the rare times I was allowed to visit the library

There were so much to look through and I was

lucky I would stumble upon something truly exceptional

and This is where she finds the Ashi no Himitsu

How did this book get into a library I'm assuming

it's just it followed the foot clan with them

And there are more than one of them, and this

is a relatively incomplete one. Because I know

that they had to find more pages of it to do

more things, to bring back Kitsune. Right. See,

I thought it was just one book. And I'm like,

okay, so if this is a copy of a copy or whatever,

I'm like, oh, okay. But at the same time, I'm

thinking, why don't the foot have their own personal

presidential library? Oh, I think that's where

she's at, is essentially where all the books

are kept. You know She talks about how the book

was amazing and contained all of the history

of the foot clan of my family and better It contained

detailed instruction in our methods as well So

she trains When she can You know she says and

so it began during the day I was the proper girl

that my mother wanted me to be And at night,

I studied the Ashino Emitsu, hoping to become

what my father could not. Now, this is something

that I've brought up multiple times on these

Back Issue Classics episodes, is how is Shredder,

aka Takeshi, her grandfather? And it's one of

those things where it really does a good job

of really explaining it here, I thought. Well,

she's she's a descendant. Yeah, so he has her

Great -great -great -great -great grandfather.

Yeah So she goes on to talk about how it was,

you know You know that she for years that she

lived like this, you know being the proper girl

during the day and at night You know studying

them the moves and she says She relished each

test of her growing skill And then it was the

only time she felt alive, but it was exhausting

that image of her on the bed Wow Just Wow It's

Is that your blood on your sleeve some of it

So we get to the next page and She says even

in my dreams. There is little chance to rest

because in her dreams. She is seeing To kill

I assume at this point. It's it's Takeshi. It's

not well the spirit inside him is Takeshi, but

he's okay at this point He's been so on as a

Roku Saki Okay, which is interesting. I don't

know how much of his previous life. He remembers

of Takeshi Tetsuo, but but you know I at some

point you think maybe he'd adopt that name again,

but No, because it's Urokosaki. Interesting to

consider that. I think from that Takeshi life,

all that's still with him is the nature of who

he was. It's not that person or that person's

memories anymore. That the only memories he has

are of Urokosaki, his childhood, growing up,

becoming... a part of the Foot Clan, but in his

heart, he's power -hungry and manipulative and

conniving and intelligent, and I think that's

the only part that's left of Takeshi. Right.

So in this dream, she meets Saki. They talk.

He tells her of how to resurrect and correct...

Well, she says that she has to correct her father's

mistake first, and that she must do it on her

own. So he basically says that he's waited for

centuries, a few years more, isn't going to really

make a difference. And he says, remember your

promises to me and to yourself. And she wants

to retake the foot clamp. She wants to take it

back. And she goes off to college and spends

the next few years gathering her resources. Again,

I mean just from the dream from the opening of

this in the sepia tone to the dream sequence

to be more blue sepia tone and Now we get to

college and fighting and rebuilding the foot.

I mean The colors are just so so amazing in this

So, let's see We see We see her father that's

not her father It's not this is the manipulative

businessman. Who's kind of manipulating her father

to Sell and buy and do these other things to

make money and he's kind of being insubordinate

as he does it Karai's always had a problem with

it and Here she decides to remove him from the

equation You're a part of the price of acquisition

That's one of the best lines from her So we go

Back to no, it's we didn't go back to the sense

and do we yeah. No, we know we do Yeah, we do

it goes present day. It's present day She's telling

him about about the past and And so she says,

Toshiro, if I have nothing to offer but my past

successes, what am I? So you've been up here

whining to an old man, it makes sense now. What?

And Leonardo shows up. Wow, that's, that's crazy.

He looks great though. As much as I hate that

he's evil at this point, his design is amazing.

Simply amazing. And he's basically goading her

on. He's basically insulting the teacher. I'm

not impressed. This school is garbage. If those

out there are what's coming down the line for

foot soldiers were in bad shape Which is so funny

because the present day She is trying to fight

to become the shunen and Leo's basically gonna

do what she did to the bolt to the businessman

she he's gonna put her in her place Yeah, that

image of the two of them, where she headbutts

him, wow. And then on the opposite page, where

he just running fly leaps at her, does a running

leap at her, that's amazing. So they basically

fight it out. And it goes back to her monologue,

and she says, I know I should not have attacked

him, but at least I cannot be faulted for disobedience.

Less certain... Where is it? She says... I thought

there was something else there, but she's talking

about how he's moving. She says we have fought

before many times, but this time is different.

He seems slower. Less certain in his movements.

I could end him today once and for all. It's

because Leo's got some psychological issues he's

dealing with. I almost think her decision to

spare him at this point has something to do with

respect for him as well, even though it's really,

really buried underneath that pile of hatred

for him. the old mirage run when Korai shows

up, yes there's a bit of a small amount of animosity

but in general they're on the same side trying

to retake the the foot clan for being a legitimate

kind of business thing that she's the head of

that in the mirage run but they eventually start

to spar together and it's it's a tough kind of

almost love relationship and I think that's where

every incarnation of Korai ends up heading is

that those two end up kind of Really connecting

not physically not legitimately, but there is

There is that because I need to do it in the

Nickelodeon series, too. There's he has a crush

on her Is that right? Do I remember remembering

that correctly? Yes, he has a crush on her and

she really wants nothing to do with him They

kind of play around with it a little bit. They

kind of fool around I don't know how much of

a crush she's gonna have on her now, but what's

interesting Know you said earlier in this episode.

You didn't mind spoilers, but I think you figured

out that she got mutated. No, no Oh, you didn't

know really into what? Please say a fox No Yeah,

I wish she's not a turtle No No, no, no, no.

She's some kind of... I'm gonna have to look

it up afterwards, but basically the shocker is

it's not that she gets mutated. It's what comes

with her mutation. And I'm not gonna reveal that

because I might tell you off air, but I'm not

gonna reveal that to the listeners who have not

seen the episode. Okay. I need to go see what's

streaming on Comcast because they usually only

have four episodes up there. So yeah So we get

back to this and So she says So You know she

goes to basically finish him off, but he counters

she submits She says I definitely know what I

deserve As and he goes as for you old man if

the quality of training does not improve the

next visit will not be so pleasant And and and

the the the sensei is is very respectful he says

hi tuning and and Lee Leo just kind of huh, I'll

be watching Leo has turned into a raft from the

2007 animated film like I know Leo is bad here

right now but um but yeah oh man it's it's crazy

and she says um i didn't kill him because i know

how my grandfather thinks if i had killed his

children he would in turn kill me for disrespecting

his will no i must change my grandfather's mind

first it's all about it's all about the mind

games You know, so they talk about, you know,

she says to the sensei, uh, make, but make no

mistake, I still claim victory today. I could

feel his hesitation with the blade at my throat.

