IDW TMNT #67-70: Desperate Measures Arc

Hi, this is Bobby Kurnow, Chief Turtle Editor

at IDW Publishing, and you are going to have

a shell of a good time inside the pull bag. Sewer's

Surfin' September continues here inside the pull

bag with episode 152. Hello everyone, I am one

of your hosts, TF2 and Mike. Joining me is my

totally tubular turtle TMNT cohort Jewel Reed.

Hello, sir. Hello! This is the second week in

September, and today we're going to be talking

about four comics, issues 67 to 70. of the IDW

TMNT comic series, the main ongoing. This is

the desperate measures arc of the series. We,

at the end of this, we will be four issues away

from IDW breaking the all time record of issue

numbers. IDW will be the longest running TMNT

series ever. Somebody put together a Kickstarter

for Jim Lawson to do a a variant cover That ended

a while ago now, but I think they should be shipping

anytime now but that that's that's the thing

I'm really excited about with with 73 they made

it and they went to Jim to get a comic cover

done as I it's long overdue to see him on an

IDW book in some form At the end of this episode

we will be going through the solicitations for

I think I've got solicitations for 71 through

74 I think Sweet and where does the free comic

book day fit in because I think that was That

should be happening somewhere. It's it's another

really well done recap issue. They do introduce

some exciting stuff though Oh, free comic day,

free comic day. You would have to ask me that,

wouldn't you? Yep. I thought you'd know, Mike.

If it helps, I have it between issues 69 and

70 when I pulled it out of the long box to do

this. OK. But I may have just thrown it in there

all random. Good question. OK, here we go. I'm

going to skip ahead into the back of 69 and see

what it says. I think. I think the Free Comic

Day issue leads up to Dimension X. Dimension

X started a few months ago. Dimension X was the

five -week event in August of this year. I'm

opening issue 70 now to find the back cover because

it'll tell me what I need to read next. But yeah,

we are here to talk about issues 67 to 70. As

I said, desperate measures arc. And we get the

mutanimals versus Agent Bishop. Which I'm waiting

for them to really kind of explain more about

Agent Bishop. He comes from the 2003 cartoon

series, right? Yes. And I think in that series,

we don't know what's going to happen here, but

I think he was an ootram of some sort, wasn't

he? I would have to go back and watch. I've only

done one episode of our cartoon podcast, Tooncast

Beyond, talking the first season of that series.

I have not. Have plans for you and I eventually

to watch season 2 3 and however many other seasons

that show had but I do I just know agent Bishop

is there he is a part of I don't remember Off

top my head if he is a neutron, but I do know

he was One of the people helping the neutron

race He was one of their agents Because they

were they were good guys in that series except

for praying or sure and The Shredder, Ultron,

Chirrell. Yeah. So, but yeah, we got, we got,

let's see here. We got Kevin Eastman, Bobby Kernaut,

Tom Waltz on story. Tom is on script. Mateus

Santalucco is back on art. Rhonda Pattison on

colors. Sean Lee on letters. Sean Lee and Chris

Maury on letters. Bobby Kernaut, obviously editor

and Ted Adams. publisher for IDW. We open issue

67 with Slash reading The Grapes of Wrath. I

read that book recently. Did you really? Yeah,

and I still can't figure out why it's called

The Grapes of Wrath. Like I know there's a metaphorical

symbolic reason that it's called that, but yeah,

that's okay. It was a great book. It was fun.

Lots of good. Well, as good as kind of a sad

story like that can be, but it's... I like some

Steinbeck. Yep, Steinbeck is awesome. My question

here in the opening is how does Slash talk to

pigeons? And Lindsay was the one that loaned

Slash the Grapes of Wrath book. Very very cool.

So we open up with this and slash continues to

read and suddenly he gets attacked and Tells

Jimmy to fly fly. We're falling fly away And

Santola goes art here with this yeah, so good

I love, I think the first time that I really

remember seeing Slash in this series, it was

Santolucco doing it, and big, vicious, evil,

and in this scene here, where he's reading and

talking to his pigeons in a Mike Tyson -like

kind of way, his features are so much softer,

like you can, it's just, it's, you know, it's

reflected, his state of mind is reflected in

how he's drawn, I appreciate that attention.

Absolutely. The building was brought down on

top of him by, uh, these Blackwater guys. Yep.

Who we've seen a couple times. Uh, Slash lifts

himself out of the rubble of this collapsed building

and is... ...trank darted by these dudes who...

...promptly take him captive. Yeah, that's not

good. I... Poor Slash. His whole... Ark here

Between him and Leatherhead from the 2012 series.

It's like these are these are characters that

you just wish could catch a break Like please

yes, just let the world needs to stop pooping

on them and let them read their John Steinbeck

in peace So agent Bishop comes in and mentions

the TCRI fiasco which happened over in TMNT universe,

which we'll be getting to After this podcast

episode comes out And agent Bishop is nothing

but a jackass And we will find out about him

I think we'll get we'll get some ideas soon so

pigeon Pete actually know Jimmy flies away and

We go to the turtles in their lair and They are

restless they are directionless they are Not

at ease with their current Situation so this

is they're fresh off of leaving Splinter and

the foot clan. Yeah for everything that's going

on and they're chilling in the base and there's

just a lot of tension when they should actually

be able to chill and Organize yeah, because there's

a lot of tension because they don't know what

they're gonna be doing next and of course Leo

being the planner and and all that and he's frustrated

and Mike he's just laying there on the couch

reading the Dark Knight returns I'd like to think

that's the dark nightmare. It's blue, dammit.

It's not the actual cover to that masterpiece,

but it's similar. So we got Raph on the phone

with Angel, and you know, Angel was saying that

Alipax is doing better every day, so... There's

that I didn't catch that yep Leo says I'm so

glad to hear she's on the mend it'll be great

to have her an angel back in the fight in the

Sooner the better refs like wait what? These

two panels here where raf says wait what and

then he says what fight are you talking about

exactly seems like things are all pretty chill

right now Why is it that I believe that Raph

is using his bandana as a do -rag? Yeah, I think

that's what he's doing. I mean, just look at

those images. Yeah. I don't know if there's anything

wrong with that, but it's just one of those things

where it's like, wow, that's hilarious. That's

it. There's the conflict that's going on, you

know Donnie's withdrawing into machines Mikey's

got his nose stuck in books Raph this is weird

for me Raph wants to be Chilling and sitting

back and and kind of withdrawing from the conflict

for a while. Yeah That that's not like him, especially

since Mike wants to go and be a superhero Raph

thinks that's a dumb idea, but Raph was the one

in the the CG movie who became a superhero so

he could do street crime instead of sitting around

and doing nothing. So I don't know, I'm having

interesting feelings about what Raph is doing

here. Choosing to, like, no, let's hide in the

corner and wait for something. Yeah, that's a

little strange. But Leo, and then his frustration

is that he's trying to lead these guys, trying

to get them prepared for all of the dangers,

which Leo checks off. The Pantheon, the Utroms,

the government forces, Leatherhead, because I

think last time we saw Leatherhead, he was swimming

away. Yeah, we haven't seen Leatherhead since

issue 58 of the comic, so we don't know what

Leatherhead's up to or what's going on with him.

And Leo is just... Leo has never been the personality

of the turtles that he is feels defeated but

because Master Splinter is on the path that he's

on and because technically They all used to be

human. I mean, I know they got reincarnated into

these, you know animals and things but it's like,

you know, Leo is not Master Splinter Leo does

lead and he will but he needs a guiding hand

or at least a point in the right direction before

he can take action, because look how different

all four of their personalities are. Like you

said, Mikey wants to be a superhero, Raph just

wants to sit back and do nothing, and Donnie

wants to dive further into the machines, and

Leo just has no idea what to do with that. So

we go to the Earth. Faction force or whatever

it is and Agent Bishop has slash in this I was

gonna say it was a sensory deprivation tank,

but okay, whatever you want to call it Yeah,

there's glass around it. You know, it's it's

uh, they can see through it They're hooking him

up. Bishop's got a scientist who's poking and

prodding and says he's exposed him to some, or

not exposed, he's done some analysis of his brain

and discovers there's telltale signs of this

post -traumatic stress. The ultimate discovery

that this doctor makes is that through the...

