BODYCOUNT #4 – July 1996

Credits:  Kevin Eastman (story & layouts), Simon Bisley (pencils & inks), Steve Lavigne (letters & colors), Altered Earth Arts (computer colors)

Pizza-Free Summary:  Raphael so enthusiastically joins the fight, Casey worries about his mental state.  As Casey is struck by a bullet, Martin convinces Midnight and Johnny Woo Woo to face each other one-on-one in Sanctuary.  After Martin reveals that Sanctuary was created as an arena where two competitors could resolve disputes, Midnight divulges Lord Dong’s motive for wanting her dead.  Dong knew of Midnight’s support of Sanctuary, and disapproved of her secret relationship with fellow employee Lee.  Dong also wanted Johnny dead, fearing him to be too powerful.  Johnny initially doubts that Dong wanted them all dead, but realizes that Midnight, his sister, is telling the truth.  He grabs her blade and commits suicide.  Nearby, Casey regains consciousness and reveals that the bullet struck a commemorative hockey puck he keeps near his heart.  Raphael lets go of his bloodlust and encourages Martin to end the violence.  He leads Raphael and the others out of his church, which he promptly firebombs.  Later in Hong Kong, Lord Dong receives one of Johnny’s metal hands, sent by his secret agent, Detective Choy.

Continuity Notes:  This miniseries seems to be ignoring Casey Jones’ relationship with April O’Neil, since he asks Midnight at the end of the story if she’s interested in him.  (In just a few months, we see Casey and April raising a kid together in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles volume 3.)  Also, in case you care, FBI agent Bode is accidentally killed by Choy’s assistant while they stand outside of Martin’s church.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  In addition to a couple of almost f-bombs, and of course more blood and guts, Midnight spontaneously changes outfits into a one-piece reminiscent of Vamperilla’s.  The outfit doesn’t seem to cover all of her areola, and not surprisingly, she’s still “poking” out.  (I’m posting a blurred version partially as a joke, but also because it is possible that a kid  Googling TMNT might find these posts.)

I Love the ‘90s:  Martin pulls out the Forest Gump “Life is like a box of chocolates” line during the final pages.

Review in a Half-Shell:  Well, that unpleasantness is behind us now.  I remember Larsen ran a letter from a mother outraged by this comic, essentially to mock her and tell her that he isn’t responsible for raising her kids.  That attitude still perplexes me -- was it so outrageous that a mother assume a comic with a Ninja Turtle on the cover be suitable for her kid?  I’m sure the letter did make the woman come across as a little screwy, but taking this dismissive stance after TMNT has generated millions of dollars for its creators as a kid-friendly property is ridiculous.  If you take the money, you accept certain responsibilities as well.  Assuming this book was sold on the newsstand (I’m almost positive I saw the third issue at a Walmart), it would be safe to expect children were going to see it.  A parent who truly looked at the covers could’ve guessed this isn’t for kids, but I can understand why many parents would just assume anything Ninja Turtles was okay for little Timmy.  Of course, TMNT was dying out as a kids’ property in 1996, so no real controversy was generated, but to be so flippant towards the complaints seems needlessly arrogant.

After three consecutive issues of non-plot, the finale takes the route of the info-dump and clumsily explains the rationale behind all of the violence we’ve seen so far.  So, “Sanctuary” turned out to be Mortal Kombat all along, with a deranged lunatic running a fight ring inside an old church that’s supposedly going to lessen internal mob violence.  (The previous issues hinted that a mystical or supernatural revelation was coming, but whatever.)  Midnight was a target because of an unrevealed relationship with a character that hasn’t been mentioned so far, and oh yeah, she’s also Johnny Woo Woo’s sister.  Johnny Woo Woo is also a target of Lord Dong due to, as the internet likes to say “reasons,” and that’s supposed to explain everything that’s been going on for the past three issues.  All of this information is revealed in giant blocks of text that are awkwardly shoved into, surprise, another fight scene.  Speaking of those giant blocks of text, I don’t want to pick on the creative team for every misspelled word in this series, but I can’t let “there’s” being written as “they’re’s” go without comment.  Unless you speak English as a second language, “they’re’s” no excuse for that one.

As for the nominal stars of the miniseries, Raphael has a brief psychotic break, followed by a quickie realization that maybe violence isn’t always great after Casey Jones is apparently killed.  Casey is just fine, of course, and free to hit on the demure Midnight by the story’s end.  She tells him that she’s no good for him, the heroes go home, and there’s a tossed off comedy bit involving Detective Choy and his assistant (whose name I haven’t caught, if in fact it’s ever been given) selling roadside hot dogs as a part of their plan to move to Mexico.  This was all mindless violence, yet the final issue tries to feed us a story rationalization and an insincere moral lesson at the end anyway.  With the exception of the brother/sister revelation, none of the information saved for the final issue needed to be withheld for so long, and I can’t imagine anyone bought Raphael’s conversion from vicious lunatic to pacifist.  If you’re going to be publishing four issues of relentless violence, it’s better to present it in an imaginative way, or at least make it funny.  Outside of shock value, and a few pieces of nice art, there’s nothing memorable here.  

