TMNT Universe #21 Preview and Discussion
 

Full preview coming soon. First look:

I can barely read the text, but it would be nice if the aftermath of the Triceratons is resolved in this 2-parter.

Oh, who could have seen that coming?

The guy in the first panel gave me a pretty good laugh with his big ol' headphones.

I was able to read closer on the iTunes preview. And was immediately confused. Did the turtles tell Ma'riell that Krang was dead? Because Kleve and Montuoro never planned to.

Regardless, Don's opening dialogue is pretty suspenseful and I'm hyped to see where it goes. Likely to Ch'rell screwing up whatever peace Ma'riell and Zom try to make.

(Come on, ladies, you can do it!)




'Scuse me, are you taking a nap in the middle of what feels like an invasion, or holding a baby?
https://i.imgur.com/SwpKuW2.png

*Many hours later*
I may have realized that I was looking in the wrong place for the eye...

By downloading the sample on iTunes, it turns out the two parter is called "Lost Causes".



I'm looking at you, Ch'rell and Kleve.

Huh... So I guess the TPB doesn't get its "The Coming Doom" title from this arc after all?

In that case...what in the world are Mike and Mondo going to find?


In the other case, I can relax my concerns for my girl Ma'riell's safety.

Full preview here.

This looks very interesting, I'm glad we're getting the aftermath of the Triceratons so quickly. Also really excited to see what the Utroms do next.

Yeah, I pretty much saw that exact situation coming :lol: .

Don should probably bring Ma'riell a good, strong coffee at some point while she deals with all this.



But the design of their legs...
https://i.imgur.com/fwcy1Iy.png
Legs for days :lol: . Looks like rubber stretchy toys that got left in the sun too long. I love it.


All things considered though, I do wonder what "aftermath" means. Especially with Universe being the line to fill in spaces and introduce characters when there isn't time otherwise. So I don't think anyone (important) is going to get killed. Nothing "HUGE" happens for the most part in the same way it does for the ongoing line.

Then again, Don's "Instead they got me" comment in his narration is a little disconcerting :lol:

I do think that the summaries of both issues would efficiently cover the whole thing. Granted, with certain elements swapped.
#22's description was much more appropriate for this issue.
The setup for a "new villain" in this one's summary doesn't really come to conclusion (I'm pretty sure Kleve doesn't count), so that might be the case in the next.


While it was a pretty good read, it does feel like there were a few slips in production. Such as the aforementioned missing dialogue. And some of the character design creating situations in which it looks like Kleve has floating powers on two occasions :lol: .

This was a great issue. Really, really loved it. Can't wait for the conclusion! Donatello, Zom, and Mariell really have their hands/tentacles full...

Loved the backup, too... over the top, but fun. :tgrin:

This is the kind of issue that makes me glad we have a second ongoing. Just perfect all around!

Seeing Kleve wrap himself around the Triceraton's face reminded me of this.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20141204145347

I was wondering if we'd see that, too... :tlol:

This was a great issue, reminded me of Star Trek. The Triceratons are the Klingons, the war like race who are trying to be peaceful but its not in their nature, the Utroms are the Vulcans, and Donatello represents the Federation. I really loved the revelation that dead Utroms helped fertilize the land for the Triceratons food source.

Kleve being a bit of a villain is interesting too, I don't think Ch'rell will wake up anytime soon (honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they save him for post issue 100), and it was interesting to see all the distrust going on. The Woody back-up was fun too.

One last thing, what does, "Let's table this" mean? They said it like 5 times in the issue. I never heard that term before. "We cannot table this" etc...?

Not sure, but from the context it means "Let's put this on the back burner".

To table something means to postpone it; to put off discussing it, and discuss less controversial matters first.

And yeah, Utrom fertilizer was a delightful plot twist... :tgrin:

Leatherhead has probably figured out the use of Utroms as fertilizer himself by now. :D

Like I said before, anything left of Krang is probably going to be impossible to find by the time they can get around to finding Leatherhead.
I did realize a rather morbid connection with that. Namely when Kleve states that the Triceratons are "used to fighting women and children". So...yeah, that situation got a whole lot worse.


I'm not so sure Kleve is quite worthy of "major villain" levels of antagonism enough to deserve the title that was set up in the summary. If we want to be a little more on the nose, he's not even the one that picked a fight with Drel; he was attacked and retaliated - and wasn't even able to leave a mark on him. (Gotta say though, his immediate change in attitude between Drel's escape and getting aid was great. "See ya later, b*tch"--"OH THE BRUTE!") switch Which is pretty much the worst he's done so far, aside from his sneaking around with the intention of freeing Ch'rell. Who would probably be far more active in doing actual harm to the Triceratons than Kleve would. All things considered, Drel was way more openly antagonistic from the start; you know he gave his rank just to get under that one Utrom's skin.