Post -traumatic stress. He can target this part

of his brain and turn it on and off We all know

that slash does that rage thing. He can go from

talking to Raging hulk monster and this doctor

figures out how to turn it on and off Bishop

says can we use this the doctor says? Yeah, we

can probably even control him steer him country

pilot him almost and So that doctor gets to work

on that which is scary Weapon like that in anybody's

hands. It's just uh All I can think of is the

doctor You've seen varsity blues, right? Nope

If I said that's my wife I think she'd be like

f that joe You're either gonna get a divorce

or we're driving to the video store to rent.

It's a good thing that I'm not your wife. And

who really goes to the video? Are there any video

stores around anymore? I don't think so. Yeah,

we've got some there. They're good. Varsity Blues

was a 1998 MTV Films thing about West Canaan,

Texas and high school football. It had... That

dude. I can picture his face. Dawson. Dawson

yeah James van der Beek as one of the main characters

Paul Walker was in it as one of the other main

characters and you had Ron Lester in it as Billy

Bob The big ol football player that was number

69 and in this close to the end of it we come

to find out John Voight who was the coach was

basically, you know putting his players on the

field injured he would give them an injection

of whatever the hell you know whether it's probably

steroids i don't know so anyway my point here

is this doctor that's that's telling bishop that

they can control slash i see i see this doctor

as as the john voight character from that movie

and i see slash as the billy bob character from

that movie because at the end of that billy bob

is like he they're gonna inject somebody else

and and billy bob breaks in and says that needle

goes anywhere near windows leg i'm gonna rip

your arms and legs off and beat you to death

with that that that so yeah they're looking at

the bridge really looking into controlling slash

in moving in like an egyptian that i can open

bangles reference for this is a good lord Talk

about an eternal flame All right, so that's what's

going on there and we get back to I gotta say

Santalucco's final look at slash here at first

where the doctor says all it takes is minor increase

in the in the wattage input and input output

and You have a biological weapon you desire the

image of slash here. Oh So heartbreaking. Mm

-hmm. Damn it Just There's some nice coloring

going on by Rhonda in that in that panel as well

Well, yeah, because it's full close -up in inside

the little Tank thing he's in and it's all these

wires and things and I mean his his eyes are

all red and bulgy and I Don't think turtles can

get drunk, but okay Sorry, I gotta try to find

a way to make this funny cuz otherwise it's just

really really depressing seeing what they're

doing to slash The The black that the head black

water guy or dark water or whatever it's called

He says look. I'm sure the Doc's reputation is

rock solidation Bishop But I'm not sure how I

feel about staking my troops lives against it

So they have a discussion we get back to Leo

who is actually at the foot headquarters Yeah,

he had walked out of the layer walked out of

that little debate Yeah, they were having in

the lair and went to master splinter to seek

counsel Which is goes back to what you said like

Leo can't he's not ready yet to do this by himself

in that way He needs that that that Not not really

he is leader. He needs the master ahead of him

still Yeah, I mean it's not like he's out in

the woods meditating and then he runs in on you

know war and peace So he sees master splinter

He asks how Jenny is doing Jenica She is young,

but she will make a fine tuna in time, just as

you did, Leonardo. You know, and they have the

conversation, and we see that Leo is very rare

to see Leo like this. Very rare. In any incarnation

of him. Which I think is why this incarnation

is the most interesting, because they are giving

him character beats that... No other medium could

at this point in time Mm -hmm Well, and that's

the benefit of going for as many issues as they've

had is that we've gotten a chance to explore

all of these character development things You

know, we have seen Leo unsure of himself. We

have seen Leo Doubt himself. We've seen him be

a new leader and become more experienced like

in the Nick cartoon But this is this is Leo frustrated.

This is Leo angry You know, Leo, in the CG movie,

he went away to become a better leader, but it

was out of feelings of inadequacy that he couldn't

do it, that he couldn't pull it off. This is

frustration. This is pretty new. And again, because

all four of them have such different personalities.

And again, with this series, why I think it makes

it more compelling is that, again, they... Technically,

all are family. Every other incarnation, yes,

they're family. But most incarnations, they were

mutated by Shredder or something. Until IDW,

we've never had a reincarnated turtle story,

I don't think. You can correct me if I'm wrong

there. Not where they were, no. I'm pretty sure.

They've never been actually family. Yeah, I'm

pretty sure we've never had it to where Splinter,

Hamato Yoshi was their biological father, they

were all human, Tang Shen was the mother, all

of the... and this is why Leo in this series,

as you said, he's frustrated because dealing

with the personalities of himself and his three

brothers to try to get everybody to, you know...

Get along and agree on a plan and he's so used

to having splinter there to Leo can say oh well

I have this idea of that idea we can try this

we could try that well It's usually splinter

the one that's saying well well my son this would

work this way that you know it's him guiding

him Essentially Leo's trying to ride a bike after

his dad let go He's not falling off yet, but

he's getting the frustration of it is almost

making him fall off of his bike Yeah, he's he's

in a position where without splinter there He

needs to be the father and none of them are going

to take him seriously like that And I don't think

Leo thinks he could act like the father, but

that's what that's the role that they're missing

And they even say, you know when he gets back

to them eventually not not now in this issue

but when he goes back to the layer they even

see no they even say okay well you know if you

have a plan will follow you and you know and

raf says something about you know but there's

no way in hell i'm calling you master whatever

it is they shouldn't because he's their brother

he's not like splinter will always be their master

was always will always be there for it that that

their father leo I mean, unless, which, if they

ever do this, I will fly to San Diego, and, ugh,

unless they ever kill Splinter, like, you know,

just gone, you know, Leo will not have to step

up into the father figure role. I want more of

our future turtles, I think. I've... You know

me. Ah, man. It's it's hard for me with Leo I

mean Leo has always been my favorite character

about I've always loved the generic Boy Scout

leader character that nobody else likes And it's

because I know that what Leo earns being a teenage

leader of this team It earns him this master

role in the future, the wise sage. I picture

90 -year -old Leo with a beard in a cave meditating

three inches off the ground because he can. Leo's

gonna get there someday, because Master Splinter's

kinda there. Man, I wanna see the Ninja Turtles

story where Leo is in the martial arts movie

and he's stroking the three strands of beard

under his chin. Teaching the new guy and beating

the snot out of them like the tough old grizzled

Asian guy in all of the martial arts movies I

that's that's Leo's role eventually and this

is how it starts and and he's going through the

bumps and bruises of How do you get people to

take you seriously when they have no need to

take you seriously? I Didn't see I'm here. I'm

patting my neck a Leo on the head next to me

here That's that's what I I know And we get back

to the mutanimals who are all, you know, sitting

down watching a movie, which I think that's cool.

I love, they're, they seem even more connected

as a family than the turtles do. The turtles

have strife and maybe the mutanimals have strife,

but no, that's adorable. They're all sitting

together. They make food for each other. They're

waiting on the pizza guy. Oh man. Never pay full

price for late pizza. I'm waiting to say that

to somebody someday, but. I'm too nice. I couldn't

I couldn't do that Well, you'd say it in a funny

way, you know And actually I could pay him, you

know instead of pretend. Yeah Come on, I couldn't

find the place You're standing on it dude just

down here This is a 10 times 13. You're two minutes

late, dude So Jimmy comes flying in and is cooing

all hell to Pete We have a knock -knock at the

door and Ham tells Mondo to go check the door

and get the pizza. He seems awfully excited to

open a door even though he's a mutant gecko.

That's kind of interesting. As long as they don't

like pineapple on their pizza, I'll be fine.

Because that's just evil and disgusting and no.

So holy guacamole slash man come on in amigo

and slash is not exactly himself and I love the

juxtaposition of this of slash coming in and

and Jimmy telling Pete that they took that the

guys had taken slash and and Whatever else and

slash sees red and we have a violent violent

scene because they turn up the thing and slash

just goes This breaks my heart So slash is going

off on these guys. He hits old hob. He grabs

Mondo by the tail and oh Rips his tail off. Oh

God This just hurts my heart so much. It didn't

hurt me nearly as much until Slash used the tail

to beat Man Ray off just smacks him with it.

Yeah Well, I see I didn't really I knew that

that had happened but I didn't really notice

it it didn't affect me I mean it did it affected

me but it didn't like when I was again as I've

said in these podcasts before for as long as

we've been doing this I when I'm reading these

I read for the story points the the the word

balloons that the text all of that and i do notice

the action shots in the art and things like that

but when we're going back and discussing it i'd

notice it more than i normally do when i'm trying

to read the comic to get the story and where

are you you know my heart sank into my stomach

here was at the end after they tranquil in zin

everybody comes in And Agent Bishop kinda turns

slash off. And we see, you know, various rooms.

