When most people hear discussion about how the Mirage TMNT is a more adult series than any of the cartoons, the first thing that comes to mind is blood and gore. Now while the original Mirage TMNT aren't exactly afraid of killing (they kill Shredder in the very first issue), the series isn't mature solely due to its violence (because honestly, Leo hacking someone with his sword is no less extreme than Wolverine slicing people up or Batman beating people bloody), but because it digs deep into character themes that most cartoons avoid because they're either more light-hearted, or because it's supposed to be 'action, Action, ACTION!'. Venka and I often discuss things on the new Nickshow, and while sometimes she does ponder deeply on the emotional aftermath of the Turtles and their situation on the show, I do remind her that even though her points are valid, it's still a kids show on Nick and it won't waste more than half the show dealing with depression and a whole lot of talking. While the Mirage series does have its fair share of silly moments and sometimes there are all-action issues, but it does deal with a lot of serious and sometimes dark themes which some might either bore kids or just go over their heads. That's where the mature themes come into play.
It's about time I start getting into the original Mirage series, and I just picked up issues 1 and 2 of Volume 3 of IDW's colored classics (the originals were in black and white donchaknow). The main focus here is Casey Jones, and yes, the original Mirage Casey is still the crazy vigilantee with sports equipment and a hockey mask, but rather than just being crazy for the sake of being crazy, the comic does go into him being a depressed drunk at times fighting his inner demons. Let's check it out.
Shades of Grey starts with Casey running across the rooftops of Springfield and Leo, Raph and Mike getting ready to chase as part of some game. Don opts out since he wants to debug some systems he's working on and Raph considers it a weak excuse. Splinter allows Don to stay and the Turtles head off. Splinter explains that April will drive the Turtles to the Memorial Bridge where Casey already has a three hour head start. If they haven't found him by 1AM, he will head back home and the Turtles will have a 20 mile walk home. April gets ready to head off after circling something that caught her attention in the newspaper.
April drops the Turtles off and Raph says if they can find Casey's Chevy, they can just grab him when he returns to pick it up. Leo and Mike agree. As the Turtles head off and April starts to head home, her truck broke down. A motorcyclist shows up and offers to help.
The Turtles are on a rooftop, searching for Casey, as our masked man is hiding by a gargoyle. He soon flips back to the ground and walks across a park when he hears something. It's a couple of thugs that call him Freddy (though with the hockey mask I figured they'd call him Jason instead??) and they demand he pay their toll for walking across their turf. Casey takes out his hockey stick and they fight it out.
One of the kids come at him with a knife, and Casey knees him in the chest and smashes him on the head with his hockey stick. The kid lays there while his buddies run away. Casey tells the other kid that he should go home too. The kid doesn't seem to be moving, and when Casey goes to check on him, he sees that he's dead.
Just then another vigilantee attacks him, Nobody, calling Casey a murderer. Casey tries to explain but Nobody won't hear it. Casey gets him in a leglock and punches him down. As he runs away, Nobody chases after him and jumps over a swing set. His cape gets caught on the swing chain and Casey is able to get away. Geez Nobody,.... that was just stupid....
Casey rests in a cemetery lamenting what he's just done. He punches a gravestone and bloodies up his hand. After sulking some more, he grabs his mask and is ready to leave. Nobody just found him.
The Turtles see the two punks from earlier running like crazy. They figured maybe they ran into Casey and head towards the direction they're running from. They soon find the dead kid. The Turtles determine a fight took place and see footprints leading away from the park. They find a piece of Casey's hockey stick and have a bad feeling. As they head off, Mike also notices the piece of Nobody's cape stuck on the swing chains.
Nobody and Casey continue to fight it out, with the vigilantee in black taking off his cape and using it to cover the hockey player's face. Casey puts up a good fight, but eventually Nobody comes out as the winner and he starts to cuff him. The Turtles show up and tell him to stop and Nobody says this guy is a killer. Leo says Casey isn't a murderer and Nobody tells them about the kid at the park.
The Turtles ask what happened and Casey says it was accident. Raph says Casey is going home with them. Nobody is confused, having fought alongside the turtles before, that they're condoning Casey's actions. Mikey asks him if he's ever killed before and Nobody says he's a cop and it's been done in self defense. Raph brings up the people he's killed when the last time they met and also states that as long as he's running around in the Nobody costume his badge as a police officer doesn't mean a thing.
Nobody says this makes them accomplices to murder. The Turtles say that Casey will answer for what he's done. Nobody says that he will see to that.
My Opinions-
It feels good to dig into the one and only original version of the Turtles. This is the main series where it all began after all. Originally TMNT # 48 I assume they didn't reffer to it do the 'wacky era' of the comics. The original Mirage run started off like any other comic series with the Turtles and their adventures following a general course, but somewhere in between there was a time where every issue was drawn by every random artist out there, usually in totally insane cartoony ways and most of them had nothing to do with anything except that the Turtles happen to be there. I do believe this was when Eastman and Laird were busy dealing with the fame and business deals regarding the 80's cartoon and Playmates toyline. Eventually they returned to the series and started some plotlines which led to City at War.
As for the story itself, it's a pretty simple idea. The Turtles go out looking for Casey as part of a game or training exercise of some sort. He runs into some trouble, accidentally hits one of them a little too hard and he's dead. Now another masked vigilantee is after him and the Turtles get involved.
The issue lies that accident or not, Casey killed someone and Nobody, as a police officer wants to take him in, no ifs, ands or buts. Shades of Grey is the perfect title for this as while Casey did kill someone, there was no evil intent. He was basically defending himself and teaching the low lives a lesson. And yeah, in the real world people do sometimes make stupid mistakes or bizzare cases happen which end up in someone being killed, and wether or not that was ever their intention, they still have to pay for it. We clearly see Casey's sense of shock and remorse over what he's done, but Nobody didn't see that and moved in to strike.
The Turtles of course have Casey's back. While they have met Nobody before, to them he's just a random nutjob in black tights. Casey, while also being a nutjob with sports gear, is their friend and they know he's not a cold blooded killer. I like how Raph points out that Nobody's 'by-the-book' police ethics don't apply when he's running around as a masked man that's technically above the law. The Turtles will deal with Casey but what will Nobody do now?
The comic was cool and the fights between Casey and Nobody were pretty sweet. Nice to see two street fighters go at it, though Casey's jumpkick showed he learned a thing or two from the the turtles. The only move that was very weird and wonky looking was the leglock... and then somehow Casey bending forward far enough to punch him in the face... I guess he was doing like a jack-knife punch or whatever? I kinda wish I was drawn at an easier to see angle or whatever. Still sounds like a move that the myth busters should see if its possible.
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| most awkwardly drawn Casey panel ever..... |
Although he's meant to be taken seriously the scene with him jumping over the swing and getting his cape stuck on the chain was just stupid and embarrassing. Casey didn't even jump over the swing to trick him into doing doing so. I know it was so that Casey could escape somehow for the time being, but there had to be a better way. Losing some valuable cool points there bud.
I can't really comment much on the colored VS original black and white, except for the most part it looks ok to me, except sometimes the Turtles masks look more orange than red. Other than that the comic was a good read. We'll see what happens next issue, since unlike a cartoon show, something like accidentally killing someone isn't something you can just shrug off and forget for 10 episodes until it's addressed again.
On a final note, there's a Youtube show that pits heroes from different series against each other with live actors actually playing out the right. There was a Casey Jones VS Kick-Ass one and while I won't spoil the outcome some posters commented that they were sure Casey would win since already killed a kid before, referring to this issue. Dude. He didn't do it on purpose or for fun. Geez.
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