Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles

Plot Summary and Credits

The interdimensional alien Kraang sends Splinter and the Turtles to another universe to keep them out of his way, along with their nemesis the Shredder and his Foot Clan warriors. They find themselves in Gotham City, where Shredder begins to take over the local crime syndicates, drawing the attention of Batman. They learn that the mutagen I their blood is becoming inert after leaving its home dimension, which will soon reduce them to their pre-mutant state if they stay in Gotham for too long. Seeing that they share a common enemy, the Turtles find their way into the Batcave and convince Batman to help them stop the Foot and get home. Shredder also finds a like-minded ally in the immortal warlord Ra’s Al Ghul, who intercept the Turtle’s ally Casey Jones as he tries to deliver them a fresh supply of mutagen. Said mutagen is then used by Shredder and Ra’s to turn the inmates Arkham Asylum into mutant monsters, who come close to defeating Batman and Robin before Splinter and the Turtles arrive. With all enemies defeated and the portal repaired, the Turtles gather Shredder and his soldiers and return to their own dimension.

James Tynion IV (writer), Freddie E Williams II (artist), Jeremy Colwell (colourist), Tom Napolitano (letterer), Kevin Eastman, Tomi Varga (variant cover artists), Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

Collects Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-6

My Copy

This wasn’t something I planned on reading, or that I even knew existed. I just saw it on the shelf one day, took one look at the title, and couldn’t help but be interested.

Before Reading

I knew that there was a Batman/Turtles crossover animated movie and had seen several clips, so I assumed that this must be the story that it was based on, expecting what I’d seen on YouTube to appear on the page. This expectation wasn’t necessarily good or bad in terms of how much I thought I’d enjoy the story; it was just a prediction.

After Reading

From what I’d seen of the animated movie, a lot of changes were made from the original story, which I assume had something to do with having fewer characters and locations to animate. Regardless, this crossover proved to be hugely entertaining, with all manner of cross-franchise match-ups that don’t feel out of place in a story like this. A concern that I had at first was that a the story would end up feeling contrived in order to justify its premise. While it does certainly have fun with the match-ups of heroes and villains from both universes, it does set limitations on itself to keep it from spiralling into unrefined fan service. We start off with a semi-credible (because everything else about it is totally realistic) reason for the Turtles and the Foot Clan to be in Gotham, followed by a time limit in the form of the decaying mutagen, which in turn keeps the villains of this universe from remaining in their new forms for too long after the story ends.

Both Turtle and Bat villains are given an equal amount of spotlight, but are utilised by the story in different ways. Since they’re in another dimension, Shredder is the only one of the Turtles’ enemies available, while the entire rogue’s gallery of Gotham is at the ready in Arkham Asylum. The apparent imbalance is remedied by the inclusion of the mutagen as a plot device and using it to make the Arkham inmates more like the Turtles’ regular foes: anthropomorphic animals vaguely connected to their respective themes, like Mr Freeze bing a polar bear, Scarecrow being a crow and Penguin being (who would’ve thought it?) a penguin. I’m not entirely sure why Bane turns into an elephant, but it’s kind of funny.

The Turtles’ infiltration of the Batcave is one of my favourite parts of the story, and plays out pretty much how you’d expect. We have Mikey wanting to play with everything, Donnie geeking out about the gadgets and technology, and Leo and Raph bickering about their next move, followed by a brief fight when Bruce returns home to find a bunch of teenage mutants messing with his stuff. Alfred’s interactions with the Turtles are especially entertaining, such as when he scolds Michelangelo for skateboarding in the manor and spilling pizza everywhere.

Among all of the excitement and Easter eggs of the crossover, there are some genuinely heartfelt moments, namely between Bruce and Raphael. Raph accuses Batman of being nothing more than a rich thrill seeker, until he goes to Crime Alley and hears Bruce’s story. These two have always been the more serious among their respective teams, so it’s only natural for Raph to be the one to have a heart-to-heart with Batman, both to make him understand his motives and to bring Bruce to a level of emotional understanding with his chaotic, interdimensional guests. It shows that this crossover respects both of its groups of characters and doesn’t try to undermine either of them by pushing one of them down to pick a favourite.

I wasn’t sure if this was truly the end for this crossover, mainly due to its designation as “volume 1”. I know that this is common for collections that can be compiled in a single volume, but if there are other stories to be told afterwards, I would have liked to have a small hint. If this is the case, I’d better get looking for them.

Closing Thoughts

Batman’s crossover with the Turtles isn’t the most epic event in comic book history, but it’s a fun little storyline that does everything you’d expect from it in a satisfying way.

Next week’s review will look at another superpowered quartet in a story that, as of writing this, I still haven’t finished, but is fantastic enough to push my schedule back a bit.