Heroes in a Half-Shell: It’s Morphing Time!
Two popular franchises. One comic miniseries that brings them both together. What could be better? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are no strangers to crossovers. They’ve met the likes of Batman and the Ghostbusters, and in this epic comic event, they’re teaming up with the Teenagers with Attitude: The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This comic is a love letter to fans of both franchises with plenty of references and action packed moments that makes this such a great read from BOOM! Studios.
The catalyst for these two teams encountering each is Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, has been absent for three weeks. When the Turtles are having another spat with Foot Soldiers, one of them is revealed to be Tommy. Relax, he hasn’t gone evil again. He’s actually there undercover to help an old friend of his, Tyler (no, not the Red Ranger from Dino Charge), get out of the clan, which causes Tommy to get captured by the Turtles archenemies, The Shredder. After the Turtles and Rangers fight for a bit (because of course), they put aside their differences and join forces to rescue Tommy from Shredder.
One of the best things about the comic is the alliance between the two teenage teams. They don’t fight for long, which I like because sometimes in these kinds of crossovers, the two teams end up fighting each other for a lot longer, until the end where they eventually work together. In this team up, they fight until the beginning of the second issue until they “make nice,” as Raphael puts it. This allows enough time for bonds to be formed between the characters you would like expect to bond, like Leo and Jason, Donnie and Billy, Mikey and Zach, etc. While it is cool to see these characters fight, it’s even cooler to see them working together. Shredder and Rita Repulsa even team up to defeat the heroes, which is cool to see, as well.
The best thing about this crossover over has to be the fact that the Ninja Turtles *become* the Power Rangers. Thanks to a device made by Baxter Stockman, Shredder makes the Rangers unable to morph. When Rita sends down a monster to terrorize New York, the Rangers give their Power Coins to Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and April to stop it. The Turtles get some awesome unique Ranger suits and weapons designed for them, and save the day. Due to the masks, the Turtles actually get recognition for their heroic actions, which is something that they don’t get often. Shredder even gets his chance to morph, and morphs into the Green Ranger, no less. The Rangers also get their own cool outfits for when their unable to morph.
However, this leads into the most disappointing part about this comic: we never get to see the Turtle Rangers and Green Ranger Shredder fight. You would think that would be a no-brainer, right? The perfect set up, and it never happens. By the time of the final battle, they found a way to get the Rangers to morph again, but it would’ve been so cool to see the Turtles and Shredder throw down as Power Rangers. Heck, we get to see Casey Jones fight Green Ranger Shredder, but not the Turtle Rangers. It’s just a massive missed opportunity.
That one nitpick aside, this still a really awesome comic book. It was so good, in fact, that it got a sequel! And if you’re really into collecting action figures and the like, Hasbro made Lightning Collection figures of the Turtles Rangers and Green Ranger Shredder, which is awesome! If you’re a fan of Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, or both, then I highly recommend this comic book as a fantastic read.
