Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles VS. Street Fighter #1

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Turtles have been having all sorts of crossovers lately, from Batman to Ghostbusters. This time they get to meet the Street Fighter characters. What evil plans are Bison and Baxter up to as they watch the Turtles enter the Street Fighter tournament?

Part 1 opens with Raphael punching Guile in the face. Guile punches him right back, as they're fighting it out in the tournament. Leonardo, Donatello, Michealangelo and Jennika are watching from outside the ring, as are Ryu, Ken and Chun Li. He throws another punch that Raph manages to block. Raph throws another punch but this time Guile grabs his arm and pulls him in for a headlock. Guile says that Raph can't escape. The Ninja Turtle says that he was just wearing him out. He then grabs Guile for an over-the-shoulder throw and slams him into the mat. 

Bison is watching the match with Baxter Stockman and is interested in Raphael. He says that since the Manhattan mutants are out in the open, they have presented him with new opportunities. He says Raphael is a good candidate. Baxter says he would be too difficult to control. Bison says he'll take care of that. Baxter strongly advises that the Turtles must not learn of the plan, wherever the Turtles go, destruction and chaos are sure to follow.

Meanwhile Michealangelo is stocking up on snacks and accidentally bumps into Chun Li, spilling some soda on her. Chun Li introduces herself and isn't too upset. A woman runs into Leonardo and tells him that her husband lost a match the day before and has disappeared. She says something is very wrong and needs help. She hands Leo a paper and runs off and Mikey asks what that was about. 

Raphael and Guile are still grappling. Ryu is impressed by how balanced the fight is and Ken jokes that Guile must be thrilled. Raph is tired of all the grappling and Guile says there's more to fighting than punches and kicks. Raphael shoves Guile back and punches him twice in the face, and then kicks him in the chest. Bison says he has seen enough and tells the ref via his earpiece, to take the turtle out of the tournament. Guile knees Raph in the plastron and Raph rocks his head back with an uppercut. 

The ref calls for a penalty and for both fighters to return to their corners, which confuses the fighters. The ref says Raph went for a punch to the throat so Guile advanced by default. Raph and Guile want to keep going and the ref says those are the rules and they can take it outside if they want to keep fighting. Raph and Guile throw insults at each other as their individual friends pull them apart. 

The Turtles walk through a casino as Donatello asks why they're there. Raphael says he wanted them to test their skills against the absolute best. Donatello and Jennika complain about having to ride on the back of a semi truck to get to Atlantic City. Raph says it's not worth it if he's going to be disqualified for nothing, and slams his fist onto a blackjack table. Donatello apologizes to the gamblers there. 

A security guard tells Raph and the crew if they keep disrupting the games, they'll be thrown out. A man tells the officer he told him about his missing sister who wouldn't just disappear, since the tournament meant everything to her. Leo looks at the paper he was given earlier and wonders how many people have gone missing. Jennika says nobody is missing and they're just caught up in all the gambling.

Raph says he's going to look for Guile and get a rematch. Don asks if they should follow him. Leo says Raph can take care of himself and Mikey's first fight is in less than an hour. Mikey would rather check out the huge Ferris Wheel the city has. Donatello says with luck Mikey can score a quick win and go about his day.

The next fight is Chun Li VS Michealangelo, and the Strongest Woman in the World wastes no time throwing kicks. Mikey asks if they shouldn't skip around the ring and size each other up first. Chun Li says she already sized him up when he took the last of the nachos as she lands on him with an elbow drop. Mikey rolls out of the way of a second elbow drop and flips to his feet. 

Chun Li throws more kicks and Mikey starts dodging some of them. She tells him to stop avoiding the fight and start fighting back. Mikey is about to repeat one of Master Splinter's phrases when Chun Li leaps up and wraps her legs around his neck. Chun Li drops Mikey down in a headscissors leglock and crushes his head with her thighs. She calls for Mikey to submit and he taps out.

Chun Li tells the crowd that her opponent was honorable but refused to fight. She says evasion works in the real world but when forced to fight someone, eventually you actually have to fight. Chun Li helps Mikey to his feet who says she has an interesting choke hold. She says next time he should take the battle more seriously so he doesn't disrespect the opponent and himself. Mikey asks if anyone ever told her she has a very intense vibe, and she says 'constantly'. Mikey says he likes it and that makes her smile.

