TMNT Tuesday #4: Tom Waltz and Luis Antonio Delgado answer your fan questions

Welcome to another TMNT Tuesday, where we dive deep into the ever-expanding world of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! This week, we explore the evolution of The Last Ronin storyline with writer Tom Waltz and artist Luis Antonio Delgado as they answer your fan questions. What went into the creation of an entirely new generation of Turtles and the challenges of crafting a darker, post-apocalyptic TMNT universe?

Writer Tom Waltz, alongside artist Luis Antonio Delgado, has been instrumental in shaping this bold new direction. From the inception of Casey Marie Jones as Michelangelo’s protege to the introduction of four new mutant turtles—Odyn, Yi, Moja, and Uno—this creative team has carefully balanced the familiar with the fresh. Their approach of “similar yet different” allows them to honor the past while forging a new future for TMNT fans old and new.

This week, we take a closer look at the creative process behind the Roninverse, including insights into the choices that shaped the story, the design of the new Turtles, and the team’s thoughts on what lies ahead. From alternate realities to the potential return of classic Mirage characters, there’s a lot to unpack in this exciting new era of TMNT storytelling.

So, grab a slice of pizza, settle in, and let’s shell out some serious TMNT talk!

Important TMNT Date

• TMNT THE LAST RONIN II #5 (final issue) pre-order deadline February 24, 2025.

AIPT: With The Lost Years and Re-Evolution, the Ronin storyline has grown beyond the original series. What excites you most about expanding this world, and how do you see it evolving in the future?

Tom Waltz: When Kevin Eastman and I first embarked on developing the amazing story outline he and Peter Laird had written together back in 1987, which was the basis for THE LAST RONIN, we really thought this was going to be a final Mirage TMNT story, entrenched in the official canon of that era. But as we started writing, we quickly realized the characters had other ideas for us – Casey Marie Jones, Karai, April O’Neil, Michelangelo, Oroku Hiroto… they all had their own ideas for which direction we should take, which ultimately ended up what Kevin and I see as Mirage-adjacent (think of it as the dimension next door to Mirage in the grander TMNT multiverse). Similar yet different.

Thus, the Roninverse (as we now fondly call it) was born…and that’s when we began thinking beyond a final story to a first story in a new TMNT universe. We immediately could see past the first volume to future possibilities, but we knew if we didn’t dig in and make THE LAST RONIN a success, that was all just wishful thinking. Happily, THE LAST RONIN was an almost unprecedented success, and now we are seeing (with LOST YEARS and RE-EVOLUTION) the future stories we cautiously envisioned finally coming to life…including four new mutant turtles for fans to love, old and new alike.

So I’m absolutely excited we’ve been given the privilege and honor to take the Roninverse to new levels…and right now, with the continued success we’re having combined with such amazing fan, retailer, and critical support, it feels like the sky’s the limit. Kevin and I know how we want the story to evolve (and we’re keeping that very close to the vest for now)…but evolve it will! And just knowing that it’s going to happen excites me more than anything else. I can’t wait for the world to see what we’ve got cooking.

Luis Delgado: It’s been almost 5 years since Tom emailed me and offered me the opportunity to try out and be a part of this team, the world might be in love with The Last Ronin now, but absolutely no one could have imagined that this small story was gonna become a worldwide phenomenon, have