By Mark Rodriguez
After the Turtles defeated the Foot and Splinter killed the Shredder.... Splinter has now taken over the Foot to control the city's crime. A new gang called the Street Phantoms have popped up using a cloaking technology that Don's friend Harold is familiar with. Meanwhile, Mikey, who wasn't keen on working with the Foot, left his family and went to join Hob and the Mutanimals. However, despite the team's overall good intentions in fighting crime, Mikey discovers that Hob is secretly working with Hun and they're both stockpiling a massive amount of weaponry. As Mikey is shocked by this, Hun is sneaking up behind him.
The issue opens with Mikey saying he's going to strangle Hob when he sees him, just as he gets strangled himself. Mikey bites the arm that's holding him and he sees that Hun was the guy that jumped him. Mikey tosses his grappling hook at him, but Hun catches it and uses it to fling Mikey into a wall. Hob hears the commotion and catches Hun punching Mikey into another wall.
The other Mutanimals wonder what happened to Mikey. Mondo says he noticed Mikey went with Hob, only he was sneaking aboard with the mutant cat's notice. Ray and Herman give each other a worried look, which Sally catches. She demands to know what they know, but since Ray or Herman won't give her a straight answer, she decides to go to the docks and see for herself what's going on. Slash, Mondo, Mutagen Man and Lindsay all agree to come along. Ray and Herman say this isn't good. Pete needs help in the kitchen since it seems something is burning. Meanwhile the mutants are still being spied on by a secret agent. He's been told to return to base for now since they have all the intel they need.
Hob tries to calm things down between Hun and Mikey. Hob says it isn't the time for this, but Hun says considering everything he lost during the fights against the Turtles, it's 'way past time' and he socks the cat out. Mikey flips over Hun's charge and kicks a bookshelf onto him. Hun busts out from under it, grabs the turtle by the neck and slams him face down into the ground. Mikey socks Hun in the face twice, but Hun takes them pretty well and kicks the turtle into a pile of boxes. Mikey tosses a box of bullets at him, which he easily swats away, giving the turtle time to lunge in with a punch. Hun catches his fist and crushes it, saying he will seek out the rest of Mikey's family after he's through with him.
Slash arrives and catches Hun's fist, and breaks his arm. Hun punches the hell out of Slash saying he's sick of Turtles always getting in his way. Hun angrily headbutts him, going back into his more primal rage mode saying he's just getting started.
Sally sends Mondo and Mutagen Man to check on Mikey. Ray helps Hob up and tells him that Slash is fighting Hun. Hob tells the others that they have to calm Slash down before he kills the man. Slash says he's a good guy now, but since Hun is one of the bad guys, he must kill him. Hob says this isn't like before, Hun is working for them now. Sally asks why they're stockpiling all the weapons when they were supposed to be destroying it.
Hob says they need to be ready for whenever they have to butt heads against Null, Stockman or even the police, so they can use Hun to help collect weapons and sell what they don't need. Mikey doesn't like it and Hob reminds him that his family is currently running the biggest criminal organization in town. Hob says his goal is to prevent mutants from being exterminated, or experimented to the point that Mutagen Man was. Mikey says two wrong don't make a right, and Hob says he's free to leave. Slash asks if the rest is also free to leave. Hob looks regretful but says he's not going to cage them and they're free to leave if they wish.
Slash walks out, not wanting to do anything with Hun. Hob asks the rest what they think. Ray seems to agree and Herman says he won't question it, but Sally reminds them that they're supposed to be a family and have no more secrets between them. She tells the team to head on home and hope Pete didn't burn the place down. Mikey also wants to leave before Hun wakes back up. Hob angrily slashes Mikey across the arm and says he invited Mikey onto the team and he nearly destroyed it. He says Slash was right when he 'invited a snake into the garden', but it was Mikey, not Hun. As Mikey leaves, Hob says he'll never forget and he'll never forgive.
Mikey sees Slash and offers to stay with him at the old lair since the rest of the turtles live in the Foot HQ now. Slash declines and says he's always felt like he belonged to someone else. He says he wants to be his own master for now and swims off into the river. Mikey feels sad and alone.
The issues ends with Agent Winter returning to base to give all the information he's collected on the mutants. He says he thinks the person he's talking to will be very interested in his report, and that man turns out to be Agent Bishop.
