Bubble Trouble is a Fleetway comic, published in TMHT Adventures #53 in January-February, 1992.
Appearing in Bubble Trouble[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
Species[]
- Human
- Mutant rat
- Mutant rhinoceros
- Mutant turtle
- Mutant warthog
- Robot
Objects and vehicles[]
Locations[]
Summary[]
Wearing their disguises, the Turtles visit a Science Fair. Leonardo says Donatello’s idea to come there was a good one. Don is excited by all the new ideas, stopping to admire a fancy device designed to boil eggs. They continue their tour until one invention grabs the attention of all four Turtles. It is an Instant Food Machine that produces anything you ask for. The inventor asks them if they’d like a go at the machine and Michaelangelo says he’d like it gift wrapped. Leo, Don and Raphael place their orders for three chocolate chip pizzas. The machine repeats their order and then produces the pizzas. Mikey has a hard time deciding and the inventor reminds him that they close in five minutes. The Turtle finally orders a mango, chutney, pickled herring, peanut butter and lemon meringue pizza. Rather than repeat the order, the machine says processing and adds “yuk”, but it does give him his pizza.
As Mikey is walking to catch up to his brothers, he spots someone he thinks he recognizes in the crowd. The person is wearing a red cloak and a Shemagh style scarf that covers his head and face. Mikey rushes up to the others and tells them he thinks he saw Shredder. Don tells him he’s seeing things and to lay off the pickled herring in the future. The Turtles approach a stage that has been set up where a crowd has already gathered. According to Don, this is the highlight of the whole science fair – Professor Lubble’s latest piece of technology.
Professor Lubble introduces himself and says that he’s going to demonstrate his amazing new Bubble Gun. An assistant brings him the gun and he explains that it is capable of encasing any object in a large, bouncing, plastic bubble. He then says that the device is dangerous if it got into the wrong hands. Just then he is interrupted as Shredder announces that he’s stealing it and leaps onto the stage. He grabs the bubble gun out of the Professor’s hand and then fires it at a pair of security guards who are rushing towards him. The guards are instantaneously encased in a large bubble and rendered helpless. Shredder states that with the device no one can stop him taking over City Hall and ruling New York.
As the Turtles also jump onto the stage, Leo says that they are there to stop him. Undaunted, Shredder turns to Bebop and Rocksteady and tells them to roll the guards. The mutant duo roll the bubble that’s trapping the guards and it bowls over the Turtles. While the Turtles lay stunned on the stage, Shredder and his minions race out of the building. Gathering themselves together, the Turtles chase after their enemies. Bebop points out that the Turtles are chasing them, so Shredder fires the bubble gun at a nearby car. Lifted into the air by the encasing bubble, the car rolls towards the Turtles, who are forced to dive out of the way. When they go to continue their pursuit, they see numerous other objects that have been encased in bubbles – cars, mailboxes, trash cans, crates and more. To continue the chase, the Turtles have to dodge and leap over all the bubbles. The Turtles finally catch up to Shredder and Leo demands he surrender. Shredder says never, so Raph rushes at him, despite Leo’s warning. Shredder lifts the bubble gun and fires, encasing Raph in a large bubble that starts bouncing around. The other Turtles run to save Raph and Shredder and his gang make their escape into the sewer tunnels.
Raph starts to bounce out of sight, so Leo turns and grabs a pointed fence post loose from its railing. He yells for Raph to keep his head down and then throws the post like a lance, puncturing the bubble and freeing Raph. When they ask Raph if he’s okay, he says he is and he’s also got a plan. He says they need to go and get their sewer surfers.
Mounted on their sewer surfers, the Turtles skim through the tunnels. It doesn’t take them long to catch up to Shredder, who has brought in Footbot reinforcements. The villains are about to climb a ladder back up to the surface and Leo tells the Turtles to remember Raph’s plans. Shredder spots them and swiftly fires the bubble gun, this time trapping each Turtle in a bubble. Gloating over encasing them in plastic bubbles, Shredder tells his henchmen that they are going up in the world. Leo turns to the others and says that now that they’ve allowed themselves to be zapped, he hopes Raph’s plan works. Raph tells them there’s nothing to it; just to pretend they are circus acrobats and “walk” their bubbles.
Following Raph’s advise, the Turtles begin walking in their bubbles and moving towards Shredder who is halfway up the ladder. Shredder doesn’t believe Bebop when he tries to tell him that the Turtles are back, but then the green team starts rolling over and smashing the Footbots. Bebop urges Shredder to run, but he won’t while he still has the bubble gun. Rocksteady points out that the Turtles are already in bubbles and that didn’t do them any good. Shredder decides that he’ll put his Footbots in bubbles too, but before he can fire, Leo rolls right into him, forcing him to drop the bubble gun. Deciding it would be a good time to run, Shredder shouts for his cronies to follow. With Shredder defeated, Leo says they can return the bubble gun to its rightful owner. The Turtles then begin popping their bubbles to free themselves.