TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 26

 By Mark Rodriguez

Krang and Hob forced Lotus Blossom into stealing Donatello's portable dimensional portal. While at first it seemed like Lotus was trying to warn Leonardo about this plan, she followed him to the Lair and knocked everyone out with a smoke grenade. What will happen next?

 

 "Guess who's Baaaaaack" opens with Lotus seeing that the Turtle are now unconscious but needs a way to actually bring the portal back to Krang and Hob. She figures she could just tell them where to find it, but that would be if she had no honor. She reminds herself she's doing this to save the lives of her students, not to destroy the turtles' sanctuary. Just then Master Splinter returns from his fishing trip and sees her.

Splinter asks Lotus what's done to his students. Lotus decides to attack and Splinter says he's lucky the fish weren't biting and he came home early. Lotus kicks Splinter's tackle box out his hand. Splinters ties Lotus up with his fishing line and says he will not be defeated in his own home.

 

With the fight over, Splinter says he can see the conflict on her face and asks Lotus what is going on. Lotus explains that she does not want to do this but her students have been threatened. Splinter says he would do anything for his students but will not let Lotus' students suffer either. He will find a way to help her out after the turtles regain consciousness.  

Soon after, Raphael isn't too thrilled about helping the same woman that just knocked them out. Splinter says Lotus' hand was forced, and she could have easily given their secrets to the enemy and chose not to. Raphael says Lotus was a bad guy five minutes ago and Leonardo says she formed. Splinter says this is no time to argue due to Krang being a threat. Lotus ask if they can use a decoy portal device.

Donatello says using a decoy might work and Michaelangelo asks how. Donatello says he was working on an upgraded version so Krang can have the old one. Raphael says giving the bad guys what they want is nuts. Donatello says Krang could spot a fake a mile away and that would risk the lives of Lotus' students. They can just sabotage the one they'll give him. Leonardo understands and Raphael likes that idea. 

 

Meanwhile at the Malmon's Delicatessen, Tokka and Rahzar are still tied up after their encounter with Leonardo and Lotus earlier that evening. The police arrive and are ready to take them in. However, helping them stand helps Rahzar gets the needed leverage to break free from his restraints. The mutant wolf smacks the officer back and helps Tokka break free. They both steal the police car and drive off in it. The cops discuss which one of them will tell the sergeant about this one.

Later, Raphael and Michaelangelo get to lug the portal around to the back of the truck. They drop it into the truck and Donatello tells them to be more careful as they don't want Krang to look too closely and notice it's been rigged. Just then the police car driven by Tokka and Rahzar speeds past them. The Turtles realize they have to go after them. Lotus tells them to forget about them and to follow her for the dropoff and discover the bad guy's lair. Leonardo says they can't let Tokka and Rahzar run amok as people can et hurt. Lotus recites the quote that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Raphael says they're neither so one would figure that they'd have better luck with their plans.

Tokka and Rahzar are enjoying their joyride, and the mutant snapping turtle wants a turn. Rahzar says he'll let him drive once they get to Brooklyn since Manhattan is his. Tokka tosses trash out the window and it hits a random guy and his dog. The guy says he shouldn't be spreading trash around like that unless he works for the tabloids.

Rahzar comments that they should stolen a car a long time ago and tells Tokka to run the siren. The Turtles show up i n their Turtle vanand tell them to pull over. Rahzar says they're the ones in the police car so the Turtles should pull over. He rams the car into the van. Raphael tosses his sai into one of the cop car tires and the mutant duo crash into a lamp post. The air bags pop up. 

 

Rahzar says they ruined their fun twice in the same evening so now they will pay. Raphael and Michaelangelo comment that the first time was just Leonardo and they technically didn't do anything. Tokka grabs a garbage can and tosses it at Michaelangelo. Mikey gets trashed and asks if Tokka got a gig with the tabloids. Rahzar ponders that this is the second time someone made a 'tabloids spread trash' joke and wonders if it's time for a career change.

Leonardo tells Rahzar to give up. Rahzar says they're ready for them this time and takes a swing at Leonardo. Leonardo asks him how many brothers he had. Tokka says 'eleventeen' and Raphael says that's not even a real number. Michealangelo tells Tokka that the number is three, as he slams the trash can over his head. Donatello aims one of the guns mounted on the Turtle Van that this totals them as four. Rahzar says they're been 'bamboozled by math' and Donatello shoots a net over him. Donatello says the net is made of an alloy they can't break through, so the police can take it from here. Leonardo says he wished they didn't distract them since Lotus shouldn't have to face the bad guys alone.

