[Analysis] Batman/Ninja Turtles (2015)

Since I was little I have always liked crossovers in every possible way. I liked to mix dolls from different collections when playing, I liked video games and movies that mixed characters from different sagas and, of course, I loved comics that mixed characters, especially those that came from rival companies, such as Marvel and DC.

At the time I already commented on the crossover Marvel VS DC, but that was not the only time that characters from both companies “crossed the border” since there are other stories like Batman/Daredevil, Superman/Spiderman, Spider-man/Batman, Superman/Hulk either Avengers/JLA.

The bad thing about these comics is that the story usually follows common patterns:

• The protagonists meet and confront each other due to some misunderstanding
• Villains join forces to have a common goal
• The protagonists team up and defeat the villains

In a way, this simplicity is usually due to the limited space available, since many of these comics do not even reach 50 pages.

This time I'm going to talk about one of the most recent crossovers I've read, the one starring Batman and the Ninja Turtles, or in other words, two of my favorite comic book sagas. This 6-issue collection began publishing at the end of last year, so it only ended a few months ago.

Because the comic is very recent, I'm not going to go into details regarding the story to try to avoid spoilers., so you can read the article if you are curious about what has emerged from this crossover between DC Comics and IDW Publishing.

The story of Batman/Ninja Turtles takes as its starting point a three-way war between the Ninja Turtles, the Foot Clan and the army of Krang. It is precisely the latter that makes the 4 turtles, Splinter, Shredder and a bunch of Foot ninjas travel to another dimension, taking them away to achieve a tactical advantage in their particular war. It is not a bad way to justify the crossover of universes, although it is curious that Krang does not appear at any time and the event is only mentioned as an explanation and is not shown as it happens (perhaps for reasons of saving space or to not confuse readers who do not follow the Ninja Turtles series from IDW Publishing).

From here we have the typical crossover story, starting with the disorientation of the side that has changed the world, the confrontation between the good guys due to an initial misunderstanding, the subsequent alliance and the confrontation against their own villains.

It cannot be given a prize for originality, but neither does it do anything grotesque or strange that would surely have disappointed the majority of readers who will see in these pages a piece of their childhood with a slightly updated air. I think they have been conservative and have kept these products simple to be able to focus on the relationships between such disparate characters and make the occasional concession to the crazy fantasies of fans on both sides.

Despite having a little boyish appearance, the turtles maintain their adolescent attitude, thus allowing a lot of absurd situations that will make us smile, such as the particular relationship they have with Alfred.

Within its predictability in the story, it could not be missed that Raphael provoked an internal discussion by not agreeing with the group's decisions, although in this case that hackneyed resource is used as an excuse for the turtles to know the origin of Batman, since until then they consider him a millionaire who plays at being a hero for fun.

On the part of the bad guys, Shredder and the Penguin are chosen to represent the crime of each world, although of course there will be surprises, because if there is something that Gotham has plenty of, it is evil and madness.

Regarding the artistic section I can only say one thing, This comic has the best drawing I have ever seen in a Ninja Turtles comic, and that is saying a lot, since there are many artists who have worked with these characters in their career divided between various publishers such as Mirage, Archie, Image or IDW Publishing.

Freddie E. Williams II's work is excellent (although I admit that I am not convinced by the way he draws Splinter) and in each panel you can see that he has put effort into the design of the characters. The turtles appear robust, but shorter than a normal human (we are on a similar scale to what they originally had) and despite all having a similar physical constitution, they have some variations that give them an original touch and at the same time pay homage to other previous designs.

For example, if we look at the turtle masks, we will see that Raphael's is cut out in a more irregular way in what seems to be a nod to the artist Matheus Santolouco (regular artist of the turtles in the IDW collection). We can also see that Donatello is drawn with his front teeth somewhat separated, which is reminiscent of the design of the current Nickelodeon series (which is undoubtedly the most popular version of that character). Jeremy Colwell's work with the colors also deserves to be mentioned, as it gives everything a somber tone that fits very well with the aesthetics of Gotham and despite using a curious border of a different color on the characters to make them stand out from the background, the vignettes look great. In addition, Colwell also makes his particular tribute, painting the skin of the turtles with a different green, respecting the colors they had in the toys of the 80s and that were used in video games, comics and the 2003 animated series.

On Batman's part there are also nods, of course, especially when it comes to the character's vehicles and resources. As far as the inhabitants of Gotham are concerned, I think the drawing is somewhat more irregular, although it is nothing alarming by any means. On the other hand, the city and its surroundings look very good at all times, showing a very successful use of color.

One of the most curious winks I have seen is at the beginning of number 2, when Michelangelo enters a pizzeria and James Rolfe and Mike Matei, those responsible for the website, appear in a corner. Cinemassacre and character creators like Angry Video Game Nerd either Board James. Ambos han dedicado muchos vídeos a las Tortugas Ninja (incluso hicieron uno en el cual probaban las pizzas que comía Michelangelo en la serie de animación de finales de los 80 ¡Puag!) y vieron su fanatismo compensado en el papel. Podría parecer que es un parecido casual, pero lo cierto es que el tatuaje en el brazo de James aparece claramente en el cómic quitando cualquier duda al respecto.

En definitiva, la historia no es nada del otro mundo, el arte es maravilloso y el tono general es bastante serio, con algunas pinceladas humorísticas por parte de las tortugas (principalmente Michelangelo). No creo que ningún personaje esté fuera de lugar o se fuercen situaciones extrañas, la obra respeta a todos por igual.

Hay algunas cosas que creo que se podían haber llevado a cabo de otra manera o se las podían haber ahorrado y al mismo tiempo creo que hay partes de la trama que se quedan en nada y solo han sido incluidas para poder añadir más personajes de Gotham a la historia. Pero claro, son solo 6 números y es difícil tratar de hacer algo mucho más complejo en tan pocas páginas.

Si os gusta Batman o las Tortugas Ninja os recomiendo este cómic encarecidamente, salvo que seáis reacios a los crossovers. Otro motivo para recomendar su compra es que Batman/Tortugas Ninja se ha editado fuera de Estados Unidos (algo poco común en cómics de IDW Publishing) y en España se puede encontrar recopilado en un único tomo de 140 páginas por menos de 14 euros.

Lamentablemente no hay mucho contenido extra en el tomo, sólo una pequeña introducción y las portadas adicionales dibujadas por Kevin Eastman (co-creador de las Tortugas Ninja) y David Finch. Es un poco incomprensible que no se hayan incluido las portadas alternativas de otros dibujantes, pues habían muchas y algunas muy buenas. En cualquier caso, eso no afecta al cómic principal, el cual es una lectura muy amena y agradable a buen precio.