Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird have reunited for a new miniseries that will take the series into the future. As announced by IDW Publishing, the duo are set to release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. The five-issue series is set to kick off this summer and is based off of an idea that Eastman first cooked up in 1987.
“About ten years ago, I re-discovered a twenty page outline for a TMNT story that Peter and I wrote together back in 1987. The story was set thirty years in the future, which (as written then) was set in 2017. Reading through it again, I drifted back to a very different time in TMNT history — back when it was all about the comics, mostly just Peter and I writing and drawing the issues, pre-everything the world would soon come to know about these characters that we’d created and called the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Eastman said. “It has been an INCREDIBLE thirty-six year journey, thanks to the brilliant talents of so many that brought new visions and TMNT stories to life, and especially the fans who supported all of them. Nine years ago, I was invited back into the TMNT comic universe, via my friends at IDW Publishing. Aside from the original run with my friend and co-creator Peter Laird, working on the IDW TMNT universe has been the best time I have had with the Turtles for a very, VERY long time.”
“When Kevin first showed me the outline that he and Peter had created back in the ’80s, I was gobsmacked.” Series co-writer Tom Waltz said. “Beyond Peter Laird’s eerily prescient technological and sociological predictions, the story idea itself was exciting and versatile, designed in a way that it could be easily modified to fit into the many different TMNT iterations that have existed over the years, without losing any of the core elements injected into it by both Kevin and Peter. I have the absolute honor to join these legendary creators to craft a TMNT story set in a chaotic future, rife with revenge, honor, tragedy, hope, and over-the-top ninja-action sequences that’ll blow any Turtles fan’s mind, no matter what version of the beloved franchise is their favorite.”
Much remains mysterious about the series right now. Some cover art has been revealed, which features who appears to be the last standing Ninja Turtle. A few select preview pages also preview what’s to come in the first issue. IDW released a briew logline for the series, which reads as follows.
“In a future New York City far different from the one we know today, a lone surviving Turtle goes on a seemingly hopeless mission to obtain justice for his fallen family and friends.”
In the years since the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were first created the franchise has taken on a life of its own. First, as an animated series and later as a series of live-action movies. IDW has been publishing a well-liked, long-running comic book for years now. But having Eastman and Laird back together should be truly special for fans.
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“Trust me — Tom, Andy, and I have just started on a two-hundred page journey… and it IS going to be one HELL of a ride,” teases Eastman.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin does not yet have a release date set, but each issue will be 48 pages and will come with multiple variant covers.
So what do you think? Are you excited for The Last Ronin? Who do you think the last Turtle standing is? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!
