Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution #1: Something New

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution #1 is the sequel to one of the most successful TMNT stories of all time, which saw a dystopian future where The Shredder, his daughter, and the foot clan beat the Turtles, taking over New York in the process. Hope prevailed as the last of the turtles, The Last Ronin returned to the city to defeat the evil once and for all. Along the way, he was reunited with his old friend April, who was leading a resistance. Her daughter, Casey, ended up training under The Last Ronin for a short time, with the reveal that she had inherited some of the turtle’s mutant DNA, making her superhuman. In the end, The Last Ronin died saving the city, leaving April and Casey to move forward in his memory, with the tease that a new set of turtles were on the way.

Flashforward to Re-Evolution #1, these turtles, Uno, Yi, Odin, and Moja are being trained by their surrogate mother, Casey, as the problems in New York arise in the absence of the Saki lineage. While the ride-along character of the original series was The Last Ronin, its sequel sees Casey take center stage, kicking off the issue with a full force action segment, highlighting how she has grown since The Last Ronin’s death. The original series ended with The Last Ronin learning a lesson about loss, grief, and revenge, and it’s clear that this series will see how much Casey took away from that. Setting up this thematic journey in a wonderful way, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution #1 kicks things off with a bang.

The art duties are split between Isaac and Esau Escorza and Ben Bishop, with the book clearly defining where the change in artists are essential. Thankfully, the change in art is to help recap the events of the previous series while also giving some general backstory on the original TMNT story itself. This makes this book new reader friendly, although it is highly recommended that you read the original series before jumping into this one. This pause for a backstory also helps break up the issue into two segments, with the first part highlighting Casey and the second part highlighting the turtles. This makes the book read with a logical flow that ends in these two parts marrying in a nature that sets up the ending cliffhanger in a satisfying way.

Much like the original series, this book is co written by Tom Waltz, a long time author of the IDW era of TMNT, and TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman. More so than the first series, which came from an idea that Eastman and the other co creator, Peter Laird had way back when, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Last Ronin II Re-Evolution sees much more of that Eastman influence, not only in the story but also in the design. There are several elements that seem to stem from both Eastman and Waltz’s time writing these characters that pop up here. Re-Evolution also is unique in that the original four turtles are not part of the core story, with Casey and the new turtles taking the spotlight. In an era where recycled stories and plot threads seems to be the norm, it is a pleasant surprise to see the creators go off in their own direction, focusing on the newer elements.

Unfortunately not all of this issue is so fantastic, with the overall plot feeling too expository with a lot of setup, and not a lot of character centric world building. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution #1 sees these new characters take part in the world they have inherited, but not a lot is done to really establish a pathos. The new turtles are hinted at being unique, but their actions as a unit and quip centric dialogue leave a lot to be desired. This is only the first issue of this series so hopefully the exposition and setup will stay in this first issue with the next issues focusing more on the characters themselves. Casey is great, and definitely was a breakout new character from the original series, so the more time spent breaking into her mindset the better.