TMNT: Last Ronin #2 teases the last stand of the Turtles and Splinter

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin #2
(Image credit: IDW Publishing)

After the epic cliffhanger of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin #1 and the realization that three of the four founding turtles had died, the big question is how did it happen? That begins to be answered, finally, in this preview of the TMNT: The Last Ronin #2.

Check it out:

"Secrets are revealed as we begin to discover what happened in the past to lead to this nightmarish future," reads IDW's description of the issue. "The Ronin meets an unexpected new ally but the Foot Clan begins an exhaustive sweep of the Bottom to find the vengeful mutant. And what role does Baxter Stockman play?"

A little lost? Get up to speed on the series so far with our play-by-play on TMNT: The Last Ronin #1.

Based on a gestating idea from TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird thought up three decades ago, TMNT: The Last Ronin is now coming to fruition thanks to Eastman, co-writer Tom Waltz, and artists Esau and Isaac Escorza with Ben Bishop. Eastman permeates this book, co-writing, doing the layouts, and drawing portions of it.

At the center of it is MIchaelangelo, the last surviving Turtle after a battle with the Foot which decimated the family - Splinter included. The first issue didn't disclose what happened - only that it happened - but this issue appears to be telling the tale - and how Mikey and April O'Neil are handling it.

"Mikey's battling a lot of personal demons - survivor's guilt being the worst of them," Waltz told Newsarama recently. "It's a terrible kind of PTSD to handle, and so far he's been handling it alone (well… if you don't count those strangely familiar voices that are always talking to him from the shadows). He's in a very dark place at the beginning of our story, with vengeance being the only healing salve he can identify. But the surprise reunion with April will provide him with different paths he can follow moving forward. Question is - is he too far gone to step away from the vengeful/suicidal trek he's set for himself?"

TMNT: The Last Ronin #2 (of 5) goes on sale on February 17.

Keep up to speed on all the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, graphic novels, and collections coming in 2021 and beyond.

Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)