Batman & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Issues 1-6 Review

Hi, this is Bobby Curnow, Chief Turtle Editor

at IDW Publishing, and you are going to have

a shell of a good time inside the Pull Bag. Welcome

to The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig out our latest

comics and discuss them with a rotating panel

of the JCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy this

week's Pull Bag. This is Kevin Conroy. I am the

goddamn Batman. Hello and welcome to the pull

bag. This is Continuing on with Batman month.

It's a little bit late and May 20 May 31st is

gonna be a little bit full folks. We are going

to be releasing Batman TMNT adventures episode

along with our Batman Beyond escaping the grave

part 2 I am of course TF2 and Mike joining me

here in baggage you classics episode 90 is mr.

Joe Reid. Hello, sir. Hello Yes, and we are here

to talk about the second DC ID in this case IDW

DC crossover last time we talked about a Batman

TMNT crossover it was Batman TMNT 6 issue crossover

that DC headed up. This time around IDW is heading

up Batman TMNT Ninja Turtles Adventures. This

combines Batman the animated series with the

2012 TMNT Nickelodeon cartoon and oh my god was

this fun. Yep, I think this was certainly more

enjoyable than the DC IDW crossover where it

was the two comic book worlds. I think this was

just more a natural fit between the two of them

and with the animated series. I was thinking

about this this morning before we recorded that

in the animated series you have Batman distilled

down to the quintessential essence of Batman.

I think most of us grew up in our the mid -thirties

watching Kevin Conroy's Batman and that is our

Batman. That's the one thing that got it right.

And then the Ninja Turtles, which... Wait, wait,

wait, wait, wait. You just said we grew up in

our mid -thirties? Wait a second here. Does that

mean I'm now 60 years, 67 years old? No, no,

no. Those of us who grew up watching this Batman

and are now in our mid -thirties... Okay, I was

gonna say, wait a second here. This is our quintessential

version of Batman. And the animated Ninja Turtles,

they're... There while while there's kind of

people on both sides of the spectrum whether

they're annoyed by the show or they love it There's

a lot that this show gets right about it kind

of being a quintessential mashup of all the things

that are the best of the turtles and You put

that two together, and it's just it's magic.

It's just absolutely magic I Was not skeptical

about this at all. I was very excited about this.

I could not wait for this The reason why and

in folks if you go back and listen to our other

Batman TMNT episode which will be linked in the

post The reason why I was skeptical on that at

first is because Turtles has a IDW Turtles has

a specific continuity to it it's always been

a continuity driven book and it always will be

and once I found out that the DC Turtles DC IDW

Turtles first Six issue series was outside of

both of the continents. I was like, okay fine

cool Whatever with this because I know it's part

of the animated side of IDW that it really has

nothing to do with the main turtles ongoing I

was purely fine with it. They told me two cartoon

series are gonna come together in a comic book

I was like, let's go The creative off the top

for the first issue the entire series is written

by Matthew Kay Manning Artist on the first issue

is John some of our I hope I'm saying that right.

Some are either some are either. Okay. There

we go. Wait a minute. Yeah, you're right. No,

you're right. Some are either. You're right.

No, I thought go about keep going. Keep going.

The letter, the anchor is Sean Parsons, the colorist

is Leonard Ito, letter obviously Sean Lee, editor

Bobby Kernau as always. So there is that. This

first issue, I thought they were going to open

up with the animated series opening. We'll talk

about that way later, but like when you first,

when I first saw, The very first top of the page

of the first panel with the guy running away

with the trash can fire light kind of thing and

he's looking over his shoulder and you just see

a giant pair of eyes and it's just the eyes and

and we even have a call back to 89 I want you

to tell me about all I want you to tell all your

friends about me i'm like super hungry you know

if there's a pizza place nearby you gotta forgive

my keys on kind of a superhero kick right now

i am vengeance i am the knight oh man you know

how many times i practice those lines i love

this this is just so fun and in kind of going

back to that artist there john samariva i I had

to gather up all my issues, and I'm disappointed

to say I'm missing issue three. I don't know

how that happened, but thanks, Mike, for helping

me out with that. The covers on this, I have

some of the A and B covers. Samariva's covers

are on point. I absolutely love them. He's got

a real good handle on the animated series style,

Batman animated series, and his version of the

animated turtles. I don't know. They don't fit

exactly together. They don't look like animated

series turtles, not if Bruce Timm decided to

draw the turtles, but it fits in this, and they're

exquisite versions of the turtles. So I absolutely

love the covers from this series. I guess we'll

talk about the covers of 2, 3, 4, and when we

get there. Oh yeah, absolutely. When they do

series like this series and it's two different

combinations you can get What the hell was I

gonna say you can get various references to each

of Like they're not just gonna make all Batman

references. They're not just gonna make all Turtles

references, you know It's one big happy family

of everything, and the covers are just so well

done. You know, when I'm looking at this too,

I'm going to kind of go online and look for Samariva

and see if any of these pages are for sale anywhere.

But I have to imagine that as soon as you put

Batman and a Ninja Turtle on a drawing, and that

drawing ends up in a comic, that that page, that

original art where they're together, ends up

being worth gobs of money Because you know that

that's extremely limited. It's like a one -off

thing and it's kind of like the animation cells

From Roger Rabbit where Daffy Duck and Donald

Duck are on the same cell of animation those

cells I've heard that those go for tens of thousands

of dollars So it's it's but I would love to there's

there's a couple of pages in here that I would

love to own And I'll never be able to afford

them and that's okay anyway there are just for

issue one alone uh... and they do this every

now and then and some some people might think

this is overkill but it's the first issue i get

it in total there are twenty two covers for issue

number one i have a lawyer to drive me nuts there's

so many that i want uh... looking through these

my Number one favorite one was the one where

it's the turtles with Batman in the background

on the bat signal next to him That's actually

gonna be the featured art for this episode for

the podcast The other favorite I had was the

one it's actually two one that actually references

Batman in a series with him It's the wing with

the red sun behind him, and it's the turtles

inside of his bat wing. Yeah, I also like the

one by Tony Fleeks with Batman standing up and

the lightning behind him, like the credits with

the turtles in front. That was the third one

I was going to mention, yeah. I do have to shout

out to my... I don't know, not friend. I know

this guy. We're friends on Facebook, so it's

like we totally know each other, right? But the

Ben Bishop cover, the one that they sold at Shellback

Artworks when Shellback had their closing celebration,

that Steve Levine of Mirage Ninja Turtles did

the art, Peter Laird did the inks for it, and

then Ben Bishop did the colors. I have to get

a hold of that issue. It was a Coast City Comics

exclusive, but they also sold it at that show,

I believe. So someday I gotta find that and then

call it that I got it. But yeah, the covers for

issue one were great. And I have to look up this

John Samariva guy and see if I can get a commission.

