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Some TMNT stuff really isn't for little kids. |
The Rot in the Shell is a one-shot issue in IDW Publishing's TMNT Universe comic series. The story details the first encounter of one of the Turtles with the mutant flatworm, Wyrm.
Solicit[]
Behold the debut of the TMNT’s weirdest foe yet: Wyrm! When Michelangelo tries to help find a missing person in the sewers, he ends up discovering something he wished stayed in the dark!
Appearing in The Rot in the Shell[]
Major Characters[]
- Maureen Lin (debut)
- Michelangelo
- Wyrm (debut)
Minor Characters[]
- Calvin Banks (debut) (death)
- Donatello
- Leonardo
- Raphael
- Splinter
Synopsis[]
A sewer worker is going about his job, occasionally flicking off or squishing flatworms in the sewers. Suddenly an enormous shape appears behind him, wielding a giant mallet.
Later on, Michelangelo heads down into the sewers with a pizza for himself and his brothers, and is just about to enjoy a slice when a police officer suddenly climbs down a manhole. He initially hides from her, but knocks her out of the way when an archway collapses. The cop - visibly shaken by the sight of a giant talking turtle - introduces herself as Maureen Lin and says that she's searching for her missing brother-in-law, Calvin Banks.
Michelangelo accompanies her as she searches, but then a giant tentacle drags her into the water. Michelangelo finds himself facing a massive anthropomorphic mound of flatworms that move and speak as one creature. It declares that "we" are Wyrm, and that the sewers belong to it. Michelangelo starts fighting it, but quickly finds that his ninja skills are not well-suited for an enemy that doesn't have a solid body. Wyrm reveals that it has been spying on the Turtles for months now, and knows all about them. It smashes Michelangelo against the wall.
When he wakes up, he's in the water, battered and bruised but still alive. Wyrm uses the metaphor of "rot in the shell" (an infection turtles can get from cracked shells) to describe how it has infested the sewers, and now there's no room for Michelangelo and his family left. It also reveals that it came to be this way from exposure to mutagen.
Michelangelo finds himself wandering through a decayed funhouse of cracked mirrors, lost amusement-park props, toys, mannequins, carousel horses, and other lost things Wyrm has assembled. He then finds a massive room filled with even more lost items that Wyrm uses as companionship, declaring that "Only without them are we alone."
He also finds Officer Lin there, and her brother-in-law's broken helmet. As he tries to help her up, Wyrm attacks with its giant mallet again. Michelangelo mocks Wyrm's inability to grasp what his "shell" really is, because it's not his home in the sewers, but his family and friends who protect, support and help him. He envisions his brothers fighting alongside him as he whips Wyrm with a paddle, but Wyrm's formlessness ends up backfiring on him, as the flatworm aggregate lashes out and knocks him unconscious briefly.
Officer Lin fires her gun, distracting it long enough for Michelangelo to beat it with its own mallet. Lin then shoots one of the balloon tanks sitting nearby, causing an explosion and a fire to break out. A devastated Wyrm is horrified by the destruction of its "pretty thingssss" and tries to protect them, only to burn to death.
Michelangelo expresses sorrow that they weren't able to help Lin's brother-in-law, and she promises not to report anything she saw in the sewer, including him. As they go back to their lives, a single mutant flatworm is seen in the sewer... the end?