Kevin Eastman Reveals Details on the New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | IGN Fan Fest 2024

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It turns out the title of the dark and mature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book The Last Ronin was a bit of a misdirect. Though that story told the bloody tale of the original TMNT squad as the last surviving turtle finally took down the Foot Clan, a new group of four Ninja Turtles is rising up to take their place in the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II Re-Evolution. We spoke with the co-creator of Ninja Turtles and the co-writer of The Last Ronin II, Kevin Eastman, about how he's raising a new generation of turtles.

Here are the new turtles in action. Their names are Yi, Odyn, Moja, and Uno, and are led by Casie Marie Jones. Check out this action-packed double-page spread from inside The Last Ronin II by artist Ben Bishop.

"[The Last Ronin II] was something that we really questioned and really hadn't planned when we started doing Last Ronin, so we found a place that we wanted to stay and tell stories for as long as we could. What you're seeing here specifically takes place 16 years after Last Ronin I ended," Eastman said. "Casey Marie Jones is the woman in the purple you see there with the half of a Casey mask on, and she's trained to become the sensei and general parent of the new turtles. They're going out on one of their first missions."

While the original four turtle designs all fit into the same mold, Eastman and co-writer Tom Waltz wanted to make the four new turtles more distinct.

"One of the things that we did want to do was really update the characters. There's two male, two female turtle characters, and me and Tom trying to write what teenagers might think and say and do," Eastman explained. "There's a nice cross section of different personalities, much like the original turtles. You want to have them always love their family, but not always like them. And so they might argue. They might spat. They might have disagreements, but when they need to work together as a team, it's the heart and soul of the family that always keeps them