SDCC 23: IDW brings on the next generation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Set in the universe of The Last Ronin, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are about to be reborn. Complete with a new ‘Master’ named Jones.

Not that Jones

The Last Ronin, essentially a spiritual continuation to the original Mirage Comics run of TMNT, delivered a satisfying and somewhat grim conclusion to the Turtles’ saga.

“The real heart and soul for me with dusting off and bringing THE LAST RONIN to life three years ago was my belief that ‘Every beginning must have an end,’” said Eastman. “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 THE 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.”

Kevin Eastman, TMNT co-creator

While that’s a great sentiment, people really dig the Ninja Turtles, and being as the book was a massive hit, the action wasn’t going to stop there. Publisher IDW has already seen to that, with a few different branches to the story, which now will seemingly lead right into The Last Ronin II: Re-Evolution.

A brand new series just announced at Comic Con, TLR2 will join one Casey Marie Jones, the daughter of Turtles mainstays Casey Jones and April O’Neil. Jones finds herself in the role of Splinter, teaching and guiding a new generation of Turtles, as the city that they all call home once again finds itself on the edge of war.

The book will team Eastman with the rest of The Last Ronin’s team, including Tom Waltz, artists Ben Bishop, Esau Escorza, and Isaac Escorza, as well as colorist Luis Antonio Delgado and letterer Shawn Lee. So what can fans expect out of that re-teaming? Well, according to Eastman, a fresh universe to play in and plenty of new characters. Oh, and that the next generation of Ninja Turtles, with the quartet of Yi, Uno, Odyn, and Moja.

“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.”

Kevin Eastman

Accompanied by plenty of variant covers yet to be revealed, get ready for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution #1, which hits the stands this December.