TMNT #88 Preview and Discussion

[Utrommaniac]

It's pretty common in a long-running series anyway. Typically it's unavoidable for moving on to the next storyline.

[daggio]

Originally Posted by Utrommaniac

That's probably one of the least things Leatherhead has to worry about in a confrontation with Ch'rell . Pretty sure he wasn't anticipating anyone coming back around to avenge Krang.

And, hey, if in fact Slash does die in this issue maybe Bishop will find Leatherhead and start mind-controlling him (I say that mostly jokingly, but it was shown in #85 that Bishop and the EPF saw Leatherhead escape into the sewers, so you never know. That could be a portent for the future.)

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

Not... really? There's a lot that if you said you saw it coming I'd either say you're a liar or you did a shakedown on someone in the writers' room for info. What people "guess" is what they usually have purposely telegraphed with foreshadowing.

Agreed. For example many of thought that Casey's father would have died in City Fall not become Hun. Another example is one of two beefs I have, after all that happened in Trial of Krang could have predicted Leatherhead would eat Krang? Sure some things can be figured out, but not much. For what can be figured out its about the journey that it takes to go from point A to point B.

[80gmrp]

Originally Posted by daggio

And, hey, if in fact Slash does die in this issue maybe Bishop will find Leatherhead and start mind-controlling him (I say that mostly jokingly, but it was shown in #85 that Bishop and the EPF saw Leatherhead escape into the sewers, so you never know. That could be a portent for the future.)

While you’re right that that happens in #85, if LH does end up working for Bishop (and I hope he doesn’t), I’d much prefer it be unwillingly (I.e. the mind control method on Slash). Which I suppose is possible: it could go down that Bishop takes advantage of his seeing Krang all over the place.

What I do know about LH’s future in the comics is that hints may be provided in the Ninja Notes of this issue thanks to a message I sent, which Bobby Curnow was gracious enough to tell me will be published, so I’d prefer to wait until this Wednesday before making any further assumptions where he’s concerned.

[Utrommaniac]

I imagine there would be a storyline where there's a "two dates to the prom" scenario where the Mutanimals and Bishop are both trying to sway Leatherhead to their side. Eventually with the Mutanimals winning out in the end.

[AlZarkovski]

First look (3 pages) in hi-res here (pdf).

[Utrommaniac]

Oh lord he got inside .


But his eyes are white instead of red?

[bushido]

Full preview here.

Ooooooh boy. The new character that's been built up for dozens of issues is fighting the dude who's in focus of this arc. At this point I'd say that whoever wins, it's gonna be interesting.

Or they'll just have the fight get interrupted. I wouldn't be too surprised if that was the case.

[ChosenOne]

Oh, crap. Slash is going to die. And it's going to be devastating for everyone.

[CyberCubed]

This issue feels like it's taken an eternity to come out. We're 3 days before November ends and novembers issue hasn't come out yet, does that mean we get Decembers in like 2 weeks after?

[bushido]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

This issue feels like it's taken an eternity to come out. We're 3 days before November ends and novembers issue hasn't come out yet, does that mean we get Decembers in like 2 weeks after?

According to Comixology, next issue is for December 19.

[Utrommaniac]

Well now, Ch'rell be flexing. I was wondering how he'd be fighting Slash without having to deal with Bishop at the same time. Turns out "autopilot".

In the meantime...I've finally found something to make an absurdist signature out of, so...have fun with that for a while.

[80gmrp]

Welp, at least in my time zone, this issue has been out for nearly an hour. While I won’t discuss spoilers about the main plot just yet for the sake of those who may not have access yet, I will say one of the Q&A’s in the Ninja Notes have effectively put my mind slightly more at ease.

[Utrommaniac]

Spoiler:

Whaddya get when you combine the plot twist of Men in Black with the ending of The Iron Giant? This issue!

The reveal of Bishop's true form was...uncomfortable. I really hope Marie divorced Wayne at some point down the line, because that's just...really fvcking uncalled for. Even completely cruel. Yeah, he could have died as a baby, but there was a line in the sand, and Wayne pole vaulted across it and did a flip. He's the only monster in Bishop's story, and I think he had started to realize that at the end of his life. Even worse, he put a six-year-old into the form of a grown man, which negates the fact that he was still mentally a child. Give him something that looks his age, for crying out loud, if you want him to look normal. And then he doesn't even have a body built that would look like his own form if he were normal, he instead makes an "old fashioned" demand that the kid look like him.

How did they even manage to keep him alive, anyway? Did they stick some Utrom in there and that's how he managed to have such high intelligence for his age? (Sh*t, just watch him turn out to be below average by Utrom standards . "Uh yeah, most of us could figure out a puzzle that size in eight minutes at that point of development. Ma'riell did it in five. Taking fifteen minutes is a red flag."
But does that mean that if you compared an Utrom's anatomy to a human's, that's how they'd come out proportionally? A large head the same size as the torso? It works for them though because they're better balanced; they're horizontally aligned and have a lot of legs. Put those proportions on a human and you get a horrific chibi.

This has been my "Screw you, Wayne Bishop" TED talk.


