IDW TMNT Issues 51 and 52 Review

Hey, this is Tom Waltz, IUW's Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtle Rider, and you have jumped inside

the pool bag. Hello, and welcome to episode 128

of The Pool Bag. I am your host, Steve Germanlake.

Joining me is Joe Reed. Hello. Hello. How are

you? I am well in my new recording studio. Yes,

you are, um... probably extremely tired from

moving. My ankles are killing me and I can't

hold a pencil like my hand goes numb from just

lifting all those but that'll go away that'll

go away eventually. I can still hold a comic

book. That's good. So we are here and we as I

mentioned back in episode 50 or when we did issue

50 of TMNT we're gonna start doing these two

at a time. for now at least for 51 52 and 53

and 54 because according to Mr. Mr. Wow that

was going to come out all kinds of wrong according

to Mr. Bobby Kernel 51 52 or a one and two part

story and 53 and 54 or a one and two part story

and 55 as a standalone and then 56 starts the

new arc so we are here to talk about TMNT issues

51 and 52 that cover It's not gonna last long.

The style? No. I've been staring at it, it's

growing on me. When I look at Leo's leg, that

front leg is rendered beautifully. The lighting

between Mikey's legs is beautiful, but yeah,

there's just little things that are definitely

different. Yeah, it's not the style that isn't

gonna stay long, it's the fact that the four

of them being together, it's not gonna stay.

We already know this. Really? Maybe there's something

I've forgotten. I know all at the end of 50 like

he walks away. Yeah, so he splits so that's where

this picks up The story so far shredder is dead

and everything has changed splinter and the turtles

now lead the foot clan Michelangelo Unable to

accept this new development has left his brothers

So we open up with Donnie first on a telephone

pole Kind of half hanging off of it almost That's

just crazy and we get him talking to the other

the other turtles and They're scoping out this

place and they see all these guys inside and

Raph and Leo are down on the ground here and

Raph we all know Raph's not gonna last in in

a stealth mission well raf is anything but still

right oh yeah no raf wait and he attacks the

uh the guards outside i don't need any of harold's

fancy schmancy spy gadgets to figure that out

damn it raf all right so I need to go back here

just for a minute because I didn't go over something

when I'd read the story so far. We do have somewhat

of a new creative team. Story is done by Eastman,

Kernow, and Waltz. Script is done by Tom Waltz.

The art in this series and this, I think these

two issues today, is done by Ken Gehring. I assume

that's how you say his name. I'm gonna guess

so. I assume. Colors, obviously, by the amazing

Rhonda Pattison. We need to get her on here.

Yes, we do. I need to start. That's my goal for

us this year, getting as many as the artists

as we can. Because we've already had the writers

and the editor. I mean, it'd be great to get

Eastman, obviously, but. Yeah, I could I think

I'm gonna meet him in September next year or

well this year now this year But I mean I'm gonna

be one of several thousand people he sees he's

not gonna care or remember or save a business

card or anything that But I am gonna have him

draw a cover on my Batman TMNT crossover number

one What do we think of Gehring's art style just

in these first few panels here? To be honest,

this is probably more like the Turtles we grew

up with than what we're looking at now, or than

we're seeing in the rest of the series. Right.

You know, they've got the big teeth are back,

the... The more or less football shaped heads

the uniform bandanas that just slightly change

in shape But the overly muscled things they don't

look like the little lanky teenagers that they

were looking like before But but it's it's tolerable.

That's fine. I I You know, like I said lots of

times back in the day. He's doing things that

I still can't do Yeah so Apparently there's something

in this building or this warehouse or wherever

it is that is playing havoc with Harold's fancy

schmancy gear and we see these blob looking things

next to the humans. Heat signatures or something

maybe. Well yeah but it's because of what was

revealed later that I just call them blob looking

things because of the... Because Donnie said

it was screwing with the with the equipment so

it's not exactly heat signatures, but yeah So

Raph and Leo hide the guards And Don joins them

they all go crashing in and We have these crazy

looking dudes in those suits yeah cloaks whatever

it is kind of look like Terminator wearing a

bathrobe. Yeah, kinda. A little bit. Dang, Arnold.

That's just not even cool, man. Did I say Terminator?

I meant Robocop. Oh. Robocop. Well. Because of

the red line across the visor. Oh, yeah. Yeah,

that's better. Yeah, I was gonna say wait a second.

Iron geek reference, I'm sorry. So we got Rafton

and Leo taking these guys down and this is when

the turtles and the foot combined What do you

think of this development first of all because

I don't know because we didn't really talk I

don't remember if we talked too much about them

taking over the foot plan at the end of 50 because

it was when splinter was you know, he was promoted

to What do you think of the the story idea of

the foot and the turtles working together? It's

it's really fascinating I mean, I had just read

50 and then read this and that foot attack is

it totally For I forgot all right wasn't thinking

that that was gonna happen. But right the Interesting

thing about that is that this is a very natural

thing to happen you know, Splinter, who was a

member of the Foot Clan at one point, kills Shredder.

