Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in “Secret Origin” by Matt Duarte
Panel 1
Description: A young man, with shinny red hair is standing in front of a pet shop. He is looking eagerly at the displays in the window. Around him, many people walk in the busy sidewalk.
CAPTION: “Turtles have it all figured out, son!” he used to say whenever we passed in front of this shop.
CAPTION: “Slow an’ steady wins the race izza given, but they know how to roll with da punches. They get into their shells and wait until it’s safe ta come out. It’s not fear, it’s called being practical.”
CAPTION: That was my dad’s fighting style in a shell, so it’s easy to see why he would relate.
Panel 2
Description: A woman and her son are walking out of the shop. The boy coming out is carrying a small fish tank with four turtles inside. The red-headed boy who was staring through the window is now walking after them, looking at the tank.
CAPTION: He had promised to buy me a set of turtles as pets. He knew I didn’t have many friends because of my constant studying, and wanted to make it up to me.
CAPTION: “Once th’ next check comes in”, he said. I was already planning what to name them in between my history homework.
CAPTION: Perhaps after great Egyptian leaders. Or maybe skillful Civil War generals. Or even famous renaissance artists.
Panel 3
Description: The mother and boy are standing at a pedestrian’s cross in a busy street. Meanwhile an old blind man, carrying his walking cane, is crossing in the middle of the street. Behind them all, the red headed boy from earlier is trying to get across, and accidentally pushes the boy with the turtles, knocking the tank off his hands.
CAPTION: That’s what I was doing, settling on the names, moments before the accident, as I followed the lucky boy that had gotten four turtles from the pet shop.
CAPTION: I felt terrible about having to push him, but I knew the turtles would be fine.
CAPTION: “They’ll just roll with the punches!”, I thought, in my best “Dad” impression.
Panel 4
Description: The blind man and the red-headed boy are laying down flat on the street, uninjured but shocked. A truck has veered off the street and a green glowing material is splashed all over the scene, particularly in the red-headed boy’s face, but also down a drain on the side of the street. It is there where the remnants of a fish tank lay destroyed, as the other boy cries and points at the drain. The mother tries to console him as she crouches next to him.
CAPTION: What came next is history. “Son of heavyweight champion saves blind man from certain doom!”, as the newspapers succinctly put it.
CAPTION: I know everything that happened that day. I’ve pieced it all back together since then, from the reports, except for one little thing.
CAPTION: I never found out what happened to those poor turtles I knocked out of that boy’s hands. I wonder whatever happened to them.
The End.
The boy was splashed in the face with mutagen? Does he now have a mutant head? :)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this is a really cool origins piece. I liked it a lot.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder why there's never been a real TMNT/Marvel crossover.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you just mixed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Daredevil. It makes so much sense it's criminal!
ReplyDeleteI particularly enjoyed the "Or even famous renaissance artists." line. Very cute.
Not to burst your bubble Matt, and I'm not sure if you know, but...
ReplyDelete"In fact, many comics fans will recognize in the Turtles' origin several direct allusions to Daredevil: The traffic accident, involving a blind man and a truck carrying radioactive waste, is a reference to Daredevil's own origin story. The name "Splinter" is a parody on Daredevil's mentor, a man known as "Stick." The Foot, a clan of evil ninja who became the Turtles' arch-enemies, is a parody of the Hand, who were themselves a mysterious and deadly ninja clan in the pages of Daredevil."
Did you already know that the radioactive ooze that spilled from a truck causing Matt to go blin was also responisble for the turtles?
That aside, gret script.
Thanks guys.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I already knew about the Daredevil connection. I expanded it a bit here, seen from Matt's perspective, but I knew full well that TMNT's origin was always intended to be a parallel/parody of DD.
Really? I never knew that. I'd picked up on the Hand/Foot thing, but I thought that was as far as it went... You learn something new every day :)
ReplyDeleteMatt, you know this one had me. It always would. But it helps that you put it together well. I like it. The final line ties it all together so well.
ReplyDelete