Micro-Series #7: April discussion

[Powder]

Originally Posted by DarkLightDragon

^Then who were those two thugs in the Raph-Micro?

Who says those containment units don't mutate both animals & humans? It's totally possible.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Powder

Who says those containment units don't mutate both animals & humans? It's totally possible.

Duh.... Bebop and Rocksteady work for the Foot. Stockgen works for Krang. Krang and Shredder are enemies.

[Lampy]

Originally Posted by bgillette

Bebop and rocksteady? I could see this as an easy way to introduce them

i don't think Krang will have anything to do Bebop and Rocksteady's mutation considering they're working for the foot. and it's unlikely Shredder's going to hand them over to Krang for mutation... they are rivals after all.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Duh.... Bebop and Rocksteady work for the Foot. Stockgen works for Krang. Krang and Shredder are enemies.

Whoooops. Got me there.

[oldmanwinters]

I do like the idea of Shredder & the Foot Clan using "Black Market" mutagen. Or maybe they do their own tampering with the original formula.

[The Big Bad]

Going by internet time, this is way late, but still, my review of the issue, going into a bit of detail about why I really disliked the execution.

[Icegaze]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I think this issues establishes lots of potential for April in this series.

Spoiler:

Most people think of her character as a news reporter from the old cartoon and live-action movies. She would often tag-along with the Turtles on their adventures out of self-interest in doing her job better. Sometimes she'd even initiate plots because of uncovering villainous plots or finding hideouts before everyone else. And, of course, she'd usually get herself into a trap and need the turtles to pull her fanny out of the fryer.

More recent years have seen creative attempts to tie her firmly back with her lab assistant roots. But the problem with the scientist approach is that such a job description quickly fizzles out once she loses that particular job in the lab because Stockman is clearly a bad dude. At that point, April is left to do very little besides driving the van around, doing odd stuff on computers every once and a while, and running an antique store all day. Real exciting stuff, right? And eventually, she gets trained in martial arts and quickly becomes a very effective fighter who can go head-to-head with some of the big-names villains in the TMNT-verse. It's almost like the creative minds are going out of their way to say, "See, April's not a damsel-in-distress in our continuity!" That certainly brings her back into the action plots, but that martial arts prowess doesn't really allow her character to contribute anything worth-while to the group dynamic.

Back when David Wise revealed that he based the FW April design on Fujiko Mine, the thief/spy/love interest from Lupin III, I watched the classic Castle of Cagliostro for the first time. I was struck with the inspiration that if I ever had the responsibility to reboot the TMNT series, I would strongly consider making April into a spy character. That way, you could make her role similar to her portrayal in the FW series in that she could take the initiative in sneaking into places to uncover information before anyone else without having her characterization defined by an obsession with "getting a story!" Her scientific background would give her knowledge of relevant details that other characters might overlook.

Spoiler:

The role of the scientifically-minded spy would allow her to actually be the impetus to plots rather than just the Turtles' "tag-along" or "assist character" as she has often been reduced in the past. When she's on her spy missions, she could wear something comparable to her familiar multi-pocket jumpsuit (it certainly doesn't have to be yellow, of course). She could have some fighting skills, but her role in the story wouldn't require that she be a truly capable physical force; a spy is more sly than spry. Inevitably, she'd get herself in over-her-head and need a bail out, but that's okay because everyone needs a little help from their friends.

Spoiler:

I'll be curious to know if the IDW crew plans to use this issue as a major evolution of April's character. We know she won't be a lab intern at Stockgen forever, so it will be very interesting to see if they decide to let the seeds sown in this issue come to fruition.

Spoiler:

[IMG]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/slimer2erasmus/Magazine%20Scans/IDWmicro7-AprilLast-Crop.jpg

[/IMG]

I could not agree more with this post.
This issue alone makes this April my all time favourite version of the character, both physically and personality-wise.

[oldmanwinters]

I don't know if this has been posted here before, but David Petersen posted some of his sketch work on this cover on his blog:
http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/20...mnt-micro.html

[Heather Breckel]

Don't know why he thinks he's not good at drawing women, I thought he did a good job on that cover! I'm glad they went with the final design too.

[Mayhem]

It's a little part of his belief, which is why he went with doing Mouse Guard, as he believes that he is far better drawing animals than humans (Stan Sakai is very similar btw, he prefers drawing animals). But you're right, he did knock out a fabulous April there. Hopefully I'll get the cover when it's available heh.

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Heather Breckel

Don't know why he thinks he's not good at drawing women, I thought he did a good job on that cover! I'm glad they went with the final design too.

Agreed. April in that cover design is just too cool.

[Heather Breckel]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

It's a little part of his belief, which is why he went with doing Mouse Guard, as he believes that he is far better drawing animals than humans (Stan Sakai is very similar btw, he prefers drawing animals). But you're right, he did knock out a fabulous April there. Hopefully I'll get the cover when it's available heh.

Yeah, I could definitely see that and understand. I'm pretty much the same way. I can draw humans, but animals are more fun to draw.

[Matches Malone]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

It's a little part of his belief, which is why he went with doing Mouse Guard, as he believes that he is far better drawing animals than humans (Stan Sakai is very similar btw, he prefers drawing animals). But you're right, he did knock out a fabulous April there. Hopefully I'll get the cover when it's available heh.

He did great on the April cover, but maybe he just means that it took him forever compared to when he does non-human characters. He seems like a very meticulous artist, so he would probably flat out say "he can't draw humans" if he couldn't get them to look good in any amount of time. Given enough time, he can probably draw anything spectacular!

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Indeed. I know Marley made history by being the first female artist (as far as I know) to draw a TMNT comic (at least in America), but the fact is she's as talented as anybody else I've seen on the TMNT books who's name isn't Ross Campbell! IDW, get this lady on retainer!

Actually Steph Dumais was the first when she penciled "Swan Song" from Tales Vol. 2.