My opinions-
He really is all alone now in the world. It's tough being a good guy with all this jazz going on around. It would have been cool to have Slash room with him, but it's also time for Slash to go find himself. It just seems there's evil all around. The rest of the TMNT are working with the Foot, and the Mutanimals have Hob and Hun with them that doesn't make things all that kosher either. I really wonder what he's going to do next issue. If I were him, I'd probably hang up the nunchucks/grappling hook for a while and lay low until everything blows over, but Mikey is too much a social party dude to just want to be alone and brood. Whether or not he meets new friends or goes back to his depressing family remains to be seen.
The issue was pretty cool, and it was awesome to see Mikey go toe-to-toe against Hun without holding back and without any fear. I don't know... the way he was up for the fight without backing down in this issue made him seem like one of the most bad-ass incarnations of Michealangelo to date. I'm not sure of the aftermath though. Will Hun still be willing to work with Hob when he wakes back up? Will the others still let Hob live with them now that they know about Hun? Honestly it looks like Sally would have done a better job as being the leader. What can I say Old Hob? You can't have a family and keep big secrets from them at the same time. And there's still some dark side left within you too.
I found it interesting that Ray and Herman seemed to be in on this though. I wonder how Hob managed to trust them both with this information and to keep it from the rest of the gang. Ray seems to agree with Hob's tactics, in fact, he's the only one that really does. Seeing as he was with Sally before they were found, I'm surprised he kept it from her, though he might have known she'd raise a big ruckus over it... and there's also the chance that Ray and Sally didn't know each other before they were mutated. As for Herman, well... he's a loyal soldier to a fault, never questioning orders from his superiors. I wonder if we'll ever see something that even he will have to disobey.
I loved this issue, and even though this is part of an on-going story arc, this is probably one of the best Michealangelo solo stories in a long time. The issue shows he has heart, morals, and is a bad-ass mo-fo that won't take no crap, all rolled up into one.
The comic also brings Bishop into the story. In the 2K3 series, he was a MIB/Agent Smith type government guy that was committed to saving the world of potential alien invasions and other oddities, no matter what the cost. Alongside his dubious methods, he also used alien experiments on himself that made him much more than human, able to take down the Turtles, Hun and Karai all by himself.
The 2012 cartoon had their own version of Bishop, though he was mostly Bishop in name only. He was basically there to explain that Utroms existed in their series as well, and the Kraang were just an evil faction. Obviously the IDW comic is going more with the 2K3 version, but we'll see how far he can go.
After the Turtles defeated the Foot and Splinter killed the Shredder.... Splinter has now taken over the Foot to control the city's crime. A new gang called the Street Phantoms have popped up using a cloaking technology that Don's friend Harold is familiar with. Meanwhile, Mikey, who wasn't keen on working with the Foot, left his family and went to join Hob and the Mutanimals. However, despite the team's overall good intentions in fighting crime, Mikey discovers that Hob is secretly working with Hun and they're both stockpiling a massive amount of weaponry. As Mikey is shocked by this, Hun is sneaking up behind him.
The issue opens with Mikey saying he's going to strangle Hob when he sees him, just as he gets strangled himself. Mikey bites the arm that's holding him and he sees that Hun was the guy that jumped him. Mikey tosses his grappling hook at him, but Hun catches it and uses it to fling Mikey into a wall. Hob hears the commotion and catches Hun punching Mikey into another wall.
The other Mutanimals wonder what happened to Mikey. Mondo says he noticed Mikey went with Hob, only he was sneaking aboard with the mutant cat's notice. Ray and Herman give each other a worried look, which Sally catches. She demands to know what they know, but since Ray or Herman won't give her a straight answer, she decides to go to the docks and see for herself what's going on. Slash, Mondo, Mutagen Man and Lindsay all agree to come along. Ray and Herman say this isn't good. Pete needs help in the kitchen since it seems something is burning. Meanwhile the mutants are still being spied on by a secret agent. He's been told to return to base for now since they have all the intel they need.
Hob tries to calm things down between Hun and Mikey. Hob says it isn't the time for this, but Hun says considering everything he lost during the fights against the Turtles, it's 'way past time' and he socks the cat out. Mikey flips over Hun's charge and kicks a bookshelf onto him. Hun busts out from under it, grabs the turtle by the neck and slams him face down into the ground. Mikey socks Hun in the face twice, but Hun takes them pretty well and kicks the turtle into a pile of boxes. Mikey tosses a box of bullets at him, which he easily swats away, giving the turtle time to lunge in with a punch. Hun catches his fist and crushes it, saying he will seek out the rest of Mikey's family after he's through with him.
