TMNT #66 Preview & Discussion
 

Preview here.

This is what I was looking for! So Alopex was trying to create distance between herself and Kitsune. It seemed like she would know that Kitsune being an immortal Pantheon member she can appear in spirit form wherever she wills.

Also, a bit off topic, Rat King can seemingly appear in various places physically such as when he visited Kitsune or transported Leonardo and Splinter and appeared and disappeared. Is this teleportation ability exclusive to him? The reason I ask is Kitsune was on house arrest after Shredder's defeat and when she escaped she had to use a helicopter.

It's possible that Rat King's ability is limited to teleportation into and out of "thin places", which would explain the events of #36. They never really left that spot in the sewers but went into a sort of pocket dimension. Whether Kitsune can do it or not, she would then have to find other means of travel in the world outside such spaces. Everything else can be accounted for with astral projection or similar tricks.

My own questions upon reading the preview are: who chipped in for that helicopter? The mission to find and retrieve Alopex was assigned by Splinter, but with the Turtles having defected the Foot, would Raph and Angel still agree to go through with that trip on the clan's (blood) dime? And how did they know where to start looking for Alopex? I mean, Alaska, not exactly a tiny state...

I dig the way that cave looks like the open jaws of an enormous polar bear. Nice touch!

Looks like a nice one-shot issue to tie up an old loose plot before we begin the Bishop/Mutanimals arc.

Alopex doesn't appear on any of the Bishop arc covers, does she? I'm not sure if she returns to New York so soon, until whenever that Toad Baron story in the Universe takes place.

I didn't recall it, but in the tmnt wiki there's written that she was originally (as not mutated fox) from Fairbanks.
Maybe she talked with Angela about her birthplace, and they started looking for her there.

THOSE COLORS.

Sophie and Ronda work together so well.

Alopex has a tracking transponder in/on her person, courtesy of the Foot. This was revealed in #61.

Well, I just read it.

Man, Sophie's art style with that digital watercolor? *Kisses fingers* Magnificent.

I pretty much expected this sort of ending, but I'm glad it did.

Most of the watercolor isn't digital, I did it with actual watercolors! :D

Will have to wait until next week to read this sucker.

EDIT: Scratch that just downloaded the digital (I really got to remember to do that more often)
Ok IDW Raph I think you just went up on my list of version's of Raph I like. Usually he's always 4th below Leo with Don & Mike at the Top almost tied. But I think you just shot up to 3 keep it up and you'll be number 2 in no time.

Not gonna lie. As much as I enjoyed the issue, I still strongly dislike the Alopex/Raph pairing.

Maybe if Alopex wasn't always drawn so cute, I'd be more okay with it. But she used to be drawn as a genuine werewolf-type beast (e.g. "Secret History of the Foot Clan") and now she's just a cute widdle ball of fluff more often than not.

Regardless, I thought this issue was masterfully handled. The discussion between Raph and Angel was very well written, especially the "soap opera stuff." I LOVE Raph hanging out with Angel; really enjoyed seeing them stomp around together. They've got a great brother/sister dynamic that we haven't really gotten to see anywhere else in IDW.

Also, the banter is golden.

"Whatever, Donatello."
"Wait--Harold's got a wife? ... Is she human?"

Personal favorite is them bitchin' about the tracker until both eventually just get fed up, it's not over the top and is still in character.

Loved the issue, loved the art! To me, the final panel symbolizes how Alopex has now made peace with her past and her fear of the polar bear. She no longer views Alaska as the nightmarish "killing field" Kitsune called it, but rather as a place of life where bear cubs are born and natural order goes on.

Speaking of Kitsune, she's turned out to be a remarkably ineffective and inept villain. Seriously, her machinations are thwarted at every turn, going back to feudal Japan... There's no way her original plan, whatever it may be, is still the one she's pursuing. Not after so many setbacks. I can't wait to be able to look at this with some hindsight, even if it takes us years to get there, and figure out what she's actually trying to accomplish and how it went wrong, or right. As of now she just feels like a boring, one-trick pony whose influence everyone but Saki managed to shed.

Oh, I totally forgot! This was a great Raph-focused issue, which hasn't happened in a long time... and especially of note was the fact that:

Yeah...

But Sophie draws a KILLER Kitsune. She really felt menacing. Honestly, I think I most easily buy Kitsune as a threat whenever she's with Alopex. She's been playing with Alopex's mind for YEARS, and it's always been well done.

That fox face thing Kitsune pulls in particular is pretty freaky. Makes her look like some kind of werebeast... Anyone who's ever had a dog growl and bare its teeth at them can relate to how intimidating she looks that way. It just doesn't feel right to see a face like that on a person, which is why it works so well.

Beautifully rendered issue, this one.

I'm never going to stop thinking it should have been Leo/Alopex paired together as a clan brother/sister dynamic, giving Leo someone outside the family to do things with, after they were both controlled by Shredder and Leo protected her from Raph on the farm.

Plus we've seen a lighter side to Alopex's personality that would make a nice contrast to oh so srs Leo.

Raph's always been pals with Casey and if he and Angel are making a good bro/sis dynamic, I'll further stand by my position on the above, even if I'm in the minority.

Agreed. Leo and Alopex would make a fantastic team, just like they did in #51-52.

So about Alopex's new blue markings, it made me wonder what was up with the old purple markings? They vanished when she splashed water on her face, so I assumed then that were painted on, but then she gets the blue markings from defeating Kitsune in the spirit realm, meaning it can't simply be paint.

So what are the marking if they can be washed off with water but also reappear through non-physical means?