TMNT #81 Preview and Discussion
 

Full preview coming soon. First look:

This is all a very serious scene and all, but from the depiction of the music notes, all I can imagine is that one cover of My Heart Will Go On played badly on a recorder.



(Now...if someone actually would depict what that music sounds like, that would be a real treat :lol: . I guess anything would sound good after the situation that's just happened)

I'm excited about this arc. For such an integral and celebrated part of the TMNT mythos, IDW Rat King - while nicely written and depicted - hasn't yet had his turn as a real villain in the comic, so this should be good. I hope he does something to mess with Splinter's head, too.

Those first few pages remind me of a similar story in one of those UK TMNT comics that used to be published as backup stories to Archie issues in my country when I was kid, I think it had something to do with the Pied Piper and he eventually mind-controlled Splinter. Ah, the memories!

I'll second that. He's been a villain in #36 (and sorta kinda barely in the April/Casey mini-series)... but other than that, he just sort of lurks. Time to shine, Rat King. Give us nightmares.

His lurking around and being cryptic makes me think of that one bit in Freakazoid.

"[Maniacal laugh] You want to see something strange and mystical?"
"NO!!!"

And now he's actually doing something.

I don't begrudge him the lurking. I'm just eager to see him step up and wreak some real havoc.

His antics at the Pantheon reunion were quite entertaining. I wonder how his brand of chaos will work in the NYC rubble and aftermath...

Full preview here.

If RK is actually leading people to commit suicide, I'm all in. IDW TMNT needs some dark... RK's been trading banter, now it's time for him to get real.

https://media.giphy.com/media/4pMX5rJ4PYAEM/giphy.gif

Welp...I had a feeling that was going to be the situation. But wow.

Yes,but "why" is my question? Is it just as simple as he can and its chaos, like the Joker approach or is there more of a goal that he has in mind. I mean he has been sitting on the sideline for how many centuries?

I dunno, I would say sending multitudes of people to drown is a pretty good way to cause some chaos.

Especially so close to a city that's already in ruins, and now you add Ocean Corpses to the mix. That's part of why The Plague spread the way it did. Besides the rats, of course.

So I guess each villain gets a major "holy crap" moment.

Shredder killed little kids; Krang was gonna wipe out an entire planet; Bebop and Rocksteady killed Donatello; Bishop curb-stomped his wheelchair-bound father; and Rat King lures hundreds to drown themselves.

Awesome.

What did Cyclons do or Klingons? J.K.

Hob will get his at the resolution of the Slash as Agent Bishop's mind controlled slave plot.

Splinter got his ordering Darius Dunnn's death so its not exclusive to villains.

Leatherhead slaughtered Utroms and devoured Krang! I forgot about that one...

we know he has killed a bunch of children at least considering he is the pied piper. He has probably killed alot of people. It's probably his fault that Hypno got his pokedex entry.

To be fair, Krang has probably wiped out multiple planets. We know of two for sure. It's a little ironic, since it's a very Quanin-like move - and Ma'riell at the very least hoped that he would keep it together enough to not do that.

He's got the highest body count, with the Rat King coming in second probably. It's probably degrees on "what the fvckery" where they differ.

I'm freaking hyped, people! Bring on the Rat King!

Wow! Wow, a lot happened here a mile a minute here!

Great issue. Loved the Hun/Casey stuff, the Stockman stuff...

The final page. :tgrin:

I still have some editorial/writing problems with a couple of things, though.

#1. I don't believe that Splinter would ever be okay with allying himself with Bishop, who has a mind-controlled mutant turtle in his thrall. And nothing in the writing has given any hint as to why Splinter would put up with this.

That's like wearing a shirt that says "I'm going to bed Bob's wife Lizzie" to Bob and Lizzie's anniversary party. At the very least, in very bad taste... and it's probably a good indication of what the guy is going to try to do very, very soon.

#2. Burnow Island. This still remains a thorn in my side. Why, oh why, is Burnow Island not higher up on the EPF's priority list? Okay, so Bishop doesn't actually know Krang was an alien. But did nobody get any surveillance images of the Technodrome being built? That surely doesn't look like Earth tech. Did nobody get any sensor readings of the terraforming incident?

I get not every story can be explored right now. But... this is the worst example of putting off an important task that I've ever seen. Bishop needs to write his doctoral thesis by the end of the week, and he's doing the laundry and weeding the garden and clipping the dog's nails. Sheesh.

I see it like this as far as Splinter allying himself with Agent Bishop, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". That was the mentality that the U.S. had in regards to Stalin lead Soviet Union during World War II. Yes, Joseph Stalin is a threat who stands against our way of life and constitutional freedoms,but there is a greater threat that hurts both the U.S. and Soviet Union. Team up and remove the mutual threat then deal with each other right after. Splinter would recognize that Agent Bishop stands against the personal liberty that Splinter stands for with his mind control over Slash. Its just Splinter needed Agent Bishop just as the U.S. needed the Soviet Union who also had beef with Germany. Once the threat is removed as I said Splinter might immediately turn his attention to eliminating Agent Bishop's threat in a cold war. Perhaps the history comparison can help with Splinter's reasoning. History does repeat itself after all, just ask Hitler as he did it twice and did not learn from it. What Splinter does from this point its up to Kevin and Tom,but I can understand "why" up to the end of the Triceraton incident. I do hope Splinter calls Agent Bishop out for starting the whole invasion in the first place with his shoot first ask questions later method. That is a hot topic in current events today.

Bobby Curnow did explain it somewhat, but I'm not sure how entirely helpful it is.