At least we got something really bittersweet in the ending for Slash.
Interestingly, I'd go so far to say that Burnow now has yet another layer of protection from outsiders - that being from the nuclear radiation. A great big backfire on Bishop's part.



Of course I'm excited for Ch'rell's next big thing though. I knew is armor would surpass Slash in size...enough so that I'm surprised Slash wasn't already killed. Pretty sure it'll be a long while before we see him again. After Bishop left, the rest of his time is spent with this kind of energy:

Once he's actually put in frame with the other characters, even being seen behind the glass...he is huge! He had always been large - he seemed to barely fit in his stasis tank; but when you remember how small Ma'riell is next to Zom and then have Ch'rell in comparison, I'm disappointed we have to wait so long for him to be in a walker. It's a wonder that between his own mass and his much bigger armor, he didn't try to overthrow Krang and Quanin himself. He could've easily overpowered Krang if he found the right moment, but instead chose to be his most loyal soldier and right hand. The best answer I can guess is that they were already close before either of them came to military power, otherwise, I don't think Ch'rell would have tolerated Krang's attitudes around the rebellion and Quanin.

Overall, it was a nice issue. Got the next big thing with Bishop, and now we can open a whole new can of beans with Slash's sacrifice. With which the final image of him is absolutely gorgeous. Slash's return to stability felt short-lived, but it was good. Of course he wouldn't want to live with the memories of the things he'd done. I'm surprised he didn't have a moment of remembering attacking his family - ripping off Mondo's tail and Herman's arm, and smashing Seymour's life support tank - but he remembered attacking the Triceratons and smashing Wayne's...everything. It definitely seemed like he felt that the best way to make up for being used as a weapon, that he would sacrifice himself to save hundreds - if not thousands - more lives than he had been taking for so long. And went out with candy in his hand. Something seems a bit strange about Sally being the last person he saw, though? Pretty sad that he didn't get to say goodbye to Seymour and Lindsey...especially since Lindsey was one of the first people in the "family" after him and Hob, even though she was technically kidnapped.

Anyway, in an image...

[ChosenOne]

Spoiler:

Well, I'm kinda numb right now. RIP Slash.

I was okay with his backstory, but Bishop flying off in that detachable pod was weird as f*ck. No antagonist-turned-ally for this iteration of the character.

Man, I wish these issues were longer. I think the reason why I've been loving the Macros so much so far is because you have time to do everything. Here, you had to stuff in the showdown with Bishop and

Spoiler:

also take the time to do Slash's death justice.

Until #75 I never really noticed this that much but since then it has nearly always been something that's bugging me. Still a well done issue, though.

That reveal was so ****ing unforeseen. Like, they gave us so many hints and I swear to God if you say you called this you're either a liar or you're holding Bobby at gunpoint. I don't have to say what the twist is because you all know already.

The second twist that happened was way less weird all things considered

Spoiler:

(the Slash-nuke one)

but for some reason it felt MORE out of place for me. Still interesting nonetheless.

Oh, and also, I really want more of Ch'rell.

Finally, this does give us a pretty good idea about what City at War is going to be like, all things considered.

[80gmrp]

I guess from these responses that enough time has passed for my own two cents. Hopefully I can use the spoiler code properly, that said (it'll be the first time I've used it in a long time, if ever).

Spoiler:

As disturbed as I am knowing even Bishop isn't human despite what he preaches, I guess I'm not excessively surprised given the last issue suggested he didn't feel any pain from the attacks on him. -cue Terminator music-

Seriously, though, while it does appear the pessimists were correct and Slash seems to have gone, I wouldn't 100% rule out the possibility that he's dead for good. After all, I just realized how similar the end of the issue is to the end of The Dark Knight Rises, and even aside from that, there have been cases in this very franchise when assumed deaths turned out to be false. 2003 Leatherhead and even IDW Donatello being good examples.

There is, however, one thing I think I can say without excess use of the spoiler tag because it doesn't have to do with the main plot. Rather, as briefly mentioned earlier, I do feel better about this issue than I might otherwise have thanks to the Ninja Notes, particularly its addressing my concern about the future of Leatherhead in the series. While not the perfect answer part of me hoped for, it does assure me that

Spoiler:

it's not planned for him to simply be a villain

, plus, the reality that, as the person who asked admitted, there's only so much that can be revealed about a story in advance.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Igglet

That reveal was so ****ing unforeseen. Like, they gave us so many hints and I swear to God if you say you called this you're either a liar or you're holding Bobby at gunpoint.

I did, after #87, but it became obvious at that point, to me.

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by Powder

Aaaand Bishop Jr. is a fetus in an Utrom exoskeleton?

I mean, I wasn't 100% right, but close enough.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I think that Bishop reveal is the first major letdown I've had from IDW.

Spoiler:

It just looks so weird and dorky. Here's a tiny little deformed baby piloting a grown-ass mannequin robot. And yeah, I get he's mentally all grown. But WTF, compared to 4Kids... I dunno, this felt like Robot Chicken or Rick and Morty or something equally preposterous.

Nah. Sorry, I still really enjoy IDW TMNT, but I think this is where I call foul. Not a good adaptation of the character.

In spite of that, Slash's fate was exceptional. And I loved his final moments with Hob--did NOT see that coming!