TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 28

 By Mark Rodriguez

Shredder and Krang have allied themselves with the Pantheon who have started to question Old Hob's leadership. Krang suggested that the Pantheon members try to take out the Turtles, and whoever can accomplish this will gain leadership. Drako has tried and failed, now Golgotha will take a crack at it.

"Siren Song" opens with the Turtles being driven down the streets as a parade is being thrown in their honor. There's even a sign declaring it to the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Day' (March 19?). Michealangelo is happy to see how everybody loves them. Raphael says it's about time since his face was made for endorsements. 

Master Splinter, now human again, tells the Turtles how proud he is of them. Shredder, in prison gear, is honored to have been defeated by the Turtles and says he learned to use macrame in prison. Donatello says Shredder using macrame is surreal. Leonardo says Shredder being defeated and Splinter being human again is everything they ever wanted. The mayor comes in and gives the Turtles the key to the city as well as a lifetime supply of pizza. Raphael says Michaelangelo will plow through those pizzas in a weekend. The mayor says a new municipal law will ensure that ovens run 24/7 no matter when they want pizza.

 

Michaelangelo says he feels a bit weird, like when the Rat King was controlling their minds in an earlier adventure. If he thinks too much about it, his head starts to hurt. Raphael notices that he feels a bit weird too and hope it's not allergy season.

In reality, the Turtles are under mind control by Golgotha's siren song. Her song keeps them under control, even if her lyrics don't rhyme, and her psychic amplifier makes the effect even stronger. She was content just working in the lab, but she realizes that as leader she could use their loot to fund her experiments. She can also use the Turtles as her enforcers since they have already defeated members of the Pantheon before. She comments that she could use her Hypno-Tanks but Michaelangelo had broken free from them once. Golgotha says that the Turtles have been lulled in a sense of false security as they saw their dreams come true, so now she will create a nightmare they'll be desperate to want to escape from.

Back to the parade, Vernon suddenly asks why they're celebrating the Turtles, and Burne says they've only ever given the city grief. Irma says ninjas can't be trusted and they're always bad guys. McGuffin says if the Turtles are allowed to walk free, they'll try to take over the city just like the other criminals. April says she can't believe she ever defended them. Splinter says he had never felt so embarrassed by any of his other students. 

Raphael asks the mayor if he turned the parade into a roast. The mayor says the city has turned on them, which means that so has he. He takes the key back and tells everyone to 'get them'. The Turtles make a run for it as the crowd chases them with torches and pitchforks.

Day turns to night and the Turtles hide in the alleys as the crowd is still out there, looking for them. Raphael can't tell if this has been happening for hours or weeks. Michaelangelo's head is really ringing now just as a mysterious woman shows up. The woman sings that it's not fair for them to be persecuted but she can help them. 

Donatello think it's weird that this woman just showed up out of nowhere, unless she's a time traveler like Renet. Raphael says he hates time travel. The woman says there is no time travel, and she can help them fight back if they trust her completely. Michaelangelo has  a bad feeling about this and asks the others if they noticed she's singing everything she says. Leonardo noticed but he feels they don't have a better option now.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Splinter has called April over as he has not heard from the Turtles since the previous night and they are not responding to the Turtle Com. April asks how she can help. Splinter says Donatello has taught him to track their Turtle Coms but they currently have the van and taxi cabs won't be willing to drive a giant rat around.

Later on April and Splinter ride in the Channel 6 News Van as the news reporter yells at traffic. Splinter says he didn't realize that traffic required so much yelling. April says they teach it in driver's ed. Splinter says she won't need to yell much longer as it appears they are close to the Turtles' signal.

Golgotha, in the form of the singing woman, tells the Turtles that they will be safe as long as they listen to her voice. She says they have seen how the world sees them and how even their friends and family will never accept them as mutants. She is the only one that can protect them and lead them. Leonardo says she might be right and Michaelangelo brings up Master Splinter. Golgotha tells them that Master Splinter does not care about them. Just then Master Splinter breaks through the door and says those are lies.

Golgotha asks Splinter how he found her since she was so well hidden. Splinter says that doesn't matter and asks what she's done to her sons. Golgotha says she will use the siren song on Splinter, since she can hypnotize all males. Splinter can feel how she is trying to control her mind, similar to how the Rat King once did. Splinter has built up his mental defenses through meditation and he will not fall prey to her attack. He demands that she let her sons go. 