He didn't have the resolve to kill me. And if

he had, then we would both have deserved our

fates. And this is that line that she says he

didn't have the resolve to kill me. think that's

that is something that that is something that

comes back because it's a I don't want to say

it's a hypnotic suggestion but it's there's something

of real Leo in his brain like Kitsune only gave

him enough brainwashing to be a lethal threat

without actually being lethal and my I have a

an interesting perspective from this kind of

going to current I cry kitsune's Motivations

on this now did she was the work that she did

on Leonardo just enough to make him evil Or is

her work fragile enough that if he does kill?

if he makes that move that his who he actually

is would come to the surface and destroy all

of her work. So did she leave it there on purpose?

His hesitation to kill? Does she want him to

experience this somehow and but then or is it

that it's you know there's still him in there

and that they've got to crush it out of him or

wait for it to to go away before he can be a

totally useful tool. I'm not actually sure honestly

I'm not sure but we'll we'll find out So, let's

see. Where are we here? So she goes goes back

to Where's she going? She basically okay, she

says still he was right about one thing a leader

should concern herself with the future So you

have decided of a direction after all We then

we fast forward to two days later and We see

her going to all of these I assume gang members

low -level foot thugs. Yeah. Yeah, not even little

dragons Oh my god, as soon as I read this, all

I can hear is James Avery in my head. I need

only two of you, and so we will conduct one final

test to determine who will move forward. All

I can think of is... What kind of a test? Well,

before that, what Shredder says, he's like, how

would you like to get even with the turtles who

so badly humiliated you? And they all just kind

of cheer up, and he goes... Ah, but I only need

two of you. And we see a human bebop. What kind

of test? We see a human bebop and... The last

one's standing stay. That looks like a broken

pool cue in her hand. It is room for some quick

expat. I don't remember what his line is a quick

expansion. There's only one spot Yeah And then

that's And then this was continued in in TMNT

25 which we had talked about So it ends with

let us begin You know overall with Karai's story.

I love it. Yeah, I think it's great I mean we

finally understand where she's coming from because

like I said earlier We don't have You know we

usually don't see a lot of her in the main ongoing

because it's one of those things where It we

just don't see And we needed to know this information

is to show how hard she worked what she had to

do to rebuild to take back the foot clan to bring

it back to what she thinks it should be This

is all important stuff Very very much. So overall

the writing was great I mean and this one of

the coolest things about the the ongoing is that

you can have Waltz and Eastman writing well Waltz

does most of the writing, I assume. Yeah, I think

Eastman's there as a token, and they go to him

and say, hey, yeah, how's this sound? Yeah, great,

guys, do it. You can have Waltz doing all the

storytelling in the main ongoing, and yet the

feel of it, these microseries, all the ones we've

talked about, the turtles, the friends of the

turtles, the first villains one in this one,

they all continue with the same feel of the ongoing.

It doesn't take, like... I wasn't so much worried

about what these were going to be. I was more

so curious about them, as I said earlier, because

sometimes when different writers write the characters

that I've been reading, it's not that, like,

I really hate to do this, but take Kyle Higgins

writing Nightwing. He wrote Nightwing number

28 and 29, which is the final two issues of his

run. And then in Nightwing number 30, they go

to set up the next series called Grayson, where

he's basically the Nick Fury of the DC universe.

Those writers in that, they did a good job, but

it just didn't have the same feeling for me reading

them writing the character versus when Kyle wrote

the character. But here, in this, Almost any

of the IDW writers can come in and write these

characters. I think that's a testament to Bobby

Kerr now for keeping all this juggling together.

And I don't know if it's him alone or him and

other people who find these creative teams to

bring to them. To bring to the books. Absolutely.

So good on him for juggling all of this. Yeah,

very much so. So we get I have the one of the

alternate covers is Karai in a pose with her

sword And all the candles have been blown out

And it's got a green background on it And then

we get to the story that I think that you and

I are really gonna differ on when we come to

our opinions of it We get to Hun The most controversial

thing this book has done at any point The main

cover here is again done by Tyler Walpole. I

love it. That's a beautiful cover. That's a Yeah,

absolutely beautiful cover so we get to hon and

He says I guess I've been doing some bad things,

but I'm not a bad guy. I just had demons You

know anyway, I'm Arnold and I'm an alcoholic

So we see We see his his past here a little bit

his monologue says it goes back to when I was

a kid for a while there i was pretty wild but

then i met a girl got married she straightened

me out um and we see his his wife um which this

is really strange like i see now how this happened

but this is just really really strange they um

what i assume is his wife and who is the other

chick there her reflection That's okay. That's

all right. It's a mirror. Duh You know she shaves

his head Or she cuts his hair at least Down a

little bit, and then they dye it black well I

think it's dyed blonde and that the the black

is his natural color That's my interpretation

of it that he was well and crazy and made his

hair bleached All right So we get that He says

we even had a kid a boy things were good Till

they weren't my wife got sick and it hit me hard.

So I started hitting the bottle and even harder

lost my job Wasn't an easy time for me and my

boy we had some disagreements say that again

That's the understatement of the entire series

of this of this comic book You know, so he last

month he hit bottom knew he had to turn around

He says see my boy landed himself in the hospital

I still don't know how but he was hurt bad and

how was I supposed to be there be strong for

him? When I couldn't even be strong for myself

So we see that Arnie goes to this bar called

the Cicara Bray and The owner of it who apparently

is Angel's father She says he says Angel told

me about your your boy. Come on. Let me get you

a drink Again the art love the art in this This

is my of the three books. This is my least favorite

art, but it's still good What don't you like

about it um I think as faces Tilt turn lean in

and out the the anatomy looks a little funky.

It's a hard thing to do. It's you know it's one

of the the things that Happens when you try to

draw people from all these different angles if

you're if you're not a savant at it it ends up

looking funny But like I said with you know a

lot of this They're drawing better than I can

so I can't really complain I'm not allowed to

So let's see, so he goes into the bar they they

talk about You know who sliced up Casey and the

other guy says kids today no respect back in

the day no one would mess with your you or yours

uh no one would have messed with hun and as soon

as i saw him like wait what this miserable abusive

drunk was hun seriously like that was shocking

to me see you i i'm assuming you watched the

2002 or 2003 series more than I did. I watched

it a while, but what do you think about this

direction that they have taken Casey Jones's

dad or the Hun? I'm I'm kind of glad because

up until now I would have been fine if Raph slit

his throat. Honestly, if Raph killed him, I know

the turtles don't kill, but if Raphson's, you

know, basically beat him bloody and unconscious

and slid his throat with a sigh. I would have

been fine with it because Arnold Jones wasn't

a character. Like, I felt some sympathy for him

when he's talking about his wife and that he

lost her and he hit bottom, but if you sit there

and abuse your kid because you can't deal with

your own life, you're a fucked up scumbag that

does not need the time of day from anybody. And

now that they're delving into and crafting this

past for him, I still don't like the character.

He's a horrible deadbeat dad who abused his kid.