It wasn't until the room where it's Man Ray and

Herman and Mondo, and I saw that Mondo's, and

I was like, oh no. This is just so heartbreaking.

But of course, you know, they got seven of the

eight mutant. of the eight mutanimals and of

course old hobb was the eighth one that um got

away yeah that last panel of him kind of looking

gobsmacked from the roof across the way is uh

yes you know old hobb he's still the character

that they created for this series that i remember

when when they announced that eastman was creating

a new villain i'm like ah no don't do that but

he very quickly became Super super interesting

and somebody that I cared about and but even

here. Yep. It's he's he's their splinter He's

their father in in a weird way and he's appalled

at what happened to His his comrades his friends.

I don't think he'd ever call them his friends

to their face, but He cares about them Yeah,

absolutely So freaking lately 67 good starting

point I think for this this arc interesting to

see where the turtles are where kind of master

splinter is a little bit since we saw a little

bit of him and You know As well as where the

mutanimals are so Absolutely loved it. What were

your overall thoughts for 67 here? I love going

through these a second time from the first time

that I read them. You catch all those little

things and it makes so much more sense. So I

really appreciate this issue for this setup.

It's something that Waltz has always done so

well in the script is giving us the moments of

the pre -tension and letting it linger and letting

us see where these people are. So very, very

well done. Absolutely. What would you give issue

67, zero to five? Consistent number five, pretty

much. I think we're going to be floating there

for this whole series. Yeah, probably. Issue

68, on the main cover, it's Man Ray. Pete that's

one thing I love about these these main covers

it's they're all some sort of collage and whatever

with the various mutanimal characters on them

and in the upper right hand corner just below

the TMNT IDW logo the letters is like a target

thing for the the earth force protect whatever

the hell they're called bishops people So we

start this one with some turtle training. You

know, part horse's mane, white crane spreads

wings, brush knees twist step. Hold that thought

for a second. What the dang it girl, how many

times I gotta tell you that ain't a tub. Like

that they every once in a while reference the

fact that the turtles live in the sewer like

the the heck the Usagi episode of the 2012 series

in now in 2017 The the the Pugtaro references

that they smell funny. What does that mean? Well,

we live in a sewer dude and like yeah you guys

live with feces everywhere you would reek and

in that unfortunate way So I think that the fact

that yes pepperoni was swimming in the sewer

water yeah oh pepperoni you reek now i'm gonna

have to give you a second bath actually it'll

be her third raft because she already took number

two bath number two get it mikey i swear in the

land of bad puns yours would be royalty yeah

i'm the king I can't tell if I would prefer Greg

Sipes or OG Townsend Coleman as Mikey. It depends

on what he's doing. It depends on what kind of

jokes he's making. I would really see Townsend

being more serious. Way back in issue like 5152

when Mikey walked away from everything, you know,

I could see Townsend doing a serious version

of Mikey. I don't think I could hear in my head

Greg Sipes doing a serious version of Mikey.

Yeah, I don't. I don't like the the Greg Sipes

version of Mikey. I love him as the character

from that show. And there are brilliant, wonderful

episodes with that version of Mikey. But that's

not my favorite version of Mikey. IDW's got it

kind of nailed as the guy. He's not an idiot.

He's sensitive and he does like to have fun,

but he's not he's not a child In a teenager's

body and that that's that's it'd be hard for

Sites to take that and the energy in his voice

to that level this this kind of more sensitive

level it'd be interesting to hear him try because

he's wonderfully talented and could probably

surprise me but I don't know who I'm thinking

of all the of all the Mikey voices that we've

had who would Who would do the best at this,

you know? Maybe Robbie wrist maybe The dude I

don't know who it was but the guy who did the

TMNT movie the CG movie the original CG movie

not the crappy ones You mean the 2007 movie?

Yeah I don't know who did it there, but Wayne

Grayson did it in the 2003 cartoon series. I

could see that I could see Wayne Grayson I can

probably hear him doing this Mikey stuff here.

I don't remember who did him in the 2007 TMNT

movie. It might have been Wayne, but I don't

think so. It was similar, but in a higher register.

2003 series that Mikey always felt like he was

forcing his voice through an aluminum screen

door like it was always just like trying to push

a block of plate the Play -Doh through that There

was so much effort and energy into that voice.

Yeah So so far here, what are you thinking for

the story? Well, we you know, we're the it looks

like Leo's got the turtles back Not under him,

but that he they're they're on board with him

there. They're actually training so that's an

impressive Feet that happened off -screen between

those two issues Yeah It was Mikey Kelly as Michelangelo

in the 2007 film you know who that guy was no,

okay? He did a voice in extreme Ghostbusters

He was Steven in Godzilla the series in 2000.

He was Nick in Static Shock. He was... I'm looking

for more... He was a voice in Ben 10. He was

in an episode of King of the Hill. He was...

He was in Mariah Carey's Merriest Christmas as

the announcer two years ago. Hello, he did a

really good job. It was a good Mikey I can remember

the line. He says Oh man, did anybody get the

number of that truck that hit us last night?

It looked like your mom, dude Yeah, Mikey that

would make him your mom too or well the camera

breath It was the monster not a truck, but either

way you get the idea everybody uh... he's doing

uh... he did two episodes of trance the twenty

seven the the new transformers robots in the

sky was heat seeker in that so there's that uh...

yeah i'm gonna have to go back and listen to

Wayne Grayson is Mikey from TMNT 2003 i liked

him in that series and the crazy thing for me

is uh... over the summer i went back And I know

we're completely off topic of the comic here,

folks, but I'll bring it back around here in

a second. I went back and I watched all of the

original 2000 Yu -Gi -Oh! Duel Monsters cartoon

with Yu -Gi and Joey and Taya and Kaiba and all

that stuff. And Wayne Grayson, I believe, is

the voice of Joey Wheeler in that series. I'm

like, oh yeah, that kind of does fit. So, yeah.

I would have to go do a voice compare on BehindTheVoiceActors

.com to see which Mikey's voice... I think Townsend

could pull it off. You know, like I said, maybe

Wayne Grayson. I don't know. But like you said,

Mikey is the super sensitive one. He's the one

that is always feeling with his heart. Yep. You

know, uh, where Donnie and Leo are more logical,

Mikey feels with his heart and Raph just is,

most of the time, he's angry unless he's, you

know, dealing with pepperoni as pet or unless

he's with his fox there, so. Yeah, my, uh, Raph,

Raph just reacts like a raw nerve. And that's

what Raph does. That's his thing. That's his

thing. So the turtles are training pepperoni

Swims in some sewage and all of a sudden old

hob walks in yeah You think that's harsh you

ain't seen nothing yet And I don't know you got

in here you This reminds me of obviously Raph

is not injured here, but it really does Seeing

this panel with with with Raph and Leo it reminds

me of the movie when Raph Finally stands up and

Leo's like, you know, I'm sorry. He's like Leo

Donnie comes in Donnie comes in. Oh, it's a Kodak

moment But yeah, no I I've always loved Raph

and old Hobbs kind of kind of animosity towards

each other And you know old Hobb lays down his

gun He just wants to talk and Raph still wants

to fight Leo's like let him talk so he tells

them what's going on with the mutanimals and

all of that we get you know we get him you know

talking about Bishop soldiers and all that we

cut to the other three turtles Donnie's like

soldiers Mikey's like do you think alls raff

can say it's his classic 90s movie line scream

it but you know An old Hobbes says this thing

that That that keeps coming up with the turtles

like man trouble follows you around you already

know what I'm talking about Don't you because

yeah, they had this experience in universe one

through one through three one through four Yep

So flash over to the Earth Defense Force headquarters,

and they've got the Well finally four of the

mutanimals that they had captured strapped to

the wall pinned up there they're investigating

what they can do with them yeah and the sad thing

is all i can think of is tito if this is torture

chain me to the wall oh my god if you think about

it the mutanimals are are oliver and company

i don't know which one of them would be oliver

but Old Hobb is definitely Master Fagin there.

I'd have to see that again. I don't think I've

seen that since I was a kid. Oh my god. That

would be a good movie to show all over. Yeah,

no kidding, since it has this namesake in it.

