The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are no stranger to post-apocalyptic societies. The Archie Comics run from the early 90s gave us a world ravaged by climate change, while the 2003 cartoon series wound up putting the turtles in the distant future. Even the original Mirage comics have experimented with it at times. Much to the thrill of fans, original creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird have come together to work on their first shared story since 1987. What the fans have received is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.

The second issue of The Last Ronin is brought to us from the writing trio of Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and Tom Waltz. Pencils and inks again come from Esau and Isaac Escorza, with assistance from Ben Bishop and Kevin Eastman. Samuel Plata and Luis Antonio Delgado worked on the colors. Shawn Lee returned to letter the book.

Picking up from the last issue’s shocking reveal of Ronin's identity, the story flashes back to the fall of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Splinter dies from a shocking Foot Clan ambush, and the first of the four brothers falls trying to avenge their fallen father. The Ronin and his rescuer, an old April O’Neil, catch up on old times while the Ronin reveals how he survived for so long, how he’s become so well versed in combat, and what his plans are.

While it sounds like a rough gear change after the action-packed rush of the first issue, this is anything but. The flashback features more than enough action to make adrenaline junkies happy, while the dialogue-heavy scenes do a great job of building the hellscape that New York has fallen into. The Ronin’s tale of going from a broken shell of his former self to an avenging demon is also great, with strong inks creating a dark mood that is hard to top. Every action movie needs a breather moment, and using it to expand on the story rather than just proverbially reload is a welcome addition to what just might be one of the best TMNT stories yet.

It’s hard to understate how great this book looks. Kevin Eastman dusts off his art skills to provide a five-page flashback for the Ronin’s story. It looks like it would fit perfectly with the last days of the first Mirage volume, complete with insane background detail and rough action that has an odd charm to it. The flashback sequences for the fall of the Turtles look near-identical to the current IDW run, with the modern pages having a dirty quality to them to show how crap the world has become. It makes for a book that is easy to tell exactly when you are, and what is happening.

You still don’t need to have read the current IDW run to understand The Last Ronin, but we highly recommend picking up the first issue before getting this one. This issue features enough story that you can get what’s happening, but this is a story that deserves to be read from start to finish. It’s still an amazing book and deserves to be read by anyone who’s been a fan of the Turtles in their life.

Grade: A-