Review – TMNT vs Street Fighter #1 (IDW Publishing)

June 7, 2023

2–3 minutes

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Paul Allor
Artwork: Ariel Medel
Colours: Sarah Myer
Lettering: Ed Dukeshire
Release Date: 7th June 2023

It honestly feels like every couple of months we get another TMNT-focused mash-up or miniseries, and this week it’s the turn of Capcom’s Street Fighter franchise to find itself intertwined with the established world of Eastman and Laird’s iconic creations. And honestly, I’m not too mad at it. As properties go, there are a lot of thematic similarities between these two that should hopefully result in an entertaining story.

The setup here is a simple one (although perhaps a little too simple for my tastes), as “a prestigious martial arts tournament invites fighters to travel to Atlantic City and test their skills”, leading to the Turtles and a few of the better-known Street Fighters – Guile, Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li – throwing down in some fairly low-stakes bouts.

The fact that M. Bison and Baxter Stockman are watching things with interest from the shadows hints at a bigger picture waiting to be revealed, and there’s also a mystery surrounding some “disappearing” fighters that’s just begging to be solved, but for the time being this is little more than cookie-cutter skirmishes and familiar character beats. You know the drill by now: Raph is intense and angry, Mikey isn’t really taking things seriously, etc. etc.

Fortunately, the lukewarm story is given a much-needed jolt of energy thanks to the artwork of Ariel Medel, who packs an impressive amount of energy and humour into his chunky, musclebound figures. The action flows well, the characters are all suitably expressive, and Sarah Myer helps round out the visual package with some striking colour work, resulting in a comic that very much looks the part.

The final pages see us circling back around to the aforementioned Bison/Stockman shady business, without really explaining anything outside of a veiled reference to Psycho Power. As hooks go, I have to say that this one isn’t exactly reeling me in.

Honestly, there’s not really too much to get excited about here – at least not yet. Sure, Medel and Myer do an impressive job with the artwork, but as far as the story is concerned this feels about as generic as you could imagine at this point. I’m hopeful that things get a little more creative as the series unfolds, but for the time being this is already starting to feel like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Rating: 2.5/5.

[PREVIEW ARTWORK – CLICK TO ENLARGE]