For Those About to Rock is the second Saturday Morning Adventures comic. It was first published on November 2, 2022.
Solicit[]
While intercepting a contingent of Krang’s stone soldiers, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles witness one of their enemies get struck down by the very tech he was sent to steal! With a single blast of mysterious energy, the hard-bodied baddie drops his tough facade and gains an affinity for hair metal and power ballads! Will this transformation last? Can rock ’n’ roll really change hearts and minds?
Appearing in For Those About to Rock[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
Species[]
- Disembodied brain
- Human
- Mutant rhinoceros
- Mutant turtle
- Mutant warthog
- Rock Soldier
Locations[]
Objects, vehicles, and weapons[]
Synopsis[]
From a warehouse on Earth, Shredder beseeches Krang back in Dimension X for some help stealing a powerful device from one Professor Albert McGuffin. Krang eventually relents, and sends him a single Rock Soldier, Lieutenant Thrum. Thrum arrives through a portal and blasts Bebop and Rocksteady's cassette player out of irritation of the music.
April begins to interview Professor McGuffin about his invention at TCRI. Just as McGuffin states that it was designed to end violence, Shredder and his two mutant goons show up and he exclaims that's just what he wanted to hear, thinking that meant that it was a weapon. As Vernon panics, April discreetly uses her Turtlecom to alert the Turtles.
Luckily, the Turtles are relatively nearby in the Turtle Blimp, and Don activates the blimp's enhanced propulsion system to get there quicker.
Two TCRI security guards show up and tell Shredder that they've already alerted the police, but they are easily sacked by Bebop and Rocksteady, the latter of which comments how easy it is to do when their opponents aren't ninja. Right on cue, the Turtles drop in from the skylight and take down the two mutants. Shredder takes the device from McGuffin, but Mike whisks it away with his Turtle Line. Just as they threaten to take Shredder to jail, he summons Thrum, who bursts through a wall and socks Leo as he is warning them about his dangerousness.
While Mike is tasked with keeping the device safe, the other Turtles try to fend off Thrum. Shredder sends Bebop and Rocksteady over to try to steal the device from Mikey, who succeeds at keeping them at bay until Thrum takes down the others. He grabs the device and tries taking it from Mike, who refuses to release it. The device explodes, leaving Thrum and Mike dizzy. A disappointed Shredder takes his mutants to make a hasty retreat, and Thrum asks if the others are okay, puzzling Raph.
Professor McGuffin is delighted despite his device being broken, as he tells Vernon that it was designed to replace violent tendencies with altruistic ones when in the presence of someone who possesses the latter, meaning Thrum has been mellowed out. However, the effects are temporary, and so the Turtles head off to find the Rock Soldier before it wears off.
From a rooftop, Shredder complains via Comlink to Krang about Thrum's failure to help secure the device. Meanwhile, Krang is intrigued in the idea of a "weapon" that can incapacitate stone (as Shredder told him Thrum was electrocuted) and demands he bring Thrum to him so he can study its effects.
Up on the Blimp, the Turtles have a hard time tracking Thrum. Realizing that Thrum might be acting like Mikey, Don asks him where he would be in this situation. Mike says that he'd probably be seeing the concert happening in Central Park, if he weren't getting pizza. The Turtles descend and put on disguises to blend in, and it turns out that he's right, as Thrum is seen crowd-surfing. Thrum greets the Turtles warmly, but is interrupted by Shredder and his goons. The Turtles attack Shredder, while Thrum protests that he doesn't want to fight and just wants to listen to music. As the Turtles and Foot Clan battle, Thrum says he can already feel his true nature returning, and Mike tells him to channel his newfound feelings. Using the concert singer's song about being who one wants to be for inspiration, Thrum states that, for the moment at least, he doesn't want to be a bad guy. He clotheslines Bebop and Rocksteady, then knocks Shredder down with a punch and stomps on his stun ray.
Thrum opens a portal to elsewhere before he can return to normal and attack his new friends. He says goodbye to the Turtles, and thanks Michelangelo for helping him understand music, before stepping through.
Back at the Lair, the Turtles tell Splinter about their adventure. Splinter says that sometimes who one is and who one wants to be can sometimes be irreconcilable, but one must not give up hope on becoming their best self - and one day, that may happen for Thrum.
Meanwhile in Dimension Q, Thrum contemplates calling Krang and returning to him, but decides against it and crushes his Comlink, before walking away and singing.
Notes and trivia[]
- This issue's title is taken from the Australian band AC/DC's album and song For Those About to Rock We Salute You (which is shown as just "For Those About to Rock" on the album's cover).
- Michelangelo breaks the fourth wall when he says that they "only have 20-some pages to work with these days" in reply to Raph's comment about the convenience of a plot device.