It's natural that he would lead them, and I'm

really surprised that this hasn't happened in

any other iteration. I mean, maybe I haven't

read the image series, but I know there's a picture

of Raph wearing Shredder's armor, looking like

he's in charge of things, but this is the first

kind of not - Bonkers iteration of the turtles

where yeah, they're in charge and yeah, it's

a natural thing to happen and Because of this

and Mikey leaving I'm really actually kind of

surprised that Mikey would react that quickly

to it It almost seems to me like he doesn't have

faith in master Splinter and his dad to run the

foot clan Without murdering everybody, you know,

it's like he's afraid Splinter is going to become

the shredder or something so I don't know if

I buy his leaving yet. We'll see what happens

when he comes back. Yeah, I think the thing with

Mikey's leaving is that the whole point of, you

know, they've been going on, for us, they've

been going on this long battle with Shredder

for four or five years now. So I think Mikey

wanted an outcome where... instead of embracing

the Foot Clan and trying to make the Foot Clan

what it used to be before Saki corrupted it,

I think he just wanted everything to just...

Everybody just go their own way as far as the

turtles have saved the day the foot clan is no

longer needed and whatever else But I mean I

I enjoy this I think it's really cool. Yeah,

it's it's neat to see how Splinter is going to

use them because they they're becoming a tool

of his that he can do to kind of Make things

the way he wants them. It's Yeah, I don't I don't

know what his ultimate goal is yet. Is it is

it just is are they a crime -fighting conglomerate

now or are they gonna start taking jobs yeah

i i don't i don't know i'm not sure how he's

gonna start to use them so we get a scene with

raf and don hey don guess what what i ain't bored

anymore yeah the line work and his line work

is really fun i enjoy yeah i mean old outlines

bold darks You know in the both I Almost expect

a poof or a BAM for something to be on the little

thing that shows Raphael kicking the guy a little

yellow Exclamation mark there showing that he's

kicking me. I almost expect some sort of Batman

66 So the two main guys that are in the in the

cloak things here talking to each other and basically

they're ready to get out of dodge so they all

leave and we then get to Leo getting the leader

of the goons here and they have a base arm yeah

look it's just so many ripples you know right

there he almost looks like Mm -hmm. It's not

his physical, just look at the shin, not the

shin, the elbow pad. It's not as dark as what

they had in the movie, but it's close. So Leo

tells the foot to stand down, and we see this

Freddy Krueger looking chick. Oh, she's one of

the foot ninjas, one of the elite guard. Well,

no, the elite guard are completely different.

I mean, she's foot clan, isn't she? Yeah, she

is. But I don't know if she's full on because

the elite guard are the guys in the hats. Yeah,

those are the big honor guard. I wish I knew

their titles, but. Well, we'll get into it. so

Leo doesn't really get anything out of this out

of this guy and basically tells him you just

need to stop right here and now tonight you know

this is just a small contingent of what the foot

can bring to be there against its enemies just

imagine what an entire army of us will do if

you disobey and Leo's uh going a bit dark there

it's theatrics yeah i hope he's just putting

it on yeah uh and so the guy says he ain't gonna

talk about nothing no more and the freddy krueger

chick is like that you'll be made to talk i said

stand so we have this whole power struggle within

the foot with this this girl and and leo and

later master splinter Is it just her or are there

others? Because I imagine there are probably

a few other, we haven't seen it yet in this issue,

but that there are probably a few other better

former murdering thugs that kind of want it to

still go the violent way but just don't get to

now because Splinter and the Turtles are in charge.

So far, as far as the Footclad members, it's

just her. Now we do get some to stuff with kitsune

and that's a whole Why is she not long gone?

I can't believe they're keeping her around. I

know I know so we get to Let's see, where are

we going from here? The turtles are discussing

the direction that the foot clan is going Is

this what we really want to be but hey, it's

what splinter tells us to do so we're gonna do

it So Donnie's going over to Harold's for a bit

Raph has some some stuff of his own to do and

so they basically all split up Yeah, Leo basically

leaves and takes the foot with him and this girl

is just kind of like yeah, I don't really know

so much and We get monologue from splinter while

he's Hey, look, it's your helmet, dude, to match

your gauntlet. I have a loop shop now. I can

do that. If I did a helmet, it would look like

the movie helmet. Well, yeah, I mean, the movie

helmet is the best helmet, so yeah. So we get

Splinter's internal monologue here about talking

about how, you know, he had hoped the destruction

of his ancient enemy would long last allow for

these things to enter my life, and said, his

death has only brought more confusion, more chaos.

And... Oh, I'm sorry, King Gary. No, but... Splinter's

hard, man. I'm sorry Ken Gearing, so far I've

really enjoyed your art, but he looks like a

dog. I like that first panel of him holding the

helmet. He kind of had the neck that stayed vertical.

It kind of goes down into his cloak. Yeah, that's

a little more kind of mouse guard shape. He's

in the bump over the nose, but yeah, Splinter

is just, he's a rotten hard thing to draw. Bludgeon

and Koya there. I didn't notice. I thought they

had split. Nope, Bludgeon and Koya. So we got

Bludgeon and Koya here. We got Kurai, which I

think at the end of this issue is when she goes

to Japan. And then regular foot soldiers. Kitsune's

watching from afar. And then we get... The Lumberjit,

I'm sorry, Bebop and Rocksteady. That's what's

gonna be interesting for me and this folks in

this next, these next few stories and this whole

arc of Splinter running the Foot Clan is how,

if at all, he's going to use Bludgeon Koya, Bebop

and Rocksteady. I think the panel they're talking

about the loyalties who died with the Shredder,

I don't think they're coming back. I think they're

going... as far as not gonna be siding with Splinter.

