Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin #1 - IDW Publishing

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN No. 1, November 2020

Advertised by “IDW Publishing” as “the TMNT event of 2020”, Tom Waltz’s narrative for Issue One of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin” arguably reads more like a simple reimaging of John Carpenter’s 1981 science fiction film “Escape from New York” rather than something original “springing from the minds of co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird”. But whilst this paperback’s basic premise may well be ‘borrowed’ from “one of the greatest masters of the horror genre”, its blinding pace, phenomenal action sequences, and surprising cliff-hanger of a conclusion, certainly seems to make it live up to its promise of being “one of the most memorable TMNT stories you will ever read!”

To begin with, there’s plenty of unexplained mystery surrounding just which of Master Splinter’s students the sole-surviving assassin attempting to infiltrate Oroku Hiroto’s headquarters actually is. Repeatedly shrouded in shadows, at least for this adventure’s earliest scenes, the deadly warrior seems to predominantly favour the twin sai known to have been Raphael’s preferred weapon of choice. However, these ninjutsu melee weapons are soon replaced with a sword, hand-baton, and even micro-grenades by the titular character whenever the situation demands it; “Old turtle. New tricks.”

Likewise, the mechanical army of the Shredder’s grandson is an intriguingly mixed affair consisting of everything from synthetic Robo Ninja Cops with human body parts wired into their armour, through to flying Mousers with lasers. This incredible variety of foe causes the Ronin to consistently adapt his fighting style, and leads to a pulse-pounding mixture of stealthy approaches, high octane diversionary explosions and straightforward fist-fighting all taking place in order to successfully ensure the ‘lone wolf’ edges ever closer towards his increasingly terrified target.

Esau and Isaac Escorza’s pencils/inks are also worthy of praise, with this oversized comic’s lead protagonist never looking better bedecked in a literal arsenal of deadly close-combat weapons. The sheer speed projected by some of Kevin Eastman's layouts is truly breath-taking, such as the shinobi ‘skysurfing’ a stolen flying police car through a billboard and onto a rooftop, whilst there’s a definite ‘crunch’ behind each and every punch, kick or throw the determined turtle makes during his mission to “obtain justice for his fallen family.”

Story: Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird & Tom Waltz, and Pencils/Inks: Esau Escorza & Isaac Escorza