TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 29

 By Mark Rodriguez

Krang is working with Hob and the Pantheon and have brought Shredder back. Krang set up a contest for the Pantheon members to see which one can take out the Turtles first so they can gain the leadership role. So far Drako and Golgotha have tried and failed, so now the Rat Queen is taking a crack at it. What happens when she teams up with the Rat King?

"The Queen's Gambit" opens with Krang bringing up how Drako lost his fire-breathing abilities and Golgotha burnt out her hypnotic vocal chords. Krang says it's odd that more than one of them have powers that come out of their mouths. He also states that they have spent so much time at the top, that they're not used to single combat and can't defeat the Turtles on their own. He suggests they turn to him for new leadership since he has conquered worlds.

The Rat Queen says Krang hasn't conquered this world and she's willing to take her shot to gain leadership than follow him. Shredder says that the Rat Queen can control rats and the Turtles have defeated a similar enemy and asks what she can do that the Rat King can't. She tells him to wait and see as she shows off a special looking gun.

A few days later the Turtles are walking through the sewers as Leonardo is concerned that they haven't heard anything from the Pantheon. Raphael says that comments like that invites the universe to send trouble their way, and Donatello says the math checks out. Leonardo says he doesn't like it when the bad guys are quiet and they must be always ready. Just then the Rat King runs around the corner and bumps into him. Raph teases Leo about 'always being ready'.

Leonardo asks how the Rat King got out of jail. The Rat King says he escaped but what's important is that he's in danger and needs their help. Michaelangelo and Raphael grab him and ask why they should do anything besides throwing him back in jail. Rat King tells them that the Rat Queen wants to destroy him. Michaelangelo says she's one of the Pantheon members. Raphael asks Leonardo if they can just let the two fight among themselves.

Leonardo says the Pantheon is a danger to everyone, even the Rat King, and as heroes they are sworn to help. The Rat King says he will lead them to her. Raphael feels they're going to regret this. Michaelangelo says he can't be pessimistic all the time. Raphael says 'watch me'. 

At Channel 6, Burne Thompson is yelling at the news crew (April, Vernon and Irma) on how a basic cable station got the scoop on the Rat King's escape. He warns his employees that the second the Rat King shows his face, he wants Channel 6 to know.

The Turtles follow the Rat King through the sewers and Raph says it feels like a trap. Leonardo says it can't be a trap if they know they're walking into danger. The Rat King says they have arrived where his rats told him the Rat Queen lies in wait. He warns them that this will be dangerous and he tells them to follow him. Raph says he can feel an 'I told you so' brewing.

Once the group arrives, Donatello says he doesn't see the Rat Queen, and Rat King reveals his ruse. The Rat King sits upon an ever-growing mountain of rats as he declares that the Turtles followed him to their doom without questioning it. Leonardo tell Raph not to say it, and Raph says he can be the bigger Turtle.

Rat King says that the Rat Queen released him from prison where she asked him about the Turtles. They decided to team up and he was able to lure to the Turtles. Donatello says they weren't fooled, he told them he was bringing them to the Rat Queen. Raph tells him to stop acting like a 'Machiavellian mastermind' and explains to Mikey that Machiavellian means he thinks he's manipulative. Rat King says he doesn't need manipulation since he has a legion of rats and a queen to rule them with.

The Rat Queen arrives and starts to fight against Leonardo. Leo assumed she will also try to brainwash them into being her bodyguards. Rat Queen says she'd rather destroy them now to avoid future trouble, since she only needs the rats as bodyguards. Donatello says they've fought the Rat King several times who has also used rats against them. He says this time won't be different. The Rat Queen says they're wrong and pulls out her special gun. She says it has a special effect on Earth rats, as she blasts the rodents. Mikey has a bad feeling about this and Leo asks what a ray gun can possibly do.

 

The rats turned giant-sized which give the Turtles more trouble. Donatello says they might be Splinter-sized but they don't have his skill. Don mentions that the Rat Queen's gun caused this and Michaelangelo figures they should destroy it. Mikey tosses throwing stars towards the gun, and Donatello says they might need it to turn the rats back to normal. One of the rats leaps in the way and uses a brick to deflect the ninja stars. The Rat Queen says they'll never be in danger as long as the rats retain their incredible speed.

The Rat King tells the Turtles that they can surrender or be destroyed. Raph doesn't like those options and asks Leo if he has a plan yet. Donatello says the longer it takes, the more they risk getting overwhelmed. Leo is panicking as he tries to think of something.

The Rat King says with the Turtles out of the way they can use this rat army to take over the city and the world. The Rat Queen says he is a human and just a tool. Rat King says they're cut from the same cloth and are both monarchs or rodentkind. Rat Queen says his powers compel the rats to follow him against their will. Her rats follow her out of sheer devotion. She says they are nothing alike except that they share a common enemy.