And then we get to a fallen nunchuck. It's driven

away the one bright light that's shown unceasingly

through so much darkness. And it's like, damn

it, you writers. You're not gonna make me cry

again, jerks. Yeah, I figured they would have

gotten rid of a throne. Like, Splinter doesn't

seem like the kind of guy that would want to

sit on a throne. Mm -hmm. But he's there, sitting

on the throne. I wonder if that's a writing decision

or an artist decision. I'm not sure, because

I know Saki had a throne. Yeah. Oh, with the

arrogance, yeah. Yeah, he's had a throne throughout

the whole time. Why is he keeping that helmet?

Throw that in a dumpster and have Casey Jones

pull the lever on it. Whoops! And we get Mikey

with what looks to be a bolo maybe or some sort

of grab book. Some guy is trying to rob some

lady of her purse. You heard the... the lady

jerkwad and he throws the little turtle shell

thing and hits the guy in the head and dude look

like Rorschach yeah yeah kind of does leave the

parcel alone and this freaks them both out now

to this point the humans like the citizens of

the city haven't really had a whole like outside

of the criminal elements stuff. This is the really

the first time in almost four or five years that

we've really had the turtles up against humans

that are not Casey and April April's parents,

right? Well, I mean, guess I'm saying just regular

there for a while, but yeah, but that was still.

criminal element I'm saying like regular citizens

like an average street like this guy and an average

old lady like like this old lady so I don't you

know it's somebody's gonna correct us oh this

happened an issue whatever and this guy runs

into a into a lamp I've done that before it's

not fun yeah no it's not fun at all and cuz Mikey

says no wait I'm not a monster cripes little

bro trying to scare the bad guys to death or

what not funny raf so we have this really really

cool emotional it's not often i see emotional

scenes between raf and mikey yeah it just isn't

because as i've said in the two and a half two

years two and a half years we've been reviewing

the series It's always been Leo and Raph and

Mikey and Don so I like seeing this I think this

is That's it I'd like that illustration of Mikey

with the pupils He's this this guy this artist

is more. What's his name? Ken Garing is more

More about the cross hatching and the line work

then then a lot of the other artists there were

more shape and form There's some nice line stuff

going on with this guy. Oh yeah. And, you know,

Mikey's like, as long as father's still in charge

of the foot, he just can't go back, that's all.

I love this exchange. Yeah. I love this. I can

make you come back, you know. Yeah, you could

try. I just love that. Now you look at these

two, you look at Raph and Mikey in this exchange

that we've had over this part of the issue, and

Mikey isn't dressed up in a disguise, he's being

himself, and I'm wondering if that's going to

change at all, because all the other, especially

Raph, Raph always goes out in the trench coat,

well in this case it's not a fedora, it's a ball

cap. I really wish. Next time, people, next time

you have Raph in the trench, go put Nora on it,

please, come on. Why don't I come up with this

stuff? The line here with Mikey saying, you could

try, that's a new Mikey, too. I mean, this continuity

has really portrayed Mikey as the youngest, the

smallest, the... the most fun -loving but you

know that's almost a threat like you could try

and and knowing where Raph's skill level is compared

to Mikey just because of the age difference that

happened in this is is interesting what Mikey's

going through that he would decide to say that

I think with Mikey he's grown up so much since

the first issue since the first arc since since

city falls since all this stuff and as we've

said multiple multiple times he's not just the

party he's not just the fun let me yes he was

he still is the bright light when it comes to

turtles you know when i asked bobby when we were

talking to him in that second interview i said

you know we had stuff happen to ref we had stuff

happen to leo that all you know stuff happened

to don i mean don nearly died Did for a while,

but you know we've had all this traumatic stuff,

and that's why I asked him I said you know what

is something ever going to happen to Mikey it

seems like Mikey is impervious to anything not

good happening to him and That's where they're

leading us. Whatever is gonna happen So we have

more of this touching moment Raph goes off You

know, that dude's not wrong. Just might not be

the right home he's thinking of. And all of a

sudden, enter... Mondo Gecko! Gecko. And then

we have a stranger amongst us. Winter. Yeah,

this secret agent -looking guy named Winter.

And he's talking to some... something. I don't

know. I think that's where the... 54 is going

to come in there. Or 555. That's the next arc

starting. Well, 56 is the next. 55 is the start.

And then 56 is the beginning of the Leatherhead

arc. So we then go back to April, who surprisingly

looks fairly good with short hair here, unlike

in previous issues. She is bringing Kitsune breakfast

lunch, whatever It still puzzles me. Well, like

you said, why are they keeping her around? I

just don't know Everybody knows they can't trust

her April knows because she's met her brothers

uh a splitter nose because he's just attuned

to that sort of thing i think in an earlier episode

he mentioned wanting to keep her around just

so that he can keep an eye on her but that's

a real dumb just let her go or find a way to

murder her she's just going to come back and

screw something around she's going to be the

reason shredder comes back to life eventually

yeah at some point probably i don't know how

long they're going to go without shredder being

alive though I'm not really sure how long that's

gonna happen. Oh god, can you imagine that's

what happens in issue 100? Shredder comes back.

