TMNT #2

[tripodeca113]

(12.66 pages out of 38)


Last time the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, completed their life's goal and killed their sworn enemy the Shredder.

Now they stay mostly at home and watch TV.





The Turtles and Splinter worry that the Mousers might stumble across their underground lair.

Over the next few weeks, New York is struck by a serious of mysterious robberies.



Baxter has something to show April...







Baxter takes control of the labs security, dumps April into the sewers and sends his Mousers after her.









April faints and the Turtles take her back to their lair.



April and the mutants get acquainted, learning about each others situation.

A news report shows a ransom message, that threatens the entire city.





The next day....



The group sneaks into Stockman's lab.



Stockman is able to activate the labs self-destruct system, before he's knocked out. The entrances are locked, and all the Mousers are recalled home to tear the facility apart.




Look, it's the first time Donatello does machines. His entire character was born here.

Donatello and April try to deactivate the main computer controlling the Mousers, while the others try to hold the Mousers back.



Eventually they manage to shut down the bases power, but the Mousers will be the last system to shut down. Our hero's fall back to the main control room, to try and slow down the robot hoard.



The lights go out, and as they hear the Mouser hoard grind to a halt, they know their safe now.


The next issue will probably be ready way sooner...

Comments

[tinygaylaura]

It's fun getting to see a look back at how it all began here

Stockman really has always been a jerk...

[werehawk]

I don't know what it was about TMNT that really caught everyone's attention back in the 80's. I got into it around when issue 10 was released (#7 was the earliest issue I was able to get a first print of from Mile High Comics, the earlier ones in my collection are all 2nd-3rd prints).

But the turtles interactions and visuals of Donatello and of Casey Jones really inhabited my 13ish yo mind (so many sketches during classes in high school). This first series was much more adult than the 80's cartoon though, so much so that I couldn't enjoy the cartoon when it came out (other than appreciating color-coding the turtles, which obviously was incorporated into the comics later).

[zachbeacon]

I think its the same thing that made Rob Liefeld famous in the 90s; kids look at the art and it looks like something they can do.

Of course, when you're an adult "a kid could draw that" is an insult so you either need to hope you can continue to get new younger fans, change your style, or become a punch line.

[tinygaylaura]

I think it's a bit unfair to compare the art here to Liefeld's myself

I think what drew me to TMNT is that I just really loved how weird and unusual the concepts were

They're mutated turtles who known martial arts and their dad is a talking Mr Miyagi Rat and they encounter ninjas and killer robots and space animal people

[zachbeacon]

Don't get me wrong, I prefer "here's a weird comic my friend and I made to make each other laugh" to "I don't want to draw feet so here's some weird mist"

I'm just saying the art looks a lot more reproducible than, say, the Daredevil comics that inspired TMNT.

[crinos]

Like a lot of people my first exposure to TMNT was the 87 cartoon., I never knew about the original comic versions of these characters until later when I read about them in, of all things in the world, the Palladium rpg tie in book Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles and other strangeness, which has stats for the original comic versions of the Turtles, April, Shredder, and Stockman among others.

So it was quite a surprise to find out that A) In the comics Baxter Stockmen never turns into a fly mutant, B) April started as Baxter's assistant, and oh what else what else did they change oh yeah C) BAXTER WASN'T FUCKING WHITE.

Like what the shit 1987 Cartoon?

[tripodeca113]

I think they thought people would complain if the only main black character was a villain, who got bossed around by Shredder.

There were other solutions to this issue, but that's the one they choose.

[tinygaylaura]

It's been a long time since I watched the 80's cartoon so I actually had forgotten they whitewashed Baxter Stockman in that series

Thankfully later cartoon adaptations and the movie where he appeared didn't do this

[zachbeacon]

1) That reminds me, does he ever become a fly in the Fox show? I remember a thing where he became less an less human thanks to cybernetics but I didn't watch the whole series so I don't know if they ever went full Goldbloom.

2) Yeah but toon April had the distinctive news jumpsuit... y'know, like all reporters wear.

3) At least Shredder was black.

[crinos]

No he didn't b ecome a fly in the 2003 series. Just a cyborg and eventually a brain in a jar and then cloned and cybernetics.

I guess they figured it wouldn't be realisitc for a guy whose an expert in robotics and engineering to also be an expert in genetic mutations.

Although later versions did have him become a fly. Personal favorite being TMNT vs. Batman.

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, also fond of Baxter from the CGI series. He's just such a gross weirdo.

I hate the Baxter from the current IDW series but you're supposed to.

Feel like Bay movie Baxter is the weakest but maybe I'd change my mind if Tyler Perry turned into a Fly monster.

(Still amazed they didn't cast Goldbloom)

If you're going for realistic you're doing TMNT wrong ... but that Fox series had Krang and Shredder as the same person so I don't feel that was ever the goal.

[crinos]

Yeah, I mean the 2003 series had a full on super hero team, and it was pretty clear the Turtles were just a small part of a much larger world. But at the same time they cut back on the number of mutants running around where it was only the Turtles and Splinter and a few others, and most of their foes were other stuff.

[tinygaylaura]

I love Baxter in the early 2000's cartoon because no matter what happens and no matter how many body parts he loses as a result of it he just

NEVER STOPS BEING HIS WEIRD EVIL SELF

No matter how badly his plan backfires he just goes "Well, there's always next time" and tries again