Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin Will Have a Massive Second Print Run

IDW Publishing announced today that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, the long-lost, Dark Knight Returns-style return to the franchise by creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, will get an enormous second printing run of 50,000 copies. With nearly 40,000 units already ordered, the run is huge for a second printing of a non-Big Two comic...but it's also almost entirely spoken for already, suggesting it's possible there could be a third printing even in spit of this aggressive move. The issue was, along with Rob Liefeld's GI Joe: Snake Eyes - Deadgame, one of two high-profile sellouts by IDW in October.

In both cases, the properties brought high-profile creators to massively popular IP, and in both cases there were too many covers for most collectors to reasonably get them all. With Turtles, there's a huge upside for IDW because Eastman has remained fairly connected to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, and it's plausible that big sales and big royalties on this title could lure him back for another event series soon.

"I want to reach out to all of the incredible fans and comic book retailers who went above and beyond with their support for The Last Ronin," Eastman said in the announcement. "It's taken thirty-two years to bring it to life, and even in the middle of a tumultuous year of production, you all waited for us to get the job done right… and showed us some serious love! We appreciate you all -- stay safe and stay tuned, because the rest of the series is coming soon!"

"As much as The Last Ronin is a love letter to past TMNT iterations — from Mirage to IDW, and everything in between — it's also a love letter to the millions of folks who continue to cherish this ageless property in all its diverse forms and renditions," Tom Waltz, who partnered with Eastman on the story and script, said when the series was announced this spring. "At its core, TMNT is always about family first… both in the fictional stories being told and the real-life engagement between the creators and the amazing fans who support them. The Last Ronin is no exception."

Here's the official synopsis for the story:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin takes place in a future New York City far different from the one we know today, where a lone surviving Turtle goes on a seemingly hopeless mission to obtain justice for his fallen family and friends. An epic five-part miniseries, The Last Ronin is based on an unpublished 1987 story concept by Eastman and Laird, with script by Waltz, layouts by Eastman, pencils and inks by Esau and Isaac Escorza, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, letters by Shawn Lee, and edits by Bobby Curnow. Each issue is oversized at 7" x 11" and 48 pages in length.

The second issue of The Last Ronin will be available on January 27.