And plus, Crank's still out there somewhere,

so who knows? Crank's still out there, there

are Triceratons out there somewhere. Is it just

me and my 1987 child? imagination wanting the

the black striped yellow shirt to be an homage

to the jumpsuit yellow yeah April is wearing

a what looks to be a black striped yellow t -shirt

long shirt kind of thing with black pants and

I'm like hey it's almost a jumpsuit not really

but honestly I really don't want to see this

April in a jumpsuit but it's a nice little little

thing here So we get a conversation between Kitsune

and April Kitsune is talking about her extended

journey and April pretty much is badass in this

scene because you know she basically tells her

all the problems came from her siblings and Kitsune

is like my siblings and April goes through this

diatribe and everything else and you know She's

basically coming up and kicking ass. She's basically

telling Kitsune she's gonna come up and fight

and kick ass. She says, well guess what, now

I'm playing too. And this is not exactly favorable

for Kitsune, and I wasn't sure where this was

gonna go, and then, ah! Do that. It's like, look.

Happy face, angry face. Happy face, angry face.

Oh god. Reminds me of Matt Damon of Ben Affleck

and Jay and Silent Bomb Lion face lemon face

Basically what happens in these next two panels

is we have Kitsune just looking like her normal

self and then her Fox powers activate and she

Is still controlling alopex, so That's not going

to I'm worried about this I'm really worried

about Kitsune controlling Alapax. That's one

of the reasons why I don't want her around. So

April's going back home or gonna get some sleep

and it's been a long month and all that. She's

talking with Leo here and we then get Splinter

and Leo. They are going back and forth about

the night's adventure. I'm really not trying

to groan every time I see Splinter. It is really

hard, folks. I'm sorry. Again, it's my one complaint

about the new artist is... It just gives me...

He almost looks like a goat in this panel. Yeah.

When we do interview these artists, I think...

One of our questions will be exactly how hard

is Splinter to draw? Exactly how much do you

hate having to draw Splinter? By golly. By golly,

it is just so hard. Okay, so we then go, so we

figure out, you know, where Raph went. Raph went

to see Mikey. Leo obviously went back to the

foot clan lair or whatever else and all that.

And then get back to Harold's lab. Metalhead

mark to very nice. Oh, yeah And I like this more

like metalhead market off the list of things

you can touch You have a bad habit of breaking

these things even when you were one of them Yeah,

well sometimes a disembodied ninjas gonna do

it a disembodied ninjas gonna do, you know So

Donnie's back with Harold and he tells him about

the encounter with the cloaks and this brings

Harold to a full enrage because apparently this

is something that he used to create or was a

part of he's like come across it I damned well

helped invent it so he is part of the invention

of the cloaks And he says something about a female

partner that didn't really work out. And I love

how Donnie is just so stunned. She, your ex -partner,

was a woman, like Harold could never work with

women. I mean, we've already seen how he works

with angels. What I'm liking about 51 is they're

touching on every aspect of everything we've

seen before. I mean, you know, the story progression

here is great because they're moving everything

forward but this entire issue we get to see all

four turtles and whatever they're doing we get

to see splinter we get to see splinter on his

own in the monologue earlier we get to see kitsune

and whatever the hell she's doing get to see

april we're going to be seeing casey an angel

here in a few minutes actually right now uh well

no i'm not right this moment but we We're gonna

be seeing Casey and Angel here in a few and we

meet this new character Darius Dunn and the cloak

people are coming back to him. Phasing into his

room. Yes. It's like they're all a bunch of John

Jones Martians pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Mystical

dude looks like a crime boss. Yeah, he does So

they brief him on what happened basically saying

yeah then ninja loonies and they weren't messing

around Looks like they're still looking to be

a major player in the city And then wrong the

full class never been weaker who Of course. Oh,

yeah, they could read laws. Yeah Oh my god, it's

Lady Deathstrike. I just now finally realize

it's Lady Deathstrike. And this is how issue

51 ends with Lady Deathstrike basically saying

that this must be a remedy that the foot is weakened.

And then we have the ninja notes and all that

other good stuff. I just... felt this issue was

damn good because you have so much going on you

really really do as I said you've got every character

every major character that has been in the series

to this point doing something working on something

whether it's Donnie and Harold whether it's Leo

and Splinter and all that stuff it's an issue

about Relationships between all of those things

too and how they're how people are coming to

terms with them I You know and like a lot of

issues I like this more Going through it a second

time, you know when I read this in the car I

was like Matt get back to the real story, but

this is the real story and it's good With where

50 left off this is now you know we've throughout

throughout our time doing this i don't think

we've ever really been able to predict where

this series is going okay yeah we can generalize

and say oh well they you know they've got to

go to northampton they've got to go to dimension

x they well i don't know if they're ever going

to get well the the neutrinos and we had the

crane three part utram empire whatever what i'm

saying like the turtles it's like turtles themselves

They got to go to Northampton. They got to go

back to New York. They got to go to Burnell Island.

