The aftermath of the Triceraton Invasion and the fear of an old enemy’s return. Leonardo and Splinter have a vision of the Rat King, but the Turtles will not sit and wait for him to come calling.
TMNT# 81
Writer: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz
Artist: Dave Wachter
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Cover Artists: Brahm Revel
Variant Cover: N/A
Editors: Bobby Curnow
Publisher: IDW Comics
What You Need to Know:
Splinter leads the Foot Clan, with his right-hand woman Jennika. The turtles are led my Leonardo, the Master of Clan Hamato. The Purple Dragons, are a street gang that under the leadership of Casey Jones, have turned to street protectors. Agent Bishop leads the not so Top Secret Earth Protection Force, which has recently aligned with the Foot Clan and Splinter.
These are the players in this as the Triceratons have been transported out of the city by April and Baxter Stockman.
The leaders of their respective Clans retire to meditate. As they do, a horrific vision of their old enemy the Rat King. He is Pied Piper style leading children to fall off a Bridge with his flute. Leo sees this as a bad omen to come, while the newly hardened Splinter sees this as less a threat just a vision. Leo decides to act on this and forms a plan.
What You’ll Find Out:
Casey Jones meets with his father Hun, the former leader of the Purple Dragons, back in his day. He tells him that his presence is confusing to the gang now, and asks that he step aside, so they can go in their new direction. Hun understands, but just as they have this Father son chat, a rival gang the Garden State Wreckers, takes the opportunity to move in on their turf. Sporting some future tech weaponry from the Triceraton Invasion, they attack Hun and Casey.
What Just Happened?
Splinter has not forgotten his allies, and send Jennika and the Foot Soldiers to protect the Purple Dragons. They do not kill, but easily and thoroughly trounce the Garden State Wreckers.
Splinter takes this time to speak with Agent Bishop, and confirm his alliance, fragile though it may be. Bishop, with a Mind controlled Slash in tow, tells him that the Triceraton are not gone so the Alliance will remain intact. As they notice the unsettling presence of two small rats that land on Slash’s soldier.
Enter the Rat King, and his Pipe atop a nearby building. He looks down from his roost with a thrall of mind controlled children, and a line about the Ballad of Bridges. He is clearly up to no good.
The Turtles while trying for once to get ahead of a problem, sneak into Baxter Stockman’s lab. There with April’s help, they take a transporter to see someone to aid them against the Rat King the Toad Baron. (This is getting strange).
Rating: 8/ 10
Final Thought:
A huge step up in Artwork! This is a fun story that is just getting started. Old enemies, new alliances, and fragile friendships. We continue to hear the spot on character dialogue that we come to expect in this series ( Except with Splinter that I am still struggling to truly understand). Good book to jump into the action, since the lackluster arc ending issue #80. Check this one out, it looks like some old fashion Turtle Fun!
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