By Mark Rodriguez
In the original Mirage comics, as well as the first live action movie, the 2K3 cartoon and the 2012 cartoon, the Turtles suffer a violent defeat at the hands of the Shredder and escape to Northampton to recover. In this series the Turtles have just recovered Leo and barely survived an all out battle against the Foot and their new mutants, Bebop and Rocksteady. Now they all also escape to Northampton.
Northampton part 1 begins with April and Casey discussing the intense battle they just went through and how lucky they are to have survived, as we shots of April's abandoned store, the Turtles abandoned church hideout, the ruins of the Stockgen building that Hob and Slash blew up, and the theater where their previous battle against Shredder took place. Mikey wakes up and asks why April is slowing down, and she says they have arrived at their destination. The turtles will live in the farmhouse, which seems large and roomy, while April and Casey will stay at her parents house, which is several miles away.
As they unload Don tells April he thought her folks lived in Albany. April says they do, but her dad inherited this farmland from her grandma and after his stroke, they decided to live there. Don and Mike wake Splinter up and help him into the house. Raph tries to wake up Leo and he wakes up scared and confused. Leo quickly runs off to be alone. Just then then, Raph notices something dash behind him and he quickly tosses a sai at it. It's Alopex!
Raph tackles her down before she has time to explain herself. Leo then jumpkicks Raph away telling him she doesn't want to fight. The others arrive and are confused as to where the mutant fox came from. Raph asks Leo why he's defending her and he says she's injured. Raph then hints Leo might have something to do with her being there, and they start to fight. Mike and Don pull them apart and Splinter tells them to stop. Considering that she attacked the Shredder during his fight with Splinter, the rodent master allows her the chance to explain herself.
Alopex mentions that since she attacked the Shredder and didn't succeed
in killing him, she's as good as dead with the Foot. Having nowhere else
to go, she followed the Turtles out of town. Don asks why she attacked
Shredder to begin with, and she mentions he killed her family. Seeing
that Alopex used a similar sob story to trick Raphael the first time
they met, he isn't so quick to believe her this time. Leo says he does
believe her, which sparks another fight with Raph. Splinter tells them
all to stop, but Leo tells him that he's not his master and walks off.
Splinter says he will honor a truce with Alopex since she did save his
life. Alopex walks off saying she doesn't need their honor or their
help.
With the awkwardness behind them, April gets ready to take Casey to meet her parents. Before he leaves, he tells Raph to take it easy on Leo since he's been through hell, and also tells him April's his girlfriend now. Moments later, April takes Casey to meet her mother, Elizabeth O'Neil, who welcomes them both with open arms. They go see April's father, John, in a wheelchair after having suffered his stroke. Her parents tell her they are relieved to know that April is alright after they heard news about Stockgen being blown up. This is the first that April's heard of this.
Leo is alone in the woods with conflicting images and messages. Between the things Kitsune and Shredder brainwashed him with, the things Raphael told him during their fight at the theater, and visions of his mother. He doesn't know what to believe.
April's mom puts her husband to bed and mentions how surprised they are that Stockgen was destroyed, after all those years April's dad worked there. He also pulled some strings to get April hired as an intern there, so he never would have forgiven himself if something did happen to her. April mentions there was a lot of illegal stuff going on, including strange experiments and ooze. April's mom is surprised to hear the word 'ooze' and it reminds of something she thinks she should mention. Before she tells April, she'll brew some tea first since they're going to have a lot to talk about. She will tell April things about their past that might have been more dangerous than they realized. The comic ends with several shots of the Turtles and Splinter getting some sleep, while Leo sulks near a river and Alopex hides watching over him.
My Opinions
This was quite a tale, and the characters needed some downtime. Although they just arrived at the place and are about to spend their first night, they still can't rest too easy. Their main concerns are Alopex lurking in the area... and Leo's behavior. Although it does seem that Alopex really just wants to be left alone and leave her life as a Foot member behind.. naturally the others won't be so quick to believe her.
Leo is still confused from every which way... but he seems open to trust Alopex, a fellow ex-Foot member.. and still harbors Shredder's imposed hatred towards Splinter. I feel bad for Yoshi... when Leo said 'Save your commands Yoshi, you're not my Master' that must have cut him deeply.
He had saved his son, but he is still lost. We'll have to see how he'll
recover, since undoing the brainwashing seems to be turning into a
gradual process. I do wonder if Alopex will lend and a hand and talk to
him. I do wonder what they would even talk about since they hardly
shared any time together when he was with the Foot. He mostly talked
down to Karai than anything else.
And finally.. April's parents! With so many versions of April, we hardly ever see her parents, if any. The original Mirage April did have parents, but we never saw them, save for that time Renet took April in time back to see her...um.... childhood. She has a sister named Robyn and their father passed away off-panel during the City at War storyline.
The original 80's April has no real family to speak of ever being mentioned, other than her Aunt Aggie, that was featured in a few episodes, for better or for worse.... The 2K3 April also had her sister Robyn, but they also gave her a kick-ass uncle Augustus, who was trapped in another dimension fighting all sorts of monsters. Of course the 2012 show has April's dad, but no sign of her mother. Although she did appear in a much later episode, voiced by Renea Jacobs the original 80's April no less, but it wasn't certain if that was really her.
So it's good to her have both her parents, though they're not just for show. They also seem to add an extra layer to the backstory, since her dad worked at Stockgen for years, and they know some sort of dangerous secret regarding the ooze... We'll have to see how this story unfolds... And perhaps Leo's full recovery will inspire the team to Return to New York for some much needed payback.
