“Yesterday’s” Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6

The inspiration for Dinosaucers?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6

Mirage Studios (February, 1986 wow–did it really take that long?)

Not that this only covers the main story and both versions available to me do not include the back-up story “Catatonic Dreams” starring Zigbone The Cat

WRITERS/ARTIST: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird

LETTERER: Steve Lavigne

The Turtles manage to put themselves into a trance in order to survive the airless room. Taken prisoner by the Triceratons to force Honeycutt to create the transmat they end up in an arena bloodsport, but manage to both take down the other team but escape with the Prime Leader as hostage. They attempt to reach the Leader’s personal ship but an ambush goes wrong when the guards accidentally shoot the Prime Leader trying to take down the Turtles. Just as the warriors have the Turtles and Honeycutt surrounded a new beam makes them disappear. Back on Earth April learns of the strange events at TCRI and are sure it means trouble for her new friends.

What they got right: Since the bloodsport scene takes up most of the comic it’s a good thing it’s handled well. The preliminaries allow time to put the important characters in the right situations, the announcers are a fun bit without ruining the moment (if anything they add to the disgust of the whole thing), and the main fight between the Turtles and Triceratons is done mostly well. Honeycutt is the rare case of the guy who is willing to risk his lives and the Turtles to keep the transmat out of everybody’s hands. The idea of essentially weaponizing the transporter from Star Trek is an interesting one.

What they got wrong: So are there any rules or is it just a gladiator pit pretending to be any kind of sport? It’s also interesting that it’s Michelangelo, not Raphael, standing up to these evil dinosaur people like he does, but that could just be a case of how we know the quartet today.

What I think overall: This was a really good story and I’m enjoying the arc. This is also the last of the issues from the First Publishing colorized trade I own so this weekend over at The Clutter Reports, barring another emergency, I’ll take a look at that presentation.