TMNT Adventures (Archie) marathon run begins now...

[darthsmozers]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

If/when Forever War gets released we should, but the story won't be the same as it was back in the 90's.

Year of the Turtle wrapped up Shredder's character perfectly for me, he tries to become immortal, almost destroys the Turtles, and then loses his mind.

In the story Splinter tells Michaelangelo, "This is the last Turtles story, after this one you'll have heard them all."

It brought a tear to my eye just reading that, since I knew it signaled the close of the Archie series.

I tied the TMNT Archie series so closely with Chris Allan's artwork that I never gave Year of the Turtle a shot. Probably should. Is it wrong to think that this and all the other issues of the series, including the earlier ones, would be 10x better with his art applied? I'm a sucker for it, what can I say?

Thanks for continuing your marathon run, Andrew.

[CyberCubed]

Does it really matter that Year of the Turtle wasn't written by Murphy? It was still the last published story by Archie, it didn't contradict anything that came before it, (Splinter reverts back to the human Hamato Yoshi due to the talisman undoing mutations), and had one final battle with the Turtles/Splinter Vs. Shredder.

The fact that Shredder was *not* with Krang/Bebop/Rocksteady and there was no Technodrome says a lot.

It was Shredder solo with 3 new bad guys, almost as if keeping continuity that Krang/Bebop/Rocksteady were long gone.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Jester

I was going to ask...I thought it was a reboot.

It was intended as a reboot, just not a hard reboot. More of a, "they're a little older and back to basics" while still taking place in the same universe as the previous Archie material.

[CyberCubed]

Depending on what happens in The Forever War script, it could theoretically fit in after Year of the Turtle.

Wasn't the last time we saw the Turtles they were going home to New York anyway? And in Year of the Turtle they're back in NYC.

[darthsmozers]

Are some of these first-time reads or are you doing this marathon run as a revisit?
In any case, looking forward to your next entry!

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by darthsmozers

Are some of these first-time reads or are you doing this marathon run as a revisit?
In any case, looking forward to your next entry!

My little reviews haven't made it to the ones where I hadn't read before as a kid. Those begin around Tattoo's appearance or so.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

My little reviews haven't made it to the ones where I hadn't read before as a kid. Those begin around Tattoo's appearance or so.

You didn't read Future Shark as a kid? Wow.

[Andrew NDB]

Ahhh, good and drunk. Perfect time for some more mini re-reviews on the Archie Turtles from my childhood:

TMNTA #16 **1/2 -- Oh good, the death of Bubbla issue. As a kid I mostly rolled my eyes at this issue... it mostly revolves around a guy, a subordinate of Null's named "Kid" who accidentally shoots the sidekick of Man-Ray (who makes his big return this issue) and feels remorse. There's a big side bit where Man-Ray reflects on his time with the Bubbla people, how they encountered some toxic waste at the bottom of the ocean (about this time, some kind of environmental issue is par for the course so you just gotta roll with it... it's actually not too distracting) and how they all got captured in the same subs that captured the Turtles. Long story short, everyone is freed, Bubbla is buried (his grave anointed with a seashell, which is kinda weird and a little distracting), and the Turtles notice a shooting star which sets up the next issue pretty organically.