And it's a kid, it's a Disney version of Oliver

Twist, and I mean, plus it's got, you know, it's

got Billy Joel as the artful Dodger, and you

know, it's got Bette Midler as Georgette, the

stuck -up poodle. Anyway, so Wesley, the leader

of the Dark Water, Black Water, whatever they're

called, is hanging up with his wife and... And

he and Bishop are going to get to work on these,

uh, on these mutanimals. The doctor is there.

And, uh, when he goes over to Mondo, Bishop says,

yes, well, speaking of where the sun don't shine,

it appears our gecko friend here is regaining

the tail it lost during the extraction operation.

Dude, watch the cold hands. Oh, I see. So we've

got the four mutanables picked up. I was thinking

like, what happened to Seymour and Herman? Well,

Herman's crab got ripped, his crab claw got ripped

off in the struggle back in the apartment. So

they're working on that, probably building him

some new bionic thing. They've been scanning

these guys looking for potential ways to... use

them like they're using Slash, and well, Man

Ray's a genius, this one's regenerating, Sally's,

she's a combatant and tough and spunky, and this

pigeon, what did they say here? We haven't been

able to pinpoint any significant cerebral activity

in the pigeon, trauma -based or otherwise, we're

still looking, sir. I hope Pigeon Pete manages

someday to step up and do something incredible

or that he does have some kind of underlying

value beyond being entertaining. I see, and I

could be wrong and probably am, I see Pigeon

Pete as always the distraction. I don't see Pete

getting, you know, I don't see some ancient prophecy

infusing him with you know, ninja powers and

going through Beverly Hills like Chris Farley

did as the Beverly Hills ninja. I just don't

see that. No, no. But yeah, hopefully Pete does

get what I would love to see for and I assume

again, it's we've done so many of these. Was

Pete just a regular pigeon that get hit by the

mutagen? The I can't. I don't remember I remember

in the cartoon they meet him for the first time

And he has something they want and he says yeah,

I want bread and or was it the comic either way

By bread, do you mean money or actual bread actual

bread? Yeah You know what you would be hanging

out with old hob if he weren't if you were a

human first Yeah, that's cuz old hob ditched

the bebop and rocksteady cuz they were humans

first so definitely a pigeon okay see I was hoping

for some origin story for Pete like if he was

originally human you know but I don't know so

yeah they're they're working this problem we

get a nice long uh... discussion between uh...

bishop and man ray which i think is great because

i haven't really seen a lot and we've seen stuff

out of man ray we've seen his action stuff but

we haven't really seen him talk more than a few

lines here and there that's a character i would

love to hear more from and hey we're gifted that

moment here but he's really smart and doing the

verbal banter between bishop and there is a good

back and forth love the end part of this where

Bishop says it should be the case I'm afraid

this is about eliminating an existential threat

to the human species on this planet after all

about you know survival so -called ethics tend

to be determined to that particular pursuit And

manner is like an existential threat. You mean

from the harmless mutants you have shackled to

the wall And he goes on to tell them that he

wants, you know to make his own mutant army we

go to see more and Seymour is not doing so well

And Lindsey's back there just As you're making

it worse, this is not how to help. No. And Seymour

here, because he's not fully his green -faced

skull self, you know who he reminds me of? This

is so sad. He reminds me of the aliens from Mars

Attacks. Yeah! Oh my gosh. We actually did an

episode a few years ago on the Mars Attacks Transformers

issue that IDW did. It was hilarious. But yeah,

Lindsay is trying to help them. We have more

between Man Ray and Bishop. The whole thing ends

up being a ploy from Man Ray to be distracting

everybody. through his talking that he's he's

picking the lock with his tail and um manages

to bust loose and use this crazy mutant stuff

stinger barbs out of his uh out of his wings

the the flappy dews yep yeah absolutely so he

breaks free All this bishop can say is stingray

barbs, but how mutations within mutations fascinating

and Oh for crying out loud All Delta whiskey.

This is this is night lab one is compromised.

We have one hostile loose repeat one hostile

loose and Yeah, a lot of fighting going on here

And we find here this this massive man -ray mutant

huge muscles large guy It starts beating on Bishop

and Bishop Takes him starts to bends his arm

back cracks him in a spot kicks him in the stomach

starts to look a little bit like agent Smith

from from matrix here Like yeah, he's and this

is our first indication that Bishop is probably

more than human here in this story. This is the

first time we've really gotten that look at him,

and he mentions that, you know, I was born to

fight, I fight because this is the right thing

to do, Bishop says, and he proceeds to... you

know, keep wailing on Man Ray and he says, well,

yeah, you are a soldier, but not by choice. You're

a soldier. I'm a soldier by necessity. And so

he starts taking him back. I mean, for Bishop,

it's a choice for Man Ray. His fighting has been

because he needed it to survive. And so he does

kind of re. How do you say he steps back up and

starts taking him down and it's only by again

to the back of the head that he spares Bishop

Somebody has got him Yeah, that was trap. Yeah,

it was Wesley Knight. I believe so Sally and

Mondo get out and they're like hiding from them

from the guys and You know You know Sally sees

a truck and She's like come to mama and Sally's

gonna drive us out of here And she's gonna you

know she's like I'm going for a joy ride So Sally

steals the APC you gotta love bulletproof glass

We get back to the turtles lair with with old

hob and and laugh and of course They're still

arguing and fighting and all that It's to me.

I just realized where they were they're back

at the mutanimals apartment. They're not in the

lair Yeah, Don Donnie's investigating. What's

going on the TVs smashed? And and so they're

poking around in there. That's what they're doing

Donnie's looking at the rounds of bullets trying

to track them figure things out except for Rath

who takes it out Defense command has got them

surrounded Not good Here's a sign of Leo kind

of being something we've seen him before So what

about it Leo? It looks like serious Alamo time,

bro. What do you say you want to do? I He's hesitant

in second -guessing himself Well, that's, you

know, back to a Leo we're more familiar with.

I'm trying to figure out how he got from being,

oh, I can't lead them because I'm not the father

figure to that not being sure of himself again.

But, you know, we'll see what happens. I have

a feeling he's going to be fine. Yeah. I mean...

For the most part, throughout this entire series,

the turtles have had ups and downs and things

like that and whatever else, but for the most

part, they come out on top, for the most part.

And even when they come out, has a lapse in Leo's

leadership ever resulted in anything where one

of the turtles got injured? And that wasn't really

in the movie, but hey, we'll find out. Something

might happen. Done, done, done. Absolutely. Issue

68, I love the story arc so far. I think it's

progressing well. So we have four issues here

that make up this arc. Like I said, 67, 68, 69,

and 70. This is an interesting... Don't want

to necessarily say middle issue, but it kind

of is it's the it's the second issue of the four

that Continues the story and they've got so much

going I don't think they could have packed anything

more into this this issue here because we've

got all the mutanimal stuff With the earth defense

force Then you've got old hob and the turtles

I mean The only thing Tom, Bobby and Kevin and

Matthias and Rhonda and Sean Lee and everybody

else, the only thing they could have put into

this comic that would make it explode out of

its own pages was if they threw in the kitchen

sink. I mean, there's just so much in this issue.

And it's just so, so good. Yep. I remember when

we did the Mutanimals series, the four -issue

mini -series, when they had their adventure at

null, way back when. We wanted to see more of

them, and we finally are. And that's one thing

this series is good at. We'll get various story

arcs with various characters. Obviously... the

turtles are going to be the main characters but

you know sometimes we'll have angel and in casey

sometimes we'll have angel and alopex sometimes

we'll have you know the mutanimals sometimes

it'll be a story involving crank sometimes it'll

be a story involving the b -bob and rocksteady

universe and sometimes it'll be well it can't

be shredder now but at the time it could have

been before he died And they have such a good

balance. It's incredible. You know, we say we

do. We've said things like, I want to see more

from this character. Boom. And then all of a

sudden they get a mini -series. I want to see

more from the neutrinos. Well, guess what? Here's

Dimension X. They go back, guys. It's brilliant

that they've been able to juggle all of this.

at all these characters and not really make it

feel overwhelming. Like I could imagine somebody

being overwhelmed and jumping on in issue 63,

whatever happened in issue 63. That could be

a little crazy. But hey, if you pick up the free

Comic Book Day issue and jump on then, you're

less than 11 issues away from being totally caught

up. So they still manage to balance everything

and to do justice to everything. But that doesn't

mean, folks, that you shouldn't go back to the

beginning and read it all anyway. Oh, no, it's

too easy with all the hard covers, trade paperbacks,

and comixology sales. It's way too easy to read

everything. And you think, OK, it's 73 issues.

