TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures- Usagi Yojimbo One-Shot

 By Mark Rodriguez

One thing that seems constant in several versions of the TMNT is the guest appearance of Miyamoto Usagi from Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo series. In the 80's cartoon, Usagi arrived by accident while Donatello was working with his dimensional portal. He only appeared in two episodes with the unresolved story of Donatello eventually finding some way to take him back home. Let's see what happens in this issue. 

Also note that the old cartoon didn't seem to read up much on the comic, so they named the character Usagi Yojimbo, which is the title of the series, while in the comic itself the character is named Miyamoto Usagi. The comic kept him as Yojimbo to follow the continuity (such as there is) of the old show.

The issue opens in New York with the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang (which apparently is still operating) is trying to break into a store. Just then Usagi arrives and he tells the men to leave since the neighborhood is under his protection. The men stare at the rabbit and start laughing. Usagi leaps into action and taken them down. 

Usagi hears clapping and turns to see the Turtles, congratulating him on a job well done. Usagi asks what brought them to his part of the city. Leonardo says they came specifically to see him. Donatello says he's been in New York for a long time and asks him if he would like to go home. 

Back at the lair, Donatello says he has finally pinpointed Usagi's home dimension based on the readings he got when he first arrived. Usagi recognizes the forest show in in the dimensional portal. Now that the path is open, Usagi invites the Turtles to visit his home world. Splinter says it's an excellent idea, since one can always learn a different perspective from a new environment.

Some time later, Donatello tells Master Splinter how to reactivate the portal after two days. Donatello also has the Turtlecom set to traverse dimensions just in case. The Turtles leap through the portal with Usagi.

As the Turtles walk through the forest, Leonardo comments on the peace and quiet. Usagi tells them of a nearby village with delicious food, when suddenly he notices that they are not alone. Suddenly a bat creature, cloaked in shadow starts attacking Usagi. Usagi and the creature move to fast for the Turtles to intervene. Donatello adjusts the Turtlecom to shine a bright light upon the creature, making it vulnerable to Usagi's flying kick. The creature is weakened by the light and vanishes.

Donatello tells the others how he turned the Turtlecom into a spotlight. Leonardo asks Usagi if he had fought that creature before and the ronin says he has not. Usagi decides to ask the villagers and soon they find a ram named Kai. 

Kai is glad to see Usagi again and he is introduced to the turtles. Kai explains that he doesn't know where the Shadow Warriors came from, but they appeared shortly after Usagi first vanished. The warriors were too strong for the Shogun's Elite Warriors and they were captured. Their master, Lord Desmodus built a castle to the East of the forest and has captured anyone that tried to stop him.

Usagi apologizes for having jumped into another world so recklessly and leaving them alone. Kai says if he had stayed he probably would have been one of the first to be captured. Usagi apologizes to the Turtles and says he has urgent business to tend to, so they should return home.

Michaelangelo says they can't just leave him to fight the bad guys alone. Donatello and Leonardo say that Usagi has helped them before against the 'Baby-San' dragon and the Shredder. Usagi says they run the risk of being captured and being stuck in his home world, and Shredder can take advantage of their absence. Raphael says Shredder is currently stuck in another dimension, and the Turtles do owe him. Leonardo says they will show this dimension some Turtle Power.

Elsewhere Lord Desmodus is happy that his magic army helped take over half of the world after being told by others it would not. He plans to completely conquer Usagi's world and then use those resources to conquer his own home planet. Desmodus gets an alert telling him that artificial light has been detected nearby. Desmodus says this primitive world doesn't have artificial light, just light coming from the sun, moon and fire. He can't afford to take a chance now that he is so close to accomplishing his goals. 

Usagi leads the Turtles through the forest as he can sense the evil presence of Desmodus. Just then they hear someone cry for help, and the heroes decide to investigate. A cloaked stranger is surrounded by Shadow Warriors. The Turtles leap in to fight them while Donatello tries to work on the Turtlecom. He says the last time he tried the spotlight trick, it really did a number on the battery.

The stranger says the Turtles might have doomed themselves since these fighters are invincible. Leonardo says they only seem that way because they've never fought against the Turtles before. Donatello adjusts the Turtlecom and shines a light on the creatures. Usagi and the Turtles defeat the Shadow Warriors.

The cloaked stranger is impressed by the Turtlecom and asks to see it. Donatello shows it to him, and the stranger purposely drops it. The stranger takes off his cloak to reveal himself as Lord Desmodus himself and he calls for more Shadow Warriors to attack. Desmodus says he has destroyed the one advantage that they had against his Shadow Warriors and he won't let them make another. Donatello notices the devices on Desmodus' armor and tells the villain that they surrender. Leonardo is confused but Donatello says to trust him.

Once imprisoned in Desmodus' castle, Leonardo asks why they allowed themselves to be captured. Donatello says the villain revealed everything when he gave himself away. He explains that they're in an alternate universe, which are more similar than they are different. Donatello explains that Usagi's world is like an alternate Earth where animals became the dominant species instead of humans, so this alternate dimension must also have a Flagenon. The others are confused and Donatello explains that Flagenon is Wingnut's home planet and they have fought him before. He recognizes that Desmodus uses similar technlogy that Wingnut uses.

