TMNT New Animated Adventures #2

 Originally written by Paige with thoughts from Mark Rodriguez

The second issue is here and this time the Turtles face off against Snakeweed. This will be his third appearance since the Turtles premiere episode and his return in the episode that introduced Karai. It was cool to see him again, though Paige is waiting for the bigger villains to appear.

It's starts off with the turtles and April being dragged into watching Leo's favorite TV show "Space Heroes"...but it's not just one episode, it's a long marathon. Leo even says at hour five that Raph will start liking the show. But as they watch, the TV cuts out (oh no!) and Leo sends Donnie to fix the satellite dish. Donnie explains that a storm is coming and it will interfere. Leo gets frustrated at nature. Nature is the lesson here. Enter Splinter to commence the inspiring speech. Splinter explains that nature shouldn't be "conquered", but viewed as peaceful, just like the big tree in their lair continues to survive in the sewers. Mikey interrupts them to say that the TV was working again but this time it's showing Channel  6 News. Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe was explaining that an area of New York has been overrun by plants, and that there are police officers and firefighters are missing. The turtles go to investigate this mysterious overgrowth.

They arrive, along with April, and begin to investigate the area. They find the pods that Snakeweed used to make humans into fertilizer (as seen in New Girl in Town). April fights off some of the plants with her fan. They release the people trapped in the pods on the street. Leo wonders how many more people are trapped and Donnie calculates that it will be more people than they can find in time. Snakeweed appears, ready to fight. As the turtles fight, Don notes that as they damage Snakeweed, the other vines die. Mikey kicks Snakeweed and yells that its wrong to turn people into fertilizer. He reminds him that he used to be human, but Snakeweed says that was a lifetime ago.

The Turtles get caught by the mutant plant's vines. Snakeweed explains that he will spread his weeds and they will rule over the humans. The turtles manage to escape and run. At the scene, Carlos returns to record footage of what's going on, and April spoofs her "past lives" by running in front of the camera and saying "This is April O'Neil for 6 News". She mostly does this to distract everyone so that the reporters don't accidentally film the Turtles.

Snakeweed escapes and Raph tries to follow him, but Donnie stops him. He asks what Snakeweed means by "there will be more of him". Donnie finds a flower bud on a roof of a building and thinks that there might be spores in the pod. He continues to explain that the storm can spread the spores and create more Snakeweeds. The team splits up, Donnie and Raph go to the pod and Mikey and Leo has to find Snakeweed.

Donnie and Raph fight their way up the building. Raph makes things go faster as he  and Don ride a vine all the way to the top. Meanwhile Mikey and Leo are hunting down Snakeweed and end up at Central Park. They search for their plant-themed evil nemesis, only having Snakeweed find them first.

Back to the pod, the two turtles finally reach it and figure out how to get rid of it. Raph decides to use force, but Donnie stops him. He explains that if the bud is smashed, the spores could be released. As they figure out what to do, more vines grab Don and Raph. Mikey and Leo fight, only being smacked around by Snakeweed. Leo realizes they are turtles....and they can use the nature to their advantage too. They dive into the pond and use it to hide and trick snakeweed to be able to stop him.

The vines are weakened, so Don and Raph are free. Donnie realizes that the pod has begun to bloom and they need to contain it. They "contain it" with only a tarp. Back to the big battle, with Snakeweed tricked, they easily defeat the evil plant and they string him up a tree with Mike's chains. Suddenly a random lightning bolt appears striking Snakeweed in what looks like the heart. All the vines die, including the spore pod.

The gang returns to the lair believing that Snakeweed was dust. The TV show was back on, but Leo walks away telling them that they can pick whatever they want to watch. The gang fights over the remote control while Leo and Splinter meditate.

Paige's thoughts-

Here's my opinion about this issue. Another interesting comic, but with a villain I don't much care for. I do love that they put some items from the show into this comic. The reference to "Space Heroes" and April's random use of the fan. Snakeweed is actually "killed" in this version...unless somehow he is brought back. I love the quick reference to April's past life as a reporter for the channel six news. I'm very curious for the next issue, they're bringing the real bad guys to the comics, which are the Kraang. So I'm looking forward to that.

Mark's thoughts-

The comic continues to feel just like the cartoon like references to Space Heroes, Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe, April's fan and even directly mentioning that big tree we always see in the lair. They even referenced one of the actual episodes too, which makes me  wonder where we'll see Karai in all this. Since Snakeweed was shown late in Rise of the Turtles as an extra last-minute obstacle, and shared an episode with Karai, this is the first time the story is all about him. It looks like he fully embraced his plant-ness and has no desire to become human again. It also looks like this is the end of him since we didn't get one of those 'hey, look, he survived!' scenes later on. Of course, that won't stop him from coming back in the cartoon.