Tales of the TMNT #69

[Raph's Girl]

I just have to say about this issue... WOW!.... This at least answers

Spoiler:

how Raph lost his eye. But man. Poor Raph. The knowledge he has of a possable future where Shadow seemingly betrays the family.... ugh...But what happened to Don? Did she kill him in a fit of rage or did she blind him with her katana? And Raph giving Shadow that scar is similar to what Leo did to Cha Ocho.

[oldmanwinters]

I thought it was interesting that...

Spoiler:

Cha Ocho and Raph appear to continue their alliance formed in Tales of the TMNT #27 even into old age.

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I thought it was interesting that...

Spoiler:

Cha Ocho and Raph appear to continue their alliance formed in Tales of the TMNT #27 even into old age.

Not me. They are very similar. I'd even go so far as to say that they are as similar as Raph and Casey are.

I finally got this, haven't read it yet though

[discordiatookie]

My comic shop didn't have this in last week. Sometimes they are a week behind. Sigh.

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

Originally Posted by discordiatookie

My comic shop didn't have this in last week. Sometimes they are a week behind. Sigh.

Hence why I prefer ordering online. This was probably the best Berger story I've ever read. Does anyone have his e-mail address?

Everything in this issue made perfect sense to me, except we still don't know what happened between Don and Shadow.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I thought it was interesting that...

Spoiler:

Cha Ocho and Raph appear to continue their alliance formed in Tales of the TMNT #27 even into old age.

Spoiler:

I'm just glad he shows up again period. I think he's as criminally underused a character as Complete Carnage, and probably the best villain-ish character to come out of the post-2002 comics.

[willtupper]

Reread it tonight, and wanted to mention a moment that just blew me away...

Spoiler:

The way Dan laid-out Page 28, the blocking, the pacing - whatever you want to call it - is just one of the best moments I've ever experienced in comics. To have a silent panel (Leo's eyes shut, lost in concentration) actually slow my reading speed, pulling me even deeper into what I was reading... just amazing. Kudos to you, Mr. Berger, for a job done great.

[PAAATE]

Got it in the mail today. FANTASTIC!

This just makes me sad Tales is ending

[ToTheNines]

Great story, love me some Berger.

Like Spengler said, it was awesome how Shadow addressed her lame gothic phase and being cold to April.

One gripe:

Spoiler:

Shadow killed by a Foot Mystic at 23? But... truce? I dunno, maybe something goes apesh*t with the Warriors of Perfect Virtue.

[discordiatookie]

Well, that was certainly something special. Wow. Totally not what I was expecting, especially

Spoiler:

the time travelling aspect.

You can stick me in the camp of believing that

Spoiler:

Shadow blinded Donatello, and didn't actually kill him.

Although that is sheer speculation.

I love that

Spoiler:

Shadow has became such a bad ass ninja, even the Foot Elite are terrified of her. Well I say love, but it doesn't end very well for her, (or the others). Good old rage, killing the bonds that tie families together!

Amazing art from Berger, and some lovely, very sad but awesome storytelling also. Loved it.

[funatic]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

One gripe:

Spoiler:

Shadow killed by a Foot Mystic at 23? But... truce? I dunno, maybe something goes apesh*t with the Warriors of Perfect Virtue.

Spoiler:

I think the foot mystics have always been operating outside the truce, an anti-Splinter splinter cell on a mission to avenge the Shredder, who are unassociated with Karai - at least that's what issues like Tales v2 2 & 11 led me to believe.

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

Originally Posted by funatic

Spoiler:

I think the foot mystics have always been operating outside the truce, an anti-Splinter splinter cell on a mission to avenge the Shredder, who are unassociated with Karai - at least that's what issues like Tales v2 2 & 11 led me to believe.

I am definitely going to read those two issues again, and I'll probably have to PM you because you obviously picked up on something that I missed.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by funatic

Spoiler:

I think the foot mystics have always been operating outside the truce, an anti-Splinter splinter cell on a mission to avenge the Shredder, who are unassociated with Karai - at least that's what issues like Tales v2 2 & 11 led me to believe.

I'm pretty sure Karai had Foot Mystics under her control in the Valentine's issue.

But you are right, there's rouge foot running around but not anywhere near the Volume 4 portion of the time-line.

[discordiatookie]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

there's rouge foot running around

This gave me so many images in my head, I actually burst out laughing.

[Venom]

Hehehe, rogue and lose, two of the most commonly misspelled words today.

[CyberCubed]

Spoilers for anyone who still didn't read this yet...

...

So why are people bringing up the idea this is an alternate timeline?

As far as I can tell, this fits in perfectly with all the "future turtles" stories they've done, and brings development to Shadow and Cha Ocho's characters, as well as explains Don's situation in the Tales pieces, Raph's eyepatch, and Leo living on Earth, whereas Mike probably isn't.

This pretty much wrapped everything perfectly.

[Venom]

The way Renet presents the situation to Raph implies it is an alternate future, albeit the most likely one. If Raph chose not to train Shadow she would more than likely be killed by a member of the Foot at 23.

The present is left ambiguous on purpose to show while Raph realizes what the future probably holds, he still makes the choice to train Shadow so she may live.

The ending is pretty poignant, knowing that Renet shed tears over the Turtles' lives and knowing how things turn out for them.

I really like Renet, wish she had been used more.

[CyberCubed]

Something tells me that after reading this issue, Dan Berger could have quickly gone an issue of Tales giving Volume 4 a quick recap ending, thus pulling everything together.

If I ever had to put someone in charge of giving closure to the Mirage Universe, Dan Berger would be it.

[John Pannozzi]

Reading this issue was more emotionally intense than any other comic book I had read up to that point.

Then, over the this week, I read Scott Pilgrim, and felt even more emotionally invested, and also spiritually enlightened if that make any sense.

At the risk of sounding obvious, does anyone else think the future Shadow's bloodlust can be seen as some kind of statement on how killing someone as profession, whether as a soldier or an assassin , can turn a person into something truly ugly. I wonder what it says about Raph that his "gakusei" became an uncontrollable killing machine, wheras Raph's own sensei managed to raise four fairly decent people, er, turtles into the world, even if he was driven by revenge.

[CommandoJamie7]

*Sigh* I just wish we knew what happened to Mikey.