The following contains major spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Street Fighter #1, on sale now from IDW Publishing.
The worlds of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Street Fighter have finally collided, and things are as intense as anyone could have hoped for. Surprisingly, that doesn't mean there are any particularly strange sets of circumstances under which these two franchises have come together. Even if they have found the perfect bridge between them by giving at least one Hero in a Half Shell his very own superpower.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Street Fighter #1 (by Paul Allor, Ariel Medel, Sarah Myer, and Ed Dukeshire) throws readers directly into the action, as Raphael and Guile face off against one another in a brutal albeit sanctioned bout of combat. Baxter Stockman and M. Bison watch on from afar, the latter calling the shots for the referee on the floor. As such, it is only a matter of time before the fight ends prematurely. Although both fighters recognize that the game has been rigged in some way, neither have any clue who is behind it, nor that the mastermind of this plot has his sights set on unleashing the Psycho Power that Raphael doesn't even know he has.
The Ninja Turtles' Raphael has Street Fighter's Psycho Power
Frequently described as a sort of evil or chaotic energy, Street Fighter's Psycho Power has long been a prominent part of the franchise, This is especially when it comes to its longtime villain M. Bison. In the Street Fighter series. M. Bison originally wielded the very same Soul Power that fellow fighters such as Rose now command. In fact, it was M. Bison who passed his knowledge of Soul Power onto her in the first place. He was eventually corrupted by the Psycho Power that his own teacher would pass onto him and two others.
Of all the members of the Splinter Clan who could potentially wield Psycho Power for themselves, Raphael is the most obvious choice. Though there is certainly an argument to be made that Jennika could also command this same energy, Raphael is simply the one Ninja Turtle who is most closely associated with taking abrupt dark turns. That being the case, it makes perfect sense that M. Bison would see in Raphael a potential target. Then again, the Hero in a Half Shell could just as well be one of the few wielders of Psycho Power who M. Bison can't control.
Street Fighter's Psycho Power is a Perfect Fit for the TMNT Universe
Apart from the inherently fantastic nature of Street Fighter's Psycho Power nestling in alongside other similarly seamless crossover concepts from previous TMNT comic book events, it provides an easy, nearly unnoticeable way for the two worlds to come together. The heroes of the Splinter Clan and the cast of the Street Fighter series might not have much in common on the surface. But the fact that such a thread can be woven between them is proof that these kinds of crossovers don't always need an overt reason to happen.
The lack of some greater threat looming overhead that sent the worlds of Street Fighter and TMNT crashing into one another leaves the door open for their shared story to continue on without worrying about ramping up the action. Whereas other crossovers such as the Turtles' run-ins with Batman have relied upon ever increasing stakes to keep the action flowing, their chance encounter with the cast of Street Fighter is nothing more than that, and it is all the better for it.