Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo
The Turtles and Usagi have had a long fruitful relationship dating back to the late 80’s when Kevin Eastman asked Stan Sakai if he wanted an Usagi action figure as part of the Turtles’ toy line. Since then Usagi and the Turtles have met up a few times in comics and Usagi even guest-starred on an episode of the Turtles’ original animated series. With the most recent “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” comic showing that it can re-incorporate and re-imagine all aspects of the franchise’s history into more sensical and entertaining forms (Hello Rat King!) the announcement of another team-up with Usagi didn’t just feel inevitable but welcome.
Having read this latest crossover, and after shelling out $15 for the fancy hardcover edition, the actual story leaves a little to be desired. It’s simple, features one of comics’ greatest villains in a token role, doesn’t play up the character interactions as much as it should, but at least features some lovely art from Sakai and interesting extras.
The title of this crossover is “Namazu or The Big Fish Story” and begins with Usagi taking down some bandits who are accosting pilgrims along the road. Said pilgrims tell Usagi that they knew he would protect them because “The Old One” who lives down in the grotto told them so. This “Old One” turns out to be Kakera, a summoner who is on a quest to replace a stone that has kept the giant catfish that lives under Japan from destroying it with earthquakes. Strange as it may sound, this is an actual part of Japanese mythology which Sakai explains in his afterword.
Believing that they will need more help in delivering the stone, Kakera uses his powers (along with four regular turtles) to summon Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Raphael to this world. Yet, if they’re just delivering a stone then why go through the trouble of summoning more help? Because there’s a dark force that doesn’t want to see the stone put back in place. Jei the Blade of the Gods sees this as his chance to finally rid Japan of all evil. After all, if the catfish destroys the country then all of its evil will be gone.
Starting with the good is that Sakai’s art is fantastic as always here. There’s an impressive level of detail on every page, his action scenes are crisp, and there’s a nice sense of style to the more outlandish moments such as the summoning of the Turtles. We also get an incredible four-page spread of the Turtles and Usagi taking on Jei and his henchman which I think is suitable for framing. This is also one of the rare times where Usagi’s adventure is rendered in full color! Thanks to Tom Luth’s wonderfully vivid colors, the art is that much more vivid to behold.
Too bad the art isn’t in service of a more interesting story. While it’s always nice to see Sakai tackle a new bit of Japanese mythology, the main attraction here falls kind of flat. The most interesting thing about seeing Usagi interact with the Turtles here is that this is the current, “rebooted,” comic version of them. So they don’t recall meeting the rabbit ronin at all. That just turns out to be good for the expected “good guys fight each other because of a misunderstanding” trope before being swept quickly under the rug. There’s also not a lot of interaction between Usagi and the Turtles with most of the story being given over to copious amounts of fighting. I realize that Sakai only had 40 pages of story to work with here, but I wouldn’t have minded seeing one less fight scene if we could just get Usagi and the Turtles to have a nice conversation about their worlds.
I think the 40-page limit here feels constrictive because Sakai was able to do great things within 60 pages the last time Usagi (and Gen too) teamed up with the Turtles. “Shades of Green” was originally published waaaaaaaay back in the day when the two titles shared a publisher, Mirage. It had a more interesting setup with Usagi and Gen finding their way to a secluded village after being ambushed by the Neko Ninja. They meet up with Kakera, the Turtles are summoned, and preparation for the defense against the ninja attack begins.
This may seem like a big statement, but this is one of my favorite comic book crossovers of all time. Not because the story offers any particularly high stakes, but because it builds on what has come before and shows the characters meshing well together. We’re spared a fight due to misunderstanding because Usagi and Leonardo have met before, and they’re both glad to see each other again. Leo also gets some nice scenes later on showing his dedication as a leader in an unfamiliar situation.
Sakai even has some fun poking at the standards of both worlds with the Turtles amazed by the fact that they’re in a Feudal Japan inhabited by animals. Michelangelo even asks if they have tails and is memorably cut off by Gen who exclaims, “Hey, don’t get personal! At least we wear clothes!”
The crossover was also notable for providing the formal introduction of one of Usagi’s most notable frenemies, Chizu of the Neko Ninja. She spends most of the volume at odds with fellow ninja Gunji, who wants to capture Kakera because of his power, but shows herself to be appropriately ruthless when the situation demands. Very crafty too, as seen her brief encounter with Usagi here.
Compared to that, using Jei as the main villain here is probably the biggest disappointment of this crossover. There are very few villains in comics these days, fewer still among titles that have been around as long as “Usagi” has, whose appearance alone lets you know that this story is a Big Deal. Jei is one of them and previous stories where he’s been a featured villain — “Circles,” “Grasscutter,” even “Return of the Black Soul” — have all been important stories to the Usagi mythos in that they feature some change of the status quo.
Not so much this time out. I realize that it’s probably foolish of me to expect anything game-changing from a 40-page one shot, but it’s pretty depressing to see Jei wheeled out here in the token villain role. I’ll admit that the reason he wants to interfere here is amusing and very much in character, but he could’ve been replaced with, say, a particularly ambitious bandit and the story would essentially be the same. Considering that Jei has been largely absent from Usagi’s ongoing adventures these past few years, his appearance here does more to diminish his legacy than enhance it.
One thing that didn’t factor into my opinion of this crossover was its price. As I mentioned back in April, the basic softcover version of this one shot will set you back $8. That’s honestly too damn much for a 40-page one-shot in my opinion and I decided to opt for the $15 hardcover instead. That may sound insane to you, but I figured if the whole endeavor was going to be overpriced I may as well lean all the way into it and get the version with the most extras and longest shelf life. Plus, Sakai is one creator who I have no problems giving more of my money to.
So what kind of extras does the hardcover edition contain? You get all of the variant covers from Sakai, Eastman, Sergio Aragones, and David Petersen along with several pages of Sakai’s sketches and thumbnails for the issue. Most interesting are Sakai’s story outline pages which reveal some interesting details like the fact that the Komori Ninja were originally going to be the antagonists here.
Also included is a reprint of the very first “Turtles/Usagi” crossover, “Turtle Soup and Rabbit Stew.” It’s a six-page short that was originally published in the “Turtle Soup” anthology from 1987 where other creators offered their own takes on the Turtles. The story is basically a goof on how all crossovers have their characters fighting because of a misunderstanding. The difference here is that Leo and Usagi actually kind of have a good reason to fight only for fate to step in and say otherwise. Overall, it’s a fun bit of nonsense that has a kind of goofy charm that the main story lacks.
If you’re a hardcore “Turtles” or “Usagi” fan then… you probably already own this in one edition or the other. Speaking as a hardcore fan of the latter, this was a disappointing read both by regular “Usagi” standards and that of his previous encounter with the Turtles. It may be more expensive, but you’d be better off reading “Shades of Green” in the first volume of the “Usagi Yojimbo Saga” from Dark Horse. If you’re a completist and need this in your library, then pick up the hardcover edition as the format and extras make it the version you’ll want on your shelf.