I can't afford that right now either. Well, you

know, Joe keeps saying he can't afford stuff,

folks. That's because, you know, congratulate

him and his wife Jenny. They just had their second

kid recently. I am two Ninja Turtles into having

a full team, so... I got two more, and I gotta

name them after Greek... No, I'm kidding. No

Greek artist said stuff. Wow, that's just so

wrong! Alright, um... okay so the first issue

opens up with like I said with the turtles doing

their thing we then get to Gotham City and Batman

is doing his thing what I am liking about how

Matthew Kay Manning is writing this is how he

describes the characters and the introductions

like all the turtles have their own little description

underneath them It is just so funny. Well really

quickly. Let's just go through these his description

Raphael He's rude not always wrong, but definitely

rude Mikey kind of a superhero kind of a zero

kick right now probably it'll probably pass donnie

uh... the smart one enjoys messing with machines

and occasionally his brothers uh... leo the leader

not exactly happy at the moment uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... about his

drop down in the ceiling this is very bruce tim

animated series style of batman yeah it's just

so good so cool looking um so batman is you know

going through and knocking out all these guards

and he's in somebody's oh he's looking for two

-face that's what it is uh... his two faces is

up to his old shenanigans and again the animated

series style look for two face obviously since

that's where it just i get worried sometimes

not about really the fact of oh my god they're

gonna make a comic version of this animated thing

but once i see it and i'm like okay that actually

is they really did do that very well And in the

dialogue here, and we'll let the readers do what

they do, but I can hear the animated series voices

on here. And so I think that's a testament to

the writing, to Manning's writing, that you hear

Kevin Conroy. You hear Two -Face. Well, I'm sorry.

Voice actor Two -Face? Oh, you would have asked

me that. I know. It's not like I'm just brain

farted. Because I can hear that voice and I know

him. I know the guy. I did, too. Oh, God. Anyway,

keep going. Keep going. And with the Ninja Turtles,

you can hear the voice actors from the animated

series doing that. I think that's just exquisite

and wonderful. My only question to you is do

you hear... Do you hear Jason Biggs or Seth Green

for Leo? They've blended together. When that

change happened in the animated show, it was

very striking in the first couple of episodes.

And even the characters were helping us viewers

get over it by saying, whoa, he sounds different.

But when I watch things from season four and

then my son goes back and watches things from

season one, I don't even hear it. I know, but

I don't hear it. And I think I preferred Jason

Biggs season one. But that's okay, that's okay.

It's still my Leonardo. We both ought to be sued

for not remembering who the hell voiced Two -Face

because, oh my god, it's freaking bull from Night

Court, Richard Moll. Okay. I'm like, wait, how

do I not know this? Man, animated series had

so many good people in it. They did. We're doing

a terrible job of reviewing this comic because

we just there's so many awesome tangents to go

on so We get the whole thing with two -face and

and all of that we go back to where the turtles

are And Donnie wants them to take a look at this

mysterious active symbol, which I swear to god.

That's a reference to turtles, too active so

we get the turtles going back and forth April

the voice of reason and Donnie is still in love

with April he'll be in love with April up until

about you know the time he meets his other love

man I remember when that got Kind of leaked before

the cartoon start I was like that's gross Donnie

doesn't have a crush on April you and now it's

just it's how it happens. It's like whatever.

Okay And you know Donnie finds out about this

portal and he thinks it's the crane and I Love

Mikey. Oh, come on. Not the squishy alien guys

again. Didn't we just trounce them and save the

world like last week? love Mikey I love how the

the I love how the turtles interact with each

other it's just so fun and so cool and you can

tell how how different each of their personalities

are and we get back to Batman and Ari goes to

Arkham and he's going into various cells and

Completely undetected because he's Batman. Yep,

and he finds a triangle in the cell and it's

a portal and they find a portal as well and Mikey

somehow gets sucked under water. Okay. Oh, I

know what that is. Well, when that first happened,

I thought, Killer Croc! Yeah, that's, yep. Because

that's what alligators do. Yep. And, uh... It's

not, uh, Killer Croc. It's, uh... It's Clayface.

My favorite bat villain? And again, the descriptions

for Matthew K. Manning to introduce the readers

to the characters. Clayface! Shape -shifting

villain. Most certainly not Michelangelo. Yeah,

Michael Engel got pulled under and they're like,

oh man, Mikey, where'd he go? And then he kind

of creeps out of the shadows. But in the shadows,

you can kind of tell he's a little drippy, he's

a little nasty, but then he morphs into Clayface.

No, it's totally me. No, it's not you. And I

love Mikey so much. Hey, Mudbutt, that's not

my name. No one cares, Mudbutt. He's calling

Clayface a Mudbutt. I absolutely love that. So

we get a fight between the turtles and Clayface,

which again is so cool how they have to adapt

to this new type of villain. I don't remember

there ever really being a Clayface villain in

here. Say again? I don't remember there really

being a Clayface type of villain in the turtles.

Oh, like a shapeshifter? Yeah, I mean, there

are some, no, I'm, yeah, but I'm sure they've

come up against shapeshifters, but I'm saying

specifically clay face type. Um. Mutating blob

that throws punching bags and bricks and anvils

at them from, huh. None that immediately come

to mind. Yeah. Absolutely. So they defeat clay

face. They keep wondering about this portal thing

and we get to the Batcave Alfred is He's a little

dry But there's something very subtle that happens

here so batman's doing his Batman thing on the

back computer, figuring out what this goo was,

the portal residue, and he's figuring out how

to track it. Alfred walks in and kinda does his,

another late night, sir. Well, I made you dinner,

sir. It's a whole plate of, and he takes the

lid off the thing, nothing, because I know you're

not gonna eat it anyway, and then they have a

little to go back and forth, and then Batman

gets up off the computer and runs out, and in

the background, you can see Alfred. taking the

nothing and don't think it is a crash uh... uh...

so in the first issue we go back to time chance

in new york and the foot clan are are about to

their Getting fully trounced as this issue ends

with the introduction of Joker and Harley This

is another Another moment where listening to

the dialogue between these two actually in the

next issue You can hear Mark Hamill and Arlene

Sorkin you can bloody hear it and That does not

happen when I'm reading the IDW series I don't

put any of the voice actors in there this doesn't

happen when I read Batman I don't when I'm reading

a Batman comic I don't hear Kevin Conrad I don't

hear Mark Hamill's Joker well maybe it's because

they're not drawn like this but the writing is

so good Manning is knocking it out of the park

putting what could potentially be incongruous

things together so well yeah oh goody reinforcements

we're new to this world so let's try this again

the old -fashioned way shall we take me to your

leader and the only description for joker and

harley trouble i love the first issue i think

the first issue sets everything up nicely i think

that equal sides get great introductions between

the turtles um and Batman's world as well the

art is amazing John is doing some great stuff

here Writing is a very easy setup. I think for

this which is good I know the writing is gonna

get better, but just reading this first issue

It's very straightforward very simple and that's

good when you're trying to rake in new readers

people That are not us that know this stuff,

you know I think you really could pick this series

up being a fan of, if you've never watched the

animated Turtles, you could pick this up. If

you've never watched the animated series in Red

Turtles, you can pick this up. And not only is

it digestible, but it's also approachable and

you get to know who all the characters are without

it hitting you over the head with like origin

story. It's it's it's really good, and I hadn't

I hadn't considered that before right now Say

like yeah anybody could pick this up a nobody

a fan of one, but not the other and vice versa

But it's especially fun for those of us who are

are and we're we still are fans of both because

it's just so It's just so fun. It's really all

that I can say about it The fun of it all is

just so great With issue 2 we have six covers

this time so not as many But we do have six covers

John did the main cover which brilliant Mike

and I were talking about this before the recording

started. I don't get the whole Harley Quinn obsession

that the whole world seems to be on right now.

I don't think she's an admirable or healthy character

at all to be obsessing about, but man, that art

is on point. And I'm looking at all of the little

chibi stuffed animals that she's sitting on top

of. Apparently she broke something and crushed

it. But I don't think the April head underneath

her bottom is one of the stuffed animals. I think

that's actually April. Yeah, no, that's actually

April. But yeah, that just screams animated series

Harley Quinn. Absolutely. The other covers that

are in here, cover two, is... it's them in the

sewers i like that i think that's cool uh cover

three is them in the city cover four almost yes

it is cover four is actually a new adventures

cover uh um uh adventures of batman and robin

slash new adventures of batman cover because

it's not the traditional btas suit for batman

it's the black and gray suit yeah yep and The

final two covers are Joker, Harley type covers.