There aren't a lot of books, except for the big

DC and Marvel titles, that ever see this high

numbering. And I think it's something special

to say that it can last that long and that you

can encourage somebody to go back and read from

the beginning. You can't say that to somebody

with Superman, because it's been going on forever.

And anything else that hasn't been going on forever

hasn't been going on for long enough to bother

going back to the beginning to read it. So Turtles

is in a unique spot, I think. And it's like I've

always said, this is a love letter to the entire

TMNT fandom. Yep. They put every, and they've

got Kevin Eastman. I mean, they've got the guy

that, you know, one of the guys that created

the damn things working on this. And they've

got, you know, Bobby doing his thing and Tom

doing the scripting. And like I said, all the

various artists between Santalucco and Corey

Smith. Would love I don't know if this is ever

gonna happen, but I would love and I'll have

to see if it happens in the solicitations I don't

think it will we'll find out at the end of the

podcast I honestly would love to see a Dan Duncan

arc at this point. I miss Dan Duncan Yeah, his

his art. I think it's changed a lot. It's grown

a lot It's evolved a lot and I still I love that

those first 12 issues that raw Dan Duncan style

I'm hoping I get to meet him because I think

those those are still my favorite turtles. For

IDW, it's still that first 12 issue arc was exactly

what I needed to get me reading a turtle book

again. I don't think if it would have looked

different, I don't think I'd have stuck around.

I think I'd have like finger quotes in the air

grown up and not bothered. But nope, it ends

up being great and it contributed to a giant

resurgence in my turtle geekdom. Absolutely.

So I assume we're giving 68 a 5? Absolutely.

Alright. 5 is all around for 68. We're going

to take a quick break and come back after this.

This ain't Halloween. You're going down, freaks.

Nobody messes with the purple dragons, especially

wearing stupid turtle costumes. easier than expected

I hope there are more of those guys I'm just

getting warmed up so we are back here on episode

152 of the pull bag talking the TMNT IDW issues

67 to 70 the desperate measures arc up next issue

69 in a row oops sorry That doesn't really work,

does it? Kevin Eastman, Bobby Kernow, Tom Waltz

are on creative, Tom Waltz did script, Mateus

is on art, Ron does on colors as always, Sean

Lee on letters, and we got some guy in the bathroom.

We get the professor, he gets a doctor for the

earth defense, earth force protection, whatever

the hell he's... he's you know fighting yeah

pretty much because apparently oh everybody's

on alert yada yada yada and yeah he's most definitely

hiding because he even looks at you know that's

about right I don't remember I like the height

of that stall where he says huh and he's looking

out under the thing he's on the floor I'm like

Yeah, that's about right because I don't remember

ever being... I think maybe when I was five I

was able to sneak out from under a bathroom stall,

but... We'll see this one's professionally made,

you know, and they they make fun of us here in

the United States about our crappy bathroom stalls

Oh Mateus, he doesn't live in the US. So that's

what he thinks bathroom stalls look like they

don't look like that There's like a foot and

a half down there You care if you crouched you

could see up to people's knees and then there's

the inch gap between the door and the latch so

It is what it is. Yo Gulp, what up, Doc? Mondo

has a Bugs buddy line. God, love that Mondo.

Ha ha, mutant magic. Never mind that he's completely

naked That's the fun part about him. I think

is that for him to use his chameleon power Properly

he does need to strip down to nothing and that

kind of you think I said what the mystery men

with the oh Gosh, I can't remember the name of

the kid But he had when I'm completely naked

and nobody's looking I can turn invisible. How

do you know you're invisible? Just know Reminds

me of and everyone everyone hates this movie.

I know fine. Whatever Reminds me of Jessica Alba

in the first Fantastic Four film. Yeah And I

haven't seen that she in a long time she had

to strip down To her nakedness to become invisible

once she became invisible. It was fine. But once

she became visible again, there was a problem

So mutant magic and mutant muscle. Ouchie hate

to invade your personal space like this doc,

but You bogus dude started it I love Mondo Mondo

and my okay, just like I've said for god knows

how long Raph and alopex need their own romance

series Mondo and Mikey need their own buddy cop

series Yeah, those two haven't gotten a chance

to really partner up like they do in most of

the other iterations of this of the of their

existence they were they were partnered up in

the animated series and I don't remember him

at all from the 89 series like not one bit except

the toy I remember the toy of course, but he

was there because I had to I had to go back and

remember what he sounded like in that when they

announced that Robbie Wriste was going to do

his voice in the 2012 series. I'm like, I know

Mondo was in the 87 series, but I don't remember

what he sounded like at all. I just figured it

was another one of the, you know, the classic

actors that were in there. He's in one of the

later, I think it's like season five or season

four. He's somewhere after the original run kind

of thing goes. I wonder if he showed up in that

series before in the Archie series before or

after the cartoon. That's kind of interesting.

I have a feeling I came to the cartoon later

than a lot of people. 90, 91, 92. because There

were a lot of the toys that were out that I shouldn't

have been able to have yet So it's kind of like

I can't figure out the dates Yeah, the series

started in 87 the toys kind of started coming

out 88 they were in full force in 89 Yeah, I

didn't come to the Turtles until I moved to Grand

Rapids. I mean, somebody had a Michelangelo action

figure I played with, but 1990 and 91 I think

were my first really getting into it. So Mondo's

hacking the Earth Protection Force servers, and

we then go to the old folks' home where... bishops

dad is and bishops dad is suffering from Alzheimer's

maybe I don't know they don't specifically say

but dementia of some variety some right yeah

he's a the come through the conversation they

have it seems that bishops dad kind of started

the energy sort of the motion between the earth

defense force and that bishops Ben, the one who's

completed the task for him. And so Bishop's kind

of plugging him for information, letting him

know, hey, Dad, we're almost done. We've almost

completed your thing, which is interesting because

we have Bishop, you know, softer side of Bishop

here. But they talk about I don't know where

they went with this, but. talks about Eisenhower

and area 51 and how he wanted to get in there

but couldn't and Said you're either gonna tell

me what's going on there and march the military

in there and how area 51 said okay and once he

got in there he said no no never mind never mind

we're out and so it bishops dad relates this

story to him and and it has something to do with

Mutants and militarizing things that they shouldn't

have any business militarizing Well, yeah, because

that's what that's the whole point of this arc

is that that's what that's what bishop is going

to end up doing I mean, that's what he's already

done with slash and he wants to do it with the

rest of them Bishops angle here is not like Hobbes.

It's not like shredders. It's not like cranks,

you know Hob wants to get rid of the humans,

because he hates humans, but Bishop here wants

it for almost an Iron Man type of move, maybe?

Yeah, because he doesn't exactly want to get

rid of them. He wants to militarize them, I guess.

There's more to Bishop that we have not yet discovered,

I'm sure. there's there's there's more to him

and we'll find out someday we'll find out some

today but we'll find out more later i'm sure

absolutely uh so we go back to where the turtles

are hiding and the earth protection forces outside

waiting to basically attack them and mikey cause

those soldier dudes are are getting antsy they're

jamming us too i can't get a signal uh... and

leo's like down mikey you're gonna get yourself

shot sorry big bro geez just trying to help and

uh... yeah hubs got a super giant looking gun

He pulls out from floorboards because we're back

at the Butanables old apartment. So I keep whenever

this scene whenever this environment shows up,

I think it's april's apartment or donnie's apartment

some you know somebody's apartment casey's apartment

that is but uh no no no this is where the mutie

animals live and that's why old hobbs opening

up the floorboard and pulling out a giant gun

uh so giant well because he knows the ninja turtles

are with him he picked out the stun gun and not

the one that you know shoots explosives or something

yeah um i uh i i almost i don't and again we've

been doing this for years folks so if i don't

remember I don't think we've ever had an old

house. Yet. You know. Like what do you mean?

An old house in this series. Like we have the

old church for hideout for the turtles and stuff,

but I don't think we ever had like an old rundown

house. Apartment either you mean or? No, house.

Well, because in New York there's no houses.

There's no houses in New York. They're all...

