TMNT Adventures #61

[blake_reitz.insanejournal.com]

Special camping in the desert issue!



The turtles and co. are taking a little downtime after what what a particulars harrowing series of events (The death of the Mutanimals, the war with Null and the Gang of Four, evil space insectoid queen Malignia attacking, Slash sacrificing himself to save the world, rescuing a blinded Mikey from the coast guard, and escaping from a secret government base that might have been Area 51. It was a busy week). Future Raph and Don are currently suck in the present after their time travel device was destroyed. They're having a memorial for Slash.




Present Raph wants to know what happens with him and Ninjara. Future Raph gives no hints, other then "you'll love each other as long as time alows."




Wow. Huh. Anyways, future Leo and Mikey show up, making their first time jump to the present. Leo brings on of his students, April's great granddaughter Nobuko. The art takes a huge dip for a few pages. The future turtles talk about how their future hasn't changed, despite Slash stopping Maligna's invasion of Earth. Which means that MAN brought on the Greenhouse effect! Oh noes!

Splinter and Sleeping Owl (the guy in the red vest) meditate and demonstrate telepathy (which you apparently you can do if you meditate hard enough). Sleeping Owl decides to tell a story.






Everyone packs up and leaves. Next time we see the present turtles, more camping ensues!

Then we get a very strange epilogue.






(The bug in the lab coat gives of a very Morrison-ish vibe to me. Not in a derivative way, just in that it's something I can see him doing.)

Plus, the issue had a little send off for the Mighty Mutanimals.

Comments

[kamino_neko.insanejournal.com]

... Wow, Trippy.

This is from the Archie series?

[blake_reitz.insanejournal.com]

Yep. That series got weird and dark. It's a good thing.

[midnightvoyager (from insanejournal.com)]

...

Lack of context: A giant rock with Slash carved over it.

...

It's never just you!

[long_silence.insanejournal.com]

Wow I thought that too.

[morgana006.insanejournal.com]

It really isn't ever just you!

[jkcarrier.insanejournal.com]

Who did the artwork on this? It's really good!

[blake_reitz.insanejournal.com]

Jim Lawson did the pencils, Ryan Brown did the inks. Lawson still draws (and writes!) for Tales of the TMNT, and it's really amazing how his art style changed over the last 15 years.

[lbd_nytetrayn.insanejournal.com]

I could probably make a list of artists I prefer, but this is pretty good for him.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[lbd_nytetrayn.insanejournal.com]

I should add, maybe it would do me well to see his recent stuff.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[stretchdude.insanejournal.com]

And that creation story is why Future-Raph runs a club called Turtle Island in the next story arc, and why his formerly blank hat sports the logo.

[ms-ntropy.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

....I had no idea!
Thanks for that!

[lbd_nytetrayn.insanejournal.com]

Hmm, I had always made the connection before, but considered it a retcon of sorts; that is, I figured he always ran that club, and only when we got to see it after this story was the logo on the hat.

But reading the way you tell it, it almost sounds like time was affected; that prior to this, Future Raph didn't have the club, or at least that it went under another name. I wonder if that is what was meant to be implied.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[stretchdude.insanejournal.com]

That was my interpretation, anyway. I figured that since the timeline had been altered already during the Terracide arc, the events of this issue hadn't originally happened. Note that the creation story isn't told until after the Future-Turtles go back to their own time.

[demondogweed.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

...Oh man, I remember some of those mutant animals, I had that gecko, mantaray and crocodile as toys too. And that bat was my favorite.

[lbd_nytetrayn.insanejournal.com]

Mondo Gecko, Man Ray, Leatherhead, and Wingnut, respectively.

Funny, I had those four as well (plus Screwloose, who came with Wingnut).

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[gwalla.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

I find it kind of funny that the cleaned-up and kiddified version of the Turtles, published by Archie of all companies, ended up going all grim and weird. How did that happen?

[ashez2ashes.insanejournal.com]

Didn't the same thing happen with Sonic?

[blake_reitz.insanejournal.com]

It did, I suppose. This is just a theory, but I'm betting that when these Archie franchise comics start, they're closely watched and monitored. Later, as the franchise lost mainstream steam, the corporate heads left them alone to do...pretty much whatever grand insane schemes the creators have in mind. At least until the numbers fall and it gets the Ax. Sonic is the exception to that last line, as it just keeps going and going and going.

[lbd_nytetrayn.insanejournal.com]

Oh, getting the TMNT stuff past Archie was still a struggle, I can assure you of that.

In Sonic's case, it seems like getting stuff past SEGA is more troublesome than Archie. Nonetheless, I've seen them talk about how in the early days, it was slapstick and self-contained with only the loosest continuity because they expected the ax to fall at any moment. Once it became apparent they'd be around for awhile, they began to develop things further.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[zegim.insanejournal.com]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

They are quoting nahuatl poetry in the memorial for Slash.

That's all kinds of awesome :O

[mcity.insanejournal.com]

Did we ever find out if the Turtles are...fully functioning?

[stretchdude.insanejournal.com]

There's a couple of hints that Raph and Ninjara...consummated their relationship (like the whipped cream bit here), so I'd say yes.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

I like this - the spiritual side of the TMNT. It's particularly interesting how Raph reacts to death, given his previous comments about how, being turtles, he and his brothers are going to outlive all their friends, oh joy oh rapture. I also like how his immediate mental reaction to "What could be nicer?" is "Some whipped cream." I don't know whether he's being kinky or not, but I actually kinda hope he's not - it's nice to think of such a cynical character having an innocent pleasure like a love of whipped cream. (Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that I personally adore the stuff, but still.)
The 'Turtle Island' bit is interesting, too - my take on the epilogue is that it's a somewhat dark bit of eco-pessimism. First we get this origin story for the Earth, and it's all nice and mystical and happy - then we cut to the 'real' story. The turtle (the Earth) is dying, or at least ill, its guardians (the beaver and the water beetle, the forces of nature), can do nothing for it - and this hurts the Creator, whose marvelous creation now seems to resemble a cancerous growth. And the cause of the turtle's sickness, and the Creator's discomfort? Us, of course, who misuse and abuse the bounties of Turtle Island, and by doing so, abuse the turtle, the mother, Mother Earth. The Earth has become a cancer in the Creator's side, and we're making it that way. Deep, dude. And depressing. And deep.