Review: ‘Turtles Of Grayskull’ #2 Is Not What You’d Think

Turtles of Grayskull is easily the year’s best toyline from one of the big names. But the tie-in comic took the line’s storyline in an unexpected, and welcome, direction…

Tim Seeley, Freddie E. Williams, Andrew Dalhouse, and Andworld Design mash up the 1980s’ greatest heroes.

Something has intertwined the destinies of the Masters of the Universe and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Timestress Renet has to figure out what has tangled the timelines. She had hoped to do it alone, but it’s become clear that she’ll only succeed with the help of the Turtles and He-Man. They better act fast though, as everything could come crashing down.

Seeley could have gone one way — the action figures already had minicomics with them that could have easily been expanded and explored (in fact, even without credits in them, I suspect Seeley had a hand in writing them). Instead, he took the crossover in a completely different direction and it’s so much better for it. This is the giant epic adventure that this decades-in-the-making crossover needed.

One of the best things here is how the creative team mashes the two universes together. The Eternian Turtles designs are great, but Seeley and Williams eschew them in favor of exploring the heroes in each others’ elements. Last issue, they explored the Turtles on Eternia. Here, they thrust He-Man into the galactic shenanigans that the Turtles often find themselves in, with a fight between He-Man and the Triceratons that Williams just brings to gleeful life. Then the last third splits them up, putting Prince Adam in New York and the Turtles in Eternos to try to solve the escapade.

And Williams and Dalhouse make this work on the page. Everything is larger than life, but it always seems like the cartoons (and toys) these IPs originated from. Prince Adam has a sweet, goofy energy, while He-Man is an absolute powerhouse. The Turtles’ personalities each come through distinctly, which Williams has mastered over the years of drawing them in different projects. There wasn’t going to be another penciller that could pull this off, and I’m glad he’s the one at the wheel.

Dalhouse’s colors do the unexpected. Where he could have done relatively flat colors, he uses color art that’s halfway between watercolor and an inkwash. It makes it all feel larger than life, but it’s still grounded in the bright colors that we associate with these heroes.

Turtles of Grayskull #2 is available now from Dark Horse Comics.