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IDW TMNT # 40

By Mark Rodriguez

When we last left our heroes, the Turtles (minus Don) and Splinter met up with Old Hob, who just announced his newest mutants, Herman the Hermit Crab, and the ever so popular Mondo Gecko. Pigeon Pete unintentionally led Bebop and Rocksteady to the rest and a fight broke out. Just when you think the heroes needed back up, Nobody and Alopex arrive!


The issue starts off with the Turtles fighting against Bebop and Rocksteady, and the rhino just rammed a car and sent it flying towards Mikey. Slash gets in the way and takes the full brunt of the falling vehicle. Mike thanks him but Slash seems hurt. Hob angrily tells Herman to attack and he fires a missile at the mutant duo, sending them into a wall. Leo moves in to strike 'while they're down' but Rocksteady kicks him away saying they were only resting. Bebop tosses a chunk of rock at blazing speed towards Splinter and Raph tackles him out of harm's way. Bebop and Rocksteady smile, having just started to fight.

I always wondered how they were gonna deal with Leo attacking Bebop and Rocksteady without killing them with his swords... the solution... make them so strong, getting sliced doesn't mean crap to them.

Casey and April's dad work at the Second Time Around Shop, fixing things up here and there. April's dad offers him a job with all the heavy stuff while they work on all the financial stuff. Casey agrees.

Mikey manages to snatch Rocksteady's sledgehammer, but the rhino grabs it back and swings him into Leo. With this, both Mikey and Leo are down, leaving Raph alone to face them. Alopex leaps in to scratch and slash at Rocksteady when something blasts Bebop's chainsaw to bits. Nobody tells Raph to help Alopex deal with the rhino while she takes on the warthog.

Nobody tosses a grappling hook around Bebop's nose ring and yanks him towards her (must be some real strong rope... also how did the ring not rip right off his nose, Bebop must be heavy as all hell). She tases him right in the throat, but it only tickles him. He punches her and sends her flying miles away. Nobody uses her anti-gravity gauntlets to secure her landing.

Rocksteady tosses both Raph and Alopex into a pigeon coop. Herman attacks the mutants, but Bebop rips out his guns and Rocksteady starts kicking the dumpster he's in. They flip it over and Herman grabs both of them with his pincers and slams their heads into each other. Hob runs into the fight and Mondo is surprised there was going to be actual fighting involved. Splinter holds back the gecko and says he has a sneakier plan that might be better than fighting their enemies head on.


Raph apologizes to Alopex for how he yelled at her back in Northampton and she's ok. They're both still stuck in the pigeon coop until Pete arrives to help them out. Rocksteady throws Hob against a wall and is ready to finish him off when Splinter arrives and jabs his stick into his neck. He then uses his martial arts quickness to attack them both. Meanwhile Gecko in climbing a pole and cuts one of the power lines (without electrocuting himself somehow).

Rocksteady tosses Herman into Splinter, but the rat jumps out of the way. Just then Mondo Gecko swings down on the power line and lets go in time for it to hit the puddle of water Bebop and Rocksteady are standing on. Both are electrocuted and they're finally down and out.

Everyone regroups and helps each other get back to their feet. Hob shakes Splinter's hand and is glad they took them down. Bebop and Rocksteady and however NOT down yet and are ready for some more. Herman fires off all of his firepower at the two, herding them towards a condemned building with signs labeling its unstable condition. The mutant laugh that the crab missed, but the entire building collapses on top of them and it seems the fight is finally over.

Hob compliments Alopex and asks her if she wants to join his mutant army. She gives Raph a look and turns him down saying she had enough of armies. She instead decides to help out Nobody. Angel agrees but warns her that Harold could be a worse grump than Shredder ever was. Splinter says they must hurry their plans to stop Shredder because he is sure to know that they're back by now. Pete apologizes to Hob for bringing in the evil mutants and Hob says it's alright and he'll keep him as one of the Mighty Mutanimals.

After everyone leaves, Bebop and Rocksteady get out from under the debris and realize they heroes are gone. Rocksteady tells Bebop he had the right idea of not telling Karai about their plan in case something went wrong.


The comic ends with the surprise of having Donatello send Metalhead in his place to speak to Shredder and the Foot. He tells them that he needs their help against Krang. Shredder asks what he knows of Krang. Don tells him that he knows enough to know the fate of the world depends on the help of the Foot Clan.

My Opinions

Most of the issue was an epic fight against Bebop and Rocksteady, and boy it didn't disappoint. Many comics end with a fight about to break.... and despite the cover of the following issue promising an all-out battle, the actual fight is a page or two. This comic promised an all out brawl and it sure as hell delivered!

The characters all got their moments here and there though I particularly liked Splinter using some well-placed martial arts moves to take down Bebop and Rocksteady, and Geko's shining moment with somehow not getting zapped by the power lines and using them to fry the mutant duo.

The main thing here is the shocking epilogue with Don using Metalhead to recruit Shredder and the Foot against Krang. What the hell is he thinking? While Shredder has his own war against Krang and the threat of the Technodrome might warrant his attention, he'll still flat out kill Yoshi and the Turtles the first chance he gets. He might even use the information about the Technodrome for his convenience and then tell the heroes 'thanks for the warning, now die' and kill them all. Bad guys are always that short sighted.

Another thing I want to touch upon is Hob outright naming his little group the 'Mighty Mutanimals' based on the group of the same name in the old Archie comics. The originals spun off from the main title and had TMNT characters Man Ray, Leatherhead, Wingnut, Screwloose and Mondo Gecko join the Archie original characters Jagwar and Dreadmon as they'd fight the evil alien Maligna and the demonic businessman Null. And of course it would crossover with the Turtles from time to time, and Slash was also with them near the end.


I guess we'll have to see how Hob treats his group. He is becoming more and more of an anti-hero and less of a downright villain. You can see some examples when he shows actual concern for Slash and Herman, and he did treat Pete pretty nice too, despite the trouble he caused. And for whatever it's worth, he hasn't double-crossed the Turtles yet.

I guess we'll see how this all goes down next issue as the Attack on the Technodrome 4-part epic begins.

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