“The Last Ronin” and the Literary Palimpsest

Even before it came out, the concept of The Last Ronin struck a chord with generations of TMNT readers, and how that resonance was traded upon by the creative team of the story can be effectively approached through the concept of the palimpsest

This finding has remarkable power in a comics industry where characters and franchises can extend across decades, reboots, creator runs, and any number of other variables by which we might try to draw borders around a particular comics story.

The Last Ronin is thus not just the future of the original Mirage studios stories (as it was directly scripted for) but (on some level) of literally all iterations of TMNT that the reader has experienced, including animated series, games, and even recess role play.

Through the palimpsest, the story (and even the marketing campaign) of The Last Ronin takes on an epic significance, with readers of all branches of TMNT witnessing a compounded and entangled experience that presents a grim future for the characters that they knew and loved.

Within the broader cultural zeitgeist, The Last Ronin functions as a nexus in which all of the palimpsestic stories intersect, adding a richness of depth and nuance to the story that informs the tension it trades upon and the anticipation that drives it forward.

While we might view the palimpsestic effect as an unfair burden of pressure on the authors, it can equally be perceived as a rare and wonderful opportunity to engage a complex pre-established pathos – put very very simply: 40 years of TMNT all lead to this.