Review — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin

What was a simple idea of turning Marvel superheroes into old people in alternate timelines, turned into another vein of inspiration for others to bleed dry. Comic fans enjoyed Old Man Logan. They realized Old Lady Harley might be a bit too much. But another franchise used the same idea. It made an already popular indie series explode higher with a meager five issue story. One that broke hearts, and broke the skyscraper window of being a one-shot. This is my review of The Last Ronin.

Content 

Language: Words like h*** are used often, while words like b****** are used sparingly.

Violence: A character tries to commit seppuku; someone is stabbed and bleeding out in the water. Explosions, blood, and weapons are used frequently. One character is stabbed by many piercing weapons.

Drug/Alcohol Use: None

Sexual Content: None

Negative Content: The story is based on revenge. This part is addressed up front before the review to get my personal thoughts out first. We know the ninja turtles as paragons of justice — fighting bad dudes and enjoying pizza — but this story is the opposite. Things get personal. Not just with the brothers, but even Splinter. It turns into a “no more mister nice guy” scenario. This definitely isn’t for kids who are expecting Mikey to make a dumb joke or for the writers to wrap up things neatly.

Spiritual Content: However, all is not total darkness. Sprinkled throughout the tale is that small gleam of goodness that is still in the turtles, seen in the interactions with certain characters that I’ll keep secret. There is also a beautiful ending and a moment where the seeds of hope are planted. So yes, I believe this is a safe read for Christians.

Review

New York. A future dystopian ruled by Oroku Hiroto, the Shredder’s grandson. A single mutant turtle overlooks the town. Clad in black clothing, no discernible color, he makes his way into New York to kill Oroku and take revenge.

(Editor’s Note: From this point onward, there will be *spoilers* about the identity of the Last Ronin. To avoid these, skip ahead to the Conclusion.)

Who is The Last Ronin?

The above paragraph sets up a story unlike any other the Turtles get involved in. Just from the title alone, a dark narrative of our beloved heroes’ usual lives tells us everything is off. A ronin is a figure in Japanese culture — a samurai without a lord. Right away we assume Splinter, the Turtles’ leader, is gone, but we do not know why. We also might think that samurai equals katana, and our mysterious Turtle could be Leonardo. Fans might be forgiven for thinking so, the blue striped brother always seemed to be closer to Splinter than the rest. But the Last Ronin is not him.

No discernible color. The Turtles always had a kid-friendly tone to them (comics not applicable). Their color signified who they were, and the vibrant hues invited hope and excitement, contrasting the way of ninja. It helped keep the facade of which brother it might be. Raphael was the angry strong one, so red fit him. Color also helped discern them, as the comics adapted to growth and popularity. Raphael became (or stayed) red, but he also was impatient and rude. In later cases, he was also the brother born separate from the others, which exaggerated his reluctant familial relationship. The Last Ronin carries no discerning colors or trace of identity in the talk or walk. The ronin is a true shadow, a master of all weapons, and for this paragraph, not Raphael.

The story is darker than any previous issue or cartoon episode dared to go. The overall shift in the world is different. New York is walled up completely. Hiroku has placed a totalitarian rule upon everyone, with synthetic ninjas patrolling everywhere, and heavily guarded buildings running day and night. This is a world where there are no heroes. A fully imagined place in which our teenage ninjas lose. And the way in which they fall is sad, gruesome, and correlates with their identities. Case in point, Donatello, and his father Splinter, are seen in a flashback going to Japan for a peace meeting. They are ambushed, and no amount of brilliance could stop Oroku Hiroto’s army. Father and son protect one another as a rain of arrows descends upon them. Donatello is outsmarted. And so, he did not become the Ronin. 

Thus, the tale of revenge falls upon the shoulders of the heart and soul turtle, the party dude, the happy-go-lucky orange one, the coward. Why is the Last Ronin overlooking New York? Because Michelangelo ran away. He exiled himself until he returned, twisted. Throughout the story, what fans know changes. The student becomes the master, and the master becomes a war general. Michelangelo avenges his fallen family with tact and thought, his smile is exchanged for a scowl and rage, and the one mission is obsessively on his mind. In a way, this is not Michelangelo; this is the vengeful ghost, not the life of the party.

Conclusion

This intriguing story is accompanied by eye pleasing art. The Escorza brothers did a tremendous job of bringing this dark dystopia to life. The dark colors contrast with the large orange explosions on almost every page. You really get a feel for how old certain side characters are by the pale color of their hair and the deformities of their body. As a visual treat, sometimes the flashbacks are drawn with Peter and Kevin’s classic style and given a black and white coloring. It adds a sense of simpler times and hindsight, which the colors accentuate. Their style is a perfect fit for the gritty comic.

As far as revenge plots go, The Last Ronin as a comic doesn’t add anything new, but the medium used was a stroke of brilliance. Kevin and Peter knew they had something special, and (aside from Urban Legends) never had any real dive into a mature story of this magnitude. Its success spawned a sequel, The Lost Years; another sequel, RE-Evolution; a rumored movie; and a video game. It was as if the story was always there, waiting to be told. Not all characters need to have an “old man” arc, but The Last Ronin took the idea and made it better. Yes, I said it, it’s better than Old Man Logan.