Oddly enough, of all the versions, it was the live action movie that had the most changes. The movie had Raph be the turtle to be injured and not Leo, and it was April's farmhouse instead of Casey's. I guess the IDW comic also went with the idea that it was April's farmhouse, and rather than Leo being gravely injured, he's recovering from Shredder's brainwashing.
In the original Mirage comics, as well as the first live action movie, the 2K3 cartoon and the 2012 cartoon, the Turtles suffer a violent defeat at the hands of the Shredder and escape to Northampton to recover. In this series the Turtles have just recovered Leo and barely survived an all out battle against the Foot and their new mutants, Bebop and Rocksteady. Now they all also escape to Northampton.
Northampton part 1 begins with April and Casey discussing the intense battle they just went through and how lucky they are to have survived, as we shots of April's abandoned store, the Turtles abandoned church hideout, the ruins of the Stockgen building that Hob and Slash blew up, and the theater where their previous battle against Shredder took place. Mikey wakes up and asks why April is slowing down, and she says they have arrived at their destination. The turtles will live in the farmhouse, which seems large and roomy, while April and Casey will stay at her parents house, which is several miles away.
As they unload Don tells April he thought her folks lived in Albany. April says they do, but her dad inherited this farmland from her grandma and after his stroke, they decided to live there. Don and Mike wake Splinter up and help him into the house. Raph tries to wake up Leo and he wakes up scared and confused. Leo quickly runs off to be alone. Just then then, Raph notices something dash behind him and he quickly tosses a sai at it. It's Alopex!
Raph tackles her down before she has time to explain herself. Leo then jumpkicks Raph away telling him she doesn't want to fight. The others arrive and are confused as to where the mutant fox came from. Raph asks Leo why he's defending her and he says she's injured. Raph then hints Leo might have something to do with her being there, and they start to fight. Mike and Don pull them apart and Splinter tells them to stop. Considering that she attacked the Shredder during his fight with Splinter, the rodent master allows her the chance to explain herself.
 |
| This is so weird.. the off-color action in the background looks like some sort of flashback, but instead it happened after they finished talking. Took me a while to figure out, I was asking myself when Leo tackled Raph down like that in the previous issue. |
With the awkwardness behind them, April gets ready to take Casey to meet her parents. Before he leaves, he tells Raph to take it easy on Leo since he's been through hell, and also tells him April's his girlfriend now. Moments later, April takes Casey to meet her mother, Elizabeth O'Neil, who welcomes them both with open arms. They go see April's father, John, in a wheelchair after having suffered his stroke. Her parents tell her they are relieved to know that April is alright after they heard news about Stockgen being blown up. This is the first that April's heard of this.
Leo is alone in the woods with conflicting images and messages. Between the things Kitsune and Shredder brainwashed him with, the things Raphael told him during their fight at the theater, and visions of his mother. He doesn't know what to believe.
April's mom puts her husband to bed and mentions how surprised they are that Stockgen was destroyed, after all those years April's dad worked there. He also pulled some strings to get April hired as an intern there, so he never would have forgiven himself if something did happen to her. April mentions there was a lot of illegal stuff going on, including strange experiments and ooze. April's mom is surprised to hear the word 'ooze' and it reminds of something she thinks she should mention. Before she tells April, she'll brew some tea first since they're going to have a lot to talk about. She will tell April things about their past that might have been more dangerous than they realized. The comic ends with several shots of the Turtles and Splinter getting some sleep, while Leo sulks near a river and Alopex hides watching over him.
My Opinions
This was quite a tale, and the characters needed some downtime. Although they just arrived at the place and are about to spend their first night, they still can't rest too easy. Their main concerns are Alopex lurking in the area... and Leo's behavior. Although it does seem that Alopex really just wants to be left alone and leave her life as a Foot member behind.. naturally the others won't be so quick to believe her.
Leo is still confused from every which way... but he seems open to trust Alopex, a fellow ex-Foot member.. and still harbors Shredder's imposed hatred towards Splinter. I feel bad for Yoshi... when Leo said 'Save your commands Yoshi, you're not my Master' that must have cut him deeply.
And finally.. April's parents! With so many versions of April, we hardly ever see her parents, if any. The original Mirage April did have parents, but we never saw them, save for that time Renet took April in time back to see her...um.... childhood. She has a sister named Robyn and their father passed away off-panel during the City at War storyline.
The original 80's April has no real family to speak of ever being mentioned, other than her Aunt Aggie, that was featured in a few episodes, for better or for worse.... The 2K3 April also had her sister Robyn, but they also gave her a kick-ass uncle Augustus, who was trapped in another dimension fighting all sorts of monsters. Of course the 2012 show has April's dad, but no sign of her mother. Although she did appear in a much later episode, voiced by Renea Jacobs the original 80's April no less, but it wasn't certain if that was really her.
So it's good to her have both her parents, though they're not just for show. They also seem to add an extra layer to the backstory, since her dad worked at Stockgen for years, and they know some sort of dangerous secret regarding the ooze... We'll have to see how this story unfolds... And perhaps Leo's full recovery will inspire the team to Return to New York for some much needed payback.
Oddly enough, of all the versions, it was the live action movie that had the most changes. The movie had Raph be the turtle to be injured and not Leo, and it was April's farmhouse instead of Casey's. I guess the IDW comic also went with the idea that it was April's farmhouse, and rather than Leo being gravely injured, he's recovering from Shredder's brainwashing.
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