Well... What this looks like to me is April's

apartment in the... In the movie? The... cg the

first cg movie okay well the reason why i say

houses because there you know when they did baxter

in the cartoon series in the original cartoon

series where shredders oh yeah i have to go to

a bigger place in the technodrome was right under

that house because it was a a full scale house

that's that's yeah um so yeah old hob and the

turtles are about to create a a distraction and

You know Leo even agrees Hobbs got the right

idea. He does I do Yeah, mostly Yeah, there's

there's some interesting growth going on with

Leo here that I quite enjoy he's he's not he's

obviously not in charge because we've got old

hob kind of Putting thoughts into his head, but

he's getting his own ideas in there and he's

agreeing with and disagreeing with and giving

and taking So there's there's a lot of that going

on and and you know that leads somewhere, but

I was noticing it that he's He's actually on

the side of some of these old hobby and decisions.

Old hobby and decisions, that's funny. Like,

let the chaos reign here at easy, he leans off

the window. But first, the chaos part, yep. What

the hell? This is one of the guns that they stole

from the null in the Mutanimals arc, and it just

blasts this lightning out that stuns everybody.

I think you said, you comments earlier that...

They won't kill them, but it'll sure make them

regret the next couple of hours and then they

so it's Doing its job. Yep The turtles are trying

to climb down the side of the building here,

but of course they They you know Get ambushed

by the earth protection force hey look i finally

remember the name of the damn thing hey try and

go look out and donnie and his i know they want

to keep donnie streamline along with the rest

of the turtles his shell here even though i know

it's the new shell it's the metal shell it's

the indestructible she's whatever the hell that

it is after you know after issue fifty and all

that I just wish it looked a little bit more

metallic. It doesn't have to be gray. It doesn't

have to be silver. It like metallic green. Like

it just looks like a normal turtle shell. Now

maybe that's what Mateus and everybody else wanted

to do. So people don't know that it's a metallic

shell. Cause maybe if they knew they would use

a magnet on him or something. I don't know. I'm

just saying that I wish for us, the readers,

it would look a little bit more metallic alike.

So Donnie gets all the the trank darts except

for one and Raph gets gets knocked out. So Raph's

kind of done for this issue. He's he's gonna

be in and out and everybody's gonna have to carry

him at one point or another. Having Raph be the

comedy relief of this. I didn't notice that he

was getting carried everywhere after this. I

saw the great, come on, Raph, shake it. We got

to move, sheesh downy. I didn't really, yeah,

I guess he's leaning on Don, the rest of that.

And he looks a little drunk. Well, you know,

yeah, you would too if you had tranked with a...

Well, the tranked darts that took a slash down

earlier. Yeah, really. Let's see here. Where

is it? So... Hob throws his null grenade and

that, you know, kind of takes care of everybody

and all of that. So as they're walking along,

yeah, Donnie is helping Raph. And Slash comes

in because reinforcements. Oh boy. And a little

big Bishop Slash. Yeah. I do love Mikey's consistent

persistence on trying to get Slash to come around,

even though everybody else knows Slash is not

controlling his own actions, it's Bishop doing

it. I like that Mikey still has his... He's gonna

try to give it a go. Yeah, he still has his compassion

about him He still has you know, he's worried

for his friend And and yeah Sally shows up come

with me if you want to live As I was as I was

reading this issue For her lines. I started to

hear Zelda Williams voice She was voicing Venus

in the animated series right now like no. No,

this is totally her this totally needs to be

here if they have her animator But they probably

That's Robin's daughter, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah

They somebody was after her to voice Zelda in

the Breath of the Wild game As kind of as a little

bit of a tribute since Robin Williams is a big

fan And that would have been cool, but. Yeah,

that would have been that would have been very,

very cool. Now I will follow her career. Absolutely.

Oh, it's a Lou Reed song, Ride Sally Ride. Oh,

that's going in here. So, yeah, we have him.

I remember that. There's just I just love when

they do stuff like that what you know because

you know you you look at the panel where you

know it's it's right after she says you know

come with me if you want to you know Cobb says

go Sally go and then Raph chimes in right Sally

ride well go Sally go I'm pretty sure is probably

somewhere in some song lyric but what it reminds

me of and again I'm sure everyone hates The movie

I'm going to mention, because everyone hates

the lead actor in the movie, reminds me of Gone

in 60 Seconds with Nicolas Cage when he finally

got Eleanor, that Shelby Mustang that he always

wanted to get at the end of the movie. It's the

scene where he's trying to outrun the A -star

helicopter. Flips all these switches and he hits

this button that says go baby go Go Sally go

that reminds me of now. I gotta find ride Sally

right on Spotify after we do this So they get

away and both Bishop and slash you're like no

Faster selling ain't gonna quit so we get it

basically a chase scene between Sally the cops

and and the earth protection force So Sally has

a crazy idea. Alright everyone, hold on tight

to something and hold your breath. She jumps

the bridge. This is your plan. I've had better.

And they end up in the water, you know. This

is Back in the Turtles Lair. You know what I

realized here as they surface and yeah get mad

at each other for not exactly having a plan but

hey bro it worked out and Gecko and Pepperoni

are walking down the stairs. The railing is still

bent up from when slash showed up there years

ago. Oh, yeah, I was like years of continuity

You think that's Bobby like hey Mateus we got

that page, but do you remember that one time

that he smashed the railing? Yeah, you got to

go redraw that panel We will find out next time

we talk to Bobby That was interesting that's

as far as I drag this muscle head no more so

Donnie's done dragging a raft around. Yeah, you're

right. Mondo comes in with the bent up railing

and all that. We get this whole thing on the

news and all of that. Donnie is trying to figure

out from the information that Mondo got if they

can use anything and they really can't use anything.

And Donnie says, sorry Mondo, it was a great

try, but I think you hacked the EPF human resources

server. Dumber. So what now? We lost them this

time, but you know, they're gonna keep looking

for us. Yeah, they will. And even if they don't

find us, we can't forget about Slash and the

other mutanimals they still have. So the turtles...

are kind of at a crossroads. Raf chimes in and

says, so what's the problem? We're ninjas, right?

Sally and Mondo know where the EPF are keeping

the meat animals. Let's just bust into the place

and sneak them out of there. Works for me. Ditto.

And, you know, both Donnie and Leo, the logical

ones of the group right now, and, you know, they're

just... Donnie's concerned that they're completely

out -tact, but yeah What he says he says Donnie

says aren't you three trying? Paying attention

We're out -tact by these guys blasting in is

not a smart option right now and Leo says Especially

considering they're bound to be on maximum alert

after everything that happened that's happened

So they're they're arguing about what they're

gonna do and how they need to do their next move

and how it's not possible To do this and they

can't do that and they can't do that and Raph

says Well, it looks like we got all the crap

we can't do down pat Maybe it's time we start

figuring out the stuff we can do before it's

too late And that's when Mikey notices that old

Hob during this whole debate went missing. Yep

and Hob Breaks into the old folks home That took

me until that moment to realize why this arc

was called Desperate Measures. Mm -hmm. That's

a low blow there, Hob. The monsters found me,

and that's how 69 ends, and damn. I'm loving

this. You ever watch... Oh, shoot. The Blue Meth.

Breaking Bad. You ever watch Breaking Bad? Yes.

This is, this is like, you know, El Pollo, Pollo's

hermanos guy goes to the old folks home. Oh,

yeah. He's like, yeah. I have five podcast episodes

where I reviewed each season of Breaking Bad

with my buddy Ryan. So, yeah, I've seen Breaking

Bad and yeah. I don't I don't want to do a lot

of meth at all. I don't even want to do any math

either That's a bad Phineas and Ferb joke folks

Since we're in between issues here, and we'll

get ratings on 69 here in a minute We'll probably

just do readings overall for the arc since we're

almost in the last issue There's a scene in Phineas

and Ferb there's an episode called the Baljeetels

or a Baljeet ends up attending this summer camp

it's called summer rocks thinking it was a geology

course but it's actually a music thing it's a

it's a musical concert series type thing and

all he knows how to do is play an A chord because

he just wants to get an A and Phineas is like

well you know how do you feel about I don't feel

anything I just you know I do a lot of math you

know the feelings come and go but I do a lot

of math so my buddy Michael Wilson and I keep

saying that Valjee is doing a lot of math I think

we're just gonna rate the overall arc at the

end of this but yeah the issue 69 is a great

penultimate issue leading up to What is going

to be the conclusion to the arc here in issue

70? Absolutely love it. I love that everyone's

trying to come up with a plan. I love that we've

already seen Splinter in the first, you know,

kind of two issues already. We don't really need

to see what's going on. Because really this is

not a Foot Clan story. This is a spaceship. This

is a Earth... protection force slash mutanimals

and turtles story uh... it was nice in sixty

eight months when you know when leo had to go

to splinter to get advice from him and but i

think after having that advice that leo uh...

you know like you said he's not the leader he's

not the overall father figure he never will be

but in the interim He he's all you said this

plenty of times. He's always been out of the

four of them. He's always been the one to Lead

them into whatever it is mm -hmm And he's always

the one who wants the plan whether or not he

ever gets it He wants the plan which is I think

that's what's been going on the past two issues

right this one That we're about to read in the

last one. He's constantly like what's the plan?

