Sahara Skulduggery! is a Fleetway comic, published in TMHT Adventures #42 in August - September, 1991.
Appearing in Sahara Skulduggery![]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
Species[]
- Human
- Mutant plants
- Mutant rat
- Mutant rhinoceros
- Mutant turtle
- Mutant warthog
Objects and vehicles[]
- Anti-Killer Plant Potion
- Bō
- Katana
- Sai
- Turtle Blimp
- Vegetation Potion
Locations[]
Summary[]
Under the blazing heat of the Sahara Desert, North Africa, Bebop and Rocksteady are crawling across the sand. Both are complaining about the heat and begging for water. Standing nearby are Krang and Shredder, and the Technodrome is only a few yards away. Krang reminds the mutants that they’ve only been out of the Technodrome for one minute, but Rocksteady argues that it seems like hours. Bebop asks if they can have a drink anyway, and Shredder tells him no, that drinks are limited to their leaders.
Krang stops the chatter and Shredder agrees that it’s time for the mutants to learn why they are in the desert. He holds up a large beaker filled with liquid and Rocksteady is ready to drink it, until Krang tells him doing so would be a fatal mistake. The liquid is Krang’s latest invention, the Vegetation Potion. He tells Shredder to get pouring. Shredder does so, pouring the potion directly onto the sand. The sand almost immediately begins churning and then a large vine shoots out of the ground, knocking Bebop and Rocksteady backwards. Another part of the new plant appears, this time a head with eyes and a large mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. Shredder is impressed with the plant growth rate and Krang points out that they are not ordinary plants either. Pronouncing their scheme a total success, Shredder says the desert is fast becoming a jungle. Krang orders everyone back to the Technodrome, where they will wait until the vegetation potion has completed its work.
In just a few hours, the Sahara changes into an almost exact copy of the Amazon Basin. Several desert dwellers, with the camels, discover the change and believe it to be a miracle. Their view of the transformation changes when the carnivorous plants rise and attempt to eat them. The men race away on their camels and Shredder asks Krang if it’s time for the next stage of Operation Green Fingers. Krang agrees and says if the vegetation potion can cause rapid plant growth in the desert, it can do so anywhere on the planet. Unless every government agrees to his demands, starting with making him President of the World, he will cover every city with living plants. As Krang is chortling that nothing can go wrong, Bebop and Rocksteady stare up at approaching plants and grow alarmed.
Cut to the Turtles’ lair, somewhere under New York City. April O'Neil arrives, newspaper in hand and when the Turtles start to greet her, she cuts them off by saying there’s big trouble in North Africa. She points to the newspaper headline that tells of jungle terror and menacing plants. April says that it has to be Krang’s doing and it’s time for the green team to hit the trail. They do so, flying the Turtle Blimp to the Sahara Desert, which looks nothing like a desert. Donatello takes the blimp down enough so that Leonardo, Raphael and Michaelangelo can jump. They are immediately set upon by vicious plants. Raph throws a sai and chops through the stalk of a plant. Leo uses his katana to slice another, and when Mikey finds himself caught between a twin pair, he quickly ties their stalks together.
However, even more voracious vegetation springs up and the team finds itself in a near constant fight. Then they hear someone calling for help and head for the sound of voices. What they see stops them in their tracks. Krang, Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady have all been caught by plant tendrils. Leo says that Krang and his geeks are about to become plant food. Shredder yells for them not to just stand there but to do something. Leo tells them he wants some answers first and Raph agrees, asking if they caused the botanical bother. Krang admits it quickly, saying he couldn’t possibly know the plants couldn’t tell friend from foe. A huge, toothy plant is about to eat him and Krang yells for help. Leo tells his brothers that they’ll have to save them from being gobbled up, so the Turtles proceed to chop their enemies loose.
Raph shouts at them to start running, which they try to do, but find that their escape route has been blocked by even bigger and nastier plants. The green team battles the plants, and Shredder joins them in the fight, but soon everyone is being grabbed and trapped. Just as Raph begins to think they’re going to lose Donatello sweeps down in the Turtle Glider and slashes through several of the biggest plants. Leo asks what kept him and Don apologizes, saying he was inventing an Anti-Killer Plant Potion. His brothers urge him to stop talking and use it, which he does by pouring it on the plants as he flies over. At first nothing happens and a plant lifts Mikey towards its open mouth.
Suddenly, the plant drops Mikey and the Turtles realize that Don’s potion is working. All of the vegetation starts dying, and then Krang orders Shredder to attack the Turtles. Lowering their shoulders, the Turtles bowl their enemies off their feet. The geeks lands head first into pools of plant slime and the Turtles advance on Krang, who immediately surrenders. Leo tells them to leave Africa now, or they’ll make sure what happened to the plants happens to them too. Their enemies begin running back to the Technodrome. Don flies back down again and tells his brothers that the effects of the anti-plant potion are spreading fast. He lands and picks them up and ten minutes later they are connected to the Blimp. Leo comments that Krang’s potion was powerful stuff. Don agrees and explains how he broke into the Technodrome, took some of the potion and invented the anti-vegetation liquid. Leo tells him he did well and tonight he gets extra pizza.