Actually, no. The final two covers, one is Harley

and Ivy. That's awesome. I didn't catch that

homage. Yep. It's Harley and Ivy. And Rocksteady

and Bebop. Oh, yeah. I didn't. I meant, I'm looking

right at the damn picture. I didn't even see

Rocksteady and Bebop. Oh. That's the next miniseries

we need Harley and Ivy meets Bebop and Rocksteady.

I'm not a fan of the animated series Bebop and

Rocksteady. I don't think they went the right

direction with those guys, but IDW's Bebop and

Rocksteady and Harley and Ivy. And the final

one is Batman with the turtles on the rooftop.

It's a Dynamic Forces exclusive with the Joker

kind of... Wow. Dang, Leo. He's using your sword

as a piece of dental floss. Like, holy crap,

he's got his sword in his... what okay i think

i need to rephrase that right now uh... uh...

inconvenient alignment i think i don't know if

that's the uh... i was holding on yeah that's

good that's what she said uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... The Clown and the

Claw for part two. I didn't notice the titles.

Man, they, you know what, hold on. Oh, yeah,

I'm looking at the previous, I'm looking at other

issues that I have near me. I think they missed

an opportunity on that front page to do really

homage -ish title cards like we're in the animated

series. They're trying, but I don't think they

got it right. Those needed to be chalk drawings.

Okay, yes, I see that's cool, but try guys the

way that they're doing them is it's in the style

Yeah, it's not exact the style of it isn't that

but the title and how like I think the first

one was They sound like very animated series

title yeah, exactly Yeah, they needed they needed

to be chalk drawings and the words needed to

be part of the drawing not Text over it that

would it man that would have been awesome Dang

it. That's okay next time next time guys cuz

do it again. This was fun We open with Arkham

Asylum last week just out for a huge casual stroll

and We get the guards escorting Harley down the

hall, which there's water on the floor zoinks

No. They threw in a scooby reference. Rutro,

they threw in two scooby references, wow. So

Harley escapes. And she goes to the Joker and

lets him out. And yeah, we see the two portals

and, you know, light bulb. Just a little adjustment

here and he throws the guards into the portal

It's just so fun man, I hope those guys got home

wait he didn't toss them into the portal. Oh,

I thought he did No, he made a smiley face out

of them and the two portals are the Joker eyes

as they went through the portal And that's how

they end up meeting shredder This is Kevin right

Kevin Michael Richardson shredder, so it's a

little strange I Don't know I like it, but No,

that doesn't ring a bell the juicer, I'm pretty

sure they I'm gonna wait until we get to the

scene, but they've done it Well, okay anytime

you have a crossover like this and you put up,

you know Leonardo and Batman are gonna fight

And how do you make them win? I mean, Leonardo

is really good at what he does. Batman is humanity

pushed to perfection and knows martial arts.

You get two villains in the room, like Joker

and the Shredder. The Joker is a criminal mastermind,

master chemist, and sociopathic to the nth degree.

And then you put Shredder, ultimately conniving

ninja and... who wins, you know? Whose character

is better? And they did something in here, and

I'll talk about it more when we get to that part

of the issue, but in this particular scene, Joker

gets the upper hand on the Shredder, and I'm

reading this going, you know, I don't know, would

the Shredder, well, in this situation, yes. But

the writer's done a good job of... Yep, he gets

an upper hand here, but later he gets an upper

hand and they let each of the villains shine

and I think that's Really if you come down to

what a good crossover has to have is that it's

got to have a point where? each hero gets one

up on the other hero and each villain gets a

one up on the other villain and In you you balance

it out. You don't want to make enemies when you

have cool crossovers Absolutely, and the interesting

thing about The crossover aspect is you have

to find a reason for the heroes to team up properly.

Look at World's Finest, okay? You look at that

three -part Superman episode series, which they

cut down into, make a movie version of it. You

look at that. in that movie lex and the joker

come together before batman and superman can

get on the same page because you have to have

a reason for the heroes to team up to defeat

the villains um but yeah so we got joker and

joker with a rubber chicken okay then an exploding

rubber chicken And I think that the reason for

the meeting here was that Joker was in New York

City and Looking for the crime bosses to see

what he had to do and they were meeting and and

shredder just absolutely wasn't having this fool

But because it's because it's the Joker You know,

they met him on his terms and he's got hundreds

of these exploding rubber chickens hanging from

the ceiling. Shredder's got his hands tied. No

ninja can get out of this big warehouse full

of exploding chickens that quickly. And Joker

is exactly the kind of madman to push the button.

And so, you know, at this point, Joker has the

upper hand and is one -upping the Shredder. Which,

in a fist fight, I don't think would happen,

but that's okay. I would think those things on

his hand would go through the joker like Swiss

cheese. We go back to Gotham, and we've got a

blimp shot, cool, in the background. We go back

to Gotham, Batman has called Robin, and Robin

has brought Batgirl. And Batman's like, hmm,

okay then. So this must have been before Batgirl

really joined up. And yeah, I love her description

the fairly new to the whole crime fighting thing,

but it rarely shows Absolutely And the reason

why I can tell that she is just being introduced

here is because It's her black gray and blue

suits now. She had already been doing this for

a while She'd be in the black and yellow suit

from from new adventures. So this Specifically

is the adventures of Batman and Robin for her

as far as that goes uh... so they talk about

interdimensional portals we find one who's going

to be coming out of it well it's probably going

to be the turtles because the turtles seem to

be on the other side of that portal and we get

to a part in the story of it just again the comedy

matthew k manning is killing me mikey just Boking

his finger, and it's so glowy you think is just

chock full of mud dudes And I can hear this in

the actors voice I feel something Mikey think

it's a gargoyle. It's a really angry gargoyle

Batman's face a Really angry gargoyle explain

yourselves quickly uh... unit that creature from

beyond uh... uh... so there are there's one giant

reference there and of course wrath explain this

uh... batman just pushes him to the side and

donnie's like well slow down guys we don't know

what we're dealing with another new back -reacher

from the uh... that girl interest in red a kid

dressed in red uh... uh... uh... yeah i i i don't

think that's the way hostility little Then Donnie

tries to flirt with Batgirl and he gets a foot

in the face for it Poor Donnie April comes to

his defense and Mikey versus Robin and holy crap

This is just wow just wow It's just so fun April

versus Batgirl is cool. I love the art John's

art and this is great as always So a nice little

fight between everybody before you know like

you're saying earlier We get Batman versus Leo

on what looks to be a mr.. Miyagi bridge So that's

cool and any time they let Well both Leonardo

or Batman in separate whenever they get to them

to do that Sherlock Holmes martial arts Analyzing

each other's style thing out loud. I get excited.

And so they're they're Leo's kicking Leo gets

a hit in the gut Batman drops an elbow in the

back of his head. You're you're hesitating. You're

pulling your punches. And so are you you're not

going for lethal strikes We're on the same side.

Aren't we like they read that they read that

in each other's fighting style and I I love to

see that I love to see that Stinkweed controlled

by poison ivy snakeweed snakeweed Whatever Stinkweed

where the hell was stinkweed that was anyway.