BODYCOUNT #3 – May 1996

Credits:  Kevin Eastman (story & layouts), Simon Bisley (pencils & inks), Steve Lavigne (letters & colors), Altered Earth Arts (computer colors)

Pizza-Free Summary:  Casey, Raphael, and Midnight escape with Courtney.  As the authorities close in on Johnny Woo Woo, Courtney takes the group to an abandoned church to meet the mysterious Martin.  Martin tells Midnight that she is “our” champion, but she’ll have to fight before she sees Sanctuary.  Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Lord Dong boasts that he will soon reunite East and West.  Johnny Woo Woo and his men invade Martin’s church, not long before the authorities and Dong’s personal army also arrive.  As Woo Woo massacres Martin’s men, Casey and Raphael raid their weapons closet and join the fray.

Continuity Notes:  Casey Jones finds his patriotic mask, the one he wears in the upcoming Image Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, inside Martin’s weapons closet.  For the record, Casey states that he hates guns, while Raphael decides this issue he loves them.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  More graphic violence, more profanity, and now nipple pokes make an appearance on literally every female character in the issue.

I Love the ‘90s:  Raphael’s opinion of the dilapidated church, “Looks like something outta that Crow flick!”

Review in a Half-Shell:  In fairness, the mindless violence is slightly less mindless this time.  This issue hints that Midnight is more than just the victim of a routine mob hit, and that she has some preordained destiny that places her in-between Lord Dong and the mysterious Martin.  Unfortunately, Martin is so “mysterious” that nothing he says comes across as coherent, while Lord Dong’s true motivation remains unknown.  (And if you think a cheap joke is made at the expense of Lord Dong’s name, you’re right.)  Making this more frustrating is the lettering, which has been filled with typos and missing commas for the series’ entire run.  This issue also suffers from some confusing balloon placement that ruins the flow of dialogue in a few scenes.  So, there’s a hint of a story now, but due to the choppy writing and lack of proofreading, piecing together what it’s supposed to be is simply annoying.

Simon Bisley delivers his best work of the mini so far this issue.  He’s given a wider variety of things to draw this time, so even if the reader still has to endure the numerous repetitive pages of people shooting at each other, the backgrounds look great.  The landscapes and architecture add some life to the book, and Bisley’s cartoony interpretations of the various armed goons are much more charming this time.  He’s obviously working from a weak plot, and I still find his female characters unappealing, but he does seem to be enjoying himself this issue.

BODYCOUNT #2 – April 1996

Credits:  Kevin Eastman (story & layouts), Simon Bisley (pencils & inks), Steve Lavigne (letters & colors), Altered Earth Arts (computer colors)

Pizza-Free Summary:  Casey, Raphael, and Midnight escape Johnny Woo Woo’s men and travel to Pittsburgh.  On their way, another encounter with Woo Woo leaves a gas station destroyed.  In Pittsburgh, Midnight is reunited with her friend Courtney, who will allegedly arrange her trip to “Sanctuary.”  Johnny Woo Woo finds Courtney’s hideout and another firefight ensues.  Meanwhile, Detective Choy is assigned the case and paired with FBI agent Bode.

Continuity Notes:  Midnight claims she was “just a driver” for the mob and doesn’t know the details of their activities.  Raphael is suspicious, and doesn’t want to be rewarded with Midnight’s mob money.  Raphael is also unable to fire a gun during the story’s opening, since his fingers won’t fit in the trigger hole.  He later rips off the metal surrounding the trigger and fires an Uzi for the first time.

I Love the ‘90s:  Raphael comments “I feel retarded!” while in disguise at Grand Central Station.  It seems unlikely a major publisher would let that line go through today.

What the Shell?:  During one of the action scenes, Raphael picks up a grenade, pulls the pin, throws it into a hot dog cart, and shoves the cart into Woo Woo’s henchmen.  Why go through this elaborate sequence, and destroy someone else’s property, when you could just throw the stupid grenade?

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  More ultra-violence, including more than one depiction of a character (literally) getting his head blown off or a hole blown in his body.

Review in a Half-Shell:  Hey, let’s follow up the previous issue of continuous running and fighting with more running and fighting.  The major problem with the story so far is that Midnight remains a cipher, so there’s no investment in whether or not the mob catches her.  Casey Jones’ decision to aid her is also poorly justified, the only explanation being that he’s a sucker for a pretty face.  Raphael, for his part, is reluctant to go along with any of this, but eventually decides to just enjoy the violence.  (That part I don’t mind so much, and to Eastman’s credit, he does establish early on that Raph wants nothing to do with the mob.)  The weak plot was a given, but so far I haven’t seen an action sequence so great it justifies the series’ other flaws.

