Wednesday, 13 May 2020

Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019) #2 Comic Book Review


Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 is only slightly better than issue #1 is. Only because we now know what Shredder was after, but that makes it even more lame because all he wanted was the Green Ranger powers. Just like Rita and Zedd did in the TV series. I'll admit that I'm not super familiar with the IDW version of Shredder as I've only read the first four issues of the series, and he doesn't show up until issue #10, but I'm pretty sure that this version wants more than just the Green Ranger powers.

Di Meo's artwork is still fantastic in this issue. Once again, my favourite shot in this book is a wide shot of the Turtles's lair in the sewers. Which isn't as unique as the shot of the Angel Grove Youth Center in the previous issue, but it does look a lot bigger than I've seen it in any other show, movie or comic that the Turtles have been in. That's not including the abandoned subway station in the 2003 animated series of course. Another piece of artwork that I like in this book is on the final page where we see something that looks really cool but as a story point is stupid and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. In fact it's probably the most fan fiction thing I've seen in a comic book in a really long time.

That's probably the best way to describe this crossover event as a whole. It's fan fiction. Despite it being licensed by both Hasbro (Power Rangers) and Nickelodeon (Ninja Turtles), it can't be anything but fan fiction because only a fan of these franchises would come up with a story that is so utterly ridiculous and makes no sense at all. In fact it's even more fan fiction than even Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Justice League/Power Rangers are because admittedly, while Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles have a few similarities, they are also worlds apart from each other. Power Rangers is your basic superhero comic book premise brought to life (Super Sentai was created by a Manga artist after all). And while Ninja Turtles was created for the comics, it's a much more serious drama than your typical comic book from the '80s was, despite the minor setback of the goofy cartoon from the late '80s. And so they don't really mesh on that level.

I will say that I really like the way the Rangers and the Turtles interact with each other in this issue. I like it because it works. One of the problems I have with Justice League/Power Rangers is that the interactions between the Justice League and the Rangers feel awkward to me because the Rangers are teenagers while the Justice League are all adults, with the exception of maybe Cyborg. Here though, the Power Rangers are teenagers and so are the Ninja Turtles. It's the reason that the Teen Team worked in Invincible, the various versions of the Teen Titans and Young Justice work in the DC Universe, and why the Young Avengers, the X-Men, and the Runaways work in the Marvel Universe. Teenagers interacting with other teenagers in fiction works a lot better than teenagers interacting with adults does, simply because the teenagers can usually find something in common with each other more than they could find in common with an adult, who usually ends up being a mentor or parent figure to the teenager.

Final Thoughts and Rating: Overall I'd say Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 is a much better comic than issue #1 is. It's still completely ridiculous and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. However the interactions with the Turtles and how Rita and her minions are brought into the story makes it a lot better than issue #1 was. Plus the artwork is spectacular once again. I would definitely say pick this issue up, even if you hated the first issue like I did because it's worth the read. I'm giving Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 5/10 stars because the artwork is amazing and the interactions between the Rangers and the Turtles are pretty awesome as well even if the plot is your standard crossover plot that we've already seen dozens of times in recent times.

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