Solicits[]
The surprising conclusion to the hit all-ages crossover! Surprising alliances are formed and friendships are tested as the villain behind the cross-dimensional chaos is revealed!
Characters[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
Main Locations, Vehicles, and Accessories[]
- Batmobile
- Bō
- Gotham City
- Katana
- Kusarigama
- New York City
- Central Park
- Chinatown
- East Village
- Foot Headquarters
- Times Square
- Turtle Lair
- Washington Heights
- West Harlem
- Nunchaku
- Pizza
- Portal
- Sai
- Shellraiser
Synopsis[]
Gotham City. Four weeks ago. Jervis Tetch, also known as The Mad Hatter, talks to himself as he works on a device he’s made to look like a large die. He places the die in a machine which takes up an entire wall. The die activates a portal and Mad Hatter smiles widely, calling it wonderland. He hears a sound nearby and quickly retrieves the die, but then a bat shaped shadow falls over him and he drops the device as he says, “not yet”. The device hits the floor and breaks into pieces.
Arkham Asylum. Three weeks ago. A guard wearing a frozen expression on his face carries a large box filled with machine parts past Harleen Quinzel’s cell and into the cell belonging to the Mad Hatter. As the guard arrives, the Mad Hatter starts talking, saying that after years of searching, he’s found it. He tells the guard, whose name is Lewis, to set the box anywhere. The Mad Hatter goes on to say that he doesn’t know who left the looking glass for him to discover, but it doesn’t matter, he’s tapped into it just the same. While he’s talking, he is fiddling with a receptor beacon. He says he found its frequency once and he’ll find it again. This time he will send his mad little rabbits scurrying through for the Bat to chase.
The Arkham Asylum common room. Two weeks ago. Two-Face is telling a couple of his fellow inmates about an encounter with Batman. The Mad Hatter walks up behind him while he’s talking and slaps Two-Face on the back, pretending to laugh at a story he hasn’t finished telling. As the Mad Hatter walks away, it can be seen that he’s attached the receptor beacon to Two-Face’s back.
The Control Room at Arkham Asylum. One week ago. The Mad Hatter, as seen through a monitor on the security room camera, is laying back on his cot, grinning. Lewis enters the cell to bring him a suit of clothes. The guard in the security room is slumped back in his chair, sleeping sounding. A cup of hot liquid sits on the desk and a tag draped over the side of the cup has the numbers 10/6 written on it.
New York City. One minute ago. The Shellraiser races through city streets. Raphael is driving, with Batman standing next to him. In the back, Donatello is holding a receptor beacon as he explains the device to April O'Neil, Batgirl, and Leonardo. The trussed-up duo of Joker and Harley Quinn are sleeping nearby. Don tells the group that the Mad Hatter planted one of the beacons on each of the escaped criminals. When the inmates went through their portals, their beacons detached. Don then says if he’s right, when the beacons are activated, they’ll create a sort of electronic net that could blanket the whole city. Leo asks what exactly they will do, and Don answers that it’ll produce a frequency that most people will be susceptible to, which means he’ll control the mind of every single person on the island of Manhattan.
In a house somewhere, the Mad Hatter sips a drink while Lewis works to set up a large ray gun. Back in the Shellraiser, Batman communicates with Robin, who is still waiting on a rooftop with Michelangelo. Batman tells Robin and he and Mikey need to go through the portals now. Robin glances over at Mikey who has made himself a bat costume out of garbage and asks if Batman is sure. Batman tells him to find where the Hatter is and shut him down. They will meet as soon as he opens his final portal. An excited Mikey asks if they get to go to that Batcave place and Robin answers in the affirmative. Mikey then asks if it would be weird if he let out a super happy scream. Robin says yes as they prepare to enter the portals and Mikey says he's going to happy scream anyway. He does so as they step through the portals, the last part of his “cowabun-“ being cut off as the portals vanish.
Police dirigibles fly over Gotham, their search lights illuminating the streets below. Two men in dark clothing stand in front of a bank, looking furtive. Suddenly there is a loud explosion which blows open the front of the bank. Mikey has his first ride in the Batmobile and is nearly scorched by the jet engine when he runs around behind it to catch up to Robin. As the bank robbers run across a rooftop, Mikey leaps down in front of them. He starts to go towards them but manages to trip on his own cape. Robin arrives and Mikey recovers in order to help subdue the thieves. They leave the pair tied up where the police can find them. Mikey then strikes a heroic pose on the rooftop ledge, but a flash of lightning startles him, causing him to nearly fall but for Robin catching hold of his cape. Robin asks if his utility belt is made out of bungee cords and Mikey replies “wouldn’t you like to know”.
The other group of crime fighters have returned to the lair. They leave Joker and Harley on one side of the pit. While everyone is enjoying a meal of pizza, Donatello works on his computer as he tries to find the location they need. He’s input the approximate coordinate of the other portals, and they need is a point of intersection which would make that the likely spot Hatter will open his final Kraang gateway. His left arm, in a sling, causes him a sudden sharp pain and Batgirl offers to get some ice, which causes Don to blush. As Batgirl leaves the room, Raph calls out a head’s up to warn her that there is a mutant made out of ice cream in the freezer. Batgirl opens the freezer and sees Ice Cream Kitty. Grabbing some ice, she returns just as Don tracks down the location they need. He tells everyone that the Mad Hatter is targeting Times Square.