The only break from the violence comes in two cutaway scenes, and both are so flimsy it’s hard to really rationalize their existence.  One scene has Detective Choy being assigned the case based on an unrevealed history with Woo Woo, and the other has Woo Woo flashing back to his assignment from Lord Dong to kill Midnight.  He doesn’t particularly want to do it, but he’s a loyal soldier and he’s going through with the job anyway.  Regardless, Woo Woo remains a dull antagonist, one without the personality required to carry an all-action story.  The only redeeming feature at this point is Bisley’s art, which is fairly inconsistent.  I like his Raphael, and some of his detailed close-up shots of the various characters look amazing.  However, I don’t care for his shorthand figures (all of those no-neck men are distracting), and his female characters all look Hustler cheap.  

BODYCOUNT #1 – March 1996

Credits:  Kevin Eastman (story & layouts), Simon Bisley (pencils & inks), Steve Lavigne (letters & colors), Altered Earth Arts (computer colors)

Pizza-Free Summary:  Casey Jones is kicked out of a bar during a fight.  He lands on top of Midnight, who happens to be passing by.  She unexpectedly spots a car belonging to Johnny Woo Woo, her former partner in crime.  Midnight evades Johnny’s henchmen while flashing back to her last disastrous mission in Hong Kong.  She runs inside the bar, where Casey greets her again and offers help.  They’re cornered by Johnny Woo Woo and his men in the back of the bar, when Raphael suddenly enters from above.  With Raphael's help, Casey and Midnight escape.

Production Notes:  

• Bodycount #1 originally saw life as Mirage Publishing’s Casey Jones and Raphael #1.  (“Bodycount” was the name of the storyline, but not the official title of Mirage’s miniseries.)  The initial cover date was October 1994.  Mirage stopped publishing comics after the first issue was released, leaving the miniseries unfinished until Erik Larsen agreed to publish TMNT material through Image.  Re-released as Bodycount,the series ran as four issues (one of them the reprinted first issue), rather than the originally announced five.  Jim Lawson has a back-up story “Guzzi LeMans” in the original Mirage issue that isn’t finished in the Image series.
• Kevin Eastman was incorrectly listed as the penciler in the original Mirage printing of this comic; the Image version lists Bisley as the penciler and Eastman as the layout artist.
• Casey Jones and Raphael #1 had twenty pages, while Bodycount #1 includes six additional story pages.
• The cover date lists February 1996, while March 1996 is listed in the indicia.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  This was apparently the first TMNT comic consciously published for an adult audience.  It features numerous bloody battle scenes and several uncensored uses of the word “shit” (which was still incredibly rare in an Image comic of this era).

Review in a Half-Shell:  It’s not a secret that while Peter Laird leans towards Jack Kirby, Kevin Eastman’s tastes are much closer to Heavy Metal.  (You might even say Eastman is Heavy Metal’s biggest fan.)  That blend of influences brought a lot of life to the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stories, which jumped from sci-fi to martial arts to Silver Age Marvel to grindhouse street brawls.  It’s not that much of a shock that Eastman would want to do a grittier TMNT series with Simon Bisley, but I was surprised by how far they took the concept.  It’s one thing to declare that TMNT was never intended for small kids; it’s another to produce a comic that actively alienates the audience that made the concept a billion dollar franchise.

To be clear, Bodycount is trashy and dumb.  That doesn’t automatically mean it’s bad; I can enjoy trashy and dumb entertainment, you just have to know what you’re getting into.  The goal of the story is to churn out fast-paced action and violence while providing readers with the cheap thrill of seeing bloody gore and potty talk in a Turtles comic.  The influence is John Woo (you might have noticed a cleverly hidden homage to his name), which hints at an early problem with the plot.  Comics are static images, while film is constant movement.  A three-minute John Woo action scene properly translated into a comic would run around sixty pages, and would most likely test the patience of the average reader.  The violence in Bodycount is already tiresome before the first issue is up, so I’m not sure where the rest of the series has to go from here.  There’s also a basic storytelling problem that makes the debut issue a little too frustrating -- it’s hard to tell when the Hong Kong flashback begins and ends.  Upon a rereading, this was a little easier to discern, but the awkward transition is a barrier to understanding Midnight’s connection to Johnny Woo Woo.  

This clearly isn’t a story designed to make you think, just as it isn’t intended as all-ages fun, so it wouldn’t be entirely fair to judge it by that standard.  The action maintained my interest during the opening pages (which features that unique leathery texture of Bisley’s inks and nice digitally painted colors during Casey’s bloody bar brawl), but my mind wandered during the Hong Kong flashback, and by the end of the story I didn’t have a real interest in what happens next.  The combination Eastman/Bisley Raphael splash page, however, is one strong image.  I get the appeal of a street-level TMNT story focusing on Casey and Raphael, but I also feel that the excessive “adult” content comes across as trying too hard.  As a kid, the graphic nature of the project would’ve appealed to me, if only because of its forbidden nature.  As a teen, I would wonder why I should bother with the book when there’s more extreme material on HBO.  As an adult, I just shrug my shoulders.