Golgotha makes the Turtles think that Splinter is actually the Shredder. The Turtles start to attack 'Shredder' as Splinter tries to talk them into fighting off the effects of her hypnotic song. Leonardo suddenly grabs Splinter in a headlock as Donatello and Raphael grab his legs. Golgotha says she can feel Splinter fighting, but few males can resist the power of her voice. She aims the amplifier at him and says soon she will control her will. A voice off-panel tells Golgotha that her plan as two big flaws.

April jumps in and swats the amplifier device out of Golgotha's tentacles with a 2X4. April says Splinter is not alone and her siren song doesn't work on her. She adds that she's a little pitchy as she smacks her with the board. Golgotha is insulted and says she has destroyed planets for less. April bonks her on the head again. Golgotha says she might not be the best in a fight, but she can command her friends to fight for her. She starts to sing, declaring April as another enemy, but no one comes to help her.

The Turtles and Splinter are now free of her control and she won't be able to subdue them again without the help of her device. Leonardo smashed the amplifier in his hand. Golgotha says she's worked too hard on her song and had studied for too long. On top of that, she still has to pay her student loan shark. The Turtles comment that her song sound a bit flat, probably after getting bonked on the head by April. Donatello remarks that without her amplifier she won't be able to get past their ninja willpower. Leonardo says they're going to have a nice long chat about the Pantheon's plans and she will tell them everything.

Golgotha says they will have to catch her first as she shoves April towards Splinter and makes a run for it. The Turtles make a run for it but Golgotha somehow squeezed herself through a sewer grate. Michaelangelo asks how she could have fit through there. Donatello remarks that a 600-pound octopus could fit through a hole the size of an octopus. Raphael says this isn't the first time a bad guy got away from this way.

Leonardo tells Raph to let it go as they will see her again. He thanks both Master Splinter and April for their help. April asks how she trapped them all to begin with. Raphael says they were ambushed during their patrol. One minute they were on the rooftops, the next minute they're suddenly being offered the key to the city. Donatello says she could feel what she was thinking, she was trying to overwrite their perception of reality. The Turtles would still be themselves but they would have seen everyone except Golgotha as enemies.

Raphael says he's getting tired of the Pantheon trying to brainwash them. Donatello says they know they can resist Golgotha's song when she doesn't have the psychic amplifier. Michaelangelo asks what if they're not lucky next time. Splinter says they will start a new training regimen that will involve meditation. He says it will be difficult but they must be ready for the Pantheon's next move.

 

My Thoughts-

This was a cool story as we see that Golgotha used a different approach when compared to her teammates. She was already shown to be the tech-head behind the Pantheon's devices but now she is also equipped with a hypnotic song used for brainwashing. She's probably the only member of her team to not rely on fighting and brute force. She is also not based on some other character from a previous form of TMNT media, she is a complete wild card. She even has this more human-looking form that appears in people's dreams to trick them into doing her bidding.

 

In true Saturday Morning cartoon fashion, Golgotha continued to remind the reader that her siren song worked specifically on males, which already spelled her downfall once April got involved in the story. I had to laugh at seeing April swing that board around, especially when she bonked Golgotha on the head.

The parade crowd scene was full of all sorts of deep-cut cameos, which I'll leave for the readers to list them all in the comments. Offhand, other than the Channel 6 crew and Splinter in his human form, we also see all sorts of background characters from several episodes, include the female receptionist to one of Shredder's front from the very first episode (whatever happened to her?), the infamous old lady with the machine gun, and even Jane Goodfellow from the episode 'What's Michaelangelo good for?'.

 

There isn't that much else to add, except I am curious to what Shredder and Krang are up to while all of this is happening. Hob had actually relinquished his leadership role over to Krang, but the rest of the Pantheon don't know that. They think they are trying to defeat the Turtles to take leadership from Hob.

It's good to see that Splinter will train the Turtles to have stronger will power to fight off brainwashing and other mental attacks since they will be facing the Rat Queen next issue. We'll have to see how her powers work and if they're any different from her male counterpart. Speaking of which, it looks like she will be running into the Rat King as well.

The comic also has an ad in the back showing that they will also start publishing Street Sharks comics. I was never into the series so I'll probably pass on it. However since now IDW will have the license for both the Turtles and the Street Sharks... I will be picking up the inevitable crossover issues. Imagine Shredder and Krang enlisting the aid of Dr. Piranoid.

 

Or not? Looks like this will be a five-issue mini series? Guess we'll have to wait and see.