The Shredder – Future Erred – MK Stangeland Jr.

(RAPHAEL has found himself in a dark, war-torn version of the future. Here, he’s confronted by what at first glance appears to be the SHREDDER.)

(4~ Panels)

Panel 1: SHREDDER removes his mask as he holds RAPHAEL in the air, revealing himself to actually be a future version of RAPHAEL – SHREDDER!RAPH. His armor is redesigned to fit the turtle’s body structure. His face lacks his typical red mask, but he has a number of scars and where future versions of RAPHAEL normally have an eye-patch, his missing eye is instead flowing with dark, mystical energy.

SHREDDER!RAPH: Why would I want to kill you when you offer us a second chance?

RAPHAEL: You…Me…?!

Panel 2: SHREDDER!RAPH drops RAPHAEL, who fails to catch himself on account of shock.

SFX: thunk

SHREDDER!RAPH (1): Yeah. I’m who you become.

SHREDDER!RAPH (2): Or I was.

Panel 3: RAPHAEL holds his sais as he picks himself up, positioning himself like he’s ready for another bout against his future self. SHREDDER!RAPH is unimpressed.

RAPHAEL: I’m going to need a better explanation than that!

SHREDDER!RAPH: I’ll give you one.

Panel 4: This and the rest of the page should flow together as if they were one large panel, even as they have their own individual pieces. The whole of it is highlighted against a backdrop of the same kind of energy flowing out of SHREDDER!RAPH’s missing eye, and should be arranged so that it starts from the corner of SHREDDER!RAPH’s missing eye and then flows to fill the rest of the page.

Panel 4-1: SHREDDER – OROKU SAKI – stand above the slain bodies of MASTER SPLINTER, DONATELLO, and MICHELANGELO. He holds LEONARDO by the neck and prepares to kill him.

SHREDDER!RAPH (1): He killed ‘em. All of ‘em. My brothers, Master Splinter. Even Casey Jones.

SHREDDER!RAPH (2): Almost killed me too. I barely escaped, and then spent years planning revenge.

Panel 4-2: RAPHAEL stands triumphant above the dead body of ORODU SAKI and holds SHREDDER’s helmet in his hands above him like he’s just claimed the worlds greatest trophy.

SHREDDER!RAPH: And then killed him and seized control of the Foot. I tried to use them to do some good in this world. In my family’s memory.

Panel 4-3: SHREDDER!RAPH – now appearing in his present armor, but without all the battle scars and with both his eyes. He leads an army of FOOT NINJAS into battle.

SHREDDER!RAPH: I think you can tell that didn’t work out too well.

(END PAGE)

Shredder - Family Ties - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Shredder walks amongst a room filled with plenty of defeated Foot soldiers.  They lie all around the floor, beaten to within various inches of their life.  In the centre of the room is the source of this beating: a bruised and tired Splinter.  He kneels in exhaustion from the exertion of fighting so many ninja.  Shredder heads towards him.

SHREDDER: The Foot Clan was once a family.

2 - Shredder kneels by a fallen member of the Foot Clan, holding his arm to take his pulse.  While near Splinter, his attention is on the prostate figure whose arm he holds.

SHREDDER: Like you and your turtles, I once cared for every man and woman who joined the Foot, watching with pride as they matured and developed into true warriors.

3 - Shredder lets the arm fall to the floor, directing his attention to Splinter.

SHREDDER: But with time, I grew bored of their personal trials and tribulations.  All I cared for was that they accomplish what was asked of them.

4 - Shredder now stands above Splinter, a group of Foot soldiers stands around them.  They are in silhouette, standing just outside the reach of the room's light, but the Foot logo on their foreheads stands out, a bright crimson in the darkness.

SHREDDER: Unfortunately, your family has proven itself more than equal to the pathetic failures that I once called my own.

5 - Repeat panel, except the shadowy Foot soldiers have stepped forward to reveal themselves as Foot soldier robots.  Their skull-like robot faces glare menacingly towards Splinter.  The crimson Foot Clan logos are joined by the bright, evil red of the robots' eyes.

SHREDDER: Happily, I've found a better one to take its place.

Shredder - Callback - Ben Rosenthal

1.  A close up of Shredder's leg, strapping on his spiked leg guard.

CAPTION (Shredder)
Oroku Saki.

That was my name.


2.  A close up of Shredder's arm as puts on the glove with spikes.

CAPTION (Shredder)
I no longer need it.

Nor the feelings and emotions that go with it.


3.  From behind, Shredder is putting on his helmet with both hands.

CAPTION (Shredder)
I have a new name.  A name to put terror into the hearts of all.

I am--


4.  Cut to a different area/time.  The Shredder has just revealed himself to the Turtles for the first time.  We see from behind the four Ninja Turtles.  They are looking up at an imposing Shredder, looking threatening.

