Publication date: December 24, 2014
Written by: Erik Burnham and Tom Waltz
Art by: Dan Schoening
Colors by: Luis Antonio Delgado
Letters by: Neil Uyetake
Edits by: Bobby Curnow
See Turtle Tips regarding issue title.
See Turtle Tips regarding issue title.
Summary:
The Turtles and the Ghostbusters arrive at Madison Square
Garden to deal with Chi-You and his thralls.
Donatello attempts to get the hang of the proton pack he borrowed, but
it’s a learning experience. While they
keep Chi-You distracted, Winston sneaks up and opens a trap. Oddly, the trap fails to suck Chi-You
in. Fighting his possession, Casey
explains that the thralls tether Chi-You to Earth, keeping him from being
contained. Chi-You then reasserts his
dominance on Casey and has him punch Winston, releasing him from the trap’s
grip. Chi-You and his thralls (Casey
included) vanish.
Back at the Firehouse, Kylie suggests they rig the traps
the same way they did when the Firehouse was attacked by Tiamat’s possessed; a
low level burn might exorcise the people.
Unfortunately, the circumstances are different and the same trick won’t
work, but the suggestion gives Don an idea.
A low level blast from a proton stream, directly in the chest, might
free the thralls. Egon, Ray and Don stay
up working on modifying the arm-mounted packs while the rest of the Turtles and
Ghostbusters hit the hay.
In Chinatown, Chi-You is at his wit’s end trying to
control Casey. Casey knows that Chi-You
becomes sloppy when he loses his temper, so he’s trying to make him as angry as
possible. For his defiance, Chi-You
picks Casey up and swallows him.
The next morning, Janine gets a call about a giant bull
rampaging through Chinatown. Egon, Ray,
Don and April stay behind to work on the portal home while the rest go to stop
Chi-You.
They meet him in battle and Mikey manages to free one of
the thralls. However, the possessed are too
agile to get close enough to tag. Chi-You
then vomits up Casey, who is now gigantic and clad in armor. Raph and the possessed Casey go one-on-one
while Peter retrieves a proton bazooka.
The bazooka blast injures Chi-You, distracting Casey long enough for Raph to tag
him in the chest, freeing him. Peter
suggests they vamoose, as they won’t want to be around when Chi-You reforms.
At the Firehouse, Casey makes a full recovery. Over pizza, Ray and Don come up with a more
efficient way of freeing the thralls; with an EMP blast. Egon assigns Ray and April to work on the EMP
while he and Don finish the portal.
Back in Chinatown, a furious Chi-You reforms. He’s decided that he can no longer ignore the
Turtles and the Ghostbusters and prepares his thralls for a direct attack.
Turtle Tips:
*Tiamat’s possessed humans attacked the Firehouse in
Ghostbusters (Vol. 2) #18.
*According to Burnham, he forgot to title this issue. And according to Curnow, it went to print with issue #2's title, "The Meeting of the Minds," by mistake. The proper title "Showdown in Chinatown" didn't come around until the trade paperback collection was published. Oddly, for the hardcover Deluxe Edition, the issue was titled "Just in Casey". So three titles for this chapter, so far.
*This issue was originally published with 4 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Schoening and Delgado, Subscription Cover by Corey
Smith, Hot Topic exclusive cover by Adam Gorham, and Hastings exclusive cover
by Brent Peeples and Ronda Pattison.
Review:
Well, Casey saves a little face, I suppose. He’s been a punching bag in the IDW comics
for a while, with being turned into Chi-You’s helpless puppet something of an
all-new low. He fights the
control and helps the Ghostbusters figure out how to stop Chi-You, but you
know. He still gets beat-up (IDW Casey
just can’t win a fucking fight, even when he’s powered by a god).
The pacing of this issue kinda bugged me: The Ghostbusters and the Turtles go fight
Chi-You, return to the Firehouse, go fight Chi-You, return to the
Firehouse. Just back and forth like
that. The fights were fun and the
dynamics between the characters were entertaining, but the storyline has been
pretty run-of-the-mill so far. It sort
of reminds me of the recent Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man crossover Archie
did. It was more about the references
and the fanwank and the overall sense of fun and adventure than, well, telling
a very original or suspenseful story.
I can’t come down too hard on that angle; MOST crossovers
work this way. It’s just a staple of the
cliché. You kind of know what you’re
going to be getting from the start and the real enjoyment comes from seeing the
casts interact, not so much the plot.
My favorite moments weren’t actually the parts where they
fight Chi-You, but more so the scenes where they all lounge around the
Firehouse and talk shop. Burnham works
in references to his Ghostbusters series, such as the possessed “bird things”
that Tiamat attacked the Firehouse with, and it all feels very casual. What’s neat is that not every Turtle and
Ghostbuster pairs off with their obvious analog. Each characters sees a parallel with another
in some way and there’s a little bit of everybody in everybody.
As mentioned, the issue is full of fanwank. There are jokey references to the Party Wagon
and the Turtle Blimp, but I liked the background Easter Eggs a bit more.
Grade: C (as in, “Ch’Rell’s Deli… I’d eat there”.)
