It’s been two years since IDW’s runaway hit comic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin arrived on shelves, an alternate-universe tale starring a bitter Michaelangelo as the sole survivor of the Turtles and their friend. Soon, fans can return to Mike’s gritty adventures in a new follow-up: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin — Lost Years, a prequel first announced at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, and Gizmodo has an exclusive first look.
“We began to realise that Last Ronin’s story was so much bigger than we had originally anticipated — past, present, and future,” co-writer Tom Waltz said in a statement released alongside the SDCC announcement in July. “There’s so much more about this world that we still want to share with our fans… Lost Years represents the first expansion of what we now fondly call the ‘Ronin-verse.’ It offers our many loyal readers a much more detailed look at the Ronin’s past, as well as sharing a glimpse of an exciting future for the many allies he’s been forced to leave behind.”
Here are the full details on the comic, whose first issue arrives on January 25. Click through the slides to read a 5-page preview, along with the cover by S.L. Gallant!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin — Lost Years #1
Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Ben Bishop, SL Gallant
RETURN TO THE RONIN-VERSE! In the smash-hit miniseries TMNT: The Last Ronin, readers were taken on a pulse-pounding trek through time — past, present, future — to witness the final gut-wrenching days of the Heroes in a Half Shell. For Michelangelo in particular, the march to his heartbreaking last battle was long and dangerous, taking him from New York City, to Japan, across Asia and Europe, and then back home again to administer final justice against those guilty of killing his family. But what happened during those fateful years when he had only the need for vengeance and Master Splinter’s journal to guide him? What battles did he fight? What hard lessons did he learn? The time has come to find out as original miniseries writers Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz join artists Ben Bishop (TMNT: The Last Ronin) and SL Gallant (G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero) to finally reveal what adventures the Last Ronin experienced during his vengeful journey. While in the present, a new master, Casey Marie Jones, prepares her young terrapin students to be the next generation of…Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Cover by S.L. Gallant
TMNT: The Last Ronin — Lost Years (page 8)
TMNT: The Last Ronin — Lost Years (page 9)
TMNT: The Last Ronin — Lost Years (page 10)
TMNT: The Last Ronin — Lost Years (page 11)
TMNT: The Last Ronin — Lost Years (page 12)
Want more Gizmodo news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.