We need to make a plan guys, and he doesn't exactly

get one until later in this issue, but as we

begin issue 70 with story, art, script, and colors

by all of our favorite people, Old Hob somehow

got ahold of them and told them to meet me here,

guys, and so the turtles... Sally and Mondo are

looking over this hedge down at an empty truck.

It's an old stock gen facility old abandoned

destroyed place And Hob told him to wait wait

for what guys? I don't know Leo wants a plan.

He doesn't have one But the the EDF people show

up so apparently old Hob is is called the turtles

and called them to come here and They're setting

them up. They're watching Don sees a sniper in

the helicopter. That's shy flying overhead and

Okay, don't know what Don't know what new mess

old Hobbs gotten us into but I think we need

a plan and then they cut away Seems like Leo's

ready. He's like this is it. This is my time.

I can see a plan here Yep Yeah, everybody's kind

of coming together here. We got the helicopter

scene like you said and we need a plan and Hob's

plan is pretty much just go in blazing Well actually

he's not sinister thing here that he's playing

here he's There is an artful stroke that comes

here old Hob shouts out at the EDF guys. They're

still in their truck But Hob comes out and he's

got the black water guys wife and where they

set this up the wife is who he was talking to

and calling in the very first episode he was

on the phone with somebody and it was all very

real and sentimental and what are you bringing

home for dinner that kind of stuff um even though

he was a hard one -dimensional villain otherwise

you know what i mean that gave him the dimension

but this is his wife that he was talking to and

then bishop's dad so he's got uh both the the

military guys and the edf Covered with these

two hostages that he's taken he wheels them out

with the gun and yeah And he says Okay, ladies

since the old coot here is not much for talking

you're gonna have Exactly what I told you in

the van got it now relax It's just your life

that's at stake Damn freak of nature. Get your

filthy paws off my wife. You damn dirty cat.

And he calls him Gomer Pile. Oh god. So there's

two references there. He's like, easy now Gomer

Pile. Don't forget these filthy paws got nasty

claws. So the Gomer pile can either reference

the Andy Griffith character or it can reference

the Oh God, the Vincent D 'Onofrio character

from Full Metal Jacket. Mm -hmm Daredevil season

3 needs to hurry up. Ah, yes Marvel's best villain

ever yep so we got the sniper in place that has

a shot on on hob and they're waiting you know

the husband says good stand by for my command

to fire and Leo and Sally dive in and here's

the implementation of Leo's plan that's just

Master strokes cuz I'm guessing either Donnie

or Leo went to Harold because that's Harold tech

They've had that the April used that a long time

ago. That's the the anti -gravity gun Yeah, see

I thought well we've seen in this arc and before

even before this even issues 65 and 66 that Turtles

and Harold are not getting up. So maybe that's

why I thought Maybe they went back off panel

to you know asking for more help There the hillside

two tangos remember no killing Trankham Trankham

more like flank them Spank them and spank them

yeah like them and spank them Come on, Private,

we need to get that array fired up. I'm typing

as fast as I can, Corporal. Don't these tech

guys in these mercenaries, shouldn't they at

least be able to type 80 words per minute or

more? I mean, come on! You know and of course

just off panel Mondo not fast enough dude surprise

I love Mondo in this series Yo, Sally wanna drive?

You know it I love it. I just absolutely love

it It's like, Leo's like, you both know what

to do next, right? Yeah, hack and attack. It's

like they have this weird rhyming thing in this

issue. Absolutely love it. Holy crap, we're winning.

I know, can you believe it? Leo's plan totally

worked. This might be my favorite turtle shot.

It's where The old man says monsters and monsters

and monsters, okay hub and it goes to the panel

of the four of them We're here. It's like, oh

my god I would go to the website where these

pages are for sale to buy that page except I

know that with a hero shot of four turtles is

probably a $1 ,000 page I don't think I need

to do that. No, you don't need to do that. No,

no, no. Not gonna try. Nope. But, you know, you

just look at this, and we've said this before,

and I've said this in other shows, in other versions

of The Turtles, this is the way they all should

look. as far as each of them have a different

turtle body type. Like Leo, Leo and Raph are

the muscle. Raph has more muscle than Leo. Mikey

has a bit of muscle, but he looks more friendly.

And Donnie just looks like he's, you know...

I don't know, he... Kind of looks like he's obtuse.

He's lanky. He's a taller guy. And I wonder where

that motif... where that got dictated or what

happened between IDW and Nickelodeon because

the first time we saw Tall Skinny Don, Short

Round Mike, Average Leo and Bulked Up Raph was

I think in the Nickelodeon series that it makes

sense if you were going to do it a certain way,

this is what it would need to be. So it'll be

interesting to watch as to whether anybody plays

with that dynamic. the physical dynamic again

and makes it different or if this is what we're

going to have for a while. I like this. I like

this a lot. And I think the only reason why Raph

looks short in this four turtle page here is

because he's kind of half crowd. His left knee

is bent. He's doing the Wolverine squat. Yeah,

pretty much. Yeah. So that's not Raph's full

height, but it still, it shows you clearly how

different they all are, and it's just so cool.

I just absolutely love that. And, uh, you know,

so the guy's like, all right, mutants, I'm listening.

And we have a discussion between them and him.

The hub is still threatening his wife until you

know he gets what he wants and And slash comes

in or Bishop slash bish slash Because uh meanwhile

you know this dude's got his hand around the

ladies throat this dude's wife's throat and so

he's willing to talk and figure out and put his

gun down the bishop does not care and says the

EDF does not negotiate which implies you know

as I flip to this page and saw this I'm thinking

okay he's just gonna go in there and kill everybody

indiscriminately wipe everybody out because he

kind of wins either way so he's coming over there

and he's giving the villain speech at this point

he's telling them what's what flips the the truck

that Sally and Mondo are in. Kind of reminds

me of a stunt they pulled in WWE recently. Over

the last couple of months they've had Roman Reigns

versus Braun Strowman and Braun Strowman is the

newest monster type wrestler on WWE. And I mean,

they call him the monster among men. Well, they

did this stunt where Roman was in an ambulance

and Braun basically picks it up and tips it over

on its side. That's exactly what this battle

here with Slash and Sally and Mondo reminds me

of. Like the dude actually flipped an ambulance?

Or was there trickery? There was trickery. The

way it looks like on TV it looks like he actually

flipped it, but you can hear the hydraulics in

the background, okay So So we get Bishop saying

and that's the risky thing about biological weapons.

It's not the imperfect biology it's I mean, here's

this near invincible beast able to withstand

an entire building falling upon its head, brought

to its knees in battle by, uh, watery eyes and

a snot -filled nose. Uh, the dichotomy boggles

the mind and goes on and on and on and talks

about that and and hobs like Listen to him. Can't

you hear how stinking paranoid he is? I don't

know what half of the words he's saying mean.

And even I can hear it. How do you think I found

your woman, huh? Guy keeps lists with all your

private info. He don't even trust you, Knight.

You know. And... You know, he kinda talks Knight

into all of this and... You know, and once again,

Bish Slash says the EPF does not negotiate with

mutants. Maybe not, but Darkwater does. Sergeant

Winter, sir? This op is terminated. Do you copy?

Five by five, Colonel. Pulls a gun, puts it to

the back of Bishop's physical head over there

in the truck hooked up with the line control.

Goggles we're mercenaries. There are wars or

dime a dozen, but family that's rare So again,

they go back, you know, they go back to the whole

family dichotomy thing Which is awesome that

we've said this, you know for years now the entire

Infrastructure of this TMNT series is is family.