Robin and Mikey climb up from the sewers into a garden. Robin asks Mikey to please take things seriously because this isn’t a cartoon. Mikey whispers that he sounds just like his brothers. He reminds Robin that it worked because the robbers sang like canaries. Mikey then asks how Robin knew they used to work for the Mad Hatter. Robin informs him that they have a Batcomputer. They have arrived in the garden of a two-story building with a sign that reads “Gotham Tea Room” and over that is a condemned notice. Robin squats down to pluck a rose as Mikey says that he has to talk to Donnie because they need a Turtlecomputer. The rose is covered in paint. Robin fires a Batline up to the roof and tells Mikey this isn’t a game, it’s serious – Mikey finishes his sentence by saying business and he gets it. He goes on to tell Robin that there’s more than one way to take care of business.
On the second floor of the Tea Room, the Mad Hatter aims his ray gun out through the doors which open onto a balcony. As he looks at the monitor on the machine, he fusses that the readings are all wrong. The beacon he placed on Harley Quinn’s costume was moved after it detached, and the readings are showing it’s clear across town now. The Mad Hatter moves onto the balcony and leans on the railing. He states that spot specifically needed twice the broadcasting power for lower areas to be affected. With a sigh, he says that worst-case scenario is he misses a few minds on Wall Street. A creaking sound gives away Mikey and Robin’s location on the roof. When the Mad Hatter turns to demand who is there, the pair leap onto the balcony. Mikey calls him a dastardly fiend and refers to he and Robin as the caped crusaders, the dynamic duo…
The Mad Hatter interrupts to ask if he’s a large Turtle Man and Mikey responds by saying he has a name – and feelings. Stating that it’s curiouser and curiouser, the Mad Hatter turns towards the entrance and the doors fly open to admit nearly a dozen mind-controlled people. As the people tackle Robin and Mikey to the floor, Robin tells Mikey not to hurt them because Mad Hatter is controlling them with his hat, and they don’t know what they’re doing. While they struggle to get free of the people, Mad Hatter activates his machine and shoots a beam into the city.
April, Batman and Don stand atop a building overlooking Times Square. April asks where it is because it should be there by now. Leo stands on another building with Batgirl and Raph and notifies April that the portal has opened in front of them. They try to get through it before Mad Hatter can activate the mind-control beam, but they are not fast enough. The beam shoots through the portal and touches down on beacons left in Washington Heights by Two-Face, in the sewers of West Harlem on the beacon left by Clayface, on the beacon left in Chinatown by the Joker, in Central Park’s beacon left by Poison Ivy, and the beacon in the East Village left by the Scarecrow.
Over a loudspeaker, the Mad Hatter addresses the citizens of "New Wonderland". Everyone, including the Turtles and their cohorts, stand in mesmerized attention when he orders them to. The Mad Hatter claps his hands in excitement. Robin says that the laser is amplifying his mind control capabilities and he’s using the hat to control the entire city. Mikey shouts in frustration and the Mad Hatter comments that Turtle Men are a strange lot.
Mikey manages to pull free of his attackers when his cape comes off. He runs out to the balcony where he uses his bungee cord utility belt to catapult himself directly into the mind control machine. Mikey slams into it shell first, breaking the machine. He then grabs the Mad Hatter’s hat, places it on his head, and on the loudspeaker tells the people of NYC that they’re not mindless puppets. Mikey says, “You be you, ya’ll.”
Everyone in the city snaps out of their trance. Raph calls the experience unpleasant. In the Tea House, the people release Robin as they come back to their senses. Angry, the Mad Hatter pulls a gun from his jacket, preparing to fire on Mikey. Before he can, Batman, the other Turtles, April, Batgirl and their two prisoners leap through the portal. Batman punches the Mad Hatter just as he squeezes the trigger and the shot fires harmlessly into the wall.
The Gotham Tea Room. After the smoke clears. Robin ties up the Mad Hatter and Batgirl gives Donatello a kiss on the cheek, saying it was nice to meet him and she hopes he feels better soon. A smitten Don mumbles something and a grinning Raph elbows his brother. Robin makes the observation to Batgirl about getting salmonella from kissing a turtle. Batgirl makes the comeback that green looks a lot better on the Turtles than it does on him. Batman says his good-bye to the Turtles. Mikey tells him that it was literally the best day as he turns the Mad Hatter’s hat over to Batman. Leo calls for the Turtles to move out and they, along with April, leap back through the portal.
The portal vanishes and Batgirl comments that was so weird. Batman says that it’s not over. The Arkham escapees are back in their dimension, but most are still at large. They have serious work to do. Robin agrees, but then says it could be the Turtles rubbing off on him, but maybe just this once… they can take a quick break from being serious. The trio is shown atop a building enjoying some Gotham City pizza.
Epilogue. Fourteen miles outside of Gotham City. A Batsignal shines into the night sky. In a dilapidated barn, the Scarecrow sits hunched over at a table, the camp light providing illumination. As he draws on paper, he mutters that it’s not scary enough. They are coming for them, and he has to be different, darker – he has to be more frightening than ever. The picture he’s drawing is of himself, a more terrifying version of himself.
Not the end…
Trivia[]
- The issue's title is a reference to Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, the 1871 sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- The Arkham Asylum guard named Lewis is likewise an allusion to the pen name of those novels' writer, Lewis Carroll.
- The fight at the rooftop betwee Robin & Michaelangelo and a group of thieves is a recreation of the opening of Batman: The Animated Series.
- The panel of Robin and Mikey rising from the sewers is an homage to the theatrical poster for the 1990 TMNT film. Robin even says "This is no cartoon!", the poster's tagline.
- Mikey calls himself and Robin "Caped Crusaders" and "Dynamic Duo", two names used to refer to Batman and Robin.
- Mega Man and Felix the Cat make cameos in this issue.
- An IDW building appears in the background.