Let's Talk About TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN
IDW recently released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin #1 and holy crap! This is an amazing story already. The comic is written by franchise co-creator Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz with co-creator Peter Laird also contributing to the story. Esau Escorza and Isaac Escorza provide the beautiful artwork for the comic and I think this is a story most fans will come to love. A big thanks to IDW for supplying me with a digital copy. You can purchase your own digital copy through outlets like comiXology.
In a future NYC far different than the one we know today, a lone surviving Turtle goes on a seemingly hopeless mission to obtain justice for his fallen family and friends. Kinetic layouts from Eastman, moody inks from Andy Kuhn and a thrilling script full of surprises from longtime TMNT scribe Tom Waltz all combine to make this one of the most memorable TMNT stories you will ever read! This is a perennial TMNT tale that can't be missed!
Hoo boy. This story starts out intense and keeps going. We have one of the turtles (hard to tell since they now don a black mask) going into the heavily fortified New York City. They end up stealing a motorcycle from one Jones character (I’m guessing a daughter or granddaughter of Casey Jones) and going on the hunt for Oroku Hiroto, the grandson of Shredder and the son of Karai. He almost makes it but gets pushed out of Hiroto’s tower. Then, he almost bleeds out, tries committing seppuku, but then the Jones kid seems to have saved him and when he wakes up, he’s greeted by an aged April O’Neal. It’s at this point that we learn the revenge-fueled turtle is Michelangelo.
The story is fantastic and the art is incredible. One aspect I really enjoyed was the continuing dialog that Michelangelo had with the deceased turtles in his mind. It can take a minute to realize that’s what’s going on, but then it hits you and it’s almost like a punch to the gut. I think it’s a great storytelling device so that we’re not only reading the inner monologue of the main character.
Hiroto’s soldiers all seem to be very roboticized cyborgs that Michelangelo is able to dispense of with his ninja training. Some are definitely harder than others, but he does pretty well. That being said, Hiroto really does seem like a pushover and a coward. It’s going to be interesting to see if this view changes at all.
What did you think of The Last Ronin #1?