TMNT Adventures #37 – October 1992

Stump’d Again!!

Credits: Dean Clarrain (script), Chris Allan (pencils), Jon D’Agostino (inks), Gary Fields (letters), Barry Grossman (colors)

After their adventure in the Middle East, the Turtles spend days traveling the desert on their way to Africa. Just as Michelangelo complains to Splinter about desert travel, Cudley the Cowlick appears. Cudley offers them a ride out of the desert if they agree to another wrestling tournament. Despite Ninjara’s misgivings about traveling inside a giant cow’s head's mouth, the heroes go along with Cudley’s offer. The Turtles are escorted backstage, where they learn that they’ll have to wrestle each other. The winner will then face off with a new wrestler, El Mysterio.

Before the match begins, Splinter and Ninjara have a private conversation. Splinter tells Ninjara that she’s proven herself to the group, but he’s not sure how he feels about Raphael having a girlfriend. He realizes his Turtles are growing up, and is comforted by Ninjara as they gaze at the stars. It’s soon time for the main event, which pits the Turtles against each other in a four-way match. Surprisingly, Donatello proves to be the winner (his explanation for his moves is that “it pays to read”). He now faces El Mysterio, who we learn is not the Spider-Man villain wearing a sombrero.

Donatello twists “El Mysterio”’s limbs into a submission hold and emerges as the grand winner. Stump is true to his word, and Cudley brings everyone back to Earth.

Review in a Half-Shell: This is mainly a sequel to issue #7, which was the first issue of the title to get a little weird. There’s not much of a plot, but it does manage to get the group out of a geographically inconvenient location. Splinter and Ninjara have a nice moment together, and I thought the revelation of El Mysterio was pretty funny.

Meanwhile, in Riverdale: The Archie gang is promoting Club Med vacations, and a bikini-clad Veronica has a dream that explains how Archie comics are made out of recycled material.