That's completely wrong and should never fucking

happen, but it's one of those things where I'm

glad they just don't have Casey and Raph going

back every time something happens and Raph beating

him up every single time. I so I like that I

kind of like that the direct that they're taking

him in a direction without actually You know

Just having him sit there Yeah, I can't think

that that Arnold Jones Casey Jones's dad has

been in any other incarnation of the story to

my I mention his parents At some point in one

of the other series but I don't I honestly don't

remember I can share this with our listeners

the kid the character Casey Jones was introduced

early in the Mirage run as Their thought was

what if violence on television violence and movies

actually did affect somebody to do something

and so In the book, he's introduced to somebody

who's watching these dirty, hairy movies like,

yes, come back, get him. He deserves a beat down.

So when he goes out on the street, he's just

murderously beating criminals because he's addicted

to the violence. And that's how he kind of manifests

it. You know, that total irrational fear of violence

affecting people on TV, they wanted to toy with

that. That's how Casey was conceived. And that's

obviously not what he is in this book or in other.

incarnations but I wish I know Casey's got a

lot of problems because of his dad I understand

that and because of losing his mom I just I'm

hoping in the current timeline you know where

we are currently in issues 34 through 36 I'm

hoping that they come around to To make it not

necessarily give Casey all the good funny lines

But make him a little bit more like I want to

see Casey's development grow and obviously they

will do that when they when they can But I want

to see him get pat like Casey is the guy who?

The term nice guys finish last really do it does

apply to because he's always getting crapped

on I Don't know what I Casey's I think getting

kind of neglected Lately we haven't seen him

in the mask and yeah, and again I hate comparing

it always to the Mirage run, but it's fresh in

my mind He eventually stops putting the mask

on and he just turns into a dad And but you know

we I think we really need to let Casey Jones

be the vigilante Casey Jones for a while and

I Don't they haven't brought him there yet Yeah,

no they haven't but I'm sure they and he's still

a kid. He's not an adult like he's yeah, and

and so many of the other series Yeah, that's

true. Well. I mean he's a kid in the 2012 cartoon

everybody's a kid in 2012 cartoon Okay, well

I'm sorry you don't like the direction of it,

but I mean I mean he is a you know when he's

introduced in season two He is a you know hard

-nosed. You know yeah fight everybody get you

know I mean and he is Because they're gonna eventually

because they they created this whole Which is

so weird to me. They created this whole love

triangle between him April and does April know

that love triangle exists because I don't think

she does from I'm not sure So we get So we get

this this bar scene and he He does good, he refuses

the drink, turns down the drink, that's amazing.

And he says, took everything I had to get out

of there and not take that drink. It's like we

always say in here, old friends can be the most

dangerous people to hang out with. But you gotta

watch out for new friends too. You need to come

with me. You, you're one of those freaks who

got my kid knifed up. Now without boozing me,

I'm a pretty reasonable guy, but some creeps

just push your buttons. I didn't knife him up,

but you may not be as lucky if you don't do as

I say. This is tuning evil Leonardo threatening

him. Yeah, this is Leo. Damn abomination stay

down old man Let's not pretend you have any fight

left in you and to think you used to be hon How

does Leonardo know who hon is he's just reciting

that he has no clue. I Don't well there they

told him to go get this guy. I don't think he

has any clue who he is Right personally anyway,

or hit in his own brain. He doesn't know So we

get back to Leo and shredder They wake him up

shredder says, you know, he's like, huh was that

who the hell are you? Someone was about to change

your life And the art and I love the art of this

page this is nice the backgrounds Let's see So

Shredder tells him about getting his son like

a fish well He doesn't tell him that he did it

But he's he he knows about him and he's trying

to talk him into being a true father Which is

something I don't know if he can actually do

Shredder says but once you Ran that gang, you

kept them in line. I want you to do that again.

Reclaim your manhood, your honor. Be an example

for your son. Become UN again. I'm not, I can't,

I'm not that guy anymore. No. But could you be?

So there's this whole thing and... I'm not sure

what to think of this because they give him a

vial of mutagen. Why do they give him a vial

of mutagen? It makes him big and strong again.

Oh, that's right. There's a weird plot device.

Element to what that mutagen is sometimes it

turns you into a mutant turtle sometimes it heals

you sometimes it turns you into big hulking freak

It looks like he's on stairs. Yeah, so it's it's

it's weird, but you know I'll buy it I'll nod

and you know they're scientists. They know what

they're doing surely So he says He got back in

shape got himself spruced up Hey, you gotta look

the part, right? And then there it was, my first

day on the job. Who knew if I still had it in

me? My hands were clammy. Now is when we make

our move, Angel. The Savat, the Savat won't see

us coming. No, we're not getting into a gang

war. That's not who the dragons are anymore.

And then... The other character says let's put

it to a vote and she's like I'm in charge here.

Oh I or I agree there ain't they're in voting

Who the hell but that part about you being in

charge? Nah, I Don't see it that way So and in

this image in the I don't know if it's the way

he's drawn. He still looks like a fat slob Yeah

It must be the angle because if you look at it,

he's kind of he's got his left knee bent And

he's kind of slouching It's it's the upward angle

that they're showing us that when you do that

It's they've got to be bigger at the bottom than

they are at the top So he doesn't get narrower

in the waist like our brain says he should so

he's reading as Chubby and round to us But he

still looks massive compared to everybody else

and that's oh absolutely He's a good three or

four heads taller than everybody else in the

room in the next page I Mean and this fight scene

I love you know I know you said this is your

least favorite art But I love this fight scene

this fight scene is amazing Oh least favorite

doesn't mean bad because they're still pretty

good pretty good stuff happening in this I Mean

this fight scene basically It's basically Christmas

-like colors because there's a lot of green on

the bottom and a lot of red on the top. A little

less festive than that. Well, the fight actually

is not festive, but it's... So we get to, you

know, after the fight... He says now your old

man and I go back a long ways and you're Casey's

friend better that they don't hear about this

Disagreement you sign off on this or I twist

your head off your shoulders got me Yeah, I got

you. Good girl. Now as for the rest of you You

guys figure out who your leader is yet To the

unconscious dudes on the floor, yeah Yeah He

doesn't look like he has a gut in that image.

Nope. Not much of one anyway. It's that solid

sumo gut. God, Hunter's a sumo wrestler. Oh my

God. That would be crazy. So we get to the next

page. He says, uh, doors were opening for me.

Turns out my job brought me back in touch with

some old colleagues. And I just like it says

in step eight, I made amends. My boss was thrilled

with me. I felt great to have a purpose again.

Yeah, he basically trashed arrival of shredders

here. And he basically went out and got himself

a new suit. Got a gift for Casey. Shows up. How

you doing, Case? Been to many hospital rooms,

haven't we? Yeah, we have. So hey, listen, I

wanted you to know, I quit drinking and I got

a job. He just does not look convinced at all.

