By [ad_1]
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers’ first meeting was a misfire, but IDW and Boom! Studios later made up for it.
The worlds of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers have been popular for decades. Over the years, each of these franchises has seen themselves rise and fall in prominence, but their first epic crossover was an infamous dud. However, several decades after that, these titans of pop culture has a far more successful crossover in comics.
1998’s Power Rangers in Space has long been regarded as one of the better entries into the franchise, which introduced new concepts and characters that have gone on to define the Power Rangers universe even today. Early on in the series fourth episode, “Shell Shocked,” the Rangers were introduced to another team of heroes who had fallen under the control of their primary antagonist Astronema. This other team of heroes just so happened to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Unfortunately, this was the version of them from the much-maligned Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, a series that introduced new concepts and characters that quickly became some of the most loathed in the entire history of the franchise.
Over twenty years later, the two teams would get their chance to reunite once more, and this time they got to do it right in the pages of 2019’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Ryan Parrott and Simone di Meo.
Things started out badly when Tommy Oliver was discovered to have joined the Foot Clan, but they got even worse when his powers fell into the hands of the Shredder. Only recently out from under Rita Repulsa’s dark spell, the former Green Ranger had gone to infiltrate the Foot Clan in order to rescue a close friend who had fallen to the dark side.
Both of them had grown up in the foster system, but Tyler never found the sort of accepting home that Tommy did, and so he turned to the Shredder for guidance. After luring Tommy in, the Shredder took the Green Ranger’s power for himself and soon enough formed an unsteady alliance with Rita Repulsa to deal with their now shared problem in the two teams of heroes brought together by Tommy’s absence. When the Power Rangers finally came face to face with the Shredder for themselves, he managed to disrupt their connection to the Morphin Grid, leaving them unable to call upon their namesake powers when they needed them most.
Thankfully, the Rangers have always been able to take care of themselves, even without their armor or weapons, and the Turtles are always ready for action. With April O’Neil filling in for Kimberly and the Turtles taking the place of the others, the Turtle Rangers were born alongside a brand new kind of Ninja Ranger to take on Shredder. Along the way, they faced off against supersized versions of Bebop and Rocksteady with a little help from an equally massive Metalhead, but as always, the heroes would ultimately prove victorious.
Where “Shell Shocked,” and by extension Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation failed, the 2019 crossover event from Boom! Studios and IDW was a love letter to both franchises as well as a testament to just how well they can be blended together through their multiple shared elements. The original crossover was largely a product of its era in the worst ways possible, from the legendarily poor production values to the fact that one set of characters was shoehorned into the other’s world without regard for how to do so in a seamless manner. It may have taken over two decades, but the crossover that fans finally got was more than worth the wait.
About The Author
[ad_2]
