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Heroes in a Half-Shell! Part 1

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Heroes in a Half-Shell!, Part 1 is an issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. It was published in August 1988 by Archie Comics, and retells the the 1987 TV series episodes "Turtle Tracks" as well as the beginning of "Enter the Shredder".

Characters[]

Major characters[]

Minor characters[]

Locations[]

Objects and vehicles[]

Synopsis[]

Chapter One[]

April O'Neil, Channel 6 News, is reporting on the seemingly low-tech robberies of three high-tech companies. All signs point to ninjas, and April and her news crew are reporting from Technologies Central in the hopes that they will be robbed next and therefore caught on camera by Channel 6. The news crew doesn't want to stick around to see if April's hunch is correct, and their instincts are on the money. A group of punks led by a pre-mutation Rocksteady approach the news crew threateningly with a message: "...stick to reportin' fashion shows!"

April runs from the punks, ducking into the sewers. As the punks follow her, April is distracted and runs into a wall. The punks catch up to her, and her future seems bleak when four shadows step in to disarm and thrash the punks. April turns to thank her saviors and sees four man-size turtles! Unable to believe her eyes, April faints.

Meanwhile a shadowy figure, later revealed to be the Shredder, watches a monitor revealing the Turtles taking April back to their lair.

Later, deeper in the sewers, April awakes and is offered some tea from a man-sized rat. Bewildered by seeing the four turtles chowing down on some oddly-topped pizza and a giant rat in a kimono, she demands to know who they are.

The rat begins to explain by telling the tale of Hamato Yoshi, a teacher in the ninja Foot Clan in Japan. Framed by rival Oroku Saki, Yoshi is banished to the sewers of New York City for attempting to assassinate a master sensei. There, he befriends rats and, eventually, four baby turtles. One day, Yoshi finds the baby turtles covered in a glowing ooze. The turtles mutate before his eyes becoming man-sized and intelligent. Yoshi himself mutates into a man-sized rat.

April realizes that the rat speaking is Hamato Yoshi, now going by the name "Splinter", and the four turtles are his ninja students: Donatello armed with a wodden Bō-staff, Raphael master of the Sai, Leonardo wielding dual Katanas, and Michaelangelo master of the whirling Nunchakus!

They ask April what she thinks, but she's decided that these freaks have committed the ninja robberies. She tries to escape, but the turtles block her way and decide to keep her there until they can find the true culprits and clear their names.

Rocksteady and the punks report back to The Shredder that four weirdos beat the pants off them. Shredder's only concern is that the four giant reptiles may have been turtles.

Returning to the scene of the fight, the Turtles and April discover a matchbook from an establishment called Ninja Pizza. The group decides to check it out, but April is afraid the Turtles may draw too much attention. She obtains some trenchcoats and fedoras from a men's clothing store, and suddenly the Turtles are incognito!

They find Ninja Pizza on a street with a number of other ninja themed places of business. While the Turtles take a pizza break, April snoops around the surrounding area and discovers Manhattan Security Services, a shady security company that is actually cleaning out their clients! April races to a phone to call in a news crew, but is abducted by ninja-garbed assailants similar to the faux-guards she spotted in the Security building.

The Turtles become concerned by April's absence and discover her wallet by the payphone where she was abducted. Following a string of April's personal items to a nearby rooftop, they discover a tied up April and a trap! April's assailants, who turnout to be androids, attack the Turtles but are driven off to a nearby rooftop. April and the Turtles give chase, and discover a communications setup with The Shredder's face! The evil mastermind calls for a general retreat of the foot-bots to something called the Technodrome.

Reasoning that the Technodrome must be downstairs somewhere, the Turtles advance down the floors until they encounter some Foot messing with some plumbing. The building begins to flood, so the Turtles grab April and escape back out of the roof the way they came in the nick of time as the building succumbs to the massive amounts of water!

Later, Splinter examines uniform pieces from the robot assailants and deduces that the Foot, under the command of Oroku Saki are nearby and the cause of all the trouble. The Turtles aren't worried about the Shredder's plans, and April begins to wonder if her newfound friends take anything seriously, but she realizes there is one thing they never joke about: Pizza!

Chapter Two[]

The following morning, April and the Turtles are searching for the Technodrome under the location of the flooded out building and find only a giant empty cavern with a pair of giant tread marks.

Meanwhile, in the Technodrome, The Shredder is summoned by Krang, who wants to know why Saki hasn't completed his new body as per their agreement. The Shredder laments that he has bigger problems now thanks to the appearance of the Turtles. Krang reminds Shredder that it's his own fault the Mutagen affected the Turtles so, and muses what would happen if more powerful animals were used in the mutation process. The Shredder dashes off to test this hypothesis.