TMNTA #17 ** -- Probably winner of one of the most iconic, definitive Archie TMNT covers, the Turtles riding a sea turtle toward the reader. We begin where we left, with the shooting star, only it turns out it's not just a shooting star... it's f***in' Scul and Bean in their f***in' ship (we'd actually met them the first time when Krang was demanding an audience with Maligna during "The Final Conflict"). We're quickly reintroduced to Maligna, whose machinations seem to be coming full circle now, making good on Krang's promise of Earth whether he's consciously aware of it or not. There's some environmental talk that is actually pretty true and relevant even now... I'll quote a passage: "Intelligent? There is much life, my queen, the dominant one is human. It has choked the planet with its numbers and industry to the point where their actions have begun to warm the planet itself. They slash their forests and burn atomic fuels while new viruses gnaw on their flesh." Ouch. But true. Back to the Turtles and company, they ride some humpback whales which is kinda cool, fight a Captain Ahab-type of pirate villain (which really kind of jumps the shark on things unnecessarily, though I get that "Mossback" was a jab at a real life figure by Murphy) in order to free some sea turtles. The issue ends with Scul and Bean being revealed as the guests of the mysterious, apparently Satanic Null, as Kid enters the room. The next issue blurb is particularly bold with "Next: Return to New York." OK, despite what you may have heard I'm quite familiar with the Mirage material. Do they really want us to make that comparison next issue? It's OK, I'm game.

[darthsmozers]

Cool thanks! The string of issues between the turnstone stuff and the return of Shredder was something I did not read growing up, save for the one issue with Dreadmon and one with Mondo Gecko. These few issues definitely lay a foundation for the Mutanimals and the various Null and Maligna stories, and reliving them (or, doing so for the first time) here is fun. Thanks!

[darthsmozers]

Let's keep the marathon going

[Jester]

It's been almost a month Andy, where ya been?

[Leo656]

Yeah, keep these comin'. We don't agree on a whole lot but we seem to be almost identically-minded about the Archie book, at least these issues so far. Lovin' these, reminds me how much I loved these books as a kid.

[Andrew NDB]

Another vodka night so you know what that means (generally, whoever wins, we all lose).

TMNTA #18 ** 1/2 -- Oh yes, the introduction of Mondo Gecko into the Archieverse. To be honest, I never really "got" Mondo Gecko... I mean, I got why kids would latch onto him or be a fan of him -- I'm not unaware that these fans are out there -- but to me he always seemed a bit too much over the top and too much like an older generation trying to pin down what a young hipster with a skateboard might be like in 1991. But this is neither here nor there. The Turtles bid farewell to Man Ray and train it back home and, along the way, find themselves in Shredder's old haunts only to discover... Mondo Geck and his band rocking out. They get bamboozled by some of the larger Foot Elite robots we've seen lately, the Turtles help out, and a horrible accident results in Mondo getting exposed to the ooze. I'm leaving something out... oh yes, Mondo actually has a pet gecko that rides shotgun on his shoulder most of the time. In what continues to be sort of a "thing" in the Archie TMNT-verse and still seems to be an oddity to me, it's almost like as soon as he becomes exposed to the ooze the gecko pet just sort of becomes absorbed into his skin or something... you never see the ****ing thing ever again. The Turtles and the new Gecko-ized Mondo Gecko save the day, Gecko's girlfriend breaks up with him because he's the ****in Geico mascot now, and everybody goes home to celebrate their reunion with Splinter over pizza. A decent issue, really, just unremarkable. Truly split down the middle on it -- decent, not exceedingly good or great.

TMNTA #19 *** -- The big prelude to "The Mighty MutAnimals" 3 parter and the closing precipice of that big event seems pretty palpable by this point. It's cool. I remember as a little kid getting pretty worked up about all of this, wondering how it was all going to play out and such. The gang scopes out the Null building while Jagwar, Dreamon, and Man Ray join forces to investigate a strange meteorite that's crash-landed ashore but the crux of the issue is the Turtles having to contend with Scul and Bean (the two aliens we first saw Krang taking an audience with way back during "The Final Conflict") on a rooftop. There's not too much to this issue... it's basically "The Mighty MutAnimals" #0, but that's cool. It does what it's supposed to, which is create a ramp from TMNT Adventures to that mini as well as drumming up additional interest to it. I think the biggest thing about this issue to me is "Bean"'s unique way of defending himself. You see, he has this big hole in his skull in which he shoots these little dough-like blobs of white gooey liquid that explodes and knocks everybody out from either the resulting explosion, the gas, or both. If one were to look at the whole thing under a magnifying glass (so to speak) it might be a little troubling, but whatever. Enjoyable stuff.