Later on Chun Li is telling the story to Ryu, Ken and Guile. When asked what she said afterwards, she says all that matters was that she defeated him. Guile says she is the strongest woman in the world. Ken says he's not sure since he saw a woman punch a crocodile in a documentary. Ryu says that was 'Crocnado 5' and Ken says it sounds more impressive to say he watched a documentary. Guile sees some missing people posters on the wall and says something is a amiss. 

Guile says the tournament has felt rotten from the start. Ken asks if it's because of one bad call. Guile says the ref was in somebody's pocket book. Ken says since Guile won, wouldn't that mean the ref would be in his pocket book? Ryu and Ken don't think anything is wrong but Guile isn't happy having victories just being handed to him. He came here to find the strongest fighters, not the worst referees.

Ryu says he's sure had the fight kept going, Guile would have won anyway. Guile says he's probably right. As the Street Fighters walks off, Raphael shows up and says he might be wrong and he can't wait to find out. 

Bison watches as Guile tells Raph to take his best shot. He says this might be interesting, and Baxter says they're not going to use the turtles for their plan. He also needs peace and quiet and he focuses on his work. Bison continues to watch the fight and thinks Raphael has potential. As Raph and Guile resume their fight, Bison says Raph has potential for violence and chaos. He is valuable to his project and plans to show Raphael his true path as he unlocks his Pyscho Power!

My Thoughts-

So this was an interesting comic. I'm so used to the Turtles being guest stars in other books, that this time it's the Street Fighters themselves that are guest stars in the comic. The plot is pretty simple as the Turtles enter a tournament in a casino in Atlantic City, and Bison and Baxter are up to no good behind the scenes. I mean it's obvious those two are behind the missing fighters, it's just a matter of finding out what their plans are.

The crossovers always use different versions of the Turtles, but with Jennika here, we can assume these guys are based on the IDW crew. The Turtles being out and about as well as Bison calling them 'Manhattan Mutants' suggests this is during the Mutant Town story which pretty much revealed the existence of mutants to the world at large. Nobody is freaking out at the sight of humanoid turtles walking around.

Jennika's inclusion is kind of odd since it looks like we only have four Street Fighters. They could have added someone like Blanka as a fifth to make things even. As it is, whenever it's Jennika's turn to fight, who exactly is she going to go up against? 

The Street Fighters are kind of out of character here. The most obvious thing (unless that changes in the later parts) are the lack of special moves. I guess Guile tossing a Sonic Boom would be kinda cheating, but I mean.. this is Street Fighter after all. I did find it kinda funny that Chun Li was literally crushing Mikey's head with her thighs... which I'm sure a lot of fans out there would want to trade places with Mikey in a heartbeat. That had to be intentional.

Ryu and Ken have always been buddies, but it is weird seeing them all buddy with Chun Li and Guile as well, since they only cross paths in passing in the games. I have to admit though, it's cool to see the Street Fighters and the Turtles just rely on their fighting skills without having to use their special moves or their ninja weapons.

Bison also, so far, hasn't shown any signs of having his powers either. He's also too preoccupied with Raphael and doesn't seem to know or care about Chun Li and Guile being at the tournament. Plus, he seems to take a lot of lip from Baxter, and Bison is hardly the type to play second fiddle to anyone. 

We'll see how this comic goes as I'm curious how this will progress. I just wonder how well the writers are familiar with the lore and characterization of the Street Fighter characters even if we go strictly by the classic Street Fighter 2 World Warrior limited lore. While Ryu and Ken did indeed enter the Street Fighter tournament to pit themselves against the strongest fighters in the world, Chun Li and Guile both entered for personal reasons.

Oddly enough the Ninja Turtles actually made it to Street Fighter 6 as extra skins you can use for your custom avatar character in World Tour mode. Sadly they're just skins and not actual characters to use in arcade mode or online ranked mode or anything. They're also pretty pricey, especially if you want to own all four Turtles.