Slash arrives and catches Hun's fist, and breaks his arm. Hun punches the hell out of Slash saying he's sick of Turtles always getting in his way. Hun angrily headbutts him, going back into his more primal rage mode saying he's just getting started.
Sally sends Mondo and Mutagen Man to check on Mikey. Ray helps Hob up and tells him that Slash is fighting Hun. Hob tells the others that they have to calm Slash down before he kills the man. Slash says he's a good guy now, but since Hun is one of the bad guys, he must kill him. Hob says this isn't like before, Hun is working for them now. Sally asks why they're stockpiling all the weapons when they were supposed to be destroying it.
Hob says they need to be ready for whenever they have to butt heads against Null, Stockman or even the police, so they can use Hun to help collect weapons and sell what they don't need. Mikey doesn't like it and Hob reminds him that his family is currently running the biggest criminal organization in town. Hob says his goal is to prevent mutants from being exterminated, or experimented to the point that Mutagen Man was. Mikey says two wrong don't make a right, and Hob says he's free to leave. Slash asks if the rest is also free to leave. Hob looks regretful but says he's not going to cage them and they're free to leave if they wish.
Slash walks out, not wanting to do anything with Hun. Hob asks the rest what they think. Ray seems to agree and Herman says he won't question it, but Sally reminds them that they're supposed to be a family and have no more secrets between them. She tells the team to head on home and hope Pete didn't burn the place down. Mikey also wants to leave before Hun wakes back up. Hob angrily slashes Mikey across the arm and says he invited Mikey onto the team and he nearly destroyed it. He says Slash was right when he 'invited a snake into the garden', but it was Mikey, not Hun. As Mikey leaves, Hob says he'll never forget and he'll never forgive.
Mikey sees Slash and offers to stay with him at the old lair since the rest of the turtles live in the Foot HQ now. Slash declines and says he's always felt like he belonged to someone else. He says he wants to be his own master for now and swims off into the river. Mikey feels sad and alone.
The issues ends with Agent Winter returning to base to give all the information he's collected on the mutants. He says he thinks the person he's talking to will be very interested in his report, and that man turns out to be Agent Bishop.
My opinions-
He really is all alone now in the world. It's tough being a good guy with all this jazz going on around. It would have been cool to have Slash room with him, but it's also time for Slash to go find himself. It just seems there's evil all around. The rest of the TMNT are working with the Foot, and the Mutanimals have Hob and Hun with them that doesn't make things all that kosher either. I really wonder what he's going to do next issue. If I were him, I'd probably hang up the nunchucks/grappling hook for a while and lay low until everything blows over, but Mikey is too much a social party dude to just want to be alone and brood. Whether or not he meets new friends or goes back to his depressing family remains to be seen.
The issue was pretty cool, and it was awesome to see Mikey go toe-to-toe against Hun without holding back and without any fear. I don't know... the way he was up for the fight without backing down in this issue made him seem like one of the most bad-ass incarnations of Michealangelo to date. I'm not sure of the aftermath though. Will Hun still be willing to work with Hob when he wakes back up? Will the others still let Hob live with them now that they know about Hun? Honestly it looks like Sally would have done a better job as being the leader. What can I say Old Hob? You can't have a family and keep big secrets from them at the same time. And there's still some dark side left within you too.
I found it interesting that Ray and Herman seemed to be in on this though. I wonder how Hob managed to trust them both with this information and to keep it from the rest of the gang. Ray seems to agree with Hob's tactics, in fact, he's the only one that really does. Seeing as he was with Sally before they were found, I'm surprised he kept it from her, though he might have known she'd raise a big ruckus over it... and there's also the chance that Ray and Sally didn't know each other before they were mutated. As for Herman, well... he's a loyal soldier to a fault, never questioning orders from his superiors. I wonder if we'll ever see something that even he will have to disobey.
I loved this issue, and even though this is part of an on-going story arc, this is probably one of the best Michealangelo solo stories in a long time. The issue shows he has heart, morals, and is a bad-ass mo-fo that won't take no crap, all rolled up into one.
The comic also brings Bishop into the story. In the 2K3 series, he was a MIB/Agent Smith type government guy that was committed to saving the world of potential alien invasions and other oddities, no matter what the cost. Alongside his dubious methods, he also used alien experiments on himself that made him much more than human, able to take down the Turtles, Hun and Karai all by himself.
The 2012 cartoon had their own version of Bishop, though he was mostly Bishop in name only. He was basically there to explain that Utroms existed in their series as well, and the Kraang were just an evil faction. Obviously the IDW comic is going more with the 2K3 version, but we'll see how far he can go.
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