No. And Casey even says you traded the sauce

for the juice, huh? So he brings this gift for

Casey we don't know what it is and You know he

basically wants them to team up he wants Casey

to come Come to the dark side had to make that

body He says he's gonna get back to work When

you're up on your feet again, maybe we can talk

about you maybe coming on board with me. No stopping

the Jones boys now and we see the gift is his

hockey mask. Which I thought Angel brings him

later. Yeah. Oh, this must be a new one. The

one that she brings him is his actual old one.

Right. Okay. Right. I wonder if that was an editorial.

Oops. We'll have to ask. We'll have to ask Bobby

next time. Next time, yeah And he goes on to

say I ain't saying I don't think about having

a drink now and then But then I think about my

job and how good I am as he's smashing some savannas

through a chimney Chimneys don't last too long

when hon is around I I Don't know how I feel

about him using a hockey stick though Not saying

that I don't think that the savantin just need

to be beaten with a stick I just don't know about

hon using sports equipment. That's a little strange

to me because there's always been Casey's thing

Maybe he found it on the roof. That doesn't make

any sense. I don't even know why that needed

to be there No, I don't either. I don't know

where the hell he got the thing It's it's happening

out of context there. Yeah So we get back to

the AA meeting he says Maybe I'll have a good

soda instead. So this is my one -month ship and

I'm proud to have it one day at a time clap clap

clap The alternate cover that I have in the trade

here is by Mike Henderson It's of Hun with a

dragon shadow on the wall. Oh my god That is

an awesome cover. That would have been nice too.

I tell ya, I was against this decision when I

found out that Casey's dad was Hun. I did not

agree with it. But it's growing on me. I guess

I was against it because I hate it when books

like this or other series, things like that,

they start to tie everything together too tightly.

Like, okay, the Star Wars galaxy, it's... It's

nearly infinite, it's huge, you can go anywhere,

but the same, like, ten people know each other,

and that bounty hunter in the background of episode

one is the same bounty hunter who does something

in a continuing universe book that's ridiculously

important to the New Republic. Like, I hate that

kind of knot tying, but this one, I'm coming...

I'm coming around to it, just because it... it's

creating more drama. It's creating more drama

for the Jones boys, and it's really what it's

doing is like I said earlier It's giving Casey's

dad Character mm -hmm because before this when

we first started doing these episodes on the

pull bag I don't I know me personally I didn't

give a crap about Casey's dad He was just a deadbeat

dad who be his kid who needed to get beat up

by by Raph and splinter And now that they're

giving him character, they're giving me things

that I want to slake. I think it's amazing that,

that they turned him into hon or that he, what

used to be home and they turned him into that

again. And it just creates all this tension and

it creates conflict, which is good because there's

only so many times like this whole series. And

we've said this before, it's a very. tied together

Not necessarily a strict continuity, but fully

It's a whole continuous story on multiple levels.

You've got the shredder angle with splinter and

the turtles You've got the crank with with with

shredder and and Takeshi and all this you've

got kitsune and her whole thing You've got the

rat king. You've got now you've got hun You know,

you've got all of these connecting storylines

that Actually do matter they don't just seem

like one -off They don't seem like one -off episode

like villain of the week type of yeah, and I'm

not at all thankful for that I don't I don't

like that in an ongoing series. I would like

that running parallel to this, but I I'm the

only disappointing part is that they can't answer

every question at the same time. They've got

a focus I'm sure at some point we're gonna go

back to neutrino. I'm sure at some point we're

gonna go back to dimension X I'm sure at some

point we're gonna actually get to see the technodrome

and and and you know, I want all of that right

now, but you've gotta I Just hope that it goes

on forever and we actually get these questions

answered I don't want this book to end in 13

issues and we never get to see some of these

things I'm looking forward to seeing. I don't

think I've ever wanted a book to continue going

more than this. Maybe Ultimate Spider -Man, but

this one is definitely up there. Yeah, no, we

need to break that streak. We need to get to

issue 75, issue 100, issue 150. Oh, God, that

would be so great. And, well, like the IDW thing,

they always like to renumber their books, so

I'm hoping that that doesn't happen either. No,

well, no, I haven't seen anything from IDW that

has been renumbered yet. Ghostbusters renumbered,

Star Trek renumbered. Did it? Okay. Yeah, well,

the IDW books that I have read end up renumbering.

And it's because, you know, when you get to issue

30 -something, the new readers look at that and

go, ooh, backstory, I don't want to have to,

and then so they renumber it to make it look

like it's easier to jump on. Right. I just think

they need to say a new story arc starts here

and that that's good. Then keep me keep me going

to my continuity Right, absolutely. So overall

I love the Hun story I think it like I said already

Finally, we get something for Casey's dad to

do instead of just being there The art was really

cool. It was a little It was a little off -kilter

in some places. Like I said the we talked about

the different angle of how you know we see him

bulk up and then we see him out in the street

and the angle of looking up at him it just it's

a little strange but um because it makes him

look like a fat slob still but uh overall i really

enjoyed hon uh now we get to the musical styles

i don't think i realized that till i was an adult

oh wait a minute they're naming themselves after

i get it So we get Bebop and Rocksteady. How

do you feel about these characters? I mean, I

don't know the pacing at which you read these

series, but as soon as you got the word that

Bebop and Rocksteady were coming to the IDW universe,

what was your first impression? I found it interesting.

They basically took the animated series origin.

like I mentioned earlier in the cry book. It's

literally, it's not really word for word, but

it's almost word for word what James Avery Schroeder

said in 1987. I mean, you know, they, they pick

them out of the final two and she, she goes and

mutates them behind Schroeder's back, which is

fine because it eventually works out. And I love

it. They kept the design. They didn't try to

mess with the design at all. I mean, These look

like modern day, you know, if you look at this

cover by Tyler Walpole, they look like modern

day versions of the 87 characters. I was afraid

only because that cartoon is so silly compared

to anything modern about what they were going

to do with those characters and how they were

going to portray them. But I don't know before,

I guess we could we'll discuss it after. We go

through the issue, I think. Ben Bates, though.

And he did the second story arc, right? Yeah.

Kind of that minyola. Because this doesn't look

like that minyola -esque type drawing that I

remember from that. There's not a lot of black,

I guess. Yeah. Well, you go over the first page.