Yes snakeweed So we get introduced to poison

ivy Here and that's kind of how the second issue

ends. Yeah, this is this is the page that I would

want to buy right here the Batman and leo we

fought this guy before this is our mess and it's

robin batman poor turtles april batgirl uh...

all -in -one panel and that that is on point

that that is animated that is animated batman

uh... that would be a page that i would love

to buy second is sure so the same second issue

yet yeah losing my mind here moving on a good

thing you know i mean the story and it's just

so oh absolutely the story is on point Everything

with all of the characters is just so great.

The writing is wonderful. The art is fantastic.

Absolutely loving it. This thing can do no wrong,

honestly. I mean, they've continued the story.

We've got a reason for the heroes to fight it

first and then obviously team up. and all of

that. And overall, I'm really digging it. Getting

into, did you have any final thoughts before

we get into issue three? Nope. All right. I'm

gonna let you take the ultimate lead on issue

three, because I'm not gonna go figure out how

to open that, but I don't know about this issue,

guys. The trade's coming out soon, so just go

buy the trade. All right, so issue three. We've

got four covers this time By far the best cover

is cover two it has the four turtles up top of

either Manhattan or Gotham and it's got Batman

Batgirl and Robin In the sewer with Batman holding

up the lid. It's an homage to the 1990 film poster.

Oh No cartoon Have you not seen this cover I

don't think I have, because I don't have that...

Oh, yeah, that's true. But yeah, no, that's by

far the best one in my mind. Absolutely dig it.

It's just so cool. I clicked that link, where'd

that go? Anyway, I'll find it you go So with

this one we continue on with poison ivy as she

This one is called greener on the other side

We get Central Park, New York City we open with

Mikey I'm okay. I'm confused didn't stink snakeweed

get all blown up and stuff. That's what we thought

And Mikey's just trying to be logical here, but

he's back and teamed up with some lady with leaves

for What does that say? Teamed up with leaves

for pants leaves for pants. That's not even That's

not even right Mikey damn That's funny What I'm

loving about this one is, again, the incorporation

of the villains. Ooh! Technical difficulties.

Let's move on, shall we? So, as I was saying,

before I was so rudely interrupted by whatever

the hell that was, we have them going up against

Snakeweed, and Mikey's just like, this is the

best day ever! we get back to shredder and joker

i assume you have demands and shreddy poo we've

been friends for nearly eight minutes now i don't

make demands of my besties i was thinking more

along the lines of a mutual relationship you

scratched my back i put a kick me sign on yours

joker just loves to have fun with this he's not

taking this seriously at all And that's the best

kind of dichotomy between those two, or the conflict

between those two, is that the shredder absolutely

is taking this seriously. And right about now

is when he's done with it, totally through. Doesn't

like this clown, and he's like, all right, boys,

we're out of here. Yep. Absolutely. And we get

introduced to the boys. We get Tiger Claw, Baxter

Stockman, Razor, and Fish Face. Mutants, Federal

Loyalists, potentially the world's creepiest

bobsled team. I love Harley. Look, that one's

a kitty. Can I pet a kitty? Can I pet the kitty

pudding? So they eventually... come to an understanding,

and they all start laughing, and Shredder gets

his helmet knocked off, and we have Joker next

to Baxter, and it's just all kinds of crazy.

This is setting up where Shredder gets his one

-ups on the Joker. The Joker brings him in to

say, hey, the deal's over, and squirts him with

his smile gas. That's where the helmet comes

off and so the shredder is infected with the

joker gas and is smiling and grinning and laughing

off in the corner I don't think he got the rest

of the other guys. I think they is that right

you tell me that they backed off No, he got pretty

much everybody. Okay? Yeah, he got all of them

because he's with Baxter we see Tiger claw on

the ground we see bebop and rocksteady on the

ground all that stuff. Yeah we get back to the

turtles uh... get your head in the game mikey

we need you at a hundred percent right now you

know like math will make this more fun uh...

bat guy batman listen tell your people to go

for snakeweed's heart it's his weak spot so they

go for the heart except it's covered and and

all of that and batgirl starts kicking and shredding

and donnie goes in for the kill there and we've

got this really great team up and then they're

going to take the fight to ivy because that's

how they're actually going to defeat us i keep

wanting to call them stinkweed for some odd reason

well that makes sense it's uh oh i know there

was a bunch of scooby -doo references earlier

stinkweed was one of the villains in the popping

scooby -doo that's where I got stinkweed from

Lord I love is it Raffen Robin or Mikey and run

your name Raphael oh yeah you showed me really

shaking in my boots over here I love that so

we get ivy and Batman You know, what's a girl

gonna do to get some attention real attention

and It's just a fun little fight between all

of these guys And how most of this issue is actually

centered around that is really really fun we

get Raph and Ivy fighting underwater Turtles

can hold their breath for a long time, right?

Yep We get her defeated and raf puts her back

through a portal Okay Yeah, he they knocked her

out and he took her underwater to knock her out

because she can't breathe down there and then

yeah Chuck her in and then chuck her in the portal

Ten seconds until it disappears. Sorry everyone

so they get back to New York City here turtle

layer which is interesting seeing the bat characters

not in the actual bat cave and actually meeting

master splinter that's just so fun everyone's

seeing the giant rat right yeah that's sort of

our dad sure why not Master splinter ninjutsu

expert kind -hearted father and since I fan of

1980s smooth jazz Kenny G in my head or listening

to some Kenny G in my head It's like this like

the splinter from the TMNT computer generated

first computer generated movie listening to his

stories wanting to watch his stories So they're

gonna split up You know, do your best to stay

out of sight. We don't want to attract any more

attention. And... Mikey puts in some sort of

cassette. What does it say on there? It says,

Mikey's... Something about his favorites and...

He starts doing the wing nut rap, and I'm like

really wing nut really That was me hearing that

going wait there. That's the ninja rap beat that

they're copying there Yeah, it is, but really

Mikey you've got a screw loose Wing nut and screw

loose Go wing nut go Yeah, it is the ninja. Oh

god. You're right it is the ninja rap So they

have a fight against the foot. We've got Batman

and Leo looking at fear gas because the Scarecrow

is gonna make his debut here in a little while.

Actually right about now and they've got all

these weird giant bug animals and that's how

this one ends as we we get introduced to Dr.

Jonathan Crane known to the people of Gotham

City as the Scarecrow. I don't know, would I

say my second favorite? Batman villain? I don't

know. Meh. He's alright. He's not... I wouldn't

put him second. I'd probably put him like fourth

or fifth, honestly. Yeah. I'd have to think about

that. I think he has a lot of potential. And

I like the animated series version of him. So...

Overall issue three. I like it. I think it's

fun. I think it's cool. I think the story is

progressing well I think by the time we get to

issue four we get into a more Figuring out why

everything is happening There's that Any final

thoughts on issue three? Nope. I think this is

it's a wonderful ramping up. I think they got

a lot of the big Batman villains in there in

a very organic way and it's working and it's

neat to see how the turtles handle it versus

how Batman handles it so you know what we don't

get in this series is Batman fighting Shredder

yeah but that's okay that's okay because we get

the two villains kind of having their back and

forth and that's that's unique Issue four has

three covers One of the main cover is shredders

face in the background with Batman and Leo standing

back to back up against the fear toxin The second

cover is Batman and the turtles jumping off of

buildings With a Batman the animated series blimp

style thing with the flashlights in the background

the third cover is Well, it's Batman versus Shredder.

