IDW TMNT # 23 City Fall part 2

By Mark Rodriguez

The Shredder wants to run New York and wants to defeat any rival gangs and also kill off the Turtles and Splinter. Kitsune, Alopex and Foot Ninjas capture Casey Jones and purposely let Raphael get away to tell the others. When the heroes arrive to rescue him, Shredder gets their attention by ramming his blades into Casey's gut. A fight breaks out and during the commotion, Leonardo gets captured. The heroes don't have time to rescue him since Casey is moments away from death.

This issue was also cool cause Johnny was in town visiting me and when I showed him Bent Wookee, this was the issue that so happened to be on sale at the time.

City Fall Part 2 starts off with a double-montage of the heroes and villains hurrying off to their pressing matters. April drives her van as Splinter, Raph, and Angel watch over a dying Casey Jones. Elsewhere, a Foot Ninja drives a black van as Shredder, Karai and Alopex watch over an unconscious captured Leonardo. The heroes arrive to take Casey to the emergency room. April and Angel will watch over Casey as Splinter and Raph go to find Don and Mike, who have been sent out to find Leonardo. Meanwhile, the Foot Clan have arrived at their secret base. Shredder dismisses Karai and Alopex.

As Casey is carried off to the emergency room, the doctor asks Angel for more information. She can't say anything other than he was mugged and stabbed. The doctor says he knows it must have been with some kind of sword, since lately they have seen a lot of people being stabbed with swords.

Shredder leaves Leo in Kitsune's hands, and she promises she will make him a loyal soldier, just like she was able to revive Shredder in present day.

Splinter and Raph regroup with the other Turtles at the lair, who had no luck in finding Leonardo. Don did find one of his swords, and Mike finds a writing across a wall of their lair saying 'East River, Midnight. Can Help U! Hob' Mike thinks Hob might actually want to help, and Raph dismisses it. Splinter says if even the slightest possibility exists that Hob might know where Leonardo is, they have to take that invitation.

Elsewhere, Kitsune starts her ritual and removes Leo's mask. She tells him he has nothing to fear and that she will show him the true menace he's been facing as well as his ultimate salvation. Leo encounters a series of visions, starting right where when he was a normal turtle. As he mutates, a demonic version of Splinter tell him that he will always keep him safe from harm. Leo is suddenly attacked by demonic versions of the Mousers, and Splinter does nothing to save him. Suddenly Shredder comes in and saves him.

Join me, and we can rule the galaxy as father and son

As Leo runs off, he faces zombie ninjas and rats, and runs to a voice calling out for him, telling him to see all the lies and broken promises. As he finds Splinter, the rat angrily tosses him off a ledge. Leo is then caught by Shredder, looking like a regular ninja as he did when Leo first faced him in Leonardo #1. Leo notices that it was Shredder's voice he heard calling out to him, not Splinter's. He tells Leo he calls him away from the weakness that stifles his true potential and he should leave it behind.

 At the hospital, April asks what Angel meant earlier when she said if it wasn't for Casey she'd be dead or in jail. Angel said their dads used to be total bad-asses until they were born, so they started calming down and living straight. Casey's mom died and his father started drinking, and Angel's mom died in a car accident, so she started hanging with the Purple Dragons and started causing trouble. Casey was there to knock some sense into Angel and set her straight before it was too late. 

Angel reminds me of how Psylocke might have looked if she was in X-Men Evolution

The doctors say they can see Casey now and tell them his injuries are so severe, he'll probably never play hockey again. As they talk, Casey's dad makes his way over to visit. He overhears how April asks if they should call his dad, but Angel says she already called her own father to pass him the message. She says Casey's dad is probably too wasted to care, and that Casey doesn't deserve to suffer like this, but he sure does. Casey's dad is shocked to hear this, and walks away.