They got to go to wherever they got to, you know,

so, I mean, we can always kind of predict what

kind of what we never have been able to predict

what's going to happen in the story. And that's

a really cool thing because it keeps this series

fresh, not knowing what the hell is going to

happen. It's a marvel to me that this series

has remained so fresh when they are sticking

so close to so many other Beats in other Versions

of the turtles and and that's been that's an

impressive dance. I mean even even The 2012 animated

series there are beats but they're ever so slightly

more predictable Than this that one's more about

homage. This is more about taking it and building

on it This this series since it started it started

the story and issue one and Through all 52 issues

it is and even even the one shots even the even

the the micro series all of that The the four

ish and mini series and stuff like that everything

that IDW is doing with this Set their version

of the IDW verse version of the turtles and all

of their characters. It's just so refreshing

This is I know this will never happen Cause I

just don't think it'll ever happen, but I want

animated film adaptations of every major storyline

in this series because I think it would be so

cool. Yeah. These are what the movie, the new

movies should be. Well, stories are so much better.

I don't know. Turns two looks new. Addition turtles

to it looks better, but I still wish they to

change the turtles a little bit More yeah, just

just soften them. You know, I mean if what I

wanted them to happen was okay We know what the

turtles look like in one let's make them instead

of seven feet tall Let's make them five and a

half feet tall six feet tall and then to the

third movie will make them five feet tall And

this is gonna make the change so gradual, you

know less nostrils less nostrils. No nostrils

just love it in there but just put the noses

back on please i mean come on or wait oh it's

not it's not supposed to be notice that's right

yeah no noses whoops uh again ken garing on arts

ronda paddison paddison on on colors uh shawn

leon letters and bobby's the editor obviously

uh the story was eastman bobby and waltz script

was by waltz uh the story so far splinter and

the turtles now control the foot clan some within

foot within the foot clan do not like the new

leadership a foot assassin has sought out an

upstart group the street phantoms for unknown

reasons okay so she is referred to as a foot

assassin so that is the i assume it goes foot

soldier foot assassin elite guard that's what

i'm assuming know people can tell me if I'm wrong

yeah we start off issue 52 with Leo and alopex

training we don't really need any words for this

right yet and of course we get the giant splash

I wish that was a giant splash page instead of

two panels folks. There's the there's the giant

splash page where kids Christ I almost called

it kids alopex attacks Leo and then they have

this kind of like standoff staredown thing I

wish that was a full splash page instead of two

panels because that would have looked amazing

So we've got them training because they're going

to be training more foot ninja Well, what do

you think of this this opening to 52 of the training

and all that I didn't expect Again, it's full

of terms. I didn't expect I I knew they were

practicing but then when we find out that they're

teaching they're they're teaching the foot these

tricks, I thought that was an impressive kind

of turn of Expectations to see yep Leo's Leo's

tune in he's doing his job and he um this opening

it has like i don't know what maybe 10 panels

of it where there's little to no words i mean

there's a few panels where you know like i said

yeah and then a few other sound effects for for

them hitting each other but way to go guys opening

up a comic with very little to no dialogue Training

the foot I Love their exchange here though. That's

awesome It's so Wonderful for me to find out

that alopex is really kind of fit in with turtles

like, you know We remember when she first met

them and it was you know Pretty much her against

them and everything else and I love now that

she's become essentially a part of the family

and they're And the way the teaching, you know,

you, of all people should really love this, this

back and forth between the two of them, because

this is almost like you talking with another

one of your fellow teachers. Yeah, building on

that. I mean, yeah, it feels like it's, they're

building off of each other's statements and you

can almost, while one is speaking, the other

one is thinking and hearing something and then

filling in the gap that they've detected. So

it's a beautiful back and forth. I also appreciate

that they mentioned The different fighting styles

taekwondo aikido jiu -jitsu karate doesn't matter

use a different style and Like yeah, cuz it's

not just ninjitsu or splinter doesn't teach just

ninjitsu that one time that Splinter dressed

up in the costume and chased after the turtles

and beat the snot out of him. He was changing

styles, too Yeah, and so I look at that and kind

of respect that too because they're not just

ninja turtles I mean, I'm sure that they have

they were in a dojo somewhere training that they'd

have a fourth dan rank but they probably also

have very high ranks in you know aikido jiu -jitsu

karate these other arts even splitter knows savant

he knows the french one yeah i don't know where

he learned that because that martial art didn't

exist back in 16th century japan that must have

been something he picked up after he was mutated

Who knows? I'll allow it. I'll pretend I didn't

think that part about a comic book. But it reminds

me of my the swordsmanship instructor Toshiro

Obata, the guy who played the thing in the movie.

He holds high ranks in a lot of different martial

arts and the one that he's developed is kind

of pulling this from that one and that from this

one and this one from that and building his own

Super martial art. That's kind of what Splinter's

done here, and I think that's interesting Yeah,

it really really is And Leo goes and says Well

alopex That's what they get for having two Fox

characters, you know So here we are again training

junior foot ninja. Did you ever think you'd find

yourself back? No, especially not like this.

One way or another, I figure the gauntlet would

be the end of my family's involvement with the

foot. You and everybody else. Man, was I wrong.

And I think in this panel here, there's no visual

effects to show it. I think after After alopex

says you weren't the only one leo, but if the

foot clan isn't going away i'm glad that your

father's the one in charge at least how is master

splitter anyway, I really want to assume that

this is the point where kitsune is controlling

her or something because It just doesn't seem

like it's that sincere to me. It just I don't

know. It just doesn't seem like she's being Super

sincere and we've already seen the consumer consuming

is controlling her in general. So yeah I'm not

gonna assume just because her eyes aren't glowing

that she's not under the influence somehow So

we get to let's see We get more, you know, we

get them watching the fighting in here I mentioned

earlier and up in issue 51 that we were gonna

get to Casey. It's these These two issues, issue

5152, I meant to say is between the two, we see

everybody. And we see Angel in her not -nobody

suit. This is her somebody suit. Yeah, this is

her somebody suit. She's in her regular clothes

and she's walking down the street. Well, she's

actually walking right in front of us second

time around. And she sees Casey basically bapping

on some goons here. And she's ready to fight,

ready to help him. And he's like, no, I got this.

