Publication date: November 26, 2014
Written by: Erik Burnham and Tom Waltz
Art by: Dan Schoening
Colors by: Luis Antonio Delgado
Letters by: Neil Uyetake
Edits by: Bobby Curnow
"The Meeting of the Minds"
"The Meeting of the Minds"
Summary:
The Ghostbusters fire their proton streams at Chi-You,
who asks his minions who these humans are.
They telepathically inform him of what the Ghostbusters are capable of
and, in fear of being trapped again, Chi-You flees with his possessed humans
(Casey among them). The Ghostbusters
next turn their attentions to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but after Egon
takes some readings, he determines they aren’t supernatural and they all power
down. Winston breaks the ice, apologizing,
and after some introductions, the Turtles agree to go back to the Firehouse in
lieu of any better options.
Elsewhere, Chi-You decides that since he’s in a new
dimension without his family to bother him, he’s free to directly attack the
world and conquer it. He lets his human
minions go, as he finds them unsuitable for an army, but he keeps Casey in his
thrall. Chi-You orders Casey to show him
where to find more warriors like himself.
Back at the Firehouse, everybody starts getting
acquainted. Donatello and Egon go at it,
as Don doesn’t believe in ghosts while Egon doesn’t believe in
extraterrestrials. Michelangelo teases
Slimer, against Ray’s advice. Raph and
Peter trade snarky barbs about how annoying and weird their comrades are. Leo and Winston have a calm and frank
discussion about what it takes to keep such unstable personalities in line as a
team. April, Janine and Kylie discuss
the trials and tribulations of research, especially how different it is in this
more supernatural dimension.
And back at the Firehouse again, Ray shows Don down to
the containment unit. He wants to get
started building another dimensional transporter to send them home and thinks
the power source for the containment grid can double as a power source for the
transporter. Don takes a look at the
equipment and agrees that it’s doable.
Suddenly, the alarm goes off and they all race to Janine’s
desk. She details the situation at
Madison Square Garden and the Ghostbusters suit up. The Turtles want to come too, since Chi-You
still has Casey, but Egon recommends they stay put. He says that being dimensionally out of sync
has caused their energy signature, the key to getting them back home, to
degrade. If they don’t put all their
energy into completing the transporter in the next three days, the signature
will fade and they’ll never be able to trace their point of origin.
Despite that, the Turtles say they HAVE to save
Casey. Ray figures they shouldn’t go
into battle with a demon unprepared, so he gives Donatello his spare proton
pack.
Turtle Tips:
*This issue was originally published with 6 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Schoening and Delgado, blank Subscription Cover,
Retailer Incentive Cover by Tristan Jones, Hot Topic Exclusive by Adam Gorham,
Hastings Exclusive by Brent Peeples, and Comic Xposure Exclusive by Shannon
Ritchie and Paris Alleyne.
Review:
The “characters crossing over fight at first then put
aside their differences and team up” cliché lasted half a page, so Burnham and
Waltz mercifully skipped that tired essential of the crossover story and got
straight to the team-up. I’m good with
that, too, as what would a fight between the Ghostbusters and the Turtles have
really looked like, anyway? One side is
a bunch of youthful, highly trained ninjas at their physical peak, the other side is a bunch
of middle-aged men with laser guns. The
Turtles would have admittedly mopped the floor with the Ghostbusters, so fans
of the paranormal exterminators were saved that embarrassment.
Instead, this issue was the “getting to know each other”
phase and Burnham and Waltz indulge in all the similarities between the two casts. It’s a lot of really fun
stuff. You’ve got Don and Egon trading
barbs, as Don doesn’t believe in spirits and ghosts (something he’s gone on
about in the IDW TMNT series) and Egon doesn’t believe in aliens (which Don,
again, has had experience with). Both are
stubborn intellectuals, so it’s great to see these two brick walls hitting each
other.
You’ve got to wonder how much more convincing Donatello
needs, though. Splinter told him the
story of their reincarnation in TMNT #5 and he refused to accept it. The Fugitoid explained how the concept of the
soul works in tandem with the teleportal technology in TMNT #20 and he still refused
to accept it. He learned more about his
reincarnation origins via an ancient journal in TMNT: The Secret History of the Foot Clan #4 and he
still refused to accept it. He traveled
backward in time and met himself in a previous life in TMNT: Turtles in Time #2
and he still refused to accept it. Now
he’s battling a demon alongside the fucking GHOSTBUSTERS and he won’t let it
go. Man, Donatello, at this point you’re
just being a prick.
I think my favorite exchange was between Winston and
Leo. Leo sees a lot of himself in
Winston: The guy who goes in first, takes charge, keeps his cool and is the
all-around most level-headed and “normal” of the team. So, naturally, he assumes Winston is the
leader. Much to his surprise, Winston
isn’t, which actually raises a good point.
Why isn’t he? Peter is the most
charismatic, business savvy and egotistical, so it makes sense for him to at
least *think* he’s the leader, but Winston’s boring, by-the-books, real world approach is
sort of the glue that keeps all the insane characters together as a functioning
unit. In a way, he’s sort of the secret
leader.
Burnham also works in a really great bit during the
exchange between April, Kylie and Janine, when she asks why they still do
research through musty old tomes and grimoires instead of transferring everything
to a digital resource. The idea that
forbidden knowledge acts as a tether to supernatural entities, who WANT that
knowledge to be spread because it gives them a foothold in the living world,
thus encouraging the Ghostbusters to keep those sorts of resources
inaccessible, is a great bit of world-building.
Even with the ongoing Ghostbusters title cancelled, Burnham is still
expanding that universe in big and little ways.
It was tidbits like that which really held his Ghostbusters series
together (which, again, you should check out).
Schoening sneaks in more Easter Eggs. You’ve got human Bebop and Rocksteady at the
hockey game and the Konami TMNT Arcade cabinet in the Firehouse. I’m sure there are more little bonuses here
and there, but I’ll have to look more thoroughly. Not sure if the hockey game was a reference
to the film “Slap Shot” or not. It just…
seems like the kind of reference Schoening would make; I can’t imagine he’d
pass it up, but I could be totally off (I’m not that familiar with the film).
Anyhow, this issue was kind of a lot of fanwank,
yeah. Just the Turtles and the
Ghostbusters palling around, ending with Donatello donning a proton pack. But jeez, it’s a crossover between the Ninja
Turtles and the Ghostbusters. Indulging
in fanwank is sort of the whole point of the exercise.
Grade: B (as in, “But Winston is too humble to admit to
being the leader even if he was secretly the leader, so it all makes sense”.)