[Andrew NDB]

TMNT Present Mighty Mutanimals #1-3 **** -- I'm just going to go ahead and lump these all together for the purposes of this little review. Quite the little epic in itself, really. The only other thing to compare it to would be the whole "Final Conflict" event, but this wisely takes that as a springboard to launch into not only a new, bigger event but also a whole new spinoff team that would earn its sealegs as a result. Pretty savvy planning all around and a fun time to be reading TMNTA. Basically we catch up with Man Ray, Dreadmon, and Jagwar watching as these Malignoid larva hatch from the asteroid they watched crash, eat up a bunch of rainforest, and then gestate inside cocoons until they emerge into the more traditional Malignoid warriors we've seen before. Cudley gets shot down at one point and unwittingly (or was it knowingly? you never know with Cudley) brings Leatherhead to the team. What becomes a really powerful scene is when the Mutanimals (let's just go ahead and start calling them that) ponder over the helpless cocoons of the Malignoids. They could easily just walk up to them and slice them to pieces, and they know it -- and just about do that. Cudley talks some "sense" to them and they hold fast and we realize that these aren't just a band of Secret Six-like misfits... they do have a code of honor. In the midst of all this there's a plot with Raphael, who has stowed away with Mondo Gecko aboard the Malignoid flagship but soon become caught. Relatively long story short, the Mutanimals handle the matured Malignoids, the Malignoid flagship lands (pouring alien ships that attack all over Earth... I mean bigtime, we even see its ships attacking malls and the Washington Monument -- if there's an issue after this where there's people doubting the existence of aliens, that's bull****), chaos ensues, everybody learns how to act as a team, "Kid" saves the day and holds Maligna over a barrel and forces her retreat. At the end, the Stump Network is living it up because they've just broadcast the mother of all broadcasts (you guessed it, they'd been televising the whole thing).

I tell you, though, as a kid and even now, the most disturbing thing to me is probably the halfway point in this where we finally got the Jagwar origin. I mean really, guys, let's take off our nostalgia goggles and break it down. I know later on in the actual Mutanimals ongoing series they went into it a little more, but here... here we only get a single page about it, and it's pretty troubling. Basically, Jagwar's mom -- a human who "was not like most people... she was very--how you say--bored, and uninterested in everyday life" -- gets up and goes to to check out this temple, meets the spirit of a living jaguar and "they met as equals... and their spirits came to know love." This is indicated by a panel in which she's sitting cross-legged and her spirit is holding hands with the jaguar spirit. The next panel is her holding a newborn baby jaguar with the caption, "And through that love... came I."

That's it. That's all the origin we get. I mean, what are we supposed to get from that? She got bestialized on the astral plane and came back pregnant? Good god. Did she get slipped a proverbial roofie and impregnated somehow by the "jaguar spirit" somewhere lurking in the bushes? Was this pregnancy even planned, discussed beforehand (and if not, how would she have thought, known, or expected a pregnancy to result from an innocent enough meditative astral plane encounter?)? It just seems like she meditates and says, "hey, wussup, jaguar spirit... you seem kinda cool" and the jaguar spirit pipes back, "Yeah, you're kinda cool too" and then BAM, pregnant. Why isn't she pissed? Pretty well beyond jarring, especially when read now. What's even more disturbing is knowing that later on, having read some of the Mutanimals ongoing issues, that this "jaguar spirit" can -- at times -- assume apparently physical form... do you see where I'm going with this? Yikes, guys. Just yikes.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