What the hell are you doing, Jones? Oh, Angel,

I ain't doing much. Except kicking these guy's

asses. Why does he have a bro? It's just it's

just There's all kinds of wrong to go along with

that folks But guess he's just doing a little

community service no biggie And they have a really

rushed not rushed but they have a really constrained

back and forth because Casey's on this kind of

full -on vigilante thing where he's gonna stop

the crime before it starts and she I know and

love she is like oh your hood I get it the hood

that belongs to you yeah that don't sound too

pompous at all she's trying to get him to kind

of calm down here they talk about going to see

April they reference Casey and April the book

yeah while they were gone you know he said April's

over at the store and I'm sure she digs seeing

you and Casey's still got some rounds to do and

Like that angel wants to I mean outside of the

fact that that Harold wanted to tinker with with

the nobody suit I like the fact that she wants

a night off So much has been happening with her

in the nobody suit in the last what five six

seven issues So I'm kind of glad that she's kind

of decided to kind of take it easy for at least

this issue And then Casey comes there to ruin

her night That means I learned an important lesson

when I was on the road. As soon as you let the

bad guys think you ain't watching them, as soon

as you let them believe even for a second, you're

getting weak. You and everybody you care about

is toast. We go back to Master Splinter. I did

not get that right away. Oh God. And everyone

you care about is toast is what Casey says. Next

panel, Splinter is buttering a piece of toast.

Well done writers and artists. Oh, I did not

catch that the first time around. The reason

why he's buttering the toast is he's bringing

Kitsune. No, this is for himself. I thought he

was bringing Kitsune something, but he flashes

to something that happened earlier. And again,

we have the different style. can jaring please

pick one either the goat version or the regular

rat sort of rat looking version pick one because

now he's got a fat head again i'm sorry it's

just it's just too it's just too infuriating

for me so we have kitsune talking with splinter

and here we go here's the guys with the hats

here's here's the elites Like that they follow

Splinter around the one who just really doesn't

need it, but you know, okay Shredder didn't need

it either and he's always had them Shredder would

do it to seem self -important, but well, yeah

Splinter just and also to put those guys back

there. Like can you trust them? I don't know

So far it seems like yeah so far so we have a

A scene that happened earlier, apparently, where

Splinter is talking with Kitsune. He tells the

guards to remain outside. And he wants to know...

He wants answers from her. He wants to know what

the schemes are in the identities for those who

are scheming with her against them. And she basically

says, oh, is that what Miss O 'Neil told you?

We have the reel of her siblings, to be precise,

and we have a little orange -yellowish glow in

her eye. She's telling him all this, and he asks

her, know this. Oh, he says to her, know this,

and I will not allow lies and trickery to destroy

this new opportunity to honorably rebuild the

Foot Clan. And she says to the effect, why do

you act as if I do not share your wish for the

glorious restoration of our clan? yoshi um real

dangers lurk everywhere and this is where lady

death strike shows up okay i normally don't comment

on this in the turtles books but i'm sorry again

the art her boob is half sideways it looks like

it's gonna fall out she got implants in there

I'm sorry, folks. I'm sorry. I just couldn't

not mention it. It just looked weird. He smashes

her head with a tea kettle. Yep. Pretty much.

Bonk. You dare ambush your master, girl? This

is where the street phantoms come in. I was going

to say the cloakers, but the street phantoms...

and Splinter more than kinda holds his own except

his blows go right through the street phantoms

and I love this little battle here because it's

not often we see Splinter getting toasted uh

-uh and the the elite are gonna come in to stop

the assassins The district girl says jam our

handle the elite and we then have her against

the rats And We have more battle here and all

the while I'm wondering where the hell is Leo

where the hell yeah Like I know Raph was out

with Mikey I know Leo was trained like where

the hell is Leo and alopex when when this stuff

is going on So Here we go. Here they are right

here it came from his chambers come on we and

then more street phantoms come out more battle

ensues they need Donnie to figure this out yeah

and the district chick is like you die today

and they have more of a fight all right so let's

look at the motions here with this battle between

the two of them what do you think of the sweeping

art Choices every every time she swings with

those claws. I think she must have got him there,

but Splinter's doing that No, just miss me as

little movement as it takes to get out of the

way thing. You know She barely misses him with

the with a kick That's her feet and he's looking

up at him Okay, that's right cuz he knocks her

on her ass one point And she's basically saying

to him that we are ninja ruthless and remorseless.