SHREDDER
The Shredder!


5.  A close up of the four turtles.  They aren't scared nor intimidated.

RAPHAEL
A kitchen utensil?

Shredder - Happy Birthday - R.A. Wonsowski

Panel 1- ME, my WIFE, and my KIDS (10 and 6 years old) walk into an Olive Garden Italian restaurant, greeted by SHREDDER at the Maître'd podium. He is holding menus and waving a hand into the table area. I am mildly surprised, but WIFE grabs my arm nervously. The KIDS think being greeted by a man covered in knives is cool.

SHREDDER: Wonsowski. Table for four. Welcome to Olive Garden.

Panel 2- SHREDDER takes our order, writing on his pad of paper. He is imposing, and not making WIFE any more comfortable...

WIFE: I'll have the seafood Alfredo...

SHREDDER: YOU'LL HAVE CHICKEN!

WIFE: Yesthechicken!

Panel 3- SHREDDER is tossing salad in the giant salad bowl with one claw, while a Foot Clan NINJA grates Parmesan cheese using SHREDDER'S extended other arm, over my younger KID'S lasagna. WIFE is taking a large swallow of red wine. The breadstick basket is empty, and my older KID bravely holds it out to SHREDDER.

OLDER KID: Can we please get more breadsticks?

SHREDDER: Your table will be dominated by their garlicky goodness.

Panel 4- The older KID has a slice of chocolate mousse cake with a candle sticking out of it in front of him; the younger KID laughs and claps as SHREDDER leads a trio of Foot Clan NINJAS in song. Even WIFE is looking at ME with an impressed look upon her face.

SHREDDER: Sing, curse you! SING!

NINJA TRIO: Na-na-na-na-nanaaa, dadah - You say it's your birthday.... Na-na-na-na-nanaaa, dadah - It's my birthday too, yeah....

Panel 5- With a mighty mid-air slash, SHREDDER cuts my credit card in three with his claw. I stand shocked with my wallet in my hand as my FAMILY laugh at my shame.

SHREDDER: Diner's Club?!? You call yourself a man? Have you no MasterCard?!

Panel 6- WE all leave together, to-go boxes in hand, waving goodbye to SHREDDER, two Foot Clan NINJAS high-fiving behind him. WIFE's got her arm around me affectionately and my KIDS are rambunctiously happy. SHREDDER waves back...

YOUNGER KID: I wanna come back for MY birthday!

SHREDDER: Thank you, come again...or I'll destroy you all!

Why Shredder?

Because movie...

Oh, God, burn it with fire!

OK, despite my feelings about Michael Bay leaving flaming bags of dog doo on my childhood's doorstep, you cannot deny the impact the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had on the comics landscape and on popular culture in general.

That's better...

Keep in mind that the Turtles hit the industry when comics were serious business. The direct market and local comic shops were developing, Frank Miller was tearing it up on Daredevil and Ronin, and Dave Sim was championing the independent small press and creating Comics by-gosh Literature. Maybe comics were taking themselves too seriously...

The Original.

Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman were a welcome shot of fun the arm of comics needed, and they skewered all of the above like a katana through a pizza box. The isotope that gave Matt Murdock his radar sense and blinded him, was the same one that mutated the turtles. Though they referred to themselves as ninjas, they acted more like sewer samurais. Though the cartoon was far goofier than the semiserious comic, the honor and heroism were TMNT's constants.

And their archenemy was evil to the core.

Shredder, 1984

Eastman has said the inspiration for Shredder was a cheese grater, and Laird had no desire to use him beyond the first story arc. Oroku Saki became a member of the ninja Foot clan to avenge the death of his brother, and rose through their ranks to create an empire built on smuggling and assassination.  Brutal, ridiculously intelligent, and completely without honor, he would cheat death again and again.

Turtlllllesssss!

In the cartoons, he gains access to alien technology supplied by Krang, creating robot ninjas (cool) and henchmen Rocksteady and Bebop (not cool). The cartoon actually fills an important piece of back story: Saki defeated a tengu demon called a Shredder, but at his brother's death, succumbed to its evil. It also hints that he is the source of his own failures; in one future timeline, he becomes the emperor of New York, but the responsibilities of his conquest overwhelm him, and surrenders to the Turtles first chance he gets.

I have the po...oh, sorry, wrong cartoon...

In a departure from previous films, where Shredder is portrayed as a Japanese Fagin recruiting gang teens to the Foot to commit crimes because Evil, Michael Bay's Shredder (portrayed by William Fichtner) is an isolationist domestic terrorist. Gone are the swords in favor of guns...but maybe that's OK. Maybe, 30 years after his creation, Shredder has come full circle, and is once again, like Eastman and Laird intended...

Shredder, 2014.

...one vicious villain.

Cowabunga.