Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles VS Street Fighter # 4

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Turtles enter a fighting tournament in Atlanta City where they meet the Street Fighters. Bison and Baxter are behind the tournament and have been kidnapping fighters behind-the-scenes, which include Raphael and Chun Li, to power up the Psycho Bomb. Raphael buys Chun Li some time so she can escape as the rest of the crew starts moving in on the bad guys. We find out that Shredder was one of Bison's projects and he just broke free!!

 

The issue opens with Shredder attacking all of the Shadaloo soldiers, and even their weapons aren't stopping him. Baxter says they aren't ready to defeat the Shredder now. He says they should retreat, formulate a plan and return to take Shredder down, but the nurse informs him that Bison walked out 20 seconds ago.

Bison sees that his soldiers have captured Raphael. One of his troops ask if they're evacuating due to the Shredder. Bison says he is of no concern since his Psycho Power was already harvested. He says once he harvests Raph's Psycho Power the Psycho Bomb will be fully ready for use. Raphael says that's never happening. Bison says it's actually happening now as he shoves the turtle into one of the containment capsules.

Bison says he knows his brothers will come to save him, but since they're not as special they'll be dealt with less gently. Raph gets enraged and fights hi way out of the capsule, trying to take a swing at Bison. Bison says that rage and hatred is Psycho Power. He then boots Raph into the capsule, this time the door slamming shut on him.

 

Chun Li runs down the hallway and finds Guile and Michaelangelo. Mikey gives her hug and she says she is glad to see both of them. Mikey asks where Raph is and she says he's probably not safe. She asks Guile where Ryu, Ken and the rest of the Turtles are. Guile says they're securing an exit as part of their well-oiled plan.. that they're making up as they go along. He punches Chun Li's restraints to bits, setting her free.

Baxter gets ready to escape, going down the delivery tunnel. The rest of the crew are directly below and  have defeated all of the Shadaloo soldiers. Baxter drops right in front of them. Baxter is angry to see the Turtles and Ken asks if they know him. Jennika grabs Baxter and pins him up against a wall. She wants him to explain what's going on as his goons mentioned they're making a bomb that's powered by people.

Baxter explains the bomb is powered by people with Psycho Power like Raphael and Chun Li. Ken asks what they intend to do with the Psycho Bomb. Baxter says they won't do anything but force the countries of the world to recognize their dominance. Donatello asks if they're powering up the bomb for nothing. Baxter asks Donnie why he can't be as stupid as his brothers. He explains that they're testing the bomb on a spot on the southwest, which is mostly desert and a very low population. It'll be a quick demonstration of their power. Leonardo says they can't let that happen and Baxter is going to help them stop it.

One of the Shadaloo soldiers finds the team and Chun Li viciously kicks him down. Mikey says that was a lot for just one guard and asks about what was mentioned earlier. Chun Li says she lives with her Psycho Power every day just like Raphael does. Mikey says Raph might have a microscopic fuse, but he's not fueled by hatred and anger. Chun Li says that's exactly what Raph said, and he's very similar to Mikey. Mikey says that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said about him. "Wrong, but nice." 

 

Guile looks at all the containment capsules and says they need to get Raph out of one of them. Bison tells them to go ahead if he can find him, since he has already harvested what he needed and his plan can begin. The countdown has begun and the other team hears it. Baxter says there's still time to reprogram the code as long as there aren't any delays. Just then, they run into the Shredder.

Shredder sees the Turtles and says he knew they'd be behind this. Leonardo says Baxter is the culprit. Shredder says he will deal with Baxter as he tears the shells off their backs. Baxter says while Shredder tears through them, his plan can continue. Ryu steps up and tells Ken to take the 'smart turtle' and the 'evil human' and go to the control room. He'll stay behind and fight the Shredder alongside Leo and Jennika.

 

Ryu leaps at Shredder and gets punched out of the air. Jennika says one on one isn't going to cut it and they'll have to work together. Shredder says that they will die together.

Mikey, Chun Li and Guile start setting the captured fighters free. Mikey is upset that they were treated like lab rats, which includes his brother. Chun Li says she promised they'd return to rescue him and they will. She tears off the door of one of the capsules and finds... Pigeon Pete. Pete hugs Mikey, and he tells the pigeon to help lead the others to safety. Rufus is also one of the fighters set free, and he runs alongside Pete as they lead everyone outside. Guile finally finds the capsule that has Raphael and they check on him.

Baxter, Don and Ken arrive at the control room. Baxter tells them to help him reprogram the code since it will take hours. Ken is surprised to hear that and says Baxter told them they had time. Baxter says the only options are to reprogram the code or wreck the consoles completely. Ken starts to destroy the consoles as Donatello tells him to stop as he's being tricked. Baxter says with the console being wrecked, there isn't a way to stop the launch.

