Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge Ninja Turtle fan. I don’t collect the comic books, I don’t like every adaptation that has been brought forth, and there are way too many said adaptations of them at this point. But they have had such an enormous impact on my life. They helped get me brave enough to start high school (long story), they were a bit of a sexual awakening for me (my hormones were going into overdrive at the right time), and some of their movies and cartoons? Golden. In fact, Mutant Mayhem is now #3 of my most favourite animated movies of all time. Still, I had no idea about this comic until a friend mentioned it a few months ago. Then I heard the planned movie was scrapped, and I knew I had to read this comic. If I couldn’t get it in movie form, I had to know what I was missing out on. And even with those high expectations, The Last Ronin delivered in every way I could’ve hoped for.
As per Ninja Turtle tradition, this is a story in New York, and the Foot Clan is involved. As a not-so-much Ninja Turtle tradition, it is not at all like the fun-mayhem brother-dissing pizza-afterward tales that the franchise is known for. In fact, one beloved human character has bionic implants after a horrifying war has left her disfigured in more than a couple ways. And I’ll get this out of the way – all but one of the Ninja Turtles are dead. So is Splinter, and their close friend Casey Jones. And this one sole turtle, now decades past his teenage years, is trying to finish his family’s lifelong battle, and trying to avenge what was taken from him. You’d think it was Leo or Raph who’s going at them with a vengeance like this, but no. It’s the youngest and supposedly happiest of the turtles, Mikey, who’s the only one left, in this masterful graphic novel that turns us all into 40-year-old men who have at one point or another loved the heroes in a half shell, and think back to when their lives were simpler as kids, whilst choking back tears.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Michelangelo, and I’ve always felt bad whenever he was underutilized or underestimated by his family. He was always the most innocent, heartfelt and easygoing turtle. For those reasons, he is the absolute perfect one to be the sole survivor. Seeing him so ferocious, so deadly, and yet so vulnerable, broken and defeated – in other words, so unlike how we’re used to – brings out a sadness that not very many forms of media have been able to do. Like Ellie in The Last of Us Part II, it hurts our hearts to see someone going through the grief of losing those in their life they care about most in the world, their joy of life gone and consumed with the desire to shed blood and get revenge.
This comic book felt like Michelangelo’s long-overdue magnum opus, his chance to rise above his brothers and be the hero we’ve always known he could be. At the same time, he retains a sense of impostor syndrome, feeling like he isn’t the right one to be leading any of these missions, and imagining his brothers are there, judging him for his mistakes or hesitations. But boy, does Mikey shine. He clobbers his enemies like a true ninja, a true sensei, and hearing some of the characters Michelangelo collaborates with calling him just that, a sensei, is a level of respect that shows just how far our little orange-headbanded brother has come.
Like I said, I haven’t read any of the original comics that started this huge Turtle phenomenon, so I only know the Ninja Turtles from the shows and movies. All of them, even the darker ones, still generally retained that cutesy-cartoon feel, of fun fights, family banter, and rising above evil to save the day. Some may be taken aback by scenes of iconic characters actually dying, but I’m glad they put them in this book. It really drives home how grim the world now is, how lost the survivors are, how those they loved are gone now and there is nothing that can bring them back.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin is an outstanding comic book. Even those who aren’t Ninja Turtle fans or even comic book fans will applaud this. If you ever were a Ninja Turtles fan at any point in your life, this is an absolute must-read. There’s a novelization of this comic, and a video game probably next year. I am so in.
My grade: 5 stars out of 5
William J. McGinn 
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