Basically, from what very little information he can gather, Burnow Island is basically like a sovereign nation and can't attack quite yet.


I'm just wondering how he knew about the Utroms, but my guess is that he sent a drone through the atmosphere. Which probably would have been shot down promptly.

Yeah, I remember him explaining it somewhat. It still kinda sticks in my craw, though.

But ignoring those two points, I loved this issue. Loved it a lot!

It does feel like they could probably pull off multiple character storylines at once for the rest of the arch. Even with there being a lot going on between the Turtles, the Rat King, Bishop and Splinter, and Casey, Hun, and Jennika.

Agent Bishop's a determined and patient man. Sometimes the spirit is willing to act but the resources are not available to see it through properly. Bishop follows the Powell Doctrine -- overwhelming military strength backed by unwavering public support (even if that support has been established through less-than-honest means). He's never lost sight of the Utroms on Burnow Island. He's just been biding his time and building his army... and learning from his mistakes. He underestimated the Triceratons when he attacked them -- he thought he had them outgunned and outmanned and that would be enough to beat them. He knows that was an incorrect assessment now. He'll adjust his strategy moving forward. That makes him dangerous and unpredictable.

Nor is Splinter oblivious to the unstable and potentially treacherous nature of his alliance with Bishop. The hints are there, my friends...

Any ideas of who could run for mayor?

This was a pretty solid issue that mainly set the status quo for everyone:

- Baxter and Hun are now allies (at least for now, it could change), and working with Casey or the Turtles/April.

- Jennika is still a friend of the main cast and Splinter, and the Foot for now are still patrolling the city.

- Bishop and the EPF are also still in occupation of New York, but so far are in a truce with Splinter (which won't last)

- Old Hob seen in the previous issue is still doing the same thing as always, looking for more mutants. But the Mutanimals are still obvious allies of the Turtles.


And with the Triceraton invasion over, and Shredder/Krang dead, it's time for the Patheon like Rat King and the others to take center stage.


Honestly it seems like almost all the villains are either dead or become allies of the Turtles. The Triceratons and Utroms are also allies, bar when Ch'rell wakes up, and will probably be resolved.

The only wild card is whenever Karai returns to New York with Koya/Bludgeon, and when Bishop eventually turns on everyone, but that's all for now.

Stockman is probably gonna come out of all this on top, possibly as Mayor of New York City, and become a huge thorn on everyone's side in the near future. That's my take on his scenes.

I was surprised by the ending, didn't expect it to happen in this issue. The story is moving along at a nice pace and got plenty of important developments in just a few pages. Hopefully that will be the norm in this arc.

But seriously, though, how effective can Alberto and his two sidekicks be? :lol:

Not effective at all! :tgrin:

Seriously, not a cliffhanger at all. Just a good chuckle. :tlol:

And with a pushbroom, an umbrella, and bananas tied to a string for that matter :lol:

Next issue's prediction:

It really feels like all the characters are where they need to be leading up to issue 100. The Patheon and Bishop causing chaos will likely be the main two plots from this point onward.

Everyone else is either an ally or resolved. Again the only wildcard is when Karai returns to NY with her mutants because we don't know what she'll do.

The only faction that's still lagging a bit behind the rest on the road to #100 is the Mutanimals. I wouldn't be surprised if the next arc focuses on Hob's mutant army and/or their ongoing conflict with the EPF to rescue Slash.

That toadie (ha!) with the banana nunchucks was definitely something else! :D

I'd make it even more outrageous and have the next issue open on the Turtles already sitting down to an unfriendly chat with the Toad Baron while Alberto and the others clean the place up with bandaged heads and limbs, but that's just me.

Definitely my favorite part of the issue.

And that's exactly how I expect the next issue to open, too! :tgrin:

Now that he'll have the chance for a less hectic visit, I don't expect Mikey to leave the Toad Baron's dwelling without either commenting on how awesome it all looks (the food should definitely tempt him) or making fast friends with the toadies. Or both. :D

The thing is with Hob's mutanimals, they're all good guys. Old Hub building an army isn't really something that's going to pose a threat to the Turtles because they're all portrayed as good and friendly mutants. Outside of Hob himself, the Mutanimals could have used another ambiguous or evil mutant.

They'll likely just all team up with the Turtles as usual against whatever comes.

Yeah, Hob definitely seems to be more on the "dark side" of things. It even seems like a few of them could get tired of his shenanigans as Slash had

I dunno, I see Herman and Ray in particular as being very likely to side with Hob over the others if he takes an even more militant approach to things. They seem ambiguous enough, and we've yet to see how the loss of his pincher will affect Herman psychologically.

Herman? Absolutely. But I definitely don't know about Ray. He didn't take Hob's sh*t on previous occasions.

I know Herman was with Hob when they broke Hun out on his way to prison, but there was one other instance (besides the ending to #80) I can't recall where it was just the two of them talking and Ray seemed pretty committed to the whole war-on-humans thing.

Ray strikes me as Hob's second-in-command so they should be pretty much on the same page.

Edited to add: Also, now that I'm going through past issues to see if I can find the one I mean, back in #54 Ray and Herman were the only ones who already knew about Hob's gun scheme with Hun and acted shifty when confronted. They're definitely 100% on board with whatever it is Hob's planning.

Yeah, Ray has never butted heads or disagreed with Hob. Sally has. But even then, it wasn't a disagreement over his tactics but offense that she hadn't been involved in making the decision.

Hm...I must have misremembered something from when Michelangelo lived with them for a little while.