I'm going to look for one of those in the series

behind me here. Yeah. So we get the first page

here. And... Bebop is getting punched And they're

they're basically fighting all these guys Oh

Yeah, Bebop is is getting punched and Rock City

says you can't do this you're out of the game

now stay down You guys are lucky, I'm letting

you off easy, and just a suggestion, try losing

those stupid gang names. They're music styles,

don't anybody care about music. He only listens

to Top 40 Beelop, he ain't taking us back. Great,

this is just great, now what do we do? Head home,

I guess? I mean, these guys got beat the crap

out of. I really did. And the first page is great

art. It really is. It's a completely different

art style, but it so works with what the universe

has set up already. And it fits the characterization

of this story. I think out of the four microseries

we're doing today, this one is the most different

in tone, and the art fits that. Perfectly. More

frenetic, more energetic. Yeah. More humorous,

I think, too. Very much so, yeah. So, they go

back to their house. House. Okay, well... Squalid,

collapsing apartment building. Hole in the wall,

yeah. We got nothing no gang no power. We ain't

even got a no freaking food Hey, it's cool. What

do you say we go score some cash? We'll stick

up some chump or jack that cash or jack the cash

machine like we was talking No, I am sick of

this And you know bebop is getting really like

he he wants to I'm gonna make the clerk's reference

again he wants to improve his station in life

um which is very very interesting uh so they

go back to let's see we're seeing um uh let's

see we gotta find some way of getting out of

this hole we're in we can't screw up no more

Find another gang and we'll do well. We'll do

better. We'll be smart from now on. It's a new

rock stadium I I like the tone that they're taking

the characters or they're making them these well

just like they were bumbling idiots who just

want to belong and And have no clue how to do

things the right way not even they can't even

do bad the right way So they end up at a bar

and someone of their drinking buddies is saying

hey I know a guy who knows the guy who knows

about this foot clan thing and they're the hottest

thing in town maybe you guys ought to check that

out and They see it as their opportunity To get

in with somebody Yep Yep, exactly so They go

to So they get so let's see here Yeah, so So

they yes, they go to check out the full clan

we have Karai here I'm only looking for the bravest

and the strongest among you Volunteers for this

special unit will be taking a quantum leap in

status if you are content them bottom of the

foot clan content with being inferior and continue

to waste your life, but if you want more for

yourself Then join me those to prove themselves

worthy will be one day become the ultimate foot

soldiers I offer you a chance to become mutants

and Bebop and rocks to be mop the floor with

everybody first of all They are like ten times

the size of half these guys as humans You know

I mean they're you know bulked up and beefy and

everything else so So let's see here I The the

panel where everybody's defeated and they're

just standing there covered in blood with these

giant grins on their faces I had blood and broken

and Torn skin and they're just happy to be a

part of it. It's like so dumb and ignorant that

this is the best time of their life right here.

Yeah, and then we get to their selection because

they are the last two standing, so they get to

become mutants. And Rocksteady says, I want to

be a dinosaur. I wonder if they got that. Rhinosaurus,

nice. That's not one. Rhinosaurus. Oh my god,

you can tell his his intelligence quotient just

by that right there So They they pick it up They

you know, they they pick their their animals

they get shocked as all hell and and and then

the reveal of their fully mutated selves. This

is a gorgeous, gorgeous page. It's a two -page

spread with the two of them, and it's my favorite

Rocksteady and Bebop illustration style I think

I've ever seen. My favorite part are the folds

of skin, the plates over his shoulders. I really

like that look because real rhinos have that

on their forelegs. And the red eyes the those

frenetic lines for the fur on bebop. Yeah That

yeah, that's amazing So we get the reveal and

Surprisingly as I said earlier with the with

the with the first cover of the of the of the

issue here surprisingly in this Where it says

Bebop and Rocksteady that that image of them

above where she says you will be reborn as mutants

It looks so much like 1987 It's such a good thing

and they kind of I don't know they kind of act

like it Like they did then but they're not as

like they screw up in this. Let's let's not you

know beat around the bush about that they do

screw up but Don't think they're as dim -witted

as the 87 ones were portrayed as but I still

love it because it's it's almost like You know

coming back to that those characters, you know

30 years Yeah, you know, they're they're different

in a particular way that I'll bring up when we

get to that page Mm -hmm in a few moments, but

yeah, there's they're a different kind of fumbling

now Yeah Very much so uh... so let's see here

uh... we get to some russia or traffic here i'll

be meeting with zhang fei tong the boss of the

ghost boys in a tri gang in china town you two

are there to accompany me your presence will

make it apparent the might of the foot clan the

might of the foot clan i like that The Zang guy

you want we should rough him up a little let

him know who's boss around here. She will do

no such thing and This basically turns into a

nightmare She should have Nick Kari should have

never brought them to this place because You

know Like I said before bebop and rocksteady

they are Just They they're just bumbling I mean

they do their job well, but But they go and insult

the ghost boys and an all -out war breaks out

between the two The panel that I think is telling

of everything that we'll see from bebop and rocksteady

from here out is on the page where All right,

you two, you stand here, don't do anything, just

look tough. And Karai and the boss go into the

other room. So now it's just the henchmen are

in the room, staring each other down. Bebop walks

up to one of them, says, hey, nice pajamas, but

what's that on your shirt? And he points down,

the guy looks down, and then he does the thing

where you flick the nose, only there's so much

power and strength behind him that he ends up

taking his nose off, breaking his nose. I don't

think that was intentional on Bebop's hap - I

think he thinks it's funny and he's glad that

he did it once it's happened, but the chaos that

ensues after they start kind of bouncing off

of each other to the point where the whole room

gets destroyed and everybody's dead except for

Bebop and Rocksteady is that they are so incredibly

powerful now that every little movement that

they do will - will tear things apart, and that's

the kind of chaos that they're going to be surrounded

with, and it's the blunt instrument that they've

become. These are the two guys you put in the

room when you don't care what happens, and they'll

take care of it. Because that is indeed what

happens. Rocksteady Socks, one of the guys who

confronts him, why'd you just break his nose?

You're a freak for that. Bam! Launches him into

the air and out the window. It's entertaining,

because... of their own commentary of, were we

supposed to do that? Doesn't matter, it's fun

now. Yeah, it's absolute fun. And so Karai and

the gang leader come out. What the hell was that?

Bebop goes after Bebop goes after the both of

the female boss and They're like rocks days like

I got an idea we'll cut her off with the pass

So he hangs an immediate left This entire building

is it like like one of those mazes you see in

Chinese food restaurants Like you know the kitty

menu mazes And it'd be Bob's like Rocksteady

you're a genius as he is going through one two

three four walls trying to cut her off Let's

see so they get to her He says you missed her

she's right there you bozo The ghost boys will

never bow to trash first you ruin the meeting

now you insult the might of the foot He doesn't

know what it means. He's just happy to say it

And he gets like this wicked Gash in his shoulder,

which he doesn't seem to mind Yeah, no doesn't

seem to mind too much and then This is the downfall

of Bebop and Rocksteady, really, where I see

this in the series, because Bebop's like, what

are you doing? Your horn almost poked my eye

out, you jerk. Who you calling a jerk, you gumball?

I would have had her if you wasn't in my way.

