First off, just like the Archie series, the first few issues were adaptations of the actual cartoon episodes before they would go their own route. However, instead of copying the story exactly how it was on TV, Dreamwave dug deep into the psyche of several characters to explain how they got to that point in the story.... sadly while the Turtles themselves take a backseat. Let's take a look at Dreamwave's TMNT issue 1's adaptation of the first episode of the 2K3 series 'Things change'.
The story begins 15 years ago as two kids take a pic together and promise to keep a copy of that pic with them to always remember their friendship. Suddenly a nearby truck crashes and drops a glowing green canister. During the confusion, a kid drops his glass bowl full of pet turtles, and the little guys fall down the sewers along with the green ooze from the canister. Frank worries about the guy that got hurt in the crash, but John only cares about trying to grab the turtles. John says its was the guy's own fault for not being careful and that it's a tough world where everyone has to do what they have to so they can survive. A member of the Purple Dragons overhears this and tells John to look him up when he's older. John thinks the Purple Dragons are oh-so-cool, while Frank is worried.
Fast forward to the present, we see that Frank grew up to become one of the cops from 'Things Change'. Yeah... remember those cops that would cameo a few times in the cartoon that kinda looked like Eastman and Laird? Yeah...this is the story of the Eastman cop... though I'm not sure if it was good or bad that they didn't go all the way and call him Kevin instead of Frank.
Anyways, Frank is starting off the first day on the job chillin with an old lady until suddenly a Mouser runs off with the lady's dog. Frank grabs onto the dog's leash and is taken for a ride as the Mouser drags him across the street. Suddenly there's an earthquake and a van hits the Mouser and the dog, and nearly hits the cop. The drivers are Purple Dragon members, and the one with the wild blue hair, yeah you know the one, is Johnny, all grown up. Johnny and Frank freeze as they recognize each other. The other gang member in the van wonders what's up, but Johnny tells him that he never seen the cop before and they drive off.
Frank returns the dog to the lady, who quickly thanks him. She asks him if he knew what it felt like to lose a best friend to this violent world, and Franks says he does. Suddenly the cop notices black blurs hopping across the rooftops.
Elsewhere, the Purple Dragons are getting money from some guy by having Two Ton sit on him. The others wonder about their employer, hearing scary stuff about him, but John says that once they prove how valuable they are to him, they can rule the city. As they get ready to drive off in an armored truck... we see that Raphael is trapped inside. Yeah... that's our first glance of the Turtles in this comic. Raphael randomly stuck in the armored truck. Yeah, I know HOW he got there, as does anyone that watched the episode this was based on, but it sure sucks for anyone that just read this comic without having seen the show.
As the gang drive off, they happen to drive right past the Eastman and Laird cops, and after much convincing, they soon follow. Frank sees the Turtles jumping across the rooftops again, and when he tells the Lairdcop about it, he stops the car to give Frank a breathalyzer kit.
The Purple Dragons arrive at their location, ready to give their mystery employer the stolen money. They leave Two Ton in charge of the armored truck, when suddenly Mikey shows up behind him and knocks him out.
The other Turtles soon jump into the scene, and Don soon works on unlocking the armored truck to rescue Raphael. Just then the Purple Dragons return and find the Turtles. The Turtles kick some ass while exchanging banter, giving the perfect chance to call out each other's names, weapons and explain how Raph got into the armored truck in the first place. Good job, I guess. Johnny pulls out a gun, but Mike's nunchucks knock him out. Raph wishes there were more guys to fight, and suddenly the Foot Ninja show up.
The cops drive towards the scene and see the same armored truck drive past them, but this time with the Turtles behind the wheel. They toss the stolen cash into the cop car, just like I mentioned earlier.
Later on, in the hideout of the 'mystery employer' who we all know is Oroku Saki, Johnny explains how they were taken down by the Turtles. He promises that he will never fail again.... and Saki agrees that he will definitely never fail him again.... and the guy is killed off.
The cops are studying the place where the Turtles fought the Foot, and sure enough Frank finds the pic of him and Johnny as kids. The Lairdcop says there was probably a fight between rival gangs, and they should kill each other to make their jobs easier. Frank says that they probably had friends and family that hoped they would turn out to be good people. Lairdcop says 'things change', and Frank sadly agrees.
The comic was an interesting read, and yeah, I do think it's kinda sad seeing how John and Frank were friends as kids, and how John's choice to become a Purple Dragon cost him his life at the hands of the Shredder. Frank still cares about his friend and I feel bad when he eventually finds out that his friend is dead. I kinda think John still cared about Frank, but it was too late to change his life, he was too deep into the gang life. The title of the story has a whole new meaning. In the cartoon it was reflection of how the Turtles had to leave the comfort of their old lair and start a whole new life in a new home, and also a clever way to remind us that this was a whole new show and very different from the 80's cartoon that came before it. Here, it reflects on how the kid's lives have changed as they grew up, and how those changes made them end up on the opposite sides of the law. Things do change, and those changes affect the kind of people we become as we also grow up.
As for the Turtles... well, yeah, this comic is based on a cartoon episode, so to know more about them, and Splinter, and their overall deal, you have to watch it. As a stand-alone, we don't know much about them except their names and weapons, and a sorta-forced exposition as to how Raph got trapped in the armored truck... though there was no mention of how the Mousers came and destroyed their old lair which started off the whole adventure in the first place. And yeah... it was really weird having a random Mouser show up and try to eat an old lady's dog. Considering the Mouser had the dog in its mouth and was able to pull Frank along with him, it's a wonder the dog wasn't chomped to bits.
The art style is kinda weird, especially when the comic has advertisements for the actual cartoon show, which shows the Turtles in the book don't look much like they do in the cartoon the comic is based on. I wish they showed the fight against the Foot though. All we see is the Foot jump into the scene, and the Turtles toss the cash to the cops. I know they wanted to try something different, but hey, we buy an action based comic to see some action.
There's not much to say except this was a very weird way to open up the comic... making it more about the cop and Purple Dragon than the Turtles themselves. At least they gave more character and an actual name to Johnny. As far as I know, the only Purple Dragons with names were Hun, Dragon Face and Two-Ton. This dude had no story or even a name and was killed off in the first episode to show off that this new Shredder doesn't play around. As forgettable as he was, at least this comic gave him a story.
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