But...where did Montuoro go? He's pretty much been Kleve's toady for a while but he doesn't seem to be around at this point.


And Ma'riell's quills! They ended up not showing up in this issue.
(I came up with my own answer that they're keratinous in some way, so they can grow and be trimmed back, so at some point prior to everything going on, she just cut them down to the base as close as she could. I imagine they get in the way of a lot of things.)

Great issue. I loved the dark humor in it. And the back story was hilarious!

So that’s what Ch’rell meant by food is made from Utroms.

I wonder if Kleve will die in the next issue.

I can't wait to see what IDW does with Ch'rell as a character.

They have to do something unique with him, otherwise he'd be too similar to their Krang.

Just saying. Ch’rell would look good in a tinfoil hat

Yeah essentially "this can wait until after more pressing issues have been handled".

So how hilarious would it be if Kleve finally revives Ch'rell and he doesn't agree with him?

I mean, maybe...

But it would mean excluding the fact that he'd have to react to his own sister teaming up with the girlfriend of the guy who nearly killed his "beloved leader" three times.

I could see Ch'rell being more interested in avenging Krang until the EPF forces him to swallow his pride and work with Zom to drive them out.

On the side of things not going like Kleve expected, it would probably be more of a "Okay, that's going a little overboard sir, please chill."

"Soylent Green is Utroms!"

Is anyone else getting tired of them teasing about
I mean come on!!!!!!!! I want hime to wake already.

YES.

If he doesn't come out of stasis in the next issue, then the odds of his revival being saved for post-#100 increase dramatically. After Kingdom of Rats, the main ongoing is only one or two arcs away from the finish line starting in the early- to mid-#90's, and there's plenty of ground left to cover there already.

Ch'rell probably won't wake up till post issue 100. The main series is dealing with the Patheon for the next few issues till issue 85, then we'll likely have more Bishop stuff (the attack on Burnow Island, probably?), and then lead back to the Patheon for the issue 100 finale.

Beyond that they'll probably cover Null in Universe and have Karai and Leatherhead return to the main series soon. There's just not much room for another rogue Utrom now.

Still doesn't mean he won't get out.

Kleve's ambitions with getting around security has go somewhere. And it's too big a tease for someone to slap him on the "wrist" and tell him to cut it out next issue.

At this point, I'd be okay with Null waiting until after #100 as well. There's just not much room left to pick up on yet another thread and whatever it is she's cooking up seems big enough that it won't just be confined to Universe. Hell, it might end up being the biggest threat the Turtles have faced so far.

Null has never appeared in the main series, she really has no reason too. She's disconnected from everything else. She seems like the typical side-villain subplot that TV shows do when they need a sidestory cooking.

I once asked Bobby about that, not long ago, and he said she would or might (drawing a blank on the exact word) eventually appear in the main ongoing. I know exactly what you mean, but it's not unheard of for those same typical side villains to take over as the big bad once the competition is gone.

The biggest problem with postponing Ch'rell to a post-100 issue is that #100 won't be until November 2019 by my calculation.

And Ch'rell was first teased two years ago. So delay him just another year or two is just too much - and frankly irritating. He would have been revealed in 2016 and then not let loose until 2020 by that calculation. That's too long even by this series' standards. Leave the slowburn to Kitsune's big ambitions.

You forget how long we had to wait for Leatherhead.

And I think I figured out where Monturo is... hunting Leatherhead, who is in hiding somewhere on Burnow Island.

Yeah, that is true. Though, the teasing in Turtles in Time before his proper introduction two years later does coincide pretty evenly with Ch'rell's stuff. And it doesn't seem like too much of a coincidence for a new waiting game to start as soon as Leatherhead finally showed up properly. And that was still after the second tease when Leatherhead brought the Ooze to heal Donatello (it never explains where he was keeping it, though).
I'm not so sure they'd keep Ch'rell on the shelf (literally and narratively) for too much longer.


It actually would make for a pretty funny scene for Montuoro to emerge from the forest without any luck finding Leatherhead and seeing the Triceratons on the island working with the Utroms.
"What the hell happened here...and how?"

Slow burning plots is what this series does a lot. Null was introduced several years ago, her main plot in the series hasn't even started yet. :lol: