“Yesterday’s” Comic> April O’Neil #2

At long last! April versus Storm Shadow!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles presents April O’Neil #2

Archie Comics/Mirage Studios (February, 1993)

“The Chinatown Connection”

STORY IDEA/EDITOR: Dean Clarrain

WRITER: Steve Sullivan

PENCILER: Chris Allan

INKER: Brian Thomas

COLORIST: Barry Grossman

LETTERER: Gary Fields

April and Oyuki stop at a convenience store. As April goes in to get some food and Oyuki has a smoke, Oyuki is approached by a boy named Kato Li, who starts hitting on her but runs off when he sees a bunch of guys enter the store. Inside, April sees the boys attacked by a group of ninjas going by the Dog Stars, yelling death to the Golden Triangles. Our heroines follow the Triangles only to be discovered thanks to Oyuki’s cigarette. They capture April but Oyuki has trouble finding help, going to the Dog Stars to rescue April from Johnny Yen’s Golden Triangles. As they fight, Yen turns into a spider creature, attacking Kato, who Oyuki manages to save, only to get caught herself. The Dog Stars’ master arrives next, and April recognizes him…Chien Khan!

What they got right: Outside of Chien’s reveal I can follow everything else despite not reading the first issue. Oyuki is new in America, April is freelance now, Splinter and the Turtles are unavailable for reasons the comic doesn’t have time to get into (possibly something happening in the main title at the time), and April since I last saw her in this continuity has been learning from Master Splinter.

What they got wrong: I have mixed feelings on the art. The character models are fine, since even though they’ve diverted a lot from the cartoons the Archie run used to be a tie-in to it’s still the kid-friendly version of the Ninja Turtles’ world. On the other hand the poses are not the best. April looks clumsy holding the sword, which could mean she is still a novice in ninjutsu, but the martial arts poses by the gangs are kind of stiff as well.

What I think overall: I want to get more issues. This is the only issue I have, and the actual last of the Archie run on the Turtles I own, and I’m curious to someday look this up and see how the story went under Archie versus the cartoon.