The Last Ronin #1 Review

The Last Ronin #1 Review – The long highly anticipated dark future story of a sole surviving member of the TMNT is well worth the wait

After years of speculation, two Comic Cons, and a few delays, The Last Ronin is finally gracing the shelves of comic book shops. The Last Ronin is an original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story from the original creators, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It’s a dark story that takes place in a grim future where only one of the four brothers is alive and he is out to take revenge on those responsible for their deaths. This is a far cry from the original animated series and grimmer than even Same as it Never Was from the 2003 series. I would recommend parental guidance, it’s not the happy fun-loving turtles many are accustom to.

The Last Ronin #1 opens on The Ronin making his way into Manhattan. The “Big Apple” is now a sealed-off island surrounded by walls and polluted water. The bridges connecting to the mainland have all been destroyed, but luckily, The Ronin is a turtle. The Ronin makes his way to the city, then through it, in order to get to Oruko Hiroto’s stronghold. Hiroto is Karai’s son, the Shredder’s grandson, and the current master of The Foot Clan, and apparently New York. The Ronin uses a variety of tactics to make his way to the stronghold, which does an amazing job to highlight his ingenuity, but also his reckless devotion to get revenge. It is awesome, but also depressing to see how hellbent the Ronin is on sacrificing himself.

Now on to the The Last Ronin #1 review part of the review. Eastman, Laird, and Tom Waltz deliver us down and dirty revenge story. The Ronin has no regard for his own life, other than to make it to the showdown with Hiroto. It is awesome but deeply sad, how much grief he is going through. He utilizes his training and his innate ingenuity to traverse the city in incredible fashion, but also recklessly abandoning any regard for his life. He also brutally fights through new Foot Soldiers that feel deadlier The upgraded Foot Soldiers are an awesome yet nightmarish creation that make for beautifully horrific carnage. The new Foot Soldiers are machine and human hybrids, cyborgs, that look like the machines have found a way to enslave the human portion. They look incredibly badass, until you see the insides.

This brings me to the artwork of Esau & Isaac Escorza and Luis Antonio Delgado. The artists did an incredible job embodying the art style of Eastman and Laird’s original runs. It has that grittier heir that perfectly heightens the revenge story of it all. The art also masterfully captures the wear and damage The Ronin goes through on his journey to Oroku Hiroto’s stronghold. It’s intense but also grounded, which makes the pain more palpable. The art was cited as the reason for the delay, but once you read it, you’ll see it was well worth the wait.

The Last Ronin #1 is an incredible comic that takes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles down a dark and uncharted path. It is a masterpiece of future timelines akin to that of  Days of Future Past. It tracks logically, it embodies the spirit of the original while being completely different, and it looks incredible. While I definitely don’t want this to be the definite future of the Turtles, I absolutely love how well done this dark future is. It’s a masterfully direct revenge story, that embeds incredible depth and lore. While I think anyone who likes action and revenge stories will enjoy the book, only fans of the TMNT will get the full impact of the story. Turtle fans have waited for this story and can assure you that it is well worth the wait. My The Last Ronin #1 Review gets a 4.5/5

***Potential Spoiler***

The Last Ronin #1 does reveal who The Ronin is. What the comic does incredibly well, is let you know who it is by the dialogue. While The Ronin’s speaking isn’t immediately identifiable, the ghosts of the other turtles are distinct to their characters. The dialogue of The Ronin doesn’t give away his identity, but the dialogue of the lost brothers gives away their identities fairly quickly. While that may not be directly obvious, it is a testament to how well written the story is. Aside from that, the inner monologue box does give a much more obvious hint. But it isn’t as obvious a hint until the final reveal at the end. Then you will kick yourself for not realizing how obvious of a hint it is. This is a testament to the art, and how intricate every panel and every detail is.