TMNT Present Mighty Mutanimals #1-3 **** -- I'm just going to go ahead and lump these all together for the purposes of this little review. Quite the little epic in itself, really. The only other thing to compare it to would be the whole "Final Conflict" event, but this wisely takes that as a springboard to launch into not only a new, bigger event but also a whole new spinoff team that would earn its sealegs as a result. Pretty savvy planning all around and a fun time to be reading TMNTA. Basically we catch up with Man Ray, Dreadmon, and Jagwar watching as these Malignoid larva hatch from the asteroid they watched crash, eat up a bunch of rainforest, and then gestate inside cocoons until they emerge into the more traditional Malignoid warriors we've seen before. Cudley gets shot down at one point and unwittingly (or was it knowingly? you never know with Cudley) brings Leatherhead to the team. What becomes a really powerful scene is when the Mutanimals (let's just go ahead and start calling them that) ponder over the helpless cocoons of the Malignoids. They could easily just walk up to them and slice them to pieces, and they know it -- and just about do that. Cudley talks some "sense" to them and they hold fast and we realize that these aren't just a band of Secret Six-like misfits... they do have a code of honor. In the midst of all this there's a plot with Raphael, who has stowed away with Mondo Gecko aboard the Malignoid flagship but soon become caught. Relatively long story short, the Mutanimals handle the matured Malignoids, the Malignoid flagship lands (pouring alien ships that attack all over Earth... I mean bigtime, we even see its ships attacking malls and the Washington Monument -- if there's an issue after this where there's people doubting the existence of aliens, that's bull****), chaos ensues, everybody learns how to act as a team, "Kid" saves the day and holds Maligna over a barrel and forces her retreat. At the end, the Stump Network is living it up because they've just broadcast the mother of all broadcasts (you guessed it, they'd been televising the whole thing).

I tell you, though, as a kid and even now, the most disturbing thing to me is probably the halfway point in this where we finally got the Jagwar origin. I mean really, guys, let's take off our nostalgia goggles and break it down. I know later on in the actual Mutanimals ongoing series they went into it a little more, but here... here we only get a single page about it, and it's pretty troubling. Basically, Jagwar's mom -- a human who "was not like most people... she was very--how you say--bored, and uninterested in everyday life" -- gets up and goes to to check out this temple, meets the spirit of a living jaguar and "they met as equals... and their spirits came to know love." This is indicated by a panel in which she's sitting cross-legged and her spirit is holding hands with the jaguar spirit. The next panel is her holding a newborn baby jaguar with the caption, "And through that love... came I."

That's it. That's all the origin we get. I mean, what are we supposed to get from that? She got bestialized on the astral plane and came back pregnant? Good god. Did she get slipped a proverbial roofie and impregnated somehow by the "jaguar spirit" somewhere lurking in the bushes? Was this pregnancy even planned, discussed beforehand (and if not, how would she have thought, known, or expected a pregnancy to result from an innocent enough meditative astral plane encounter?)? It just seems like she meditates and says, "hey, wussup, jaguar spirit... you seem kinda cool" and the jaguar spirit pipes back, "Yeah, you're kinda cool too" and then BAM, pregnant. Why isn't she pissed? Pretty well beyond jarring, especially when read now. What's even more disturbing is knowing that later on, having read some of the Mutanimals ongoing issues, that this "jaguar spirit" can -- at times -- assume apparently physical form... do you see where I'm going with this? Yikes, guys. Just yikes.

Seeing as how Jag's mom was like... Xena X 10... I doubt she'd settle for a normal human male to satisfy her um.... courageous spirit?

[Leo656]

I never read Mutanimals and had no idea that was Jagwar's origin. I mean I glanced through the Sourcebook a few times but... seriously? How the hell did they slip THAT past the comics code?

[Coola Yagami]

Cause it more like... slightly implied.... rather than... 'they had wild demigod jungle animal or whatever sex....'

[CyberCubed]

Murphy is a furry. Hence later on with Ninjara.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Murphy is a furry. Hence later on with Ninjara.

Not sure I'd go that far...unless there are pictures of him in a costume.

[wilddiverse]

I really hate the term furry. I enjoy many comics about the adventures of humanoid animals, but so many implications are attached to that word that I would never accept that label being applied to me.