TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 2

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Rat King lost his control over rats, but has gained control over the Ninja Turtles instead. Donatello snaps out of it and is out to help his brothers as The Rat King leads them on a crime spree. Meanwhile, the Shredder is also up to something. What will happen next?

"The Turtle King part 2" opens with Krang arriving at an abandoned warehouse asking Shredder where he's been. Shredder says he's been working on a plan to bring back the Technodrome with the stone that he stole earlier. Krang is unimpressed by the rock. Shredder explains it's the remains of a meteorite that landed in ancient Japan. The other half of it was used to forge a blade that could cut into reality. Shredder asks Krang if that sounds familiar and the alien brain says he can't keep up with all their previous schemes and he needs to be more specific.

Krang decides to scan the rock himself and is surprised to find out that it has the same properties as the ninja sword that cut a portal to limbo, which is what Shredder had just said. Krang is surprised he was able to get his hands on that since the Turtles usually stop him. Shredder says he should send the Rat King a cheese plate.

The Rat King is currently leading the Turtles on a crime spree, breaking into any cheese shop in town so the rats can feast on the goods. Rat King is pleased and tells the Turtles he has bigger things for them to do.

Vernon is on TV covering this story on the 'miscreants dressed as giant rats', which angers April since she missed her shot to cover it. Donatello is working on April's taser, and says they'll make it up to her. Donatello then accidentally fires a huge electric blast from the taser. April and Splinter asked what happened and Donatello explains he added some modifications to it.

Splinter will come along, even though Donatello warns him it's too dangerous. Splinter is aware of the Rat King's powers and won't let Donatello face them alone. They still need to find the Turtles, which Donatello says is easy since they all still have their Turtle Coms and he can track those.

The Rat King leads the Turtles through the sewers, right below the Hudson River. They will use the weapons stolen from TCRI to blast through the walls above which will cause a flood. This will cause the rats to rush to the surface. Between the damage the flood will cause, as well as the upcoming wave of rats, humanity will get the message to leave peacefully or else they will suffer. Since the Turtles are suited for the water, they're suited for this mission. The Rat King will have to go to the surface for safety, but he can at least watch the Turtles get started.

The Rat King commands the Turtles to start blasting away at the ceiling. Donatello and Splinter were on the way, using Cheapskates, and felt the shockwave. The Rat King tells the Turtles to press on, but Leonardo stops, saying that this is wrong. Rat King grabs Leonardo says he will use his full mental power against him. 

Splinter suddenly shows up, knocking the Rat King back with a jumpkick. Rat King says he didn't think Splinter would be brave enough to face him again. Splinter says he doesn't know if the Rat King still had his flute or not, but even if he did, he wouldn't let him take the Turtles away from him. 

Michealangelo runs towards Splinter, spinning his nunchucks, and Donatello blasts him with the super-powered taser. Leonardo shoots at Donatello with his wrist-gun saying he never thought he would be a traitor. Raphael leaps up behind Donatello, but the purple bandana wearing turtle tases him. 

Raphael is back to normal. Donatello tries to zap Leonardo, but he keeps dodging the electric blasts. Michealangelo gets his grappling hook ready to tie up Leonardo so Donatello can snap him out of the Rat King's control. 

The Rat King takes several swings at Splinter, realizing he's a distraction while Donatello takes care of his brothers. Splinter dodges all the attacks, but Rat King says that while the mutant rat is free from his control, the Turtles are not. Rat King started to concentrate, and now all four of the Turtles tell Splinter to back away from their king.

Raphael fires at Splinter, but he jumps out of the way. Donatello says Splinter is too fast and they might accidentally hit the Rat King. They decide to attack Splinter directly, but their sensei is still too skilled for them. Splinter says when the Rat King controlled him, it took everything he had to break free with help from their support. He's sure the Turtles would eventually have the will power to break free as well, but they don't have the time. Donatello swings his bo at Splinter, but the rat sensei side-steps the attack and grabs his taser. 

Rather than tase the Turtles, Splinter would zap the Rat King directly, which also affects the Turtles. As the Rat King falls unconscious, the Turtles are back to normal. A few minutes later, Michealangelo ties up the Rat King as Donatello surveys the damage done. He says they did some damage but not enough to break through the riverbed which would bring gallons of water upon them. He says they'd still have to tell the authorities to start repairs. Just then a bunch of water splashes on Donatello and he tells the crew they should tell the authorities to hurry.

The next day, April reports the news about the Rat King's arrest as he tried to flood the transit tunnels under the Hudson River, even though he blames the Turtles. Leonardo says they really messed up and Splinter says they can learn from their mistakes to grow wiser. Donatello and Raphael mention having to return the rat outfits back to TCRI. Leonardo says this is a chance to find out what the Shredder stole the previous night. Michealangelo is surprised this happened the night before, because to him it felt like it happened a month ago (since this is a monthly comic). 

At City Hall, the Rat King demands to be released, since he has a law degree. He gives up and says the electric blast affected his powers, so he can't summon the Turtles anymore. Just then a rat shows up with the keys. The Rat King realizes he's got his regular powers back and can escape to exact his revenge. 

My thoughts- 

First off, I'm surprised the comic ended without the Turtles rushing off to stop Shredder's plan. There were some pages left, but I forgot this comic series showcases all the alternate covers to the issues. So this paves the way for an ongoing plot thread, something rarely seen for the original cartoon series, except for the first 2 seasons and the final Red Sky seasons. I also like the reference to actual episodes of the series, as Shredder mentions the sword made of alien metal seen in 'The Ninja Sword to Nowhere'. In that episode, Shredder was able to cut through reality and managed to trap Splinter in limbo until the Turtles rescued him.

The story was cool and we saw some decent action, even Rat King throwing a few attempted punches. The Rat King is as crazy as ever, going from silly crimes to something that would cause serious damage. I was honestly waiting to see how Shredder would factor in all of this and was surprised that it was, presumably going to be held off for a later time. 

I'm still surprised to see a taser featured in the comic, since I don't remember seeing one in the show, but leave it to Donatello to turn it into a blaster weapon. 

The comic also featured April doing a newscast of sorts with a recap of the previous issue, and we also have a page listing all the characters in this issue.  

It was weird seeing Rat King in jail. Not counting the mobsters and whatnot the Turtles would face on the show, most of their big-name villains always end up getting away. Even when Rat King was captured at the end of 'Wrath of the Rat King' we never actually got to see him behind bars. 

I also liked the quick cameo of the Cheapskate. It's always been one of my favorite TMNT vehicles. Unlike most toylines back then, ALL the vehicles were large and costly. The Turtles had their large vehicles like the Turtle Van and Blimp, but also smaller more inexpensive ones like the Cheapskate and the Sewer Tubes.

It was funny seeing Splinter ride one without any sort of reaction or comment. I know he's used a skateboard at least once or twice on the show, but it's extremely rare.

I guess the only downside is some of the art. While they go for the look of the show, this doesn't look as close to it as it did in earlier issues. I think the ones that suffer most are Splinter and April. Shredder though, looked as if he came straight out of the show. It's the one thing one can't control when you make a comic based on a pre-existing cartoon show, the art. Will it look like how it does on the cartoon, or will it be some weird stylized version of it?

Let's see what happens next time when the Turtles run into Slash! And the Rat King has a law degree???? I don't even mind it since that's the kind of random joke you'd expect from the old show. Like the one time Shredder said he always wanted to be a writer, but ruthless conqueror was his second choice.