TMNT: The Last Ronin #4

TMNT: The Last Ronin #4

IDW Publishing 2021

Story by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird & Tom Waltz

Written by Tom Waltz & Kevin Eastman

Layouts by Kevin Eastman

Illustrated by Esau, Isaac Escorrza, Ben Bishop & Kevin Eastman

Coloured by Luis Antonio Delgado

Colour Assists by Samuel Plata

Lettered by Shawn Lee

With a few key allies, the Ronin takes on the greatest risk yet to infiltrate Baxter Stockman's tech island! What happened many years ago to set the Ronin on this quest for vengeance? Find out in this action-packed penultimate issue!

I am really enjoying this story. Knowing that his father and his brothers have been killed by the Foot Clan and having trained and become so serious Michelangelo has become someone it is almost hard to recognise. This is just the tip of the iceberg too because what we see and how this is being told is simply one of the most powerful and impactful stories that we are having the pleasure to read. The sheer power of the conversation between Michelangelo and April was something that was close to bringing tears and a boiling anger to the surface because it was just so well constructed. I may be an occasional fan of the franchise and I know enough to know these characters and to be the Last Ronin is a blessing and a curse.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really brings their personalities to the forefront exceptionally well. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story we're just gobsmacked by what we see.

I’m very much enjoying how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I love how we see the layers open up new avenues to be explored and how these avenues add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculately achieved.

The interiors here are interesting. The past, the story for April, is a much simpler version to start off with then becomes this amazing imagery for the fight and of course then there’s the present and all these artistic teams put so much heat and soul into the work. The linework we see throughout is sensational and how the varying weights and techniques are utilised to create this level & quality of detail work we see throughout the issue is astonishing. How we see backgrounds utilised to enhance and expand the moments is exquisitely rendered. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show some remarkably talented eyes for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show some sensational eyes for how colour works.

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Longtime Turtle fans or casual fans heck even those who really aren’t fans of them will absolutely love this story. This is what a sweeping epic is and should be plain and simple. There is nothing about this series that doesn’t grab the reader by the cajones and does not let go. It’s beautifully written with striking characterisation and bloody stunning interiors and it is without a doubt one of the most poignant and profound reads on stands right now.