Back in Leo's mind, he's about to fight Slash, who is bent on killing him and his family. However, Splinter keeps telling Leo to put his sword away since they must never kill. Leo decides that is Splinter won't protect his family, then he will, and he stabs Slash. Splinter is gone, and Shredder is in his place telling him that using all necessary means to defend himself is never wrong, and gives him Slash's black bandana as a gift.

The flashback continues into the fight in Dimension X as the Turtles are being attacked by Krang and his stone warriors. Leo jumps in to save his family, killing the stone warriors and Krang. The Turtles wave goodbye to Leo as they are suddenly blasted to ashes. Leo turns to see a giant evil robot Splinter that runs away. Leo is sad since he did everything to protect his clan, but they died anyway. Shredder tells him that he fought like a loyal warrior and his true clan is not dead. 

Every story arc has a different artist. As the flashbacks go over every story arc, the art style changes to match it. Interesting touch there.

Elsewhere, the Turtles and Splinter meet up with Hob and are surprised to see Slash with him. Hob says he knows where Leo is being held and wants to help them. He says the real problem are humans. The city is about to go to war and soon it will be time to choose sides. He says he's tired of being used by humans, and wants to create a mutant army to take over. He wants the Turtles and Splinter to side with him and to prove he's for real, he'll help them find Leonardo. Splinter says they will consider his offer after they rescue him. Hob says it's all he asks. 

Back in Leo's mind, he returns home to have Splinter call him a failure. Leo is angry that Splinter promised to protect and train and failed them. He asks him how he could lie to his own son. Splinter says he is not his son, his sons are dead, and soon zombie versions of Don, Raph and Mike attack Leo. Leo yells that he has had enough, and Splinter mocks him for being a failure. Suddenly Shredder kills Splinter, saying that he is the failure. Shredder asks Leo if he finally sees Splinter as the pathetic vermin that will have his sons die through weakness and uncertainty... and he says yes. Shredder says Leo is finally ready.

Leonardo suddenly wakes up, calling out for his master, and Kitsune prepares a black bandana for him....

My opinions

 Wow, what an epic issue. Kitsune did an epic job of going deep into Leo's mind and twisting situations around to make it seem like everything bad that ever happened to them was Splinter's fault. I think the main impact came from the scene with Slash since during the fight, Leo believes he killed him and was going through a lot of guilt and grief over it. 

When I first flipped through the book at Bent Wookee, I saw the Slash scene and was confused why the comic's art style suddenly shifted from the guy who drew CityFall # 1 to the guy that drew the Slash storyline. Then I realized that this issue went and called in all the artists who drew the past storylines to draw the flashback pages related to them. So we had Dan Duncan do the flashback related to the 'Time is Constant' storyline (Leo's mutation), Ross Cambell drew the scene inspired when Leo first met Shredder and the Foot in Leonardo # 1, Andy Khun drew the scene during the Slash storyline, and Ben Gates drew the scene related to the Turtles fight against Krang in Dimension X. And who better than Kevin Eastman himself to draw the final scene based on when the Turtles faced a disguised Splinter out to teach them a lesson?

I liked the scene between April and Angel as we find out her connection to Casey. They kinda knew each other in the 2K3 show, but being a closer age in this comic makes their connection a lot more solid. I also liked when Casey's dad went to see his son. Too bad it never happened since he overheard Angel's harsh words... but it's nice to see that when the chips are down, he still cares about his son. Maybe this will be a slow way of him leaving the drink.

Another thing to look into is Hob and Slash, and their plans to make a mutant army. There is a Hob issue out there that ties perfectly into this, explaining his growing distrust and hatred for humans. We know Splinter and the gang won't join Hob's army, and Hob himself probably knows it too... so it will interesting to see how it will play out after their little truce ends. 

Overall this was an awesome issue, and it was a clever touch to bring back all the artists to draw their respective flashback scenes. It also goes to show just how many people have had their hand in this series for 23 issues. Can't wait to see what awaits us in 23 more.