Dreamwave TMNT # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

Oh what could have been, what almost was. Similar to what Archie did for the 80's cartoon, Dreamwave tried to make a comic based on the 2K3 Ninja Turtles show. Also similar to Archie comics, the first few issues were episode adaptations while eventually branching out into its own separate continuity. For some reason Dreamwave decided to focus each episode-adapted issue into the psyche and backstory of several characters, at the cost of the Turtles themselves. Let's see how the first issue starts.

"Things Change" begins 15 years ago as two kids take a pic together and promise to keep a copy of that pic with them to always remember their friendship. Suddenly a nearby truck crashes and drops a glowing green canister. During the confusion, a kid drops his glass bowl full of pet turtles, and the little guys fall down the sewers along with the green ooze from the canister. Frank worries about the guy that got hurt in the crash, but John only cares about trying to grab the turtles. John says its was the guy's own fault for not being careful and that it's a tough world where everyone has to do what they have to so they can survive. A member of the Purple Dragons overhears this and tells John to look him up when he's older. John thinks the Purple Dragons are oh-so-cool, while Frank is worried.

 

Fast forward to the present, we see that Frank grew up to become one of the cops from 'Things Change'. Yeah... remember those cops that would cameo a few times in the cartoon that kinda looked like Eastman and Laird? Yeah...this is the story of the Eastman cop. I guess I'm surprised they didn't go all out and call him Kevin.

Anyways, Frank is starting off the first day on the job chillin' with an old lady until suddenly a Mouser runs off with the lady's dog. Frank grabs onto the dog's leash and is taken for a ride as the Mouser drags him across the street. Suddenly there's an earthquake and a van hits the Mouser and the dog, nearly hitting the Frank as well. The drivers are Purple Dragon members, and the one with the wild blue hair, is actually Johnny, now all grown up. Johnny and Frank freeze as they recognize each other. The other gang member in the van, Two Ton, asks if he's friends with the cop, but Johnny tells him that he never seen the cop before and they drive off.

Frank returns the dog to the lady, who quickly thanks him. She asks him if he knew what it felt like to lose a best friend to this violent world, and Franks says he does. Suddenly the cop notices black blurs hopping across the rooftops.

Elsewhere, the Purple Dragons are getting money from some guy by having Two Ton sit on him. The others wonder about their employer, hearing scary stuff about him, but John says that once they prove how valuable they are to him, they can rule the city. As they get ready to drive off in an armored truck... we see that Raphael is trapped inside. Yeah... that's our first glance of the Turtles in this comic. Raphael randomly stuck in the armored truck. Yeah, anyone that watched the episode this comic was based on knows how he got there, but it sure sucks for anyone that hasn't.

As the gang drive off, they happen to drive right past the Eastman and Laird cops, and after much convincing, they soon follow. Frank sees the Turtles jumping across the rooftops again, and when he tells the Lairdcop about it, he stops the car to give Frank a breathalyzer kit.

The Purple Dragons arrive at their location, ready to give their mystery employer the stolen money. They leave Two Ton in charge of the armored truck, when suddenly Mikey shows up behind him and knocks him out.

The other Turtles soon jump into the scene, and Don soon works on unlocking the armored truck to rescue Raphael. Just then the Purple Dragons return and find the Turtles. The Turtles kick some ass while exchanging banter, giving the perfect chance to call out each other's names, weapons and explain how Raph got into the armored truck in the first place. Good job, I guess. Johnny pulls out a gun, but Mike's nunchucks knock him out. Raph wishes there were more guys to fight, and suddenly the Foot Ninja show up.

 

The cops drive towards the scene and see the same armored truck drive past them, but this time with the Turtles behind the wheel. They toss the stolen cash into the cop car.

Later on, in the hideout of the 'mystery employer' (who we all know is Oroku Saki), Johnny explains how they were taken down by the Turtles. He promises that he will never fail again. Saki agrees that he will definitely never fail him again.... and Johnny is killed off.

The cops are studying the place where the Turtles fought the Foot, and sure enough Frank finds the pic of him and Johnny as kids. The Lairdcop says there was probably a fight between rival gangs, and they should kill each other to make their jobs easier. Frank says that they probably had friends and family that hoped they would turn out to be good people. Lairdcop says 'things change', and Frank sadly agrees. We see a photo of Frank and Johnny as kids floating in the sewer water.

My Thoughts- 

That was quite the story. Instead of introducing the reader to the Turtles, we get the point of view from the random cops that appear in a few episodes. The title also has a new meaning. In the cartoon 'Things Change' relates to how the Turtles' lives suddenly changed as this was their first time going to the surface as well as looking for a new home as their old one was destroyed by Mousers. Likewise, it was a bit of a meta joke since this was a brand new cartoon and it was going to be completely different from the 80's cartoon. While we have had five incarnation of Ninja Turtles cartoon series by, the 2003 show had the extra burden of being the first new cartoon after the super popular Fred Wolf show ended. In this story though, 'Things Change' relates more to Frank and Johnny, and how they grew up on opposites sides of the law.

While the later issues will deal with things from the perspective of more established TMNT characters, namely Baxter, April and Casey, making this one about on the the random cops and the nameless Purple Dragon that Shredder killed was a very odd choice.

As for the Turtles... well, yeah, this comic is based on a cartoon episode, so to know more about them, and Splinter, and their overall deal, you'll have to watch that episode. As a stand-alone, we don't know much about them except their names and weapons, and a sorta-forced exposition as to how Raph got trapped in the armored truck. In fact, there isn't mention of how the Mousers came and destroyed their old lair which started off the whole adventure in the first place. Rather than adapt the episodes outright, the comic will assume you already saw them and show the point of view of some other character in the story. This will be how the other episode adaptations will go until we get into the original stories.

It was really weird having a random Mouser show up and try to eat an old lady's dog. Considering the Mouser had the dog in its mouth and was able to pull Frank along for the ride, it's a wonder the dog wasn't chomped to bits.

The art style is kinda weird, it's overly stylized and DW tries to go for the most dramatic angles possible. Since some of these characters only appear in a few panels, you'll never see their full design due to the angling and close-ups. The kicker is seeing ads of the cartoon show, which show just how different the art styles are. I'm all for comic art to be stylized at time, but when it's based on a show, try to nail the art style of the show. This will also affect the entire DW run. 

I wish they showed the fight against the Foot though. All we see is the Foot jump into the scene, and the Turtles toss the cash to the cops. I know they wanted to try something different, but hey, we buy an action based comic to see some action.

There's not much to say except this was a very weird way to open up the comic... making it more about the cop and Purple Dragon than the Turtles themselves. At least they gave more character and an actual name to Johnny. As far as I know, the only Purple Dragons with names were Hun, Dragon Face and Two-Ton. In the cartoon, this dude had no story or even a name and was mostly used to show off that this new Shredder doesn't play around. As forgettable as he was, at least this comic gave him a story.

 

The funny part was that, not counting Hun, this blue haired Purple Dragon guy was the only one that was going to get his own action figure. It was odd seeing as the figure would have just been called Purple Dragon, and of course, the fact that he died in the first episode. That might have been why Playmates decided to not release the figure in the end. Tough luck Johnny.