Mongoose Mike
07-10-2016, 08:49 AM
Hey folks, here's another one of my essays if anyone is curious to give it a read. This one is a bit shorter, but is pretty relevant to the recent issue, #59. Sorry I took a week off, especially between my first and second essay, but last weekend was the 4th and you know how busy that can get. I'll be back next week with "Is Leo the Boring Turtle?" In the meantime we have...
Shredder and the Epic Cycle
The Shredder has an interesting place amongst comic book villains. Across nearly every variation of the TMNT, one of his defining moments has always been his death. He may come back to life at some point, but eventually he stays dead and the story marches on. Characters, both good and evil, returning from the dead take a cue from the Epic Cycle. I would not say this is exception enough to warrant an essay in other forms of the turtle media or other comics. An X-Man drops dead like, every other freaking week, but there aren’t enough elements of the Epic Cycle within those stories to bother making a fuss about. Likewise, IDW’s TMNT has elements of the Hero’s Journey, but it’s not a significant enough relationship to bother writing 600+ words. However, as far as IDW and the Epic Cycle is concerned, there is more than a passing similarity.
The Epic Cycle gets its name from, well, the epics: The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Beowulf, and Paradise Lost. Most fantasies, such as LOTR, borrow heavily from the Epic Cycle, and certain computer games do similar work. (Myth: The Fallen Lords is a great example if you were gaming in the late 90’s. Dragon Age also counts, though I can’t recommend anything after Origins.) The two traits of an Epic Cycle that we are most concerned with in this essay are the grand span of time and the cyclical return of evil. Basically, if a story is an Epic Cycle it needs to be about many generations, and there needs to be both good phases and evil phases throughout.
IDW’s TMNT covers a grand span of time, all the way back to the prehistoric era, but this essay is going to be concerned with the Feudal Japan and present day settings. The story of the turtles really begins with Tatsuo Takeshi, who is introduced as the leader of the Feudal Foot Clan in Secret History of the Foot Clan. Conflict over control of the Foot Clan, whether they ought to be a force of good or evil, continues for generations, through Oroku Maji and Masato, to Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi, and finally arriving in the present day. So yes, like the epics mentioned above, the turtles and the fate of the Foot Clan have been at stake for many generations.
The Epic Cycle absolutely needs to also include cycling between good and evil, which IDW also does. The Foot originally start in an evil period under Tatsuo’s demonic leadership, but Oroku Maji and Masato kill Tatsuo, thus beginning a period of light and good. Unfortunately, Maji’s son, Saki, believes that he is the reincarnation of Tatsuo, and continues his legacy, seizing power in the Foot Clan, thus beginning a period of evil once again. Notably, the Hamato family is murdered during this phase. Following this, Saki commits suicide, thus restoring the world to a period of light, although Kitsune’s ooze concoction ensures Saki’s immortality and guarantees the world will once again fall under darkness. Finally, when Shredder is killed on the rooftop in #50, the world moves to a period of light once more.
Epics tend to focus on this cycle of light and darkness (Especially Beowulf and Paradise Lost.) In an epic, the forces of darkness return repeatedly, even if they are defeated. Ultimately, the cycle of good and evil must be broken through special or atypical means. Whether that means killing Grendel’s mother or throwing a ring into Mt. Doom is determined by the setting or scope of the story, but in IDW’s TMNT killing is such a common way to move between phases of good and evil that we can safely rule out Shredder’s defeat in #50 as his final end (and #59 more or less guarantees that we have not seen the last of him.) Shredder’s death has only perpetuated the cycle, not ended it.
Obviously, something is going on with Oroku Saki’s remains. This view of the comic is simply a means to explain why. It seems that the Shredder will return again at some point, and simply killing him again won’t be enough. To end the cycle, like Beowulf or Paradise Lost, his vanquishing will require something more, something special, but what that something special is will be up to IDW, and it excites the hell out of me. We are indeed reading a true Turtle Epic, in the classical sense of the word.
Shredder and the Epic Cycle
The Shredder has an interesting place amongst comic book villains. Across nearly every variation of the TMNT, one of his defining moments has always been his death. He may come back to life at some point, but eventually he stays dead and the story marches on. Characters, both good and evil, returning from the dead take a cue from the Epic Cycle. I would not say this is exception enough to warrant an essay in other forms of the turtle media or other comics. An X-Man drops dead like, every other freaking week, but there aren’t enough elements of the Epic Cycle within those stories to bother making a fuss about. Likewise, IDW’s TMNT has elements of the Hero’s Journey, but it’s not a significant enough relationship to bother writing 600+ words. However, as far as IDW and the Epic Cycle is concerned, there is more than a passing similarity.
The Epic Cycle gets its name from, well, the epics: The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Beowulf, and Paradise Lost. Most fantasies, such as LOTR, borrow heavily from the Epic Cycle, and certain computer games do similar work. (Myth: The Fallen Lords is a great example if you were gaming in the late 90’s. Dragon Age also counts, though I can’t recommend anything after Origins.) The two traits of an Epic Cycle that we are most concerned with in this essay are the grand span of time and the cyclical return of evil. Basically, if a story is an Epic Cycle it needs to be about many generations, and there needs to be both good phases and evil phases throughout.
IDW’s TMNT covers a grand span of time, all the way back to the prehistoric era, but this essay is going to be concerned with the Feudal Japan and present day settings. The story of the turtles really begins with Tatsuo Takeshi, who is introduced as the leader of the Feudal Foot Clan in Secret History of the Foot Clan. Conflict over control of the Foot Clan, whether they ought to be a force of good or evil, continues for generations, through Oroku Maji and Masato, to Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi, and finally arriving in the present day. So yes, like the epics mentioned above, the turtles and the fate of the Foot Clan have been at stake for many generations.
The Epic Cycle absolutely needs to also include cycling between good and evil, which IDW also does. The Foot originally start in an evil period under Tatsuo’s demonic leadership, but Oroku Maji and Masato kill Tatsuo, thus beginning a period of light and good. Unfortunately, Maji’s son, Saki, believes that he is the reincarnation of Tatsuo, and continues his legacy, seizing power in the Foot Clan, thus beginning a period of evil once again. Notably, the Hamato family is murdered during this phase. Following this, Saki commits suicide, thus restoring the world to a period of light, although Kitsune’s ooze concoction ensures Saki’s immortality and guarantees the world will once again fall under darkness. Finally, when Shredder is killed on the rooftop in #50, the world moves to a period of light once more.
Epics tend to focus on this cycle of light and darkness (Especially Beowulf and Paradise Lost.) In an epic, the forces of darkness return repeatedly, even if they are defeated. Ultimately, the cycle of good and evil must be broken through special or atypical means. Whether that means killing Grendel’s mother or throwing a ring into Mt. Doom is determined by the setting or scope of the story, but in IDW’s TMNT killing is such a common way to move between phases of good and evil that we can safely rule out Shredder’s defeat in #50 as his final end (and #59 more or less guarantees that we have not seen the last of him.) Shredder’s death has only perpetuated the cycle, not ended it.
Obviously, something is going on with Oroku Saki’s remains. This view of the comic is simply a means to explain why. It seems that the Shredder will return again at some point, and simply killing him again won’t be enough. To end the cycle, like Beowulf or Paradise Lost, his vanquishing will require something more, something special, but what that something special is will be up to IDW, and it excites the hell out of me. We are indeed reading a true Turtle Epic, in the classical sense of the word.