At Central Park, Lotus meets up with Old Hob, Bebop and Rocksteady. Hob is impressed by how quickly Lotus got the portal and says they should keep her on the payroll. Lotus says she only did this to keep her student safe, but this also proves that once she set her mind on something she never fails. She tells Hob they will leave her students alone and if any harm were to come to them she will come after them and they will regret it. Hob tells her not to be so hostile and asks if they can still be friends. Lotus says they can't and not to forget her threat as she vanishes with a smoke bomb.

 

Bebop and Rocksteady lug the portal device into their Foot Cruiser and ask if Hob is going to let Lotus talk to him like that. Hob says he got to the top knowing when not to antagonize someone that can punch his ticket. They got what they came for, so Hob suggests they head back to the lair and get down to business.

Back at the villains' lair, Krang activates the portal and the rest of the Pantheon step through. Shredder (back to physical form but stuck in Dimension X) says it's his turn and is angry Krang got the Pantheon before him. As Krang activates the portal again it starts making a beeping sound. Krang says the portal is a lemon and the turtles probably didn't maintain it properly. The portal keeps beeping and Hob shoves Krang out of the way before it explodes.

Krang says they're losing way too many dimensional portals and remarks they don't grow on trees. Hob mentioned he saved his life and says his new armor isn't indestructible. Krang says that's what he thinks but his armor won't protect him from Shredder's complaining since they failed to free him. Shredder tells Krang that the gang is all here, showing that he is back in town!

 

My Thoughts-

So after all this time, Shredder is finally back! Just think, Shredder has been trapped between dimensions since issue 15 after his efforts to create a new Ninja Sword to Nowhere. One thing this series has excelled at was combining episodic adventures while keeping lingering plot threads that tie the stories together. This is the benefit of an-going numbered comic book series. You can't read these guys in random order like how syndication can get away with playing most of the season 3 episodes at random.

The story had a bit of an odd resolution when it comes to Lotus that wouldn't work on the tv show. When you think about it, Lotus had a run in with Leonardo, knocked the Turtles out with a smoke bomb, had a fight with Splinter, told them her story, and then just handed the decoy portal off to the bad guys and cut out. Unless she returns next issue, which seems unlikely, there was no big fight in the end that involved her. I'm just saying... if this was the cartoon they somehow would have worked in some big fight between the Turtles, Lotus, Hob, Bebop and Rocksteady which somehow would have ended with the bad guys getting away with the damaged portal. Then the episode would have ended with Lotus saying goodbye to the Turtles and whatnot instead of just dropping out of the story.

It was fun seeing Tokka and Rahzar again. Seeing that this the same night as next issue, it's not too surprising we'd see another run-in with them. We also get to see what happens when the police does show up and actually tries to take away the mutant bad guy the Turtles sometimes leave tied up for them. The cops this time around look like the Eastman and Laird cops we also seen in the 2003 show. It's a funny way to sneak them in, but I mean... were Eastman and Laird curious about pursuing law enforcement before they got into making comics?

 

The comic art was pretty cool and done by the guy that draws the Turtles looking right out of the show. With all this accuracy and even drawing Bebop and Rocksteady looking like they did in the first season, I still don't get the reasoning behind Lotus's new look and having none of the characters, Leonardo especially, bring it up. Classic Lotus has made some cameos before so it's not like the same guys behind using deep cuts like the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang and the Badd Family would forget what Lotus Blossom looked like.

Speaking of Lotus, this story revealed that her real name is Himiko, at least in this comic continuity. Some fans pointed out that Himiko sounds awfully close to Shredder's daughter in Image Comics TMNT Volume 3, who was named Pimiko. Erik Burnham himself confirmed that it was just a coincidence.

 

Overall a fun story though I would have liked more closure on Himiko's part. I guess there wasn't room for a big fight since Tokka and Rahzar took up some page time. On the other hand, Lotus suggested the Turtles could have followed Hob back to Krang's lair, but we're probably not ready to go there at this part of the story. We'll see what happens now that Shredder is back. Based on the solicits on future issues, it seems the next few issues will have different members of the Pantheon going after the Turtles one by one. The next issue will feature Drako going after Michaelangelo. We'll see how that goes as the Pantheon is not only here to stay but also open the door for more story potential as the comic series has also ran through most of the show's regular villains. 

This issue was hard to find since it seemed to have sold out everywhere and it just so happens that Alpha Comics had a singular issue left. I would have preferred the cover with Lotus on it but beggars can't be choosers.

After this I officially got a pullbox with Alpha and added the TMNT Saturday Morning series as well as the Udon Street Fighter and Megaman comics. Hopefully this will make it easier to find and review the issues going forward.