We do not deal in mercy. We deal in death And

he does say that She is somewhat right I know

that that's that wrist grab over the back throw

was called Koshinage. I know that throw But I

was intentional or not. That's what it was Please

tell me you haven't been thrown like I have been

thrown like that, but the holy trick is not Hurting

yourself when you fall. That's the magic. That's

the cool part. You know because let's face it

Practicing any kind of martial arts is not as

scripted as WWE he goes on to say but but you

know he goes on to say it is only through a death

dealt that I stand here today as your master

she says you're not my master but by ancient

rites I am you're so sworn master and though

you mistakenly believed otherwise as a ninja

warrior you're superior and we go back to leo

and alopex fighting the street phantoms by rights

he's gonna he's allowed to kill her now so that'll

be tense moment here as Splinter decides to deal

with his justice. Or not. Yeah, or not. Liam

and Alifex basically get their asses handed to

them. And this is where Leo's like, we gotta

change things up. And all I can think of is Catherine

Irby from Mighty Ducks 2. You know when she's

filling in for Amelia West of us because he hasn't

shown up yet And she's like change it up and

the all the hockey players switch places Turn

a disadvantage into an advantage And you know

effects kind of get the upper hand on them And

those battle lines so cool basically kicks all

their asses including the two head guys Jammer

and Maze and the street phantoms basically run

with the tails between their legs and Splinter

says he's fine and he has defeated the child

rips off her mask asks what her name is and basically

says that she needs to be punished but there's

also forgiveness He will leave the punishment

to Leonardo. Then we get back to Mikey and Mondo.

Mikey and Mondo, that's what their miniseries

is called. That's the miniseries right there.

Okay, so now there's two four -issue miniseries

I want. I don't care how it gets done, but I

want two separate four -issue miniseries from

IDW from this continuity. Mikey and Mondo. and

Raph and Alapax. I don't, I haven't figured out

a title for Raph and Alapax, but Mikey and Mondo

needs to be the title if they ever do a miniseries.

Oh god, this is just so awesome. So Mondo is

taking Mikey to the Mutanimals and we see them

all. We see Slash, he's made a surprise party

and a cake and... Pete's there with a hat on,

and Hob's kind of smiling, and then we get the

infrared guy again. Because he is now, Winter,

this is command, sit rep over, and Winter is

giving them what's going on. And it ends with,

you know, asking, you know, he's asking what

he should do, and they're still, you know, stand

by for further orders, and Roger that, standing

by. To be continued now. I noticed something

now. I don't think I really don't think they

would be this Don't get me wrong all these creators

are super smart I'm not gonna diss their intelligence

But when I saw what's on the back of his jacket

the first thing I thought of was the Pirates

of Darkwater And I'm like no way there's no way

they're gonna do a Pirates of Darkwater TMNT

crossover So that's issues 51 and 52. What are

your kind of final thoughts on on 52 here? I

Well, it goes I think this this assessment goes

for both of them. I'm Surprised and impressed

more surprised and more impressed the second

time Around than I was the first time So I'm

very pleased with where this is going. I like

the more conversational issues where we really

get to see their relationships to think that's

where the turtles really are. Yep, they're ninjas,

but it's all about the family and the brotherhood

between all of the characters, not just the turtles.

Not just the four turtles, yeah. And if you look

at these two issues, because as Bobby said in

the interview we did with him last year, he said

issue 51 and 52 are going to be a two -par or

issue 53 and 54 are going to be a two -par story.

There are two two -part stories here. There's

one in these two issues, and there's one in the

next two issues. So with that, and allowing us

to see all the various characters that we've

seen for the last four and a half, five years,

I'm loving this. I'm really digging it. And the

second time around, no pun intended, quite literally,

I am noticing more. Because normally when I go

and I read these, it's... It's pretty much, I

want to read for the actual story. I want to

see what's going on with the characters. I want

to see what they have to say. When we, when I

go back and reread them for a second time to

like, I reread both these issues before we went

through them tonight. Um, I was now looking like

I reminded myself of what the story was, but

I wasn't really reading the text. I was looking

for various things in the art. Not necessarily

a sideways boob, but I was looking for various

homages, various things, everything else, all

this stuff. So that was the thing, going back

the second time around with it, and man, they're

just killing it like always. Rhonda's colors,

even with the new art, Rhonda's colors were...

I as much as it creeps me out seeing kitsune's

half human half fox face the the brightness to

the the glowing of her eyes and the effect oh

god all that all that color is just so great

I I can't wait to talk to her someday and you

know what we'll never get an interview with her

because she's gonna be too busy she just is she

does so much well it took us you know a year

and a half to get Tom I'm sure I'm sure I can

I can work my magic and I'm sure we can get her

on even if it's only for 30 minutes I'm working

on issue 60 But but every every artist she works

with it's got to be a slightly different style

of coloring I mean how other people handle the

backgrounds how people handle line work and hatching

so yeah I'm very excited to talk to her So so

awesome chat with her it would be so cool Alright,

what would you rate 51 and then 52 on a zero

to five star scale? Oh See, this is hard because

this is as high a quality as it gets. That means

it's a five -star thing. But do you give it five

stars even though we didn't have that major dramatic

moment like a death or somebody coming back or

like that heart -thumping revelation? Because

that didn't happen, but this was a perfect story.