And they start fighting with each other, more

so than getting the gang leader, and she escapes

and gets to more of her gang members, and they

start shooting them. It's like hey that tickled

my favorite panel in the whole book Yeah If that

tickles Like you see this he's got bullet holes

in his back is you can see the blood coming out

of his Are you seriously telling me that he cannot

feel that really? I think it's another sign of

how powerful these two guys have become. And

what I like that they're doing by Hey That Tickles

and some more stuff that happens later is they've

turned Bebop and Rocksteady into legitimate threats,

which they haven't ever been before. And I like

that. They are still clowns. They're still numbskulls,

but they're legitimate threats. They can level

a building. Without too much effort and laugh

about it. I think that's they've turned them

into there They're maybe not interesting characters,

but they are a whole lot of fun now. Oh absolutely

Absolutely, so let's see we get to The female

leader escapes the police are already there I

love these. These two are amazing. The cops,

what should we do now, Bebop? Maybe we pretend

to be regular warthog and rhinosaurus, and they'll

just let us go. What's that sound? Wait, how

many walls did we break down? There was the first

one, then there was... crash. The entire building

gets destroyed. Bebop comes out they both come

out, but Bebop comes out eat this suckers God

I love these guys I really do oh Man we screwed

up Bebop Karai was in there. I think we just

killed Karai The ghost guys started it none of

this would have happened if they hadn't started

it Also these Chinatown buildings, they're not

just made of good. I think they're made in China

Bebop cries dead and we're probably also killed

whatever deal they were trying to make with the

ghost guys. We screwed up. We screwed up again

You're right. Treader is gonna kick us out of

the gang for sure or worse What could be worse

than getting kicked out? Really? So you had to

ask that? Seriously? And of course Bebop says

he'll kill us! Kill us? We're super strong. We

could probably take him easy. We'll pound him

into letting us work for him. These guys are...

Amazing they really really are and the foot clans

show up and we have I Cannot believe who's on

the art in this is it Duncan Ben Bates I think

yeah, Ben Bates Ben Bates some Made spider -man

appear in this book with whip whip whip Cuz that's

the sound effect throwing stars make when they

hit Bebop And then go you guys gonna know wrong

yes We was just doing our job the ghost boys

started the fight and then Karai ran away Yeah,

she said nobody understands me and so on And

of course Karai shows up she's not dead And there

just look look at that fail there just a little

a Rhino and a warthog should not look that happy

like seriously That's awesome She says you two

have dishonored the foot clan and brought me

shame I knew that you were stupid, but this this

time it's it's time to cut my losses Goodbye

bebop and rocksteady The foot ninjas deploy their

Manriki Gusari try to tie them down But it's

Bebop and Rock City who just leveled a building

and they start just destroying everything and

Here again, we as this fight goes on they're

getting stabbed Ninja stars thrown at them. There

are swords sticking out of their bodies Everywhere

and they just don't seem to mind at all No, and

I I it it it's done in a cartoony way You know,

we're not meant, I don't know if this is supposed

to be figurative or literal, but either way,

it's showing us how dangerous they are, and how

hard they will be for the turtles to stop. Oh,

absolutely. Like, I cannot wait to see a fight

with them and the turtles. Yeah, I mean, besides

the one that we got in that one, because they're

on the way to retreating when they show up, and

I think that first two -on -four is going to

be great. Yeah, and you know what you know what

I you know where I want to see this battle take

place And I don't know if they'll do this. I

don't think they will I would love to see them

reenact the battle at the zoo And have them fool

them into getting locked into the cages, but

see this thing I don't know if this version of

Bebop and Rocksteady Like in the cartoon they

couldn't break out of the cages But I don't know

if this, I mean, they just, like you said, they

just leveled a freaking building. They can walk

through the bars. Yeah. So I'm not sure, but

I really want them to recreate that scene at

the zoo and have them trapped in the cages and

have to have the foot robots come up and pull

them underground. Oh God, that would be so amazing.

That really, really would. Bobby, get on that.

Oh my God. This is so awesome. So after they

level the foot, Korai decides to step in and

remind them that, though they're powerful and

just dispatched a bunch of disposable foot ninjas,

that she is still capable of destroying them.

What is she? She takes a clip from one of his

guns, shoves it in his mouth to keep his mouth

open, and then sticks a dagger down his throat

and says, basically says, move and I'll kill

you. And she goes on to say defeating foot soldiers

is one thing but to me you are vulnerable idiots

whom I have no problem killing Violence destruction.

I see now that this is all you are good for today

I'm letting you live but never forget your lives

now belong to the foot Rocksteady apologizes

You know, she says that Zhang Feitong was an

arrogant fool, and the Ghost Boys' demise was

inevitable, and Bebop's like, I think that means

we're still in. Oh my god. And they haven't bothered

to remove any of the things sticking out of them.

No and wonderful continuity as well because that

axe stays in his right arm for a very long time

Yeah, yeah So We go to later that night and They

are singing their own song about themselves These

guys are just amazing They really, really are.

I loved Roxadean. Like, I wasn't sure what they

were gonna do with him, but I love what they

did with him. Yeah, this was the moment where

I stopped being so worried about what IDW was

going to do with any of the characters that show

up that after this, anything they could do, I

will probably love. And so I chilled out. worrying

about this. They could bring Venus to Milo into

this book and it would probably be cool. I hope

they don't. You know, I bet you we should ask

Bobby if they have rights to her. Do not jinx.

No, don't even. Don't even. The last part of

this, the last few seconds of this podcast, do

not count. Nobody listen to what Joe just said.

Are you crazy? You're gonna give them ideas?

I don't think they will. I don't think they'd

be that silly. I think One, they probably don't

have the rights to the character. Two, I don't

think anybody as a creator would, on this book

as a creator in the group, would ever think that

was a good idea. Let's hope not. Let's really,

really hope not. Oh my god. Can you just imagine

the can of worms you just opened? Hate mail.

Man alright, so we get to the final story here,

and it is the shredder the art is done by Tyler

Walpole and this cover here was shredder sitting

in his Spider chair wait one two three if not,

it's four legs. It's can't be a spider. Oh wait

It's got more underneath, so maybe it's a spy

spider bat it kind of It looks to me at first

when I looked at this cover I thought it was

like a turtle shell for some odd reason. I really

did the back of his chair It was just like a

first glance kind of thing But you see the intricacy

in the art on that cover with the with the chair

back all the faces in the in the oh man that

is amazing and And seeing him here. Oh, I like

I wish this was the art for him the time this

glossy kind of heavy shot this reminds me of

movie shredder not the new movie shredder the

original movie shredder we don't want to talk

about new movie shredder I don't think not yet

people have previewed it heard from people who

have previewed it and said it's actually pretty

good but I don't know those people so I don't

trust them yet Why don't you synopsize this one?

All right. Well shoot. It's the one that I didn't

actually preview Curse you well, so I don't know

what's going on here There's a it's a the the

foot clan guys hun karai kitsune some business

guy and shredder at a Quarterly meeting and they're

discussing how good things are looking for the

foot clan. They're the turtles have disappeared.

