I, Monster

* * * SPOILERS: TMNT MIRAGE VOL 4 * * *


Today I listened to the amazing Turtle Tales podcast episode 15 with Rob Luther & Josh O'Rourke. I mentioned the episode on Instagram, and Rob asked what I thought of it. Big mistake. There isn't enough room on IG. So here I am on a brand new blog - which is about as antiquated a method of communication as sending a letter in the mail.

As a very late comer to the Ninja Turtles, I hadn't even heard of "I, Monster" until today. I'm still playing catch up with Lawson's work, tracking down what I can see online, or buying what I can afford to buy. 

I love Jim Lawson's art and his storytelling style. He really is a world builder, and a unique artist… and in the same way that Kevin Eastman is distinct for a really uncanny dynamic quality in his art, Jim Lawson does things with a whole page that isn't something I see anyone else do. The panels are usually quite clear in their narrative, and necessary for moving the story forward, but then the actual pages are like whole entities with a really wonderful flow throughout. And as fun as colour is, there's something lost when his stories are colorized. It distracts a little from the lines. If you got a physical copy of Lawson's Box City Wallops on Kickstarter last year, he also threw in Turtles 2030 (a free black and white fan comic). And as much as both were fantastic, and the colours of BCW were beautifully done, it underscored for me that Jim Lawson's black and white comics are pretty uniquely special. It doesn't surprise me at all to hear how well he used black and white as camouflage, to ramp up the tension and fear in this issue.


So anyway, "I, Monster." God, do I love horror… and the Ninja Turtles in horror is so much fun. Parasitica is one of my all-time favorite episodes from the 2012 show, and the horror-inspired episodes they did during the farm stay were pretty great as well, so it was fantastic to hear that this overlap got its start so early, and under Jim Lawson's steam. The whole premise is just brilliant. Rats. People don't tend to appreciate nowadays how terrifying rats are… that they would actually eat people alive. Not because people are their normal prey, or that they even have normal prey… they just aren't deterred by anything. So the idea of this mass of opportunistic critters juxtaposed against Splinter (the father figure that - even in his premutated form - pitied and took care of the Turtles) is just so horrible. I'm really looking forward to reading this issue when I can get my hands on it.

Listening to the Turtle Tales podcast gave me a few things to think about. For one - the point was made that the Rat King doesn't seem like a guy who would be motivated by world conquest. That seems true, and it made me wonder - in IDW, is he just doing it to piss off Kitsune and Aka? And secondly.... HOLY CRAP, DID MIRAGE SPLINTER BECOME THE RAT KING IN VOL 4? IS HE THE RAT KING NOW? I know that after Splinter died in the Mirage comics, Donatello discovered that the body they buried was not the same Splinter as the Splinter who raised them. Maybe that's part of the Rat King's deal? The body is switched out, and the new Rat King lives on as a temporary minor deity. In Volume 4, as it stands, Leo is about to meet Splinter in the Nexus realm. Perhaps Splinter would have explained that he's now the Rat King, and if so - what would that mean going forward? I hope I'm not the only person who's never thought of this until now.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks so much for the great podcast! I've been stuck at home for a liiittle over a month with a never ending cold (confirmed non-COVID at least!) and these podcasts have truly been an amazing find. 


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