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Some TMNT stuff was always meant for grownups. |
Wish for Death is the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. It was initially supposed to release August 19, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and artist Andy Kuhn dropping out of the project approximately halfway through, the entire series was delayed and the issue was not released until October 28.
Solicit[]
It's the TMNT event of 2020! Springing from the minds of TMNT co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird comes an epic like you've never seen before! In a future NYC far different than the one we know today, a lone surviving Turtle goes on a seemingly hopeless mission to obtain justice for his fallen family and friends. Kinetic layouts from Eastman, inks from Esau and Isaac Escorza and a thrilling script full of surprises from longtime TMNT scribe Tom Waltz all combine to make this one of the most memorable TMNT stories you will ever read! Oversized in both format and page count.
Appearing in Wish for Death[]
Major characters[]
- Foot Clan (debut)
- Captain Ikusa (debut)
- Elite Ninja (debut)
- Mousers (debut)
- Cyclops Mouser (debut)
- M112 (debut)
- Oroku Hiroto (debut)
- Oroku Karai (debut)
- Synja (debut)
- Unit 109 (debut) (death)
- Michelangelo (debut)
Minor characters[]
- April O'Neil (debut)
- Donatello (debut) (deceased, hallucination)
- Jones (debut)
- Leonardo (debut) (deceased, hallucination)
- Raphael (debut) (deceased, hallucination)
Species[]
- Crows
- Humans
- Human cyborgs
- Mutant turtle
- Robots
Synopsis[]
In a dank, dark future, New York City is ruled by Oroku Hiroto, grandson of The Shredder and bastard son of Karai. He runs the city with meticulous fascism and totalitarianism. A lone turtle, haunted by hallucinations of his deceased brothers, works to end Hiroto, who he blames for his brothers' murders.
Climbing into the Foot-controlled zone, the Turtle bemoans that years of pollution and global warming have ruined the waters. Outside of a public house called Hilty's, the Turtle steals a motorcycle which happens to belong to a young woman called Jones.
The Turtle rides as close as he can to Hiroto's stronghold, then flings the motorcycle and a stick of dynamite into a fuel truck to create a distraction. He makes it down into the sewer and pops back up inside the "Delta Quadrant", setting off an alarm at the manhole. A couple of cyborg ninja Foot cops shows up to detain him, but the Turtle uses some smoke bombs to escape. He corners one of them and takes him out, severing his head. One of the Turtle's "brothers" dubs them "Synja" - or synthetic ninja.
The Turtle fights his way through more "Synja" and continues on his journey. Meanwhile, Oroku Hiroto is informed of this "disturbance" by his captain, Ikusa, and authorizes not only a general alarm, but lethal force.
The Turtle makes his way into the lower level of Hiroto's tower, stealing another motorcycle (the police's, this time) and blowing it up again and fighting his way through more heavily armed Foot police. After taking out a bunch of them, the Turtle taunts the security camera and Hiroto realizes that it's a mutant turtle who has been dogging him this day. The Turtle battles his way to the second floor, through Elite Ninja and the Foot leader sends out the "Stockman tech" - flying mousers and one large cycloptic robot with Mouser heads for hands. The Turtle uses a pair of tonfā to create a localized EMP that takes out the flying mousers, and stabs the cyclops one with his katana, but their momentum sends them crashing out of the building. The Turtle is badly injured, but survives his fall, and runs off before the Synja can catch up to him. Jones purposely points the Foot in the wrong direction of their quarry and follows the Turtle into the sewers.
Hiroto ponders over why there's a mutant turtle after him - not because he doesn't know the reason, but because he was certain that he killed all four of them a decade prior. He approaches a comatose Karai, who is kept in a medical chamber, and pledges that he will carry on the Foot as she was unable to, before Ikusa interrupts them and tells them that the "terrorist" remains alive.
Down in the sewers, the Turtle, wracked with guilt and sorrow, ignores his phantom brothers' protests and goes through with attempting seppuku. Before he can go through with it, though, he passes out from blood loss, just as Jones comes across him and realizes he's a mutant turtle - something she seems to have familiarity with.
The Turtle awakens back in the old lair, surrounded by his brothers, all young and alive again. This is unfortunately, however, a dream, and the elderly and broken Turtle wakes up in a hospital bed, where he sees April O'Neil. She asks him, addressing him as Michelangelo, who he was talking to.
Trivia[]
- This issue had 71 variant covers, most of which are retailer incentive variants.
- On page 7, panel 2 and 5, there was a green motorcycle wich resembles Kaneda's iconic red bike in the famed manga and anime movie Akira.