Shredder has taken Leo, Jennika and Ryu down and asks if they admit defeat. Leonardo says they need to regroup. Jennika denies defeat and goes back to fight him. During the fight she calls him traitor, which confuses Ryu. Leonardo says it's a long story. Jennika blurts out that Shredder was his old boss. Leo says he would have told the story with more nuance.

Ken is shocked that Baxter tricked him. Donatello notices that the bomb's coordinates were not for the southwest, and it's aimed elsewhere. Bison shows up behind Baxter and tells Donatello to let everyone know where the bomb is going. Donatello says the bomb is going to Manhattan. Elsewhere, Shredder easily defeats Ryu, Leonardo and Jennika. 

 

Baxter is shocked to learn that 'his' Manhattan will get blown up. Bison says he never knew his true plans. Blowing a hole in the desert shows what the bomb can do, but it doesn't show what Bison is willing to do. With the deaths of 20 million people dead, no one will dare to question Bison's resolve. Baxter actually sheds tears saying there won't be anyone left in Manhattan to question him. Baxter says he won't let Bison get away with this. Bison says it doesn't matter as the plan has been set in motion and they have already been defeated. 

Donatello is surprised that Bison is willing to kill 20 million people just for a demonstration. Bison laughs and says it's Psycho.

 My Thoughts-

Despite cackling like a Saturday Morning supervillain, Bison sacrificing 20 million people just to prove to the world how dangerous he is definitely fits his character, no matter which version we're talking about. It seems Bison put up with Baxter's attitude because he was planning to take out his home city anyway.

This issue gave me several thoughts. First off, we had a real missed opportunity with an epic fight between Ryu and Shredder, especially this almost monstrous version of the Shredder. I know IDW needs its ads and whatnot, but man.. those extra 5 or so pages of ads and previews and showing the alternate covers and whatnot really could have been tossed out the window for at least 2 pages of Ryu and Shredder going at it, full martial arts on display. Even without his fireballs, Ryu would have put up a hell of a fight. 

Now that I think about it, the Streets Fighters have been taking Ls all over the place. Sure they're the cameo guest stars in what is essentially a Ninja Turtles story, but c'mon. Leo defeat Ryu in a match. Shredder whupped Ryu's ass as if he were nothing. Chun Li had problems taking down Baxter of all people. Bison puts up with Baxter's crap. Baxter outsmarted Ken, I mean the only wins we got was Guile beating Raph but only because Bison rigged the match in his favor, and Chun Li beating Mikey because he 'didn't want to hurt the girl'. These guys really haven't been given much time to shine. On top of that, the only special move we've seen consistently is Chun Li's Spinning Bird Kick. Where are the special moves?

I also didn't like this concept of Psycho Power just existing in people with rage and hatred in their hearts. I especially don't like Chun Li having Psycho Power that she 'lives with everyday'. I'm guessing they're going with Chun Li's feeling taking vengeance against Bison over the death of her father.. but I feel the comic should have explain that even though most Street Fighter fans would know. It just makes the story flow better because the readers and fighting games might know Chun Li's backstory but Michaelangelo doesn't. I guess we can use Raph and his temper, but maybe they could have used Ryu instead of Chun Li, since he's always fighting against the Satsui no Hado.

We got some surprise cameos with Pigeon Pete and Rufus of all people. I was indeed hoping some of the captured fighters would have been familiar faces, but both of those were unexpected. I was hoping the final issue would have ended with some other Street Fighters like Dee Jay and Cammy as well as other TMNT characters like Casey Jones would have come in to help defeat Shredder. Rufus was super random since as of now, we only have gotten reference to the classic Street Fighter 2 cast. Rufus so far has only appeared in the Street Fighter 4 games, though he does still occasionally make appearances in the Udon comics.

 

I don't know why they made him look so small though. Rufus is over six foot tall in the games.

Shredder is an unstoppable beast in the comic. True enough this comic is acting like an alternate 'what if Bison brought Shredder back to life' scenario. In the IDW on-going we'd find out that Shredder had time to repent while in hell, and when he did return to life he actually helped the turtles face the Pantheon. I guess we can say in this take that Bison brought Shredder back too soon and he is still in his vengeful villainous persona.

With the countdown to launch starting, the heroes regrouping and Raph being set free, we're finally in the end game of the story. I'm curious to see how this will all play out, especially considering the fact that while Shredder taking down the Turtles works in Bison's favor... they are not exactly working together. It's too bad everything is so rushed and the fight barely have time to breathe, but I would have loved to have seen Bison fight Shredder.

I do have to say, I do like this throwback to Shredder's classic "Tonight I dine on turtle soup" line.