Elsewhere, the Turtles and April have decided to check back in with Splinter. April points out that there may be some pertinent information back at the news room while Splinter elects to lead the Turtles in following the Technodrome through the vast tunnels.

At the Zoo, a pair of robots burst out of the ground and abscond with a warthog and a rhinoceros.

Back in the sewer, the Turtles and Splinter are blocked in their pursuit of the Technodrome by a cave-in. Splinter sends the Turtles to the surface to find a way around while he attempts to burrow through.

Inside the Technodrome, The Shredder approaches the punks for volunteers. When the punks decline, Shredder appeals to their sense of revenge by saying they'll be able to, "...get even with the Turtles who so recently humiliated [them]!" The Shredder selects Rocksteady and Bebop from the group of punks and straps them to a pair of tables. When the punks realize they don't know what they've actually volunteered for, The Shredder merely tells them to relax as he approaches them in a bio-hazard proof suit with a canister of mutagen and the pair of animals from the park.

The Turtles, meanwhile, have made their way to the surface, and after dodging a few vans, sneak their way into Channel 6. April tells the Turtles she's learned of the animals stolen from the Zoo, and the Turtles decide to check it out.

About this time, Splinter breaks through the debris into a cavern holding the massive Technodrome. Splinter approaches cautiously, but is still nabbed by one of the abducting robots.

At the Zoo, the Turtles leave April at the surface and descend through the hole left by the robots into the same cavern with the Technodrome. The Turtles discover their master's walking stick and deduce that Splinter has been captured by the Technodrome's inhabitants. They steal their way inside until they are confronted by a number of industrial robots...

To be continued...

Differences between episodes and comic[]

Turtle Tracks[]

  • The description of the crimes is somewhat shorter and more serious in this adaptation compared to the episode.
  • While Vernon was among the news crew in "Turtle Tracks", he is not present in this adaptation.
  • April seems to talk to herself more in this adaptation. She also seems to faint less.
  • Scrag has one line during the Turtles' battle algon Bebop and Rocksteady's gang, "You're dead meat", when in the original episode he said nothing.
  • Some of Raphael's one-liners have been given to the other turtles in this adaptation, while a number of them are not present at all.
  • Burne Thompson is not present in this adaptation.
  • The cart lady with the shotgun is not present in this adaptation.
  • April's inability to keep the Turtles straight at first is cut down to only a couple instances in this adaptation.
  • April does not ask for a slice of the "Bananas and sausage" at the end of the story in this adaptation.

Enter the Shredder[]

  • Most of the intro and recap from the beginning of the episode is skipped in this adaptation.
  • Again, Raphael's jokes are spread or cut in this adaptation.
  • Shredder and Krang's mutual distrust is not as spelled out in this adaptation.
  • Splinter's deciding to lead the Turtles personally is cut down in this adaptation.
  • Bebop's line about wishing he brought comics with him is cut.
  • Shredder's joke about Rocksteady and Bebop's date potential is cut from this adaptation.
  • Burne Thompson is again not present in this adaptation.
  • The Turtles' outrageous disguises are not present in this adaptation. Likewise, they do not laugh at April's claim that the Zoo story and the Technodrome are connected.
  • April's attempt to get a news crew to the Zoo is not included in this adaptation.
  • The closing walls trap is cut for this adaptation. Likewise the battle with the capture bots.

Trivia[]

  • At the gang's feet on the on the cover are what appears to be a comic called "Rockula", although the film of that name wouldn't release until 1990, as well as a copy of one of Mirage Studios' earlier comics, the 1986 mini-series Bade Biker & Orson.
  • In the original printing, Bebop's human form is given coloring of a Caucasian person. This wasn't corrected until IDW Publishing's 2009 reprint of the stories.
  • Graffiti seen in the issue include recurring franchise names Bugman and Chet.
  • A van in chapter 2 is labeled Chet's Niblets, while one in the next panel reads "Mirage Movers".
  • Portions of the origin story are retconned later in TMNT Adventures #45. That issue would also reveal that the visiting grandmaster was named Yamaguchi and Yoshi's pet rat was called Ogata.
  • A number of spelling errors are seen in the comic. Mutagen is spelled mutogen, ninjutsu is spelled ninjustsu, and in on one page scientific is spelled scientfic.

Reprints[]

  • All 3 mini series issues were reprinted in TMNT 100 Page Spectacular from IDW.

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

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