I'm pretty bored with legacy sequels nowadays. Every major, and most minor, media franchises from my youth have been revisited in some way in an attempt to update a proven property to appeal to modern audiences. I can understand the appeal, I certainly understand the economic reasoning, but most of them fall flat to me. Works of media are of their age, and you can't just pull them out of their time and expect them to have the same impact on an entirely new generation. And most of them just remind me I could be engaging with the original, and usually much better, version.

The Last Ronin is a legacy sequel, but it's good! it's not just a continuation of the original Eastman & Laird TMNT series, it's the end. It feels very much like the stories of theirs I read back in the 90s, and it's a perfect ending to that story. Sad, sure, but also a love letter to one of the most enduring pop culture franchises of the past 40 years. After reading this I hope there are more legacy sequels intent on ending their story instead of trying to create a new, updated version with the main purpose of making more money. ( )

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin features additional writing by Tom Waltz, pencils and inks by Esau Escorza, Ben Bishop, Isaac Escorza, and Eastman, layouts by Eastman, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, letters and design by Shawn Lee, color assistance by Samuel Plata and Ronda Pattinson, cover art by Esau & Isaac Escorza, cover colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, and an introduction by Robert Rodriguez. The book collects all fives issues of the titular series. Like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Old Man Logan before it, The Last Ronin takes place far in the future with a post climate-change, economically-stratified, dystopian cityscape. The series notably reunites Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Eastman and Laird following the two parting ways in the 2000s.

The story begins with the last of the Ninja Turtles, a ronin, returning to the walled-city of New York in an attempt to kill the Shredder’s grandson, who now rules over the city with an iron fist. He fails in his attempt and is planning to commit seppuku, but April O’Neil and Casey Jones’ daughter saves him. She brings him to the Turtles’ former lair, where the ronin, Michelangelo, reunites with April. Flashbacks reveal how Oroku Hiroto, the grandson of the Shredder, became the leader of the Hiroto clan and waged war against clan Hamato, of which Splinter and his sons Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo were members. He successfully killed Splinter, three of the Turtles, the Fugitoid, and Casey. Michelangelo went into exile believing that April died as well, though she was pregnant with her and Casey’s daughter, named Casey Marie Jones. In New York, April, Casey Marie, and a rag-tag group formed an underground resistance. Hiroto set up his kingdom on Manhattan while Baxter Stockman took nearby Roosevelt Island.

Eastman, Laird, and Waltz craft a brilliantly layered story that serves as a possible conclusion to their original Turtles run as well as many of its continuations. They reveal details in flashbacks that enrich the characters and perfectly punctuate each chapter. Each flashback has its own style with some using Eastman’s original art to brilliant effect. While the story concludes the saga of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hamato Yoshi, it leaves some possibilities for spin-offs. And, though it offers a conclusion, the Turtles lend themselves to innovation so it need not be the conclusion.

Finally, in keeping with Eastman and Laird’s referencing of popular culture, both Michelangelo and Professor Honeycutt quote Lord of the Rings toward the end of chapter four and the beginning of chapter five. Meanwhile, Oroku Hiroto’s final armor closely resembles the costumes in Tron, adding to the futuristic aesthetic of the series. And the final battle in particular resembles Batman fighting the mutants in The Dark Knight Returns, which helps link the dystopian sci-fi elements of The Last Ronin with other comic book stories set in dystopian futures. ( )

I was expecting some grimdark Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller 90s bullshit but this was so well done. ( )

Great, sad finish to our beloved green guys. ( )

A dark, gritty story that was well told, along with beautiful art that conveys the emotion of every frame. Loved it! ( )