Shredder's got his clothes up against Batman's

chin. Another on -point cover there. That one's

by Tony Fleeks, and I think the animated series

style is very strong with that one. Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely it is. So issue four, we pick up with

this one, to laugh, so not to cry. So there's

that That's the best of their title card attempts,

I think Yeah, it's a nice little title card It's

yeah, it's very dark and sinister So New York

City East Village now flooded with fear gas and

everybody assumes Batman is a monster because

you know fear gas and all that and That's where

the first you know We see crane we see the scarecrow

we go to the monarch theater Well, but it's not

the monarch theater Batman is kind of get what

he's something's wrong and he looks at his respirator

and it's broken it's cracked and so he's seeing

his dead parents again or well no it's not his

parents it's Alfred outside the theater so he's

been infected by the fear gas this is well almost

there not quite yet because he's seeing all of

his villains they're loose in Gotham he's kind

of feeling guilty about coming and then gets

clubbed in the head with a shovel by scarecrow

So many villains. We got Raishan Talia, we got

the Riddler, we got... We even got Killer Croc.

I hit him with a rock. It was a really big rock.

Wow, that hurt. Great story, Croc, yeah. Help

me remember somebody here. Oh, okay, I know.

I remember who the ninja is in the bottom right

of that panel. Who's the little girl? The young

girl next to Croc. Oh, that's Babydoll. I can't

remember what her thing was. I remember, I recognize

it. She was with, she was, it's, um, it's for,

it's from an episode, uh, for Love of Kroc or

something. It's about, she was this old timey,

uh, think of, I really hate to compare it to

this, but think of Shirley Temple, child star

kind of thing. Oh, that's right. She like stayed

forever young because she had something. Yep.

She fell in love with croc and wanted to start

a whole you know create your whole family that

kind of thing We got Andrea the phantasm in the

center there awesome Catwoman we got the dummy

and Scarface We got man bat Pretty much everybody

here Even the Condiment King, too. That's hilarious.

The only one that's missing is Joker and Harley,

but that's all right. So yeah, Scarecrow. Wow,

I can't talk or do anything right today, folks.

Bats him over the head with a shovel, pun intended.

Terry's tacos and taxidermy. Who is this? I'm

not interested in changing my cable provider.

And so they have the two of them going back and

forth. We've got Shredder. We've got Joker wearing

Shredder's helmet. That's brilliant. I love that.

Oh my god. This is just so wrong. So they've

got all the necessary ingredients for whatever

they're going to be doing. We've got Mikey and

facing off with the foot with everybody else.

We've got April. So this Joker guy, another one

of the escaped convicts Batman was telling us

about, and now he's running the foot clan. All

the foot soldiers have the Joker smile painted

on their faces. It's a neat aesthetic. It's a

neat thing that he totally would have done. Oh,

of course. absolutely um we get uh do this to

the shredder we've known where his hide it is

for like years this is the weirdest dimension

ever it's complicated joker this shredder joker

the shredder guy yeah we can't do this alone

i'll make the call that's too funny So they all

end up getting captured they're all still under

fear toxin gas We get Batman basically breaking

free we get the scarecrow jumping into one of

the portals What are you liking so far here on

this in this year, this is where I like my Batman.

He's under the effects of the fear toxin, but

He's battling it and he's fighting it's because

he's been under the effects of it before he knows

how it works and so he's resisting it and once

he breaks free and Scarecrow escapes and the

two turtles who've never experienced this before

are just completely crippled by it skipping ahead

a couple pages because we'll come back and hit

that, but he's talking them through it. He's

like, this is how to deal with it guys. It's

not real. This is what's real. You need to clear

your mind and think about this. He's helped them.

And I have to, I'm picturing Batman being under

the effects of that fear gas and being able to

logic himself out of it. Like that takes that

mystical amount of willpower that I love to kind

of imagine. This is neat. It's neat to watch

him doing that It is very very cool absolutely

awesome and Yeah, again the artwork here is great

the The writing is still on point I think We

get We get April Batgirl versus Harley and that's

just smacks her in the face She unveils their

two mutants because you can't leave the Joker

alone with a tub of mutagen and he makes his

laughing hyena henchmen And he's still got his

shredders helmet on because we go back to the

shredders lair We get April and everybody breaking

in and and in the background Shredder is crumpled

up in the corner with the big grin on his face

chuckling like he's Really under the effects

of this stuff which this is where it's coming

into one of my favorite parts of the book there

the Shredders henchmen are they're not under

the effect of it the turtles and the bat people

are breaking in and they're they're fighting

the The Joker's henchmen and they're like no

no guys Rocksteady says we're not getting involved

on this this their fight We're just gonna sit

back here and and wait. They're not getting involved,

which is exactly what they do. They let this

go out Back in back outside Dick Grayson and

and Mikey are watching the portals keeping them

keeping guard back in shredders fortress. Everybody's

battling and then somebody Who is it? Who is

it here? Somebody mentions, oh yeah, Leonardo

mentioned Splinter. Remember what Master Splinter

taught us? We can do this. They're shaking off

the fear toxin. And upon hearing Splinter's name,

the shredder shakes off the Joker poison. Now

this is the same Joker toxin that in the animated

series, people end up catatonic. with a grin

on their face, just completely incapacitated,

but through the sheer ninja willpower and anger

of the Shredder, he shakes off the Joker toxin

and comes to, comes through it, and knocks out

the Joker, takes his helmet back like, this is

my place, now everybody get out, and he totally

empties his lair of both the turtles and the

bat friends. and the Joker's henchmen, which

is brilliant. This is where the Shredder gets

his one -up on the Joker, and I get brilliantly

conceived, brilliantly written, and neat to see.

It gives our Shredder something that's more supernatural

beyond just being an angry guy, and I like that.

I like that. Like you said we get the little

interspersal here with with Robin and Mikey and

Robin's like I think I made the right calls Davey

Like you with the portals like almost falling

in jerking around Yeah, like you said we get

Batman basically fixing everybody and taking

out the giant hyenas and and all of that and

then working together It's just so awesome You

know so you know leo saying he could see through

this in a second so he can uh... we can too and

like you said he basically tells her to get out

uh... we had harley and joker tied up ready to

go back to her and all that donnie's like this

whole time we've just assumed that the crane

is behind these portals but it's not them I've

been studying this beacon, and I'm sure of it

now, it's somebody else, someone who's tapped

into the Krang's frequency. Enter Jervis Tetch,

the mad hatter, dun dun dun. The final Arkham

Asylum escapee, inventor genius, the maddest

of them all. issue four was great. I thought

it was very well done. Nice. Issue four is more

of a battle issue than anything else. There is

story here. It does progress. We do find out

what the Joker wants and how he wants to do it

and all of that. But pretty much it's an action

issue. uh... which is super super fun uh... final

thoughts on issue four edit rock and rolling

incredibly fast -paced i'm glad i we've read

this uh... yesterday and today because i don't

know how i would i don't know how i would have

done this in one sitting reading this like it

it it uh... a second i don't know i don't read

a lot of my comic second Do two times with the

second time through it's much faster pace. It's

a great pace. It's exciting It's I'm getting

so much more from it everybody read your comics

twice See, that's the thing like for me. I only

really read them right like 24 or 48 hours before

I have to do a podcast my comic habits of I don't

know, they haven't changed. I've just never had

good comic habits. I go to the comic store, I

buy them. Maybe I'll read Ninja Turtles in the

car, if I'm excited, or maybe Daredevil, I'll

read it in the car, but then they sit in the

black bag on my seat for two, three days, and

eventually I'll remember to bring them inside,

and I'll put them in my bedroom, and maybe I'll

ignore them for a week or two sitting on my nightstand,

and then eventually I'll just read a bunch in

one night, and it's after 10 o 'clock, it's with

a little crappy lamp, and I'm not comfortable.

uh... so as it's totally the wrong way to read

comics i need to i need to rethink myself here

but hey you know what i have uh... i have a two

-week -old and he's keeping me awake at night

so there you go pooh -pooh on that issue five

folks through the looking glass we start off

with gotham city four weeks ago We must run as

fast as we can just to stay in place and we see

the Mad Hatter tapping into the crank frequency.

