IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles New Animated Adventures #11

Originally by Paige with thoughts by Mark Rodriguez

This comic features 3 stories, sort of. And hey, Shredder is on the cover. Will the Turtles finally face the big bad? Let's find out.

Partners

Mikey is in his own little world and finds a comic he's been looking for in the trash. It's the origin story of his favorite superhero. He reenacts the hero's different moves, even renames one of the moves "turtle-nado". While he was messing around, he hits a Footbot knocking it against the wall. This knocks out the robot's processor. When it reboots it scans Mikey as a friend...

Mikey continues his "Sharknado", I mean turtle-nado, right in front of a oncoming truck. Oh noes! Mikey doesn't even notice the headlights or the blaring horn. Suddenly, the Footbot pulls him out of the way. He thanks the robot, but is stunned to why it saved him. Mikey wonders if he was considered part of the Foot. He tries to run, but the robot follows behind. The Footbot is "rebuilding" its ninja knowledge and mirrors Mikey.

The turtle eventually notices that there is something wrong with this Footbot.  The robot's eyes are now green and there are wires exposed on the top of its head. He tells the robot that he can't take it home. He's not "allowed to bring home pets" after how things when down the one time he brought Leatherhead home. Mikey realized that the robot is not a pet, but can be a partner!

Mikey hides the Footbot, who he named Sparky, in an empty water tower. The next day he returns with a box of comics. Mikey explains about the concept of superhero and sidekick. Sparky scans all the comics in no time. Now to the next step, having a ridiculous costume! They dress to become the hero duo Captain Karate and Sparky!  We're saved...

Therese heroes might not have waffles, but they have plenty of cheese....

At the lair, the three other turtles are waiting for Mikey and the pizza he was supposed to bring. And ironically when Mikey does return, the news comes on about the superheroes stepping out of the comics. The news anchor calls the cartoony hero Captain Kungfu. Suddenly, there's a news flash about a bus accident! Mikey decides its time to run out for more pizza. 

Later that night, Raph, Leo and Donnie are waiting for Mikey. They were about to leave when Captain Karate and Sparky show up. Obviously the brothers knew the secret. Mikey made it painfully obvious what he was up to. The guys notice that Mikey's partner is a Footbot. Mikey attempts to defend the robot, but Leo refused to listen. 

Karai and more Footbots appear on the rooftop. The two groups fight, while Sparky analyzes who is the enemy. It goes all "Captain America" and throws his shield at the enemies. Even Raph is impressed. Karai is not pleased about the Footbot's betrayal. She attacks Mikey, but Sparky takes the hit for him. 

Mikey avenges the death of his fallen partner. He catches Karai as she was jumping off the roof. He has the choice to drop her or save her. But a hero doesn't do bad deeds, so he decides to save her. Karai uses this chance to escape.

The turtles return to the lair. Mikey is talking to Splinter about "some turtle I turned out to be".  Splinter does agree with the statement, he explains that Mikey did help change the heart of a Footbot. This gives Mikey the wrong idea and he assumes that he can teach the others. Raph, of course, doesn't go along with it and grabs him in a chokehold.

Kraang Training Video

Well Kraang is making a training video for his fellow Kraang. The training video is about the mutagen and how to mutate things. Now you can learn how to mutate your enemies! The Kraang explains the mutating process and turning it into an army. He decides to mutate a poor innocent bunny! The mutated bunny scares even the Kraang.

The turtles come into the room and fight the bunny monster. While this is going on in the background, Kraang is still continuing the video. He tells the Kraang who are watching the video to ignore the turtles. Kraang gets knocked out. Donnie finds a way to open a portal to Dimension X and the bunny monster is thrown in. The turtles leave and Kraang finished the video.

The LEGO comic is only an introduction to the turtles, which is the Lego version of Mirage comics TMNT # 1... the comic that started it all. . They are poised to fight the Purple Dragons. And that's it. It's only one page. Supposedly this story will continue in the next issue. So let's see what happens.  Will it be one page or multiple pages?

Paige's Thoughts- 

Here's another comic that revolves around Mikey. It's not "fair". The other turtles don't get as much "comic time" as Mikey does. Have a solo adventure for Leo or give another quick story for Donnie. Make a solid story!

Between the two stories. I would pick the Kraang story as my favorite. I love the training video the one Kraang made for the other Kraang. Minus the part of the mutated bunny. I love the lack of expressions that the robot has. He "expresses" his moods more verbally than anything. He has the "I dont care" face. Leatherhead looks cheesy. He doesn't look too hardcore like in the actual TV series.

Now there is also a Lego TMNT story in the comic, which is of course based on the first issue of the original Mirage comics, but in Lego form. Supposedly, it will continue on in the next issue. The writers of this comic crams as much stuff as they can in one issue. Finally I have to ask... why was Shredder on the cover? He wasn't anywhere in this issue!

Mark's Thoughts-

Not much I can say that Paige didn't already bring up. No idea why Shredder was on the cover, not even a panel of him sending the Foot out on a mission or something. The comic references one of the TV episodes 'It Came From The Depths', that introduced Leatherhead and his habit of grabbing Donnie by the face whenever he loses his temper. And yeah... he wasn't that well in this cameo.

The Kraang training video was fun, and it's always cool to see whatever the bad guys are up to from their point of view. As for the Lego tie-in, they did a re-creation of Mirage's first issue of TMNT, which would introduce the world to the turtles in the first place. This was spread out over 2 more parts I believe, which is weird to only have a page or 2 for this issue, but I guess they ran out of pages. It's cute, and while they use the Lego versions of Shredder and the Foot with their 2012 shoe designs, I don't remember Lego ever selling Mirage versions of the Turtles. This'll be fun to check out, especially to see how Lego will tone down some of the darker elements of this story.