Casey Marie Jones and the next generation of Ninja Turtles will return for another round of turtle power in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution.
The next chapter is co-written by TMNT co-creator Eastman and Tom Waltz, illustrated by Ben Bishop, Esau Escorza and Isaac Escorza, colored by Luis Antonio Delgado and lettered by Shawn Lee.
“The real heart and soul for me with dusting off and bringing The Last Ronin to life three years ago was my belief that ‘Every beginning must have an end,’” said Eastman. “With all the respect in the world for my co-creator Peter Laird, I wanted to bring full circle to what we started in 1984 and set out to do in 1987. With The Last Ronin, with my friend Tom Waltz and an incredible gathering of brilliant artisans, we accomplished that 33 years later. A very fitting end indeed.”
IDW says the story will be filled with “new foes and foils”:
Guided by Casey Marie Jones, the formidable and strategic daughter of April O’Neil and the late Casey Jones, the next generation of Ninja Turtles – Yi, Uno, Odyn and Moja – will face the ultimate enemy! Will the young heroes be able to adapt to the pressure of a city at war?
“When Kevin Eastman and I got together to adapt and update the future TMNT outline that he and Peter Laird had written together in 1987, our hope was always that we’d be creating an evergreen tale that longtime TMNT fans would enjoy for years to come,” Waltz said. “Little did we know – and much to our absolute pleasure – The Last Ronin would become a publishing sensation, a New York Times bestseller, far surpassing our initial hopes and expectations. And not only was it successful, it offered Kevin and I the opportunity to revisit what we’ve lovingly come to call the Ronin-verse in the form of prequels and sequels.”
Eastman has said he’s glad to have the opportunity to continue telling stories in this new universe as well.
“The incredible surprise on coming out of the end of that journey, was the opportunity to continue to tell stories beyond that ending,” he said. “All new characters, in a whole new universe to really sink our teeth into and the best part – with all the original crew back to make sure we get it right. I can’t wait for you to see what we have in store for them.”
Look for the first issue in December.