He thinks it's wonderland and we have Batman

coming in to destroy everything else and getting

him caught. Obviously he breaks out because he's

got all his tinker toys now. We get some nice

shots of all the other villains. We get Mad Hatter,

we get Harley, we get Two -Face Who else is there?

You know, we got a bunch of other other people

and he's just kind of sitting back pretty and

The guard towers and everything else and New

York City. What I'm saying is that you're Mad

Hat Man Hatter Mad Hat Man, that's funny And

I like that, too, that these heroes and villains,

they would not immediately learn each other's

names. It would take a little bit of time. Yeah,

like earlier with Leo, so Bat Guy, Batman, yeah.

It's just so fun. So Mad Hatter's plan is to

control all of New York or Gotham and all of

that. honestly the best part of this issue is

coming up you know we've got Batman on the on

the comlink with Robin Robin I need you and Michelangelo

through the portals now are you sure Batman find

where the header is hiding and shut him down

we'll meet you there as soon as he opens his

final portal and they said I couldn't make a

costume out of garbage We get to go to that bat

cave place you talked about, don't we? Yep. What

if we wear the violet on a super happy scream?

Yep. You know I'm gonna go happy scream anyway,

right? Yep. And then the opening. My note, I

swear to God. The only note that I could write

down as soon as I saw BTAS intro was right before

I wrote down BTAS intro. Holy rusted metal, Batman!

They did it! Oh my god So for you for your readers,

I think if listeners rather if you only buy one

issue of this book I would have to suggest that

you buy issue five the there is two pages here

as a full page not a spread but eight panels,

I mean 16 panels, they do the most beautiful

homage to the opening scene, the opening credits

from Batman animated series. You can hear the

music, the blimps, the two bank robbers, boom,

the explosion, the music starts. I mean it's

pretty much panel for panel. Shot for shot, panel

for panel. The only difference obviously starts

in... when Robin jumps in the Batmobile and Mikey's

on the end of it right above the the exhaust

port hey wait for and you know and then that's

different there and then obviously Mikey with

his cape and cowl and Him with the close -up

and I love how the close -up is hand -drawn with

pencil because that frame of the of the opening

credits was Was a pastel drawing and only the

mouth was animated and so they hand drew that

panel with with pencil. That's brilliant It's

just so, so good. So Mikey ends up tripping over

his cape. We get an awesome, the awesome shot

of him kind of tripping and Robin fighting and

we get Robin doing the knockout punch like Batman

would. We get the criminals up top and we get

Mikey and Robin up top and Mikey's like, ee,

ow. Dude, that was loud. Is your utility belt

made out of bungee cords? Wouldn't you like to

know? Yeah, I think the payoff for that whole

scene is how the lightning shocks, not shocks,

it startles Mikey and he jumps during that scene

instead of being the stoic face. Love it. Absolutely

brilliant. This is so awesome. So great. So we

get to, we get back to the turtle lair. They're

having pizza and everything else. Donnie's nursing

an injury and Batgirls like that looks bad. I'll

get you some ice. Thanks. Be careful of ice cream

kitty Ice cream kitty always freaked me out It's

he's interesting there there was a weird aesthetic

choice that I think went on in the first season

of the animated Turtles show. Okay. I gotta think

I gotta figure out how to say that differently

because I'm confusing it with the Batman animated

tears. There's a with a Nick Series there was

a weird aesthetic choice happen in season one

where some of the villains and some of the weird

things were just utterly Creepy scary and weird

And they kind of got it under control seasons

two three four five and ice cream kitty I think

is one of those things that was just kind of

like what are you doing? Cue interesting character

voiced by Kevin Eastman if you didn't know. Oh

wow. And yeah but I'm it's growing on me a little

bit but still bizarre not how I have designed

it where I thinking of something that would fit

in the turtles universe. So we get Donnie kind

of coming up with the realization that Mad Hatter

is targeting Times Square and that's when we

get the classic. Dude, this ain't no cartoon.

It was on the cover, but now it's here. Can you

please take this seriously? This is no cartoon.

I mean, Robin even says it! Wow! I mean, come

on! I didn't make that connection. That is totally

the poster from the 1990 movie. Yup. Absolutely.

Wow! Yeah, it's so good. So we get into the...

Hatter's place here. We see that Bat Mikey and

Robin are gonna work him over and Mad Hatter's

like, are you a large turtle man? Dude, I have

a name and feelings. The look of hurt on his

face. Curiouser and curiouser. and this is when

the mad hatter you know has them all go after

his all the all the people there go after thing

and he's going to fire this giant crane ray for

the portal and we have more portal action and

the um... washington heights where two faces

I almost thought that was April's apartment building

from the first movie. I'm trying to find that

panel. It's right after the panel where the portal

gets activated and Batman's face is like... Oh,

I see. I swear, that almost looks like April's

apartment building from the first movie. And

he's the antique store down below. So we get

through all the locations where all these...

mad mad hatter devices are citizens of new wonderland

stand at attention all fabulous day fabulous

day frab joyous day whatever he says this is

better than i ever expected and he wants everybody

to come together to destroy the heroes Mikey

does a superhero battle cry and he destroys the...

That literally says superhero battle cry. Superhero

battle cry. Yes, it literally does. Superhero

battle cry. He gets to the microphone himself

before destroying the thing and he says, uh,

you're not mindless puppets. You. Be you, y 'all.

Um, that is pretty much it. What? Well, that

was unpleasant. And we get Batman and Mad Hatter

and Mikey and all that and And I love I love

Leo ours never listen either And we get Mikey

and everybody saying goodbye cuz they're gonna

go back to their own dimensions i think my favorite

panel is that men and michael angel michael angel

this was literally the best day that anyone has

ever days uh... wasn't half bad was it uh...

okay turtles that's a wrap let's move out and

we use and we've got uh... header and harley

and joker and everybody back in the back and

robin's like yes i see what you're saying and

i could totally be the turtles, see the turtles

rubbing on me, maybe just this once. We take

a quick break from being serious and they all

have pizza on the rooftop. And so right here

and then we get the the epilogue panel back here

where the bat signals in the air and we're outside

of Gotham by a couple of miles and there's an

old decrepit barn and Scarecrow's in there working

on sketches and he's drawing a really scary version

of Scarecrow and he says, ah, we'll be more frightening

than ever, I have to be different, darker. Alright,

before I continue on, what version of the Scarecrow

is that? Is that something that we've seen before?

With the new Sarumanak? Yeah, it's okay, so when

Mikey told him to, I think it was Mikey that

said, you need to change up your look, you need

to be more scarier. That is... The new adventures

look for him awesome remember he got scarier

in Watch just for you not for Oliver go back

and watch Over the edge over the edge is the

one where Batgirl gets hit by the scarecrow gas

and Just go watch over the edge. I'll I'll find

it for you later, but that's that's where that

comes from is in the new adventures The point

of the redesigns was to up the characters' antis

a little bit, and in certain cases, people thought

the scarecrow wasn't scary enough, so they made

him scarier. Now, so going back to that page

right before the scarier version of scarecrow

down there, I'm reading this panel, and oh my

gosh, it's this wonderful hero shot of Batman

Batgirl and Robin eating pizza. Yay, it's all

over. It's the end of this series. And then a

month later, issue six comes out. And I'm going

what the heck what? What the heck and so I had

no idea what's going on like that really felt

like an ending and I I don't know I Don't know

why this happened this way Well, I knew it was

gonna be a six -issue miniseries. I knew from

Bobby. Uh -huh. So I knew to expect six issues.

