Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II Announced
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin is getting a sequel. IDW Publishing announced at San Diego Comic-Con that it will continue the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin saga with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II -- Re-Evolution. Per IGN, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II -- Re-Evolution features the same creative team that crafted the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin miniseries, which became a bestselling graphic novel: writers Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz, artists Ben Bishop, Esau Escorza, and Isaac Escorza, colorist Edgar Delgado,and letterer Shawn Lee (the original series was founded on a story idea that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird conceived during the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles run).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II -- Re-Evolution shifts focus away from Michelangelo, the titular "Last Ronin" of the first miniseries, and focuses instead on the new generation of Ninja Turtles introduced in the finals pages of The Last Ronin: Yi, Uno, Odyn, and Moja. The new Ninja Turtles' early days as trainees under Casey Marie Jones, daughter of April O'Neil and Casey Jones, are currently being chronicled in the pages of the prequel series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin -- Lost Years and one-shot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin -- Last Day Special. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II -- Re-Evolution takes place years after the original, with the new Mutant Ninja Turtles now accurately able to add Teenage to their moniker and leaving the sewers for the city above, left in an unstable power vacuum by Michelangelo, the last surviving original Ninja Turtle, taking his final revenge on the Shredder's grandson, Oroku Hiroto, thus ending the feud between the Master Splinter's Hamato Clan and the Foot Clan.
"The real heart and soul for me with dusting off and bringing Last Ronin to life three years ago was my belief 'Every beginning must have an end.'" Eastman told IGN. "With all the respect in the world for my co-creator Peter Laird, I wanted to bring full circle to what we started in 1984 and set out to do in 1987. With Last Ronin, with my friend Tom Waltz and an incredible gathering of brilliant artisans, we accomplished that 33 years later. A very fitting end indeed."
He continued, "The incredible surprise on coming out of the end of that journey, was the opportunity to continue to tell stories beyond that ending. All new characters, in a whole new universe to really sink our teeth into and the best part – with all the original crew back to make sure we get it right. I can't wait for you to see what we have in store for them."
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Last Ronin II -- Re-Evolution #1 releases on December 13th. A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin video game is also said to be in the works.