Pop Culture Icons Reunite In Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

One of the many great things about comic books is that the medium allows for crossovers to occur, a lot of which we’ll probably never see in live action cinema or even animation due to an unbelievable amount of red tape. Case in point: back in 2015, we finally saw Batman meet the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a team-up that had previously only went down whenever we were kids playing with the various action figures we owned.

Thankfully, we’re getting an official sequel now thanks to a real life team-up involving DC Entertainment, IDW Publishing and Nickelodeon. Granted, there was also the recent miniseries dubbed Batman/TMNT Adventures, but that involved the animated versions of the characters, not the comic book iterations, and was a different beast entirely. But, rest assured, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II is a sequel in every sense of the word.

This time, though, the reuniting creative team of writer James Tynion IV (Detective Comics) and Freddie Williams II (He-Man/Thundercats) are bringing the action to the Turtles’ universe. As you may remember, the Heroes in a Half-Shell crossed over to Gotham City the first time around, so it only makes sense that the party come to their backyard for this six-issue limited run.

On that note, here’s what the official synopsis has to tell us:

When Donatello goes looking for a new mentor to help him improve his fighting skills, he opens a doorway to another reality, hoping to summon the Turtles’ one-time ally, Batman. But instead, he gets sent to Gotham City and someone else comes through the open portal —Bane! Suddenly, there’s a new gang boss in New York and he’s out to unite all the other bad guys under him. Can Donnie get back in time and bring Batman with him to help his brothers before Bane causes irreparable destruction?

Knowing how Tynion and Williams respectively wrote and drew for these characters so perfectly in the previous story, we understandably have high expectations for the followup. Seriously, if anyone can pose as great of a threat as Ra’s al Ghul or Shredder, it’s most certainly Bane.

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #1 arrives in comic shops on December 6, with the second issue following on December 20.