Raphael says they are still trapped in a cell without their weapons. Donatello says they're ninjas which includes the art of invisibility and concealment. He opens up his initialized belt buckle to reveal tools he had hidden. Raphael asks what they would do if the dungeon is magic. Donatello says Desmodus is using that as a cover story, and he uses his mini-torch to open the steel door. The Turtles and Usagi rush out and grab their weapons.

Donatello says now that they are inside the castle, they shut down Desmodus for good. Since Kai mentioned it's always been night-time since the Shadow Warriors appeared, Desmodus must have some sort of device keeping the world under darkness. It must be somewhere in the castle and all they have to do is destroy it. 

An alarm goes off altering everyone that the prisoners have escaped. Michaelangelo says that ruined the element of surprised. Usagi says they will still be victorious. Leonardo tells Donatello to take Michaelangelo with him to take care of that device, while the rest take the fight to Desmodus.

Michaelangelo and Donatello eventually find the night device, but it is guarded by floating robots with blade arms. Michaelangelo says he should have gone with Leonardo.

The others are fighting against the Shadow Warriors as Desmodus gloats from his throne. Leonardo and rest have also had their Turtlecoms to emit bright light, but they soon short out. Usagi says they will still defeat them without those devices.

Michaelangelo tries to swing at the floating robots, while also dodging their attacks. Donatello is trying to figure out the device. He says it's not just blocking out the sun but also mimicking the nightly sky with enough moonlight for the Shadow Warriors. He can't find any circuit boards or wires, the device looks like a regular table with holograms floating over some tiles.

The others continue to fight and Raphael asks who's idea it was to visit Usagi's dimension. Leonardo says it was Master Splinter's idea and Raphael says he'll give him a glare when he returns home. Desmodus is entertained by the action and Leonardo says he should fight them himself if he wants real entertainment. Demodus says he just might, after they defeated his army. He boasts that his army will never tire and only a light brighter than any primitive lantern will hurt them.

Donatello can't figure out the device, saying there's no technology to this technology. Michaelangelo points out that someone in a movie once said something similar to 'once you rule everything out, what's left is true'. Donatello is confused and Michaelagelo yells out to just do something. Donatello decides to move the tiles around, and it deactivates the night machine.

With the sun now on full display, the Shadow Warriors weaken and the heroes take them down. Desmodus says he will not defeated and he will use this planet's resources to take over his own. He says his still has his armor and the power to destroy them. Usagi uses his swords to flip Desmodus' sword out of his hands. Usagi slashes Desmodus' armor off, leaving him in his boxers. The defeated bat alien runs towards a mini-rocket and blasts off, returning back to Flanegon but promising to return.

Usagi says they must free the captured villagers and get rid of any alien technology and magic before other villains can get access to it. Donatello comes in and says he shouldn't worry about that. He learned that megalomaniacal alien super villains usually have a self destruct mode for their bases.

Later on the Turtles, Usagi and the villagers watch as the castle explodes. Usagi aplogizes, since he wanted to bring the Turtles for a friendly visit and it resulted in dealing with evil aliens and explosions. Raphael says it's ok, they just have trouble leaving their work at home. Leonardo says they'll always be there to help if needed. Donatello also rigged one of the Turtlecoms for Usagi to contact them if needed or if he just wants to visit. Usagi says he doesn't know how thank them. Michaelangelo says maybe they can go to the restaurant he mentioned and see if they can figure out how to make a pizza.

My Opinions-

This was a fun story and it was nice to see Usagi return to his home world, a plot point that was unresolved in the original show. I liked the editor's note reminding people not to jump all over him over using 'Usagi Yojimbo' since that is what he was called in the original show. As always, there are references to the episodes Usagi was in. I wasn't expecting a Baby-San shoutout, but Usagi did help the Turtles deal with a dragon on his first appearance.

One thing to note about this issue, is that it seems to take place before the events of the Ogg-a-Lympics from the main series. Shredder is still stuck between dimensions in this story and that's something that gets dealt with during that story.

The only downside about this adventure is that they went with a made-up villain instead of using one of Usagi's actual villains from his series. That would have been cool, and it's a good way to show off more of Usagi's cast for Turtle fans not familiar with his series. Desmodus looked and act like a version of Wingnut that was to be taken more seriously. Right from the start, the first Shadow Warrior we saw looked like some dark version of Wingnut. 

Another missed opportunity was not having the Turtles run into Gennosuke. I was hoping they'd meet him whenever they would set the villagers free and make some sort of comparison with Rocksteady. I'd be curious to see how they'd react to meeting a rhinoceros that was a good guy. In the 2K3 cartoon, the Turtles got to meet Gennosuke but since Rocksteady didn't exist in that version, they never got to make the comparison. The closest they got was a scene where Gennosuke dressed up as Rocksteady as a nostalgia gag. 

Overall it was a fun read, and it's cool that Usagi got to return home, while still leaving the door open to have him return for future appearances. One thing I found funny about the comic in particular is how overly happy Splinter seemed to have the Turtles visit Usagi's world. He probably just wanted them out of his hair for a while to get some peace and quiet.