TMNT: The Last Ronin update

[hypered1]

Some early news for Issue #5 and a hardcover collection courtesy of BleedingCool.com;

Issue 5 is slated for release next February:
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/teen...february-2022/

Hardcover collection currently dated for June 21st, 2022:
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/teen...mnt-hardcover/

[Sharman]

Oh, but the wait is agony ...

[AquaParade]

Tom shares a lot of previews on his twitter, in case you're interested. I don't even have a twitter, I just pop by his page to check sometimes. There are already small previews of issue #5.

[DK2]

Oh wow, that's the longest gap between issues. That'd make it if I'm not mistaken, 16 months for the mini series from start to finish. Geez.

[AquaParade]

Yeah, long wait. It was essentially 10 issues and Kevin Eastman found out it was approved for production at the same time it was announced.

[NinjaPug]

From what I've gathered on Twitter it looks like Kevin said there is a Ronin-verse book coming out in 2022 during his SDCC panel today.

Think we all figured this was happening but nice to hear there will be more.

[The Great Saiyaman]

The wait is going to be agony.

But it will be so sweet when the comic has arrived.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by NinjaPug

From what I've gathered on Twitter it looks like Kevin said there is a Ronin-verse book coming out in 2022 during his SDCC panel today.

Think we all figured this was happening but nice to hear there will be more.

I don't think I want that. I love Michelangelo but there is only so much do to in this type of story. Great things in small doses is better! Besides while the quality dipped with the rushed City At War arc the ongoing book has been tainted by the big guns consumed with work on The Last Ronin. If The Last Ronin is over than I hoped it would allow quality to be restored to the ODW ongoing.

[neatoman]

Yeah I'm in the same boat honestly. Sure this mini has been cool in many respect and I don't think I would mind a continuation, but that said it's literally taken almost a year to get to issue 4 and despite there only being a single issue left, it won't conclude for another 2 months assuming there are no more delays. And there has been a lot of delays on this book, the first issue was meant to come out like half a year before it actually did, I believe?

Not that such a sequel book would necessarily suffer the same delays but I kind of get the feeling it would.

Meanwhile the main book has rotted away into sad, pale shadow of it's former self and I seriously wish it would just get some much needed course correction already.

[DK2]

I don't wanna see anymore follow ups or continuation of Last Ronin. I mean it was around an old plot from Kevin and Peter. Why go beyond that? Sure it'd be neat to see more in this timeline/canon but look what happened with Dark Knight Returns. We got Dark Knight Strikes Again, which had some good moments and ideas but was really kinda long and sad artwork by Frank Miller. Then All Star Batman & Robin is deemed Millers early times of his Batman, which was kinda brutal at times and odd too with the story telling and its pace. Then we got DK3, which was at least OK compared to DK2. We had an in between story/prequel DK Last Crusade, explaining Jason Todds Robin's fate to a degree. I liked this story until it decided not to show us what happened to Jason right at the end. I feel like that should've been a longer story instead of cutting off at the moment we all wanted to see how it went leading into Bruce's subtle references in DKR. Then DK Golden Child. Just brutal again. What was the need of that story?

[Andrew NDB]

The counterpoint might be that this isn't the realization of that "lost" K&P story. This is a reimagination of it told through a slight IDW/alternate universe lens. So they can kind of do whatever they want with it from here.

[AquaParade]

I'm down for them to expand on this world. You can look at it as a "once-future" for Mirage or just it's own thing at this point.
At the end of the day, I just find it to be an all around better book than the ongoing ever was, so I'd much rather see them build off this and let the ongoing become whatever it's going to become. Just my personal preference.

Kevin is still great with layouts and even world-building, in some ways, and that's actually being utilized here, much more than the ongoing. Not to mention, he just has a knack for the turtle's dialogue. It feels authentic.
Secondly, there are way less restrictions in this book. The turtles can actually kill and they can touch on more adult themes than the ongoing ever could.
Maybe the leash will be loosened with concerns to the ongoing, but we've yet to see evidence of that.

Lastly, for now, is that the budget is higher on TLR and it's already a hotter property. That means you can attract more expensive creators and artists to join in on the fun. You already see this in the variant covers, especially the latest ones, as the word has gotten out on the book by now.

I'm intrigued to see prequels and sequels to this book, assuming they stick a decent landing. It would also be cool to see the ongoing flourish, but if I had to choose which one's future I'd want to invest in, it's TLR.

[jestergoblin]

Now delayed to April 6, 2022 according to Comixology and Shellback Artworks.

[AquaParade]

I'm not mad, because I'm pretty patient with stuff like this, but I do find it sort of ridiculous at this point.

Early on, the delays were understandable, because the book was announced before it was officially greenlit, so even though they had a general outline already, they still had to pull double-duty to get these double-sized issues out (double-sized being an aspect that seems often downplayed when discussing the delays on this book - it's the length of two books).

That said, they finished issue #4 in late September. This issue takes 6-7 months? Better be a damn good finale!

Also, this is a nitpick, because it's the nature of the beast, but I joined Kevin's Fan Club, so I could order exclusive covers to issues #4 and #5, back when they were both supposed to release around 2021. Now my membership has expired and #5 has been delayed, so that's a waste. I understand how things work, but it's a bummer.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

You can look at it as a "once-future" for Mirage

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

https://media3.giphy.com/media/26gsm...7ohq/giphy.gif

It's not really an opinion. The creators intended it as a future for the TMNT, until it was admittedly written out fairly soon, as evidenced by stuff like City at War.

It was intended as "the last tmnt story" at one point in time, thus the term "once-future".

Personally, I like the vagueness of what we ended up with. It wouldn't work for every story, but something about only knowing remnants of the turtle's future, in the Mirage world, really works for me.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

It's not really an opinion. The creators intended it as a future for the TMNT, until it was admittedly written out fairly soon, as evidenced by stuff like City at War.

Right. But this isn't "it." Things were added and changed (rainbow bandannas on Mirage TMNT, for one? gtfoh) and presumably subtracted along the way from that outline, and none of this done under the purview of Peter Laird.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Right. But this isn't "it." Things were added and changed (rainbow bandannas on Mirage TMNT, for one? gtfoh) and presumably subtracted along the way from that outline, and none of this done under the purview of Peter Laird.

Sure, I mean, Karai being related to Shredder is a much bigger deal than the color of their bandanas.
But Like I said, obviously it no longer syncs up with the Mirage timeline, but once, early in time, it did.

Semantics, I guess.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

Sure, I mean, Karai being related to Shredder is a much bigger deal than the color of their bandanas.

Right. Especially considering Eastman and Waltz must have forced her into the story here in the present... because when Eastman & Laird wrote the original outline in 1987, Karai wouldn't even have been created at all for another 5 years.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Right. Especially considering Eastman and Waltz must have forced her into the story here in the present... because when Eastman & Laird wrote the original outline in 1987, Karai wouldn't even have been created at all for another 5 years.

I get your point. It certainly strayed. It's just that at that point in time, the elements in this story weren't necessarily contradicting the Mirage story. There was no Karai, so if you read issues #1-11 of Mirage TMNT (which were written right before the "original TLR"), then you could hop into TLR after, no problem. It once worked as a future for Mirage, even with blatant changes like colored masks or Karai's status. As goofy as that feels to us now, and I agree that it doesn't necessarily feel right. Like you said, those are clearly new elements to the old story.

There are certainly elements that feel carried over from Mirage, namely just the style of storytelling, so it still feels rooted there in some way, imo anyway.