Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5 Review
Our comic opens this time with Jim Gordon standing in front of the Bat signal, smoking his pipe and mumbling cynically to himself about how weird his job must be compared to other cops. I love this. Gordon isn't in this comic very much, but he steals every scene he's in just by being disillusioned and sarcastic. Batman arrives and asks what's going on, and Gordon longs for the days when he had a simple answer to that question. Gordon, being a man who thought that his day-to-day could not get any stranger, then lays eyes on Leo and Raph. Gordon's reaction to two human sized talking turtles with ninja weapons and color-coded bandanas is hands down the highlight of the comic. He takes off his glasses, sighs to himself, and tells himself to close his eyes and think about retiring to a warm place where the giant turtles don't talk. Ladies and Gentlemen, GCPD Commissioner James Gordon, a man who is now officially too old for this sh*t. Gordon steps aside, presumably to pull out a flask and see how many sips gulps of whiskey it takes forget that Mr. Turtle and his brother ever existed, and allows his informant to take over. The informant turns out to be none other than The Penguin, who exposits that Shredder and R'as Al Ghul have taken over Arkham Asylum and are now planning to unleash something that will destroy the city. The Turtles don't trust Penguin, but Penguin reminds them that he has just as much to lose as anyone if Shredder and R'as are successful. Batman and the others head towards Arkham but Leo collapses, a signal that the Mutagen is finally starting to wear off.
Back in the Bat-Cave, Mikey, Donnie and Casey are playing video games when they're attacked by Robin, who has clearly not been briefed on the situation. Since this particular Robin is Damian Wayne, he's naturally a bit of a hot-head and doesn't listen to reason when the turtles try to calm him down. While this fight is mostly in Damian's favor, it's more forgivable than Batman's initial fight with the Turtles as the others get some good hits in and they're deliberately holding back. However, everything comes to a halt when Batman re-enters the cave holding an unconscious Leonardo. Clearly, the Turtles can no longer stay in this reality, Shredder or no Shredder, so Casey pulls out a device made by a scientist friend of the Turtles that will bring them home. After Batman and the Turtles have a farewell, each team thanking the other for their help and for their guidance, Batman and Robin go off to fight the bad guys alone. However, they're stopped on the way by the Penguin, who, thanks to the Mutagen, has now been transformed into an actual human-penguin hybrid. And so our comic ends with Batman and Robin facing down an army of mutated Arkham inmates.
What Works: The MVP of this comic is easily Jim Gordon, who's beleaguered sarcasm is absolutely hilarious. Also, the design of the mutant Batman Villains are great and I can't wait to see them in action next issue.
What Doesn't: Sadly, this issue just didn't have a whole lot going for it and was mostly just set up for the final issue next month. There's nothing wrong with having a sort of "calm before the storm" issue, but it just didn't make for an exciting read. Instead of having Mikey playing video games, why not actually show Shredder and R'as (who aren't even seen in this issue) taking over Arkham and mutating the Batman villains. Also, I find it confusing that Leo would be affected by the lack of Mutagen, but not Shredder and the others.
Overall: 3.5/5
This was easily the weakest issue of the mini-series, bolstered up primarily by the excitement built up for the epic conclusion and the awesomeness that is Jim Gordon