Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #108 just saw a mini-argument break out that calls out the biggest flaw of a key member of the heroic quartet.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#108, by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Sophie Campbell, Ronda Pattinson, Nelson Daniel, Bobby Curnow and Shawn Lee, on sale now.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #108 finds the Turtles struggling with the Slithery, a mutated eel, that’s kidnapping innocents in Mutant Town. This issue finds them freed from its slimy prison and helping out the kids such as Lita who got taken too.
However, it’s an emotional ride, since Lita is the one who ran away and caused the Heroes in a Half-Shell to get nabbed by the eel. To make her feel better, Michelangelo rips on Raphael, but by calling out his brother’s biggest flaw, he just may have annoyed the hot-head a bit more than intended by bringing up something that’s clearly bothering him.
Jennika’s comforting Lita as she views her as a daughter-figure, but the kid is filled with regret for running away from the dojo. She wasn’t doing too well since being adopted, and she fled after a minor fallout with her teachers. Lita thinks she’s a bad ninja for this, but she’s consoled as Jennika knows they’ve got to take some blame as they’re still learning to be parents like Master Splinter.
It’s at this point Mikey takes a shot at Raph, telling her it’s okay because Raph runs away all the time and they still love him. It’s harsh but true because, in so many comics, cartoons and movies, Raph does this, leaving the team to go sulk in the shadows alone. He’s done this for many reasons: not getting the leadership role, disagreeing with how Leo’s captaining the team or falling out with Splinter over a lack of aggressive tactics. In short, he’s come off as a spoiled brat, and it’s forced his brothers to put themselves in danger by having to finding him.
They’re stronger together and Raph’s antics have either seen him ambushed by Shredder, Krang and the Foot Clan on his lonesome, or resulted in his brothers getting assaulted too. You can tell Raph feels the burn of Mikey’s scathing words as he retorts by calling Mikey a screw-up. Still, Ralph has hurt the family for many years with this petulance. Even April O’Neil and Casey Jones have called him it out on it, and at the start of this arc, following Splinter’s death, he did the same.
Thankfully, he came back home and it looks like his budding romance with the mutant fox, Alopex, will be keeping him tethered to the dojo for the near future. But per Mikey’s words, Raph really has to mature and understand family means you don’t just kick rocks when things don’t go your way. It’s not what Splinter taught them, and it’s a bad habit he needs to exorcise very soon, especially with Baxter Stockman secretly plotting against them once more.
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