I Like I've already said I Do not read comics

As they come out anymore, you know I'll buy them

and I'll if I'm doing if I'm doing a podcast

on them like that day or whatever I'll read them

and stuff, but I don't read them like I used

to But yeah, no I I knew that because they had

to do something with the crank as they mentioned

that the Mad Hatter Kind of got into the crank

frequency. So we had to see the crank somewhere

in here Yeah, and we had to have some sort of

other like team up thing like where instead of

the turtles going to Gotham City we have Batman

and the team coming to we have Batman and the

team coming to Gotham this time you know yeah

Well, to their New York City kind of thing. I

wonder what happened with this in the editing

or in the writing process, is that like, okay,

we need six issues, Batman animated series, Turtles

Crossover, go write that. And then he came back

and said, all right, I have this, great, it's

five issues, it's perfect, it's exactly what

you asked for. And then somebody went, no, no,

no, six issues. And is it, oh wait, okay, wait,

I'll come back, I'll come back. And then he wrote

this kind of wonderful little standalone thing

that's loosely related, but it also let some

of the other aspects of Batman animated series

come out. We get different versions of the characters.

And this time in this kind of almost standalone

issue, you get the turtles coming to Gotham,

whereas Batman went to New York before. So. Absolutely.

Ah, brave new world. That has such patsas in

it. You know, kids, a lot has changed while your

old uncle Joker's been away. New Gotham, new

rules, even a new Batman. It isn't 65 years in

the future, but Legends of the Dark Knight has

gone beyond. Batman beyond, that is. Ah, the

new boy. ears are too long and I missed the cape,

but not too shabby, not too shabby at all. Join

Steve and Mike as they delve into the remaining

episodes of the podcast where they'll cover Batman

Beyond, products, games, and more. Check it out

only on keycastradio .com. So finally we get

to the epilogue. The epilogue has six covers.

John Samariva is on three of them. Ty Templeton

did one. Sean Galloway did one. Neil Adams did

one. What? Uh -huh. Cover five. Salt Lake Comic

Con exclusive variant cover. Aw, man. Yeah. One,

two, three, four. Yeah. His cover is... You know

the classic shot of the turtles jumping off the

roof and... You know what I'm talking about right

the classic animated series where they jump off

the roof that it's that cover It's it's them

with Batman Yeah, I'll I have a thumbnail version

of it inside the book I got a You know, I really

do wish they would put out once a year a Book

that has just all the cover variants in it. It

upsets me that they don't and and I don't know

why they don't I understand the collectors want

all of these, and it's fun to hunt them down.

You're doing the artist an injustice when you're

not allowing people to pay some amount of money

to get a print of the cover. I don't know. Maybe

we can ask Bobby. Yeah, maybe we could. I know

that they have done the Kevin Eastwood covers.

I know there was that, but I don't know if there's

any... any precedents or anything for artists

in general. Honestly, outside, I like the main

cover by by John Somereva. It's okay, but it's

not my favorite. My favorites would be almost

any of the others. Yeah, the sub cover I have,

and I think it's absolutely brilliant. Which

one? How do you pronounce that? That one and

I like the other one right Right above Neil Adams

is one with the Batmobile with the turtles kind

of Hanging off of it and Batman kind of silhouetted

in the background. I like that Yeah, but overall

absolutely dig in this series. I like that we

have the epilogue the terror of the Krang And

we have a classic Gotham City opening with Bruce

on the rooftop It's a rooftop party and we get

introduced to Tim Drake here and We've got the

whole Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne thing going on.

And then a bomb happens. And what was that? The

preposterous. And we have Crang. We've got Batgirl.

This is her in her black and yellow suit. So

this is after. This is when we hit the new adventures

kind of line. This is when Tim Drake was with

them. and that goes with them and robin was uh...

digressions off the night wing so we get uh...

the new adventures that will be all uh... we

get all of that that girl fighting crying the

three of them fighting the crane and then the

turtle show up that man uh... that girl oh hey

donnie long time no see sorry about all this

what the invading hordes of alien brain creatures

I hardly noticed. So we get, you know, Batman

and Leo doing their technical thing, situation

kind of thing, and we get, you know... I love

Mikey. Hey Robin, when did you get so small?

How are you talking? Did I fall asleep during

the movie? I think I fell asleep during the movie.

Let me tell you a little guy named, uh, you missed

all the awesome Sea Weir, the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. Okay. And of course, Sean Lee,

you know, amazing letterer that the man is. It's

in the, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it's

the IDW logo turtle thing. It's absolutely awesome.

We fought alongside your pups a while back, took

out the Mad Hatter, Joker, even that scarecrow

guy. Batman's not my dad. Yeah, for a while,

when I was reading this first time, the Robin

character, who, you know, they didn't name him

in the beginning, and he was kind of a little

cocky, a little arrogant, and I thought, oh no,

it's Damian, because Damian never made it to

the animated series, though, did he, now that

I think about that? No. No, so then... He gets

here and says, Batman's not my dad. I'm like,

oh, that's not Damian. Who is that? Is that Tim

Drake? And then I remembered that Tim Drake in

the Batman animated series was kind of a combination

of Jason Todd, Tim Drake. And so he's a little

rougher around the edges than the very professional

and straight edged Tim Drake that I know from

the comics. So it was kind of an interesting

thing for me to notice. Scarecrow is in his own

little mindset here and he thinks he's on the

crying world and can't breathe and all of that

and We have Batman you you both of you So that

means they're here, too So, you know We get fear

gas and we get bad girls saving people we get

Donnie and oh Donnie asks her so whatever happened

to that other Robin you know the older one let's

just say he moved on so he's not around much

then and crunch whoops bad girl Donatello Nightwing

the gang's all here fantastic as I love My favorite

version of Dick Grayson is the Nightwing version

of him. I love the character. I love the concept

of the former kid sidekick doing his own thing.

I've never read a single issue of any kind of

Nightwing comic where it's Nightwing's story.

He's been in the background of other things that

I've read. But I really think I like the guy.

Like he's everything cool about Batman, but none

of the angst and anger. And I've always wanted

to see Nightwing take over as Batman. And they

did there's a little series a couple years back,

but you know, I like seeing Dick Grayson's Nightwing

I think it's have you have you never read gates

of Gotham don't even know what it is What? Oh

my god, dude. Oh We got a way to hook me up man.

Well, yeah, obviously back up pick it up. Oh,

yeah, we're gonna be here for hours I know this

is like a ridiculously long podcast. Thank you

if you are still listening, but I think This

is the most fun that I've had in a long time

and maybe it's just perspective I haven't done

in a while, but I think we're both learning so

much. We're enjoying this is great I hope listeners

that you are coming along on this fun journey

with us and they you're not bored out of your

skull We get the introduction of Nightwing and

Donnie's not exactly thrilled with that. Hey,

Big Robin! Hey, Mikey! Need a hand? So Batman

calls them when we get a Batwing! Yay! Awesome

Batwing! I can hear that scream, that sound of

the animated Batwing. That's so cool. The only

thing that was missing out of this is them doing

a 89 reference going up to the moon. It's the

only thing that that's the only thing this issue

is missing and I'm not gonna fault it for that

But as soon as I saw the batwing I'm like, okay,

when are you gonna fly up to the moon now? Well,

that was one of the things that I loved about

the 89 movie, right? It's 89 Yeah, is that yeah,

it looked like the bat symbol and it flew up

to the moon and did the silhouette thing But

then when the animated series came out and I

watched that the batwing was just a slightly

different shape and it couldn't pull off the

bat logo thing like it was it was wider it wouldn't

you know but you know that's a weird child grape

I don't I don't hold it to that but yes it's

the animated series batwing and it's cool and

we got Raph and Batman in the batwing which is

cool and we got Raph out on the wing of the batwing

oh this is one of my favorite lines from this

issue Somebody I think Batman's on yeah, he's

on the call with Batgirl He's he's been filling

the Gotham City Police Department blimps with

a type of anti -crane fear gas He's developed

according to crane the gas won't have any effect

on humans, but it may affect humans and you trust

him Batgirl asks no, but you could you could

see it in his face He's too terrified to try

anything at all and I saw the exchange there.

