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Synopsis
The 80th anniversary of Batman collides with the 35th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in this stunning concluding miniseries to the BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES trilogy. Our heroes have battled the evil of the Foot Clan in Gotham City and Bane in New York, but now Krang has gotten his hands on the most dangerous technologies in the DC Universe-and no universe is safe from his wrath! Co-published with IDW.
Review
Ever the skeptic when I read the first Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series I didn’t quite expect to fall in love with the mash-up. Given that the TMNT crew was born out of the world of Daredevil and Marvel I always felt a mash-up of those two work work perfect.
Colour me surprised when actually the worlds of the Bat and the Turtles fit together incredibly well. Tynion IV has written two brilliant stories bringing villains from each world over to the other and I was pretty excited to see where the series could go in this final run.
Having read very little about the series ahead of the release of this issue I was intrigued by the multi-verse setting. Seeing Bruce as part of the family raised by Splinter is an interesting twist on the entire mashup. Though there isn’t much time to explore it in this issue I’m hoping we get to see more of a world where Bruce Wayne remained in the shadows but grew up as part of a family of brothers.
This issue feels very fast paced. It’s difficult being the opener as there’s nothing to compare it aside from prior mini-series. But in comparison to those we’re running pretty fast here. There’s that series finale sensibility about it like we’ve got a lot of ground to cover and not necessarily much time to cover it in.
It’s made apparent from the outset we’re not in our normal world. Batman’s new ninja-esque costume will leave you scratching your head for a few panels, as will the new ninja style Harley and Joker.
To begin with I thought that Tynion IV would leave us simply in an alternate universe. But once Joker appears and we get a glimpse of the world we are more acquainted with there’s plenty of intrigue suddenly injected in to the story.
The augmented versions of the TMNT gang is also another point of intrigue. With each looking suspiciously like a Bat-family member from the prime universe I’d like to see what happens if everyone gets to cross over at some point in a future issue.
With only 6-issues there’s not a lot of time to wrap things up. I do have some concerns that Tynion IV will be able to hold the pace but if previous series are anything to go by this should be a wild ride.
Freddie E. Williams II artwork perfectly complements the story. He takes the familiar settings and scenarios and augments them brilliantly to fit with the TMNT aesthetic.
There’s also a flare of the original TMNT series which helps add validity to the crossover. It’s not a look we’re used to seeing with Batman – not outside this series anyway – so it’s nice to see him flex his muscles in a new genre.
Verdict
Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles returns triumphant for its third miniseries. Following two hugely successful stabs at merging the two world this time the series is set on taking down the DC multi-verse. There’s so much at play here that I’m intrigued to see just where it can go next.
The issue sets up a whole new world of story whilst leaving the reader with plenty of questions ready for issue #2. A great start if I may say so!
7/10
Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1, is written by James Tynion IV with art by Freddie E. Williams II and TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman. Colours by Jeremy Colwell and letters by Tom Napolitano.
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