So let's go four and a half. Only because I'm

nitpicking and I know I'm nitpicking. I'm actually

going to go three and a half on both because

it's just some things in the art that just, I

don't, I know I should be able, I should be able

to just say screw it and get past it, but I just

can't. What does it mean when you say you can't

get past it? Now it could be good. I will, I

will admit to that, that yeah, splinter definitely

looks funky. That's the main thing. But what

does it mean when you can't get by it? Does it

jar you out of the story? Because after a panel

or two of me assessing how they did Splinter,

then it becomes I ignore it and it's just what

it is. See, my problem is Ken Gehring is drawing

him in two different ways and he's switching

back and forth, back and forth. That's what I

can't get past. The constant switching of Splinter's

design. he started out with the fat head in the

beginning and he finished with the fat head at

the end here and didn't have the the goat looking

design in the middle of the story between the

two issues it'd be fine i'd probably give it

a four but i mean it's that constant this is

what i can see if ken garing had done the first

10 pages and then another artist did the last

10 pages on both you know what i mean like if

they split it up like it was a different art

style but it's not it's two completely different

designs for splinter and that's pretty much the

main thing on the art that i just can't i just

can't get past it the there's i can't remember

the Where I've read this but the thing that all

comic artists Dread drawing the two things that

comic artists red drawing our children and dogs

Like there's just something about how they work

in comics that they don't work in but then you

know You have to kind of toss splinter in with

that Because I think I think when you the guy

right now that's drawing rodents really well

would be David Peterson with mouse guard, but

When he draws splinter when he's done him for

the the one shot Everything he draws looks small

because he draws everything on that small scale.

That's what his mouse guard is And so his splinter

looks, you know three inches tall, but so yeah,

it was successful but but that Splinter and from

experience I could say is impossible to draw

Yeah, and I'm not sitting here, you know, saying,

Oh my God, Ken Gearing, I never want to say,

I'm not saying I don't ever want to see the guy's

art again. I just wish he would have chosen one

of the two designs and stuck with it. That's

really my overall problem. I think in looking

at that, the times that we see the large headed

splinter with the chin are the profiles. And

I don't think that particular design I think

that one's my favorite out of them. It looks

better. It looks cooler. It looks more like a

rat. When that turns to three quarters or it

turns to a front view, you can't draw it that

way anymore. I mean, it loses something in the

foreshortening. so but that's the problem with

splinter the problem with a rat is that large

protruding nose and how it changes for as you

turn and it's impossible to draw i have so much

sympathy for those guys no i know i know you

too and i'm not i'm not sitting here trying to

ban no i know but that's that's the one reason

you gotta you you have to assess it that's that's

yeah i mean that's that's really the one reason

why i normally i would give it a four or four

and a half i wouldn't give it a full But I don't

think at this point, like, okay, 50, obviously

we gave 55s. I mean, because 50, it's, it's 50

and it, you know, they blew up metalhead and

brought Donnie just whatever, you know, I don't

want to believe that, but it's just one of those

things where we're just now starting the aftermath

of 50. And because of the way that they're structuring

the stories, the two -parters. Part one with

51, part two with 52, and then 53 with part one

and 54 with a part two. And then 55 is going

to be a standalone. So I'm, that's why I'm kind

of not wanting to just immediately say, Oh my

God, everything is great. Because for me, for

me, it does. Sometimes the art will take me out

of a story. And again, It's getting used to a

new artist. Like, I've never even heard of this

guy, Ken Gary. I've never heard of him before.

I'm sure I should have done some research on

him before we did this, but I wanted to go into

this fresh. It's a new artist. It's his take

on the Turtles. Let's see what he's going to

do. Kind of like what we've done for all the

other artists. You know, some we like, some we

don't. Know I think Santa Luca was coming back

for the next full art. They're giving you the

vacation Yeah, yeah, that's one of the reasons

why Yeah, that's well the guy kind of deserves

it. Don't you oh, yeah Huh I'm I've typed I went

I went looking on the internet for Jim Lawson's

splinter the guy who's been drawing him for 25

years and Yeah, it just it looks like a dog and

even somebody who's had that long at it is just

nope it's a rat and it's gonna look like a dog

cuz it's got a snout so sorry everybody we're

gonna deal with it it's just just crazy it's

just so so crazy all right what do you get what

do you got coming up anything anything coming

up in your geeky life Geek sale coming up in

June. That official announcement hasn't been

made, but it'll probably be the first or second

week. There's a local toy show coming up that

we'll be nerding out at. I think it's ByronCon.

I'll be checking that out. And I got BotCon coming

up in April, down in Kentucky. Oh, really? You're

invading my hometown. I am. I am. So I'll have

to call you when I get down there. My buddy and

I are going to try to go to Mammoth Cave Wednesday

afternoon, because I've always wanted to do that.

I did that a long -ass time ago, 20 years ago

or so. Is it worth seeing? Do you care? Or is

it just a hole in the ground? As a 13, 14, 15

-year -old it was. It was really cool. Because

stalactites, stalagmites, all that stuff, and

just the formations and everything else. But

as an adult, I don't know. I don't think you

are, but if you were bringing Oliver, maybe you

would have a better experience. But I honestly,

I've seen the thing once in the 20 something

years that I've lived in this state and I've

never gone back. It's not that I don't have a

desire to or anything like that. I just don't,

I'm just not really sure. But anyway, we'll talk

about this later. for us in the pull bag uh coming

up uh it's fiend ship is friendship february

nicole beetles diva hailstorm is going to be

joining me and we're going to be reviewing a

bunch of the idw my little pony comics for the

first time ever oh somebody help me please so

keep uh kicking shell folks and we will catch

you next time You've just heard the latest episode

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