TMNT/Ghostbusters II #3 review: Weird dangers from across dimensions
By Alex Widen
The Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters have been scattered across dimensions! Yet escaping the Collectors may be the least of their worries!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II #3
Writers: Erik Burnham & Tom Waltz
Artists: Dan Schoening, Pablo Tunica, Mark Torres & Tadd Galusha
Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado
More from Comics
- X-Men: 6 reasons why Marvel’s mutants are the best superhero team
- Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
- Marvel Comics announces seven important X-Men comic books
- The X-Men were betrayed by Captain America in Uncanny Avengers
- Spider-Man: Miles and Peter team-up for their first ongoing series
If the modern comic book industry has taught readers anything, it is that crossovers aren’t always worth it. The publishers may see a spike in sales, but the stories are often just editorial exercises. Yet there are always exceptions to every rule, and this mini series by IDW Publishing is one of them. The regular writers of both licensed titles have once again teamed up to produce an epic. The Ghostbusters and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are once again in the thick of it!
Image by IDW Publishing
The ghost of Darius Dun has made a deal with the demonic Collectors to entrap the Ninja Turtles. Thankfully, they were rescued from their prison by their one time tag partners, the Ghostbusters. Yet escaping the Collectors is hardly easy, and requires a lot of misdirection and stalling. While Donatello and Egon Spengler try to combine their brainpower to come up with a miracle device, the rest of the Ghostbusters and Turtles are doubled up and spread out into 3 parallel universes!
For Once, Michelangelo Blends In!
Peter Venkman and Michelangelo are somewhere where there is more mass hysteria than dogs and cats living together. It’s a world where all the citizens are animal-people, while humans are considered “aliens!” In no time at all, the pair meet alternate Ghostbusters, who turn out to be Turtles too! They quickly zap Peter and haul the wisecracking ‘buster away! This forces Michelangelo to have to rescue him, as well as talk to himself to keep the dialogue flowing!
Image by IDW Publishing
While Michelangelo is able to follow the “Turtle-Busters” and their combination Ecto-1/Turtle-Van, freeing Venkman proves even harder. He’s caught in some slime which is thicker than rubber cement! Even worse, it seems like the Turtle-Busters shoot first and ask questions later! In no time at all Michelangelo is dodging proton-blasts and trying to figure out his next move. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like the Turtle-Busters are combat experts at all.
Image by IDW Publishing
Raph and Ray, Together at Last!
In another dimension, Ray Stanz and Raphael do find themselves involved with combat experts. Viking ghosts, to be specific, who have possessed their bodies to enjoy combat again. While Ray has some experienced curiosity about the situation, Raphael shows little patience even during an out-of-body experience. Unfortunately, the Viking ghosts show no signs of breaking their possession anytime soon. Not even Raphael’s temper is enough to get them past this!
Image by IDW Publishing
Ray and Raphael get along like oil and water, or at least like Raph and Donatello. The pair decide to pool their focus into freeing one of their bodies at a time from the Vikings. Unfortunately, this results in both Ray and Raph’s spirits possessing Stanz’s form, at least for now. And while Raph focuses on fighting, Ray’s curiosity leads him through some of Raphael’s memories and feelings. The pair may end up closer than ever before, if the experience doesn’t end up killing them!
Image by IDW Publishing
Anyone Order a Serving of Frog Legs?
Finally, Leonardo and Winston Zeddemore are in a dimension that is a barren post-apocalyptic wasteland. Before they can beam out, they are beset by three cybernetic frog-mutants! The quartet are a clear homage to the Punk Frogs, characters from the 1987 TMNT animated series. They steal Winston’s wrist device and challenge the pair to a fight to get it back. Fortunately, both Leonardo and Winston are able to knock them silly and save themselves at least for the moment!
Image by IDW Publishing
Yet the real challenge may be with Egon and Donatello. The pair have invented some new devices that they want to beta-test. The first is a proton-bo staff that Donetallo thought up. The second is a teleporter intended to beam the Collectors right into the Ghostbusters’ containment unit. In order to test it, they need to fight a real ghost, so Donatello agrees to take it on. Amid the carnage, the pair discuss their own near-death or post-death experiences. Could it be an omen of things to come?
Image by IDW Publishing
Heavy on Fun and Canon!
Erik Burnham and Tom Waltz continue to write an exciting and engaging team up between these two 1980s teams. While the character interaction is top notch, the plot itself is fun as well. The alternate dimensions allow for a variety of different enemies to fight and situations to overcome. It feels like anything is possible and nothing is off limits. The Collectors themselves seem like vague villains, yet the real draw is seeing the zany situations our heroes can get themselves into!
Image by IDW Publishing
The interaction between Ray and Raphael is a lot of fun, as are the chats between Michelangelo and Venkman. Yet I may have enjoyed the bits between Leonardo and Winston the most. It’s possibly because the Punk Frog themselves turning up was an unexpected surprise and made for an action packed scene. It was also good seeing Michelangelo, who often serves as comic relief, settling into a situation where he may have to play the big hero for once. It’s often rare for him!
Image by IDW Publishing
Burnham and Waltz also get to expand on continuity between Egon and Donatello. Each of them went through an ordeal in their own series revolving around mortality. Egon actually did briefly die, while Donatello wound up comatose and hosted his psyche within the robot form of Metalhead. Their conversations about their experiences is interesting, as are their tactics. Egon isn’t usually one to discuss private matters, yet Donatello finds the chatter as helpful for him to focus.
Image by IDW Publishing
More Crossovers Should Be This Bombastic!
The plot also serves as a showcase for the four artists involved. It remains a feast for the eyes with each artist’s style brought out by the situation they’re handling. Pablo Tunica is right at home in a world full of animal-people. He got to draw a wild assortment of characters in his arc on TMNT Universe and this mini series continues that hot streak. Mark Torres is effective with the Viking ghost world, while Tadd Galusha almost steals the show with his “Battletoads” style brawl!
Image by IDW Publishing
If there is one thing we haven’t seen much of in this series, it’s the Collectors. While they’re enemies of the Ghostbusters and were responsible for the affair, they’ve had less page time at Darius Dun. Yet if the last page is any indication, that is about to change. While the story has been willing to embrace the richness of the character interaction as well as the strange parallel dimensions, it also has done a good job of building suspense around its villains. Now let’s seem them in action!
Image by IDW Publishing
Next: Ghosbusters and Turtles try their wild gambit in #2!
As much fun as the first TMNT/Ghostbusters was, this is quickly shaping up to the better. Now that the teams have met once, the dialogue between them has evolved past initial introductions and easy pairings. Now each Turtle and ‘buster is hanging around someone less expected, and the quality of the piece has improved for it. The addition of a variety of artists as well as a mixture of adventures has made this feel like four stories instead of one. The last 2 issues should be a shell of a time!