Mikey gets an idea and tells Rat King to stand up for himself since he's one of the toughest enemies they ever faced. He says the Rat King gave Splinter one of the toughest fights of his life and he's a ninja master. Mikey says the Rat King is Rat Queen's equal and she shouldn't tell him different. Raph says this isn't the time to be boosting the villain's self-esteem.

Rat King says Mikey might be a fool but he's right. The Rat King bows to no one. The Rat King commands the rats and tells them that the Rat Queen is no friend of theirs and isn't even an Earthling. Rat Queen socks him in the face and tells her rats not to waste time since they have a world to conquer. She tells them anyone not with them is against them. As they bicker, the rats also start fighting among themselves.

Donatello asks Mikey if he planned this. Mikey says two egomaniacs can't be in charge at the same time. He uses his grappling hook to yank the gun away from Rat Queen. Mikey hands it over to Donnie, and he blasts the rats back to normal size. Donatello tells Mikey that he'll get Mikey an XXX-Large pizza over this. Leonardo slices the gun in half. The Rat King and Queen call a truce. Rat King reminds the Turtles that when the rats are back to normal, they still outnumber them a thousand to one. Donatello says things went from bad to worse.

Leonardo runs towards Mikey saying they will use the 'Raphael Maneuver', which confused Raph. Leo leaps into the air and pulls his head and limbs into his shell. Mikey tosses the Leo-shell as a huge projectile that smashes into both the Rat King and Queen. The Rat Queen is unconscious but Rat King figures that's her problem. He runs off, thinking he's free and aims to stay that way. Donatello cracks him on the head with his staff, knocking him out.

Raph says that the rats are running back into the sewers and they won like he always knew they would. Leo teases Raph's newfound optimism. Raph says he's in a good mood for once since he wasn't the guy thrown into the fight this time. He asks for them to never call it the Raphael Maneuver again.

Later on, April reports on Channel 6 that the escaped Rat King was sent to prison again, as well as the Rat Queen who broke him out to begin with. Authorities are questioning her regarding rat-related crimes that happened weeks prior.

Leonardo states they took out three of the Pantheon, though it's too bad that Drako and Golgotha are also not behind bars. Splinter says that their enemies have faced defeat and defeat leads to desperation. He warns that a desperate enemy is more dangerous. He then tells Mikey to chew his food as he's chowing down on the XXX-Large pizza Donatello promised him. We needed to end the story on some sort of joke.

 

My Thoughts- 

This was a fun issue, and unless there's random stuff in the background I didn't notice, this one wasn't packed with cameos and whatnot. It's probably good that the story took a break from Easter eggs once in a while. The only reference I can think of is Mikey referring to previous encounters with the Rat King, especially when he controlled Splinter in their first encounter 'Enter the Rat King'.

So it seems the major difference between the Rat King and Queen is that the Rat King uses brainwashing to control the rats, while Rat Queen has her rats actually serve her out of their own free will. Another thing is no matter how crazy he is, the Rat King is still human, so he will never have her full respect. I do wonder how things would have gone if Rat King had his flute. Would he have been able to brainwash her? 

The art is cool as always and I liked the fight scene between Leo and Rat Queen. I liked the extra detail of the villains table having scratches on Hob and Shredder's side. Hob is actively scratching the table in annoyance, while Shredder seems to be scratching it unintentionally with his gauntlets as he raises and lowers his arms on the table. 

The main complaint about the comic was the Rat King offering to lead the Turtles to the Rat Queen... and them just going along with it, despite Raphael's warnings. Something like this could have been easily fixed if the Turtles just mentioned that they were purposely going because it was a way to get to the Rat Queen. This is one of the times Raph would have said 'This is one of the times I wish the writers came up with a better plot device' like in one of the episodes.

One question I do have is, what happened to to Ptah who was locked up in the cell next to the Rat King? Issue 18 ended with Ptah being locked up next to Rat King's cell. You would think those two would somehow think up a way to escape and possibly team up the next time we see them. Instead Rat Queen broke him out, and I assume, left Ptah there to get more angry and vengeful.

The next issue brings in Mutagen Man, and I don't know how he will fit into the still ongoing Pantheon storyline. I do wonder when Shredder will do something. He's too full of himself to just kick back and let the different members of the Pantheon try to stop the Turtles over several weeks without him anything to do with it. Shredder has always been kind of inconsistent like that. Sometimes he's content to send someone else to take out the Turtles for him, and other times he gets super prideful and he determines that HE must be the one to take out the Turtles personally.

I do love this version of Michaelangelo. He might be tad more competent than the actual cartoon version, since I feel this comic series favors him a little too much, but I'm glad the writers remember that 80's Mikey was the chill and laid-pack Turtle and not just 'the dumb one' like future versions would be. Personally 80's Mikey has always been my favorite so I can't help but smile every time he gets a win. I'm not sure the expression 'slow your roll' was used in the late 80's though. While the comic hasn't specifically stated that it takes place in the 80's, we haven't seen any smartphones or other modern-day things yet.