They're making bank They're quieting down the

other gangs. They have brute force, but shredder

at this point still doesn't know about bebop

and rocksteady Right. Yeah meetings adjourned

and Somebody makes a passing joke at at shredders

Immortality or coming back from the dead and

he changes the subject sends everybody out of

the room Kitsune of course being who she is stays

and says how come every time somebody brings

that up you try to end the conversation and he

ends the conversation again walks away Or tries

to she follows him and and asks so, you know,

you were gone for Three hundred years you're

in the same body. It's physically the same you

but where did your soul go? And he says well,

let me tell you Yeah, this this one to me is

a little strange It's yeah, it definitely this

is Dan Duncan doing the art. So we're kind of

going back to Story arc. Yeah, it's not the art

that is strange. It's the story. Yeah We see

shredder falling Landing in water the colors

are strange here. He's not wearing his mask But

this so this must be immediately after he died

and what I interpret where he's at he's in Japanese

land of the dead and and maybe it's not exactly

heaven hell or wherever they go, but it's some

weird limbo He is met by this child Thing either

wearing a mask or it's a demon face with the

the bottom tusks And he says, what am I doing

here? He's like, that's the big question, isn't

it? This place is for the dead. Everyone else

here is a permanent resident, but not you. You're

just passing through in between life and death.

He says, do you think you can take my soul? Oh

no, that's not how it works. We can't take your

soul, but you can give it to us. He departs and

leaves and he sees a castle in the distance and

decides if there's a leader in this land, that's

where I'm going to head. I'm going to go find

the leader and see what's going on here. Figure

out what's going on here. And knowing the shredder,

even though he hasn't said it yet, I think he's

going to conquer this place. In fact, he does

say it. The child's warning gave me no pause.

This was just another realm to conquer while

he's waiting to go back to Earth. Right. Exactly.

Passing. Shadow -eyed people who were just reflections

of them of their former selves. Nobody's really

bothering him. He passes an army that he ignores

So as not to attract attention the shadow eyes

panel here where he says It's it's a horrifying

fate one that awaits every man and woman on this

earth I vowed it would not be mine that panel

the guy in the background Hung Lao from Mortal

Kombat. Well any time you put one of those those

hats on somebody it Rice straw hats it looks

like that So he passes all these armies by and

He let's see he says most warriors will follow

a certain path and each path has its own weaknesses

discover the weaknesses Strike fast and you can

prevail Some fight to the ground, exposing the

face to easy attack. Some only work in close

quarters, allowing opponents to simply step back

and strike. And some, formalists, too accustomed

to rules and regulations, are easily surprised.

That headbutt is, oh my god. It looks like the

way Dan Duncan did the art here, it - It looks

like they're a two -headed person. The way their

foreheads are on that bottom right -hand panel,

it just... Oh yeah, the energy between them is

so forceful that the colors combine. So Shredder's

trying to gather this army, I think I'm interpreting

as that, to go take over this castle. Yeah, and

I think he's but what does he say here? You can

fight me Maybe even defeat me and then it will

be over and you'll be left here where I found

you Maybe with no enemy with no enemy with no

battle or you can follow me and battle an army

And when I arrived here, they told me that this

place was a place of peace. Do you feel peaceful?

Sounds like they're going to go attack the castle

which they do You know as I'm looking through

this I'm really seeing where All the red comes

from for him because there's some red backgrounds

and Obviously, he does have his little scarf

snuggie thing there He says he asked them you

know he says He asked them do you feel peaceful

and They go and we get to the castle and we see

a demon. Every time I see samurai armor with

large people in them, like this guy that he's

facing. Oh yeah, the king at the end. Yeah. Every

time I see that samurai armor, I will forever

think of Turtles 3. And them in the samurai armor,

in the guards armor. I really need to watch that

movie again. I haven't I don't think I've watched

it since I was 13 14 years old. I have it on

blu -ray bought it but So he's fighting the king

And he basically doesn't really fight him too

much I mean he fights him but he he says he basically

lets him wear himself out Certain that I could

keep him down certain so certain I would defeat

you that I would rule forever and now do it and

man that's that image of him killing the king

is amazing hmm oh I'm getting what's happening

here he throws the king down at the feet of his

Demon army the the monstrous people that his

army was fighting and the the child appears with

the demon mask and Takes the the helmet off the

the king and it's old urokosaki Who's not we

haven't seen old urokosaki yet, but shredder

recognizes it as himself The child says thank

you for killing the king Let me tell you what

the future holds. You will lead armies, you will

conquer the world, and then destroy it. And yes,

Oroko Saki, you will even conquer the afterlife,

but time does not travel in a straight line,

not here. So one day, and so someday today, you

will encounter the one person whose thirst for

power equals your own, and it's you. Yep. You

know what this reminds me of now that I see this

reveal again, I know this is gonna be bad, but

Reminds me of the Power Rangers Dino Thunder

episode where Tommy had to fight all his previous

versions to be able to come back to life Because

there was a part in Dino Thunder where Jason

because Jason David Frank came back for that

series there was a part of it where when he got

his his dino gym which was the gimmick for that

series the the power source for that series it

was the power of invisibility one of the villains

did something and it made him invisible all the

time and he just had his ranger body and he did

the voiceover because jason david frank at that

time was off doing something else i guess but

he still did the voiceover um so he wasn't in

the show but he was because they kept saying

oh he's in a coma or whatever else and in this

in this coma dream we see him fighting The Green

Ranger the White Ranger the Red Ranger and all

that stuff that he was before So that's what

this kind of reminds me of the final page here

He goes on to say now that I know what's coming

I'll do it right I'll become stronger more powerful

and When the time comes I will conquer I will

gut my younger self like a fish. I will tear

him from limb Will burn him down and spread his

ashes across my kingdom. I will conquer as I

always do Only the irony of that whole thing

is we've already seen that he doesn't kill He

doesn't win against his older his younger self

and if he did win against his younger self What

would that do it that they would jack up the

timeline at least of his rebirth it? It's it'll

be impossible for him to do You know, these four

stories are all awesome in their own right. When

I read these, I, as I said earlier in this episode,

I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm very happy

that I have read them. I'm very happy with all

of the, like, there hasn't been a single thing

that, you know, when we've done these episodes,

there's been certain things about the art that

I've criticized, but the writing is solid throughout

all of it. Mean every single piece of writing

that's in this is completely solid and it's It's

just so it's a fun read. It's a very fun read

I Peter Laird has said in his letters columns

and volume for that He's not a fan of the story

arc and doesn't like that type of writing and

does it maybe it's just not his style And he's

not maybe he's not good at it or whatnot, but

this has been the tightest Continuity that we've

ever seen from a Ninja Turtles comic ever Weaves

in and out of itself comes around to remind you

what happened and and I did the writing is incredibly

solid if I am on the street homeless, lose my

house and job and have no money. This book and

Ultimate Spider -Man will be the two that I still

somehow read. Probably because I steal them because

I'm poor and homeless, but maybe I'd try to buy

them because I could not go on without reading

these books. They're just too well -read. I think

you would, you know, rise up and conquer being

homeless because you have your wife and your

child to think of first. Yeah, we would, of course.

Yeah, we would. It would never get that bad.

But if it did, I would find a way to read these

books. In the trade, we have a couple of the

other alternate covers. Number eight, the retail

incentive cover was an artist edition cover.

It's all pencils. with Shredder attacking one

of the monsters. And that was done by Dan Duncan.

The next one is Bebop and Rocksteady done by

Chris Uminga, I assume. Oh, that's so wrong.