That's really what it's all about and at the

end we see We see the dark water guy with his

wife We see all the mutanimals released old hob

the turtles all that stuff and For for For Seymour

he he's not looking so good. No they have him

in a Basically just a little pod little jar head

in a jar like Nixon and in that one show that

I haven't watched Yeah Why don't I oh god what

the frick Mike help me? What's the name of the

show? I'm thinking Fry and the robot. Oh, it's

Futurama. Thank you. You said Fry. I'm like,

okay. I can't. That's a show that I know I should

watch and like, but I just can't get into it.

Like Doctor Who. I can't get into Doctor Who,

but I know it's awesome. I can't get into Futurama,

but I know it's awesome. You're the second person

now that I know that is like me that just can't

get into Doctor Who. I tried and I just couldn't.

I keep trying every once in a while. It's too

British for me. I and I like a lot of British

things like I like the the the Sherlock show

and I like Broadchurch and I like we're watching

the night manager right now very British shows,

but But the Doctor Who is just it's hard for

me and I tried watching it where the effects

started to get good Not that that was a barrier

before but by that point the continuity is So

hard and they're the characters are there's so

many of them that I don't I don't know anymore

It's like, oh well, you know have somebody walk

me through it someday. So Herman has a robotic

claw I got ripped off that did did slash fish

slash rip that off. I can't remember how that

got removed Yeah, that was when slash went on

the rampage. Yep Hi, I'm Pete Looks like they're

just waiting on me Here and he's all yours Cheers

Oh man Ray has the gun pointed at Bishop looks

like Christmas and my birthday party all at once

Perhaps she forgot about one invitee dr. Shelvin

Oh He's up there controlling slash or letting

him loose. He doesn't have goggles on this is

the same doctor that was hiding into the stall

in the first Yup. Yup. And Slash picks up the

overturned APC and throws it at them. Thank you,

doctor. I have the con once again. Uh -oh. The

big guy. That ain't the big guy kid. And they're

in for it. I mean, Bish Slash just goes all out

and just ugh. The beating that they were taking.

Oh my god. And then Hob, you know, puts a gun

to his dad's head. So, you know. Cold blood.

Yeah, my how the tides have turned, haven't they?

Protecting humanity from an existential threat.

And it turns out no matter the cost turns out

Bishop is mechanical Yeah, yeah, he sees terminator

ish Yeah, I say he Bishop Bishop takes slash

jump sleeps to crush old hob and the dad Hob

gets free but kills the dad and kind of in a

rage Old hob takes a vicious swipe at Bishop

and yeah, it rips Flesh off and there's robot

underneath its robot I still think there's even

more to Bishop than that, but that's why he was

so tough with Man Ray back at that At that event

he and he was bruised at the in the dock that

they noted that and when he was at the old folks

home Looks like you took a beating one of the

doctors said But now that we know he's he's a

robot Leonardo steps in With some snickety snicked

action Yep to take care of the ones he loves

and you know he's standing over Bishop and and

then the police come It's time for them to go

So, you know, they all agree Leo's right, you

know, let's take so they split up Mutanimals

in the truck turtles you take Hobbs van And they

you know take slash with them and It's just such

a sad thing right now, you know, I'm just having

to get slash back and It's unclear to me what

happens with slash like they abandoned him there

He can't hear you boss cat. The slash man's not

here. Not really and we can't wait for him either

because the fuzz is almost Here the fuzz almost

is but We'll get him back, dude. He's family.

Right now we got a Vamoose. And like in that

next panel, you don't see him there and you don't

see him on the next page. Yeah. Yeah, he's where...

So I don't know. Did they leave him there? I

guess. I don't know. I'm not sure. That's OK.

We'll find out. They'll tell us. They'll tell

us eventually. So they name it Clan Hamado and

kind of sort of have a... Happy ending here a

little bit, huh? I wouldn't you know. Oh, this

is where they you know. This is where Raph says

yeah, but I'm not calling you master they Ever

only I was like huh, and I wouldn't want you

want it to Where we're teammates and brothers

first always Speaking of we're gonna need some

new tech from you soon done. There's no way Bishop.

Let's this go without a fight I think maybe I'll

start with this van. As long Bobby, Tom, Kevin,

as long as y 'all call it the turtle van and

not the stupid party wagon, I'll be happy. Well,

it was the same thing that was the shell raiser

that was like a wait no shenanigans well the

shell raiser I'm fine with because it was a different

series But if you look at the old 87 stuff, it

was called the turtle van in the cartoon But

later in incarnations of the toy it was marketed

as the party wagon. Yeah, no don't do that It

can have two names. No It was the party wagon

that sounds like what I used to call it. I remember

that text. Yeah, because that's what it was called

for a long time, but I remember it as the turtle

van and that was from the cartoon series. So,

yeah. Oh, and then April's dad called it the

party wagon because it was his hippie van from

the old days. I remember that in the Northampton

run. Yeah, that's right. Damn. See? Just please,

guys, don't call it the party wagon, please.

Just don't. Call it the party wagon to spite

him. Okay, now I need to find a new ghost for

this crap. I eat pineapple on pizza and I think

it's called the party wagon. Well, I wonder what

the new toy is called. There's a Lego, not a

Lego, fake Lego. crap Lego mega blocks party

wagon that I want, but let my son put it together.

I wonder what they call it. Pardon my loud keyboard

folks, but I would like to report this back to

you. Party wagon. Oh yeah, it's the party wagon.

Yeah, yeah, sorry guys. Sorry Mike. So just because.

You know, just because the toy is called that

doesn't mean they have to, you know, make that

what it's called in a comic. I mean, you know,

if you want to be correct, you know. It's like

everybody who calls Usagi Yojimbo, like that's

his name, Usagi Yojimbo. No, no, that's not his

name, that's his title. His name is Miyamoto

Usagi. That drives me nuts. But everybody calls

him Usagi Yojimbo. And I just need to get over

it. So yeah, folks, that's going to do it for

us. The Desperate Measures Arc issues 67 to 70

in this super giant episode 152 of The Pull Bag.

Issue 70 was awesome. It was a great, great to

be continued type of ending. I can't wait to

see what happens with... seventy one and all

of that uh... is that's i think seventy one seventy

four seventy one seventy five or whatever it

is i think that's going to be the pantheon arc

from the other covers that i've seen uh... we

also have this month we've got well actually

last month we had the dimension x are uh... the

five issued dimension x series turtles dimension

x so there's that um but overall desperate measures

four and a half for the whole thing i think it's

it's always hard for me to those those fives

i mean i'm i'm thoroughly enjoying it and i don't

think i can give anything a four and a half without

uh for thoroughly enjoying it so i will i will

give it a five okay All right, and I think it

picks it maybe Not having reviewed 70 before

reading the rest of them in a 68 or 67 66 those

were those were four and a half with 78 turns

it into that five because you have the revelation

of why it's called desperate measures and Old

Hobb does the drastic thing and then he solves

the problem with words. I mean, he solves it

with the Blackwater guy using words and everything's

over until Bishop screws it up and makes it all

violent again. So that fun Leonardo taking charge,

all of that makes it a very, very, very good

issue. Absolutely. And a good arc. Yep, absolutely.

So join us next time folks as we dive into TMNT

universe in episode 153 We're gonna talk about

the first five issues of that because that's

the way the story arc for that goes according

to the trades it's One to five for the first

trade and then six to ten for the second one.

So We're going to be diving into the second TMNT

ongoing next time around. Anything you want to

talk about or pimp up before we close it out?

Building a relationship with the Geek Group in

Grand Rapids. They're a makerspace and chances

are they might be putting us up for a geek sale

closer to Christmas. We don't have an official

date yet, but that's a cool event and a cool

place. So look them up on Facebook, the Geek

Group. That's fun. Yeah, fun place. Check it

out. Absolutely, you can find me on Twitter at

TF2 and Mike you can find the pullback on Twitter

at the pullback also check us out on Facebook

Geocast radio network all that other stuff Go

to the website geocastradio .com comment on this

and all our other episode posts leave the show's

feedback in iTunes Please do this As I already

said we're gonna be talking about TMNT universe

next time so various writers various artists

all that stuff it's gonna be a Pantheon of fun,

even though the pantheon is not that fun. Damn

world destroyers. So make your greatest game

in the comics and we will catch you next time

here inside the pool bags sewer surfing September.

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