Webtoon also announced that it will release the Cyberpunk 2077 comic in collaboration with Dark Horse Comics. TMNT: The Last Ronin will launch on the platform on August 23rd, while Cyberpunk 2077 is scheduled to release on August 8th. Webtoon shared images on how both series would look in their traditional vertical style. Last Ronin was initially released as a five-issue mini-series for comic shops before being collected into a graphic novel. People would read the comic like an American book, from left to right. Contrastingly, Webtoon has users read comics by scrolling up and down on their devices. It’s a new standardized way to read comics online that has increasingly grown in popularity.
TMNT: The Last Ronin Is Coming to Webtoon
Image Courtesy of IDW Publishing
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin is a what-if future of the franchise, where three of the four turtle brothers perished, leaving one brother to fight against The Hand. The original story of The Last Ronin was conceived by the franchise’s original creators, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, with comic writer Tom Waltz handling the script. The comic featured a gritty, neo-noir setting where New York City is sealed away from the rest of the country and controlled by the evil ancestor of the Shredder. The Last Ronin became a massive hit, with the graphic novel that collects all five issues becoming a New York Times Bestseller and selling out.
The series earned praise for its bleak tone, gritty artwork, and characterization of the surviving brother. The title’s popularity has led to two follow-ups, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin – Lost Years and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution. A video game based on The Last Ronin was also announced in 2023. A R-rated, live-action film adaptation is also currently in development by Paramount Pictures, produced by Walter Hamada and written by Tyler Burton Smith. The Webtoon collaboration will help the story reach new people, who can finally experience the depressing world of the last surviving ninja turtle.