So he's telling Batgirl what's going on and you

trust him No, and I can hear that in Kevin Conroy's

voice and I can hear that in the psyche of Batman

These are just already having thought through

what's going on It's kind of like the it's kind

of like the trailer for Batman and Harley That's

something about the animated series Batman and

Conroy's how he handles Batman is that There

we all know that Bruce Wayne is the disguise

and that he's putting on that voice in that act

but there is still an act to his Batman and I

don't think Batman is as hard as He is in other

iterations. He's he's putting on that face, but

he's willing to smile when nobody's looking He's

willing to chuckle and laugh when nobody's looking

And I admire that about Conroy's Batman and how

easily I've said this for years now there are

Everybody always complains when a new project

comes out that has Batman on it that isn't con

and I've complained to I'm not I'm lumping myself

in with everybody here So we always complain.

Oh, it's not Conroy. Oh, it's not this Oh, it's

not that like the one where it was I think it

was under the Red Hood where where it was Bruce

Greenwood Yeah, did the voice of Batman for that?

Honestly for me at this point there are certain

things that Kevin Conroy his batman voice style

for himself and bruce wayne fit the animation

and there are certain things that while i would

love to have him in it his batman voice just

is not the animation doesn't fit like the killing

joke i like the killing joke i think it's a good

movie i think it's all right it's not the best

thing ever the killing joke animated adaptation

but i With Brian Bowen's art, I just don't think

Kevin Conroy's voice fits the character. And

in Arkham Asylum, the video game, I don't think

Kevin Conroy was the right decision for that.

I love Bruce Greenwood's Batman. He does it for

Young Justice, doesn't he? I think so, but I

could be wrong. I'd have to look up. I'm not

looking that up right now. That's fine. I love

his Batman though, he's good. Yeah. So we get...

The crank stuff the turtles are infected with

crank nightwing is infected with crank Fear gas

and all of that actually it's a whole who's who

of turtles and Batman and everything It's it's

you know it's all the bat characters that we

have with Batman Robin Nightwing the turtles

and then all the all the villains of the turtle

universe here very very awesome and all we have

and so i see that that's uh... yeah well the

kranger infected with the fear gas to you know

every reason for the fear gas uh... so we have

that man coming up against raf and he sees batman

as a monster who is like you know i'm i'm good

and it's over bro that was awesome we can see

everything from the street Everyone just, everyone

just stop touching me for a minute. I love, I

hate to cut our reunion short, but the Crane

might have retreated into your dimension and

you need to deal with that. Exactly. Yeah, we

only have one more issue to wrap up this story,

so we've got to check out. They're totally doing

that weird talking without talking thing. Dude,

you just became my favorite writer. Another great

line. So it was good to see you again, bad girl.

That's not off -putting at all. Donnie has to

be carried away by Raph. I'm filling your bed

with cockroaches tonight, right? All right, pack

it in, lover boy. Yeah, yeah, you what? Because

Raph sees the shredder in the portal before it

closes. I'm fine, it was nothing. Until next

time, Batman, yeah. So, so what? Okay, fine,

I'll watch the movie. But I'm not wearing a tie

this time, deal. the end. I think this series

was super fun. I think they worked everything

into it that they possibly could, which was amazing.

And it's just one of those things where I want

Matthew Kay Manning to write more stuff like

this. This is the first time I've read his stuff.

This is the first thing I've been exposed of

him for this. And just, if they're gonna ever

do another one of these types of team ups, oh

hell yes, he better be writing them. This was

awesome. Absolutely awesome. Any final thoughts

from you sir, it was absolutely brilliant It

is better the second time through it makes me

want to go get the animated series off the shelf

and start watching that again I'm very disappointed

that I only have the first two seasons or box

sets. I don't know what they are if they're seasons

or whatnot, but It's it's pretty awesome I think

this thing had everything I think that ending

with the crane it might have been a little strange

but I felt that the fifth issue, like you said

earlier, kind of wrapped everything up nicely

in a nice little boat. We get Joker and Harley

going back to Arkham, that kind of thing. And

the sixth issue was just kind of like a mini

send -off epilogue issue. It wasn't to be too

heavy or anything like that. It sets up the crank

and we get the crank battle with with Batman

and the turtles and all the bat family And it

does set up a little bit and it does set up something

for them to do again where like I said Wrath

thought he saw a shredder in the portal. So it's

one of those done done done, you know kind of

I'll be back kind of moments Which is really

really fun and cool So, yeah I absolutely love

Batman TMNT Adventures from IDW Publishing and

DC Comics. It wouldn't be a Ninja Turtles crossover

event if I didn't say at least once that I wish

it were Daredevil, but this is still a bloody

brilliant, amazing thing. I'm thankful that it

exists. I don't know. I definitely enjoyed this

more than the DC. crossover with the turtles.

This just felt more like Ninja Turtles and it

felt more like the Batman that I know and love.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, well, again, you're taking

two animated series and combining them into a

comic. I like that they used the 2012 Nick Turtles

and not the 2003 or the 87 Turtles. The 87 Turtles

would have been all right, but I feel that the

Nick Turtles work better. with the animation

style of Batman the animated series, the new

adventures of Batman and Robin and all of that.

And they can be a little more violent that way

too, which is not a big deal, but it's a thing.

It matches the tone a little more. Absolutely.

So that's going to do it for us here inside the

pull bag. You got any geek stuff garage sales

coming up in June or July or anything like that?

We do. In July there's a geek stuff garage sale

on the 22nd, Saturday the 22nd at Big Kids Games.

Full of vendors again, outdoors, wonderful event,

totally free to attend. Make sure you head over

to the Facebook page, facebook .com slash geek

stuff garage sale. The event just got created

before this record, so you can join it and let

us know that you're coming. Awesome, awesome.

You can follow The Pull Bag over on Twitter at

ThePullBag, follow at GeekCastRadio on Twitter.

I am at TF2 and Mike on Twitter. You can also

check us out on Facebook as well as go to the

website geekcastradio .com. Coming up next, JT

from Saskatoon is going to return and we are

going to finish off the first arc of the 2016

Batman Beyond series. That first arc is entitled

Escaping the Grave. Damn is it good. So make

your greatest game in the comics and we will

catch you next time. You've just heard the latest

episode of the pullback the GCR ends comic review

and discussion podcast There are several ways

to get in touch with us and leave feedback for

the show You can visit the website geek cast

radio comm where you can comment on the episode

and all of our different podcasts You can rate

our show on iTunes be sure to leave us feedback

Call the voicemail line 502 -526 -5821 Please

remember to tell us the show you're leaving the

message for and your name. Become a fan of us

on Facebook by searching Geekcast Radio Network.

Send us an email feedback at geekcastradio .com.

Follow us on Twitter at Geekcast Radio. So until

next time, make your great escape into comics

and unleash the geek in you.