Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 Review
By Steve Lam
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Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 – “Last Turtle Standing”
Script: James Tynion IV / Art and Cover: Freddie E. Williams II / Colors: Jeremy Colwell / Letters: Tom Napolitano / Variant Cover: Kevin Eastman with Tomi Varga
The second installment in the Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover series picks up right where we left off in the first issue: with the Turtles and Batman meeting for the first time. With some great action sequences and fun dialogue, this issue, like the first, ends a bit too soon.
Writer James Tynion IV strikes the perfect balance of Batman seriousness with Turtles silliness. Reading this issue was a pleasure, and it was more akin to watching one of the greatest cartoon mash-ups where the story and action just flowed off the page. I could hear each individual voice of the Turtles and I caught myself smiling at some pages.
Batman still retains his mysteriousness, and Tynion doesn’t let either world (DC or IDW) takeover in any part. This story is an equal partnership and it shows it. Usually, crossover story arcs should be treated in a balanced manner, but that outcome rarely happens. This is due to a number of factors: loyalty of the writer to his home publishing house, the need to establish one single protagonist, or a writer’s own personal preference for a character.
I did like the fact that the Turtles combined couldn’t defeat Batman. In a way, Batman is his own team, and the Turtles, as a collective whole, are usually viewed as one unit. Because of this more logical (if you even want to call it that since we are dealing with a guy dressed in a batsuit and man-sized talking turtles) approach, it makes even more sense that the two “teams” will eventually want to ally with each other. On top of that, it gives the reader the anticipation of what will happen when Batman actually meet Shredder, since it’s long been established that the metal-clad villain can’t even be defeated by the Turtles combined.
The art is excellent. Freddie E. Williams II does his signature style of well-proportioned characters that neither look like steroid-induced freaks or weirdly long and lean figures. He strikes a great middle-ground of strong, powerful silhouettes while retaining a sense of fun and whimsy. The colors by Jeremy Colwell also enhance Williams’s art and give everything a nice three-dimensional meaty feel. Every panel looks substantial and really pop off the page.
Next: Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 Review
Do yourself a favor and pick up Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2. If you haven’t even started the series yet, you owe it to yourself to grab the first issue and start reading it today. You won’t be sorry. Whether you’re a fan of Batman or the Turtles, you will love this action-packed crossover that brings together everyone’s favorite characters. I’m definitely looking forward to #3.