Once Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit a landmark 100th issue at IDW, I wondered what would come next. It's not that I didn't think there would be exciting stories ahead, but there was a lot to live up to after such an impressive climax in that particular story. So, if you're going to look to the future, you might as well go there too. While you're at it, why don't you also bring in the guys who started it all.
IDW Publishing announced that both Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, would be working on a new story together called The Last Ronin. Tom Waltz will also be involved in the project, along with inks from Andy Kuhn. According to Eastman, the idea for this story has been around for a while.
"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," said Eastman.
Now, the story will be set in 2040 and according to the synopsis, only one has survived: "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."
Does this mean one of the original Turtles? Perhaps someone new? It's hard to tell from the cover, but either way, it's an interesting concept. We'll have to wait until this summer to find out! Keep checking back for updates, a release date and our review.
Photo Credit: IDW Publishing