Oh my god, have you seen this cover before? Which

one? The one by Chris Umenga? Oh, who's... Bebop

and Rocksteady. I gotta open that issue again.

They put the alternate covers inside the front.

Oh, they did! Tiny. They're very tiny. Oh, okay,

yeah. Oh, are they eating turtles? Yes! That's

so wrong! Oh, I love the word where they're at

the, oh, you can eat restaurant. Yep. I now have

to meet Ben Bates and ask for a sketch of those

two. The final ones I have is a black and white

of the Hun cover we saw earlier. And then there's

the four, kind of like put all together, but

it's a black and white versions of them, but

they're not sketched. They're the fully drawn

covers that we've seen throughout this. Right

the first covers, but they're all in like a black

and white kind of like a movie kind of thing

It looks really really cool But yeah, the one

where they're eating turtles. I was like that's

so wrong Yeah, overall I am so stoked now we've

got Cityfall is behind us It was amazing The

villains micros both of them were amazing With

City Fall behind us the next episode that we'll

be doing for Turtles is Northampton and This

is the one where when you sit down and read issues

29 through 32 33 32 forget which about I forget

yeah, it's yeah because 34 I believe is the introduction

of metalhead When you sit down to read these

when you go back to read them for the for the

podcast You're gonna see what I was talking about

with Raph and LLpex. I'm gonna make sure you

see that, because that I know is... I don't know

how far they're gonna take that, but... I wouldn't

surprise me if they're gonna take it as far as

Ninjara. Yeah, that's true. But yeah, I mean,

that's it for City... Overall, City Fall was

amazing. Wasn't sure what to think of it because

originally when I started getting these I started

getting them in single issues and I I Started

with 21 and I started read I never really read

them because I wanted to I still at that point

when I was getting them singly I Started with

with 21 and went to 29 and I stopped getting

the singles because then we went back and I got

the trades but When I started buying them, I

just bought them and put them on my shelf because

I had yet to read the first 20 issues. City Fall

is one of the best story arcs so far. Yep. I

still believe the first one holds its place in

my heart, but this was... Yeah, you know and

I think every story arc we read from here on

out from these guys is going to be the best story

arc Just because it's it's been such a consistent

book Yeah, absolutely like I love the metalhead

issue issue 34 And I think everybody everybody

calls that the metalhead issue But I don't think

I I think that nobody the character nobody had

got lost on a lot of people because they weren't

there for the Tales of the Turtles Mirage run.

I think that's an incredibly important character

that they've never dealt with and I'm excited

to see where they'll take her. Nobody and Renette

are not the same character, right? No. No. Nobody

in the original series was a cop who dressed

up in a black suit and was kind of a vigilante.

You know, what he couldn't get done as a cop,

he did that. And the Turtles helped him with

a case in one of the original Tales of the Turtles

books. And then he showed up again in volume

two and I think he died. But it was a really

cool character that I think deserved his own

comment. And it was a he in that. Wow, what was

that? It was a he in... That run, but I'm interested

in seeing now if angel will become a cop and

it's another opportunity to get some Well, I

know I'm hoping that it will lead to nobody getting

his own comic or her own comic now In a way because

I think it's an interesting character the only

reason why I said that The issue 34 is the metalhead

issues because Well, I mean his his targeting

grid is on the cover and then the all in the

cover B is is him and Angel and it really does

focus on you know, it's focusing on April and

Donnie and and and Casey and Angel and we then

get back to Harold's and All that stuff. But

yeah coming up next for the pull bag Next week.

I believe we're gonna have an origins episode

with star Joe's Chuck Um, after that, I'm not

sure what's going to be coming out. I believe,

uh, week three of August is more Transformers

stuff. Um, and then first week of September,

we're going to be doing Northampton. So that's

what's coming up from the pull bag. Is there

anything you would like to promote, sir? Uh,

there will be another Geek Stuff garage sale

in September, probably around September 25th.

Oh good, we'll have the Northampton episode is

coming out that first week, so you can definitely

pimp that out when we record that. Wonderful.

Now you can find us, find information on the

Geek Stuff Garage Sale at Facebook .com slash

Geek Stuff Garage Sale, all one word. You can

send us a like there and that's where the up

-to -date information gets posted. awesome what

what kind of drama is going on over at off the

cuff it's fake drama it's manufactured it's it's

it's some kind of like let's just bash the other

podcast and let them bash us back so we get we

get we have fun I don't know I'm staying out

of that I've never even listened to another podcast

so I don't know I it was one of those things

where I've been watching the comments on episode

51 or episode 52 and it's like hmm a podcast

war that could be interesting you know a podcast

war within the entire network and the funny thing

is about that we were going to and I've mentioned

this in other places beforehand I think I mentioned

it in the GCR five -year show on Geekcast Radio's

flagship podcast Originally the April Fool's

joke for 2014 and we always, Steve and I, we

always plan April Fool's stuff, but it usually

gets to like March 29th and we're like, we plan

the ideas, but we never execute them. And we're

like, ah, no, forget it. The idea for the April

1st, 2014 April Fool's Day joke for GeekCast

Radio Network was, That's it. We're done. We've

had five great years, but everybody hates everybody.

No one can record any podcast, no one can get

any work done. The network is going dark. We

never got it off the ground. Yeah, go check out

off the cuff. I love listening to you guys. It's

it's hilarious That last episode I mentioned

episode 52 I Seeing art get more and more for

hearing art get more and more frustrated. That

was awesome He Sean Z kept interrupting him like

you guys couldn't get the show started you guys

could get the show started so so it's like i'm

just going to drop in from the call uh... all

right uh... yet you can find you over at the

stuff that sale on face book uh... you find me

at t if you like on twitter uh... tfg to make

on face book uh... you know It's been like every

time you and I sit down to do this. It's it's

amazing It's just like there's so much to soak

in with this series and it's it's just mind -blowing.

So Alright, that's gonna do it for us. Make your

great escape into comics and we will catch you

next time We we may just to give people a little

I don't know how we're gonna do this, but I'm

thinking after a certain date in August, I might

be doing some sort of special with some sort

of anniversary documentary, so we'll have to

talk about that off air. Yeah, make your greatest

game in the comics and we will catch you next

time. Okay guys, where's the action? Afraid you

missed all the good stuff. Well, that's just

great. Of course you could get a shot of those

tubosos. Get back here and fight you little web

-footed creeps! Oh wow! Little bimbo, I'll make

you eat that camera! Where'd those guys come

from? Come on, we must get Splinter home. Let's

take the van. I'm not letting you guys out of

my sight until I've gotten the whole story. You'll

get it. Remember, the shredder's still loose.

And probably trucking around in that technoprome

again. You've just heard the latest episode of

The Pull Bag, the GCRN's comic review and discussion

podcast. There are several ways to get in touch

with us and leave feedback for the show. You

can visit the website geekcastradio .com. where

you can comment on the episode and all of our

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us on Twitter at geek cast radio So until next

time make your great escape into comics and unleash

the geek in you