TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures # 4

 By Mark Rodriguez

Master Splinter has fallen ill as microscopic Mousers attack him from the inside. The Turtles must now shrink to microscopic size and fight these robots off before it's too late! 

"Big Trouble in Master Splinter" opens with Michealangelo returning to the sewers carrying Master Splinter, who looks to be in bad shape. Michealangelo tells the others that he went out to do some errands with Splinter when the rat sensei heard a strange sound. It was some sort of device that was taped to one of the sewer walls. He told Michealangelo to go get Donatello to figure out what this device was. Just then it sprayed Splinter with something that knocks him out. Michealangelo decided to bring the device along with Splinter to show it to Donatello. Donatello determines the device came from Baxter Stockman since it has his trademark logo on it. There is some residue left and he examines it with a microscope. He discovers that the spray was laced with microscopic Mousers that must be attacking Splinter internally.

Leonardo asks how they will get them out. Raphael asks if they'll use a laser or a post hypnotic suggestion. Michealangelo asks if they'll just shrink down and beat them up themselves. Leonardo and Raphael give him a look and Michealangelo says it sounds like the kind of things they'd do. Donatello says the Mousers on the device aren't replicating, but the ones inside Master Splinter are. He says there has to be a nanofabrication unit that's causing this, and once it's destroyed, Splinter's white blood cells can take care of the rest. Raphael asks if he has a plan to take out that device and if it involves a laser. 

Later on April is brought in as Donatello explains that they'll be using a shrink ray. She asks why they didn't just use a laser, to which Raphael agrees with. Donatello explains that the device it too small of a target and they might hurt Splinter. He saw Termite Man do this in a comic so he knows what to expect. April says no good idea ever came from a comic book superhero from the 60's. April, Donatello and Raphael give the reader a slight look. 

April is in charge of watching over Splinter and Donatello gives her a feather. The Turtles board a vehicle called the Turtle Capsule and the shrinking process will soon begin. They'll get inside Splinter through his nose and April will notify them if anything happens through the Turtlecom. As the Turtles shrink and go on their mission, April laments that her life didn't have to be this weird. She could have taken the job in LA like her aunt once suggested and be getting a tan about now.

The Turtles shrink small enough to get into their sensei's bloodstream and head towards the brain where the nanofabrication device is located. Suddenly something hits the side of the Turtle Capsule. Donatello says they're losing propulsion and will need to fix the vehicle fast. The others step out of the vehicle to buy Donatello some time and face off against white blood cells that look like little Splinters. 

The Splinter cells fight the turtles, thinking they're some kind of disease and acting on instinct. Michealangelo says the blood cells are good fighters and Leonardo says they should be since they're part of a ninja master. One of the Splinter cells low sweeps Leonardo and he bumps into the side of the Turtle Capsule. Donatello tells him to be careful since he's doing delicate work. Leonardo asks how he's going and Donatello says at this point he doesn't even know why the vehicle stopped working. 

One of the Splinter cells crash into the vehicle and it starts working again and Donatello says maybe it just needed another whack. The Turtles continue on their journey and Raphael hopes the rest of the trip is boring. April calls the Turtles and tells them that Splinter's fever is rising. Donatello says it's normal and he's reacting to having the Mousers as well as Turtles themselves in his bloodstream. April says he won't be able to take much more of this so they have to move fast. 

The Turtles find the nanofabricator and it's pumping out Mousers who are currently fighting with the Splinter cells. The Turtles try to fight them off as Donatello figures out what to do. The device is using the electrical synapses from Splinter's brain as a power source. The device is too well-made to be smashed and they can't blow it up while it's inside Splinter's brain. Raphael says he misses the time they were stuck in the videogame. Donatello decides to reprogram the device, but as he messes with the wiring, it makes even more Mousers come out. The Mousers and the Splinter cells fight each other and Michealangelo thinks they can just take each other out.

Donatello explains that as long as the machine keeps running, it would continue to create more Mousers, and thus Splinter's immune system will keep pumping out more white blood cells until his body can't anymore. Leonardo says they won't let that happen as they keep fighting. Donatello tries again to reprogram the device. 

The device now creates Mouser-type Ninja Turtle Robots. The Turtles think Donatello messed up again, but the robots start destroying the device. With the device gone, the white blood cells take care of the Mousers and the Turtles can head back. However the white blood cells wipe out the Mousers faster than expected and they start attacking the Turtle Capsule. They tear a hole through the vehicle and grab onto Michealangelo. Raphael says they have to leave now, and Donatello says he had a plan for this and tells April to start using the feather. Leonardo and Raphael hold onto Michealangelo as the Splinter cells try to yank him out of the vehicle. April tickles Splinter's nose with the feather and he sneezes the Turtles out.

Sometime later, Splinter feels better and thanks the Turtles. He asks where Michealangelo is. Donatello explains that they used the growth ray the moment they left Splinter's body. Leonardo asks if Michealangelo is still shrunk and Raphael asks if they have to worry about giant sized Mousers now. Donatello says the growth ray only undoes the effects of the shrink ray. 

The Turtles tell Splinter that he was a little outside of the growth ray range, but they found him. Donatello says he can turn him back to normal but he wanted to do one thing first. Michealangelo is standing on top of a pizza, which is giant sized to him and is overjoyed. I really do hope that pizza had time to cool.

My Thoughts- 

Pretty fun issue, though I wish we saw more of the Mousers and Baxter for that matter. Baxter just randomly plugged a device in the sewers hoping Splinter would just so happen to wander near one? Since he doesn't know exactly where the Turtles' Lair is, what if he set up more devices? Splinter is safe, but shouldn't they go out and find Baxter and stop him? 

I have to admit, those Mouser TMNT Robots were cool.

I liked the 4th wall break with the 'comic book hero from the 60's'. For those that don't know, the Turtles were originally inspired by Daredevil and he did in fact make his debut in 1964. I like these little references that more people would get nowadays that might not have been so commonly known back in the 80's. There is also a poster of an Ace Duck movie in one of the backgrounds naming Jim Lawson, Ryan Brown and Steve Murphy, all people who worked on issues of the Mirage TMNT.

Sadly, this is the end of this mini-series. Maybe if there's enough demand, IDW can bring them back later on, or maybe release one-shots for Free Comic Book Day or something. I do know they're releasing one for Free Comic Book Day but it's just a reprint of the first issue with an extra story based on Rise of the TMNT, though I'm not sure if that one is all-new or not.

So in the end we got a story which was a cool cameo-fest of all the TMNT villains from the series, the Stone Warrior story that was the classic Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang plot, a story about Casey Jones and now this Fantastic Voyage homage. Not bad for a 4-issue set, but as always it did leave us wanting more. Wouldn't have minded a story about Lotus, Slash or the Rat King.

I'm actually surprised the Turtles haven't done a Fantastic Voyage story in the old series, since it was full of all sorts of homages and tropes. The Turtles were definitely no strangers to shrink rays and growth rays in the old show. 

Last Minute Update!!

It seems the Turtles will be having more issues after all. They'll be going back to number one with TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued! It's too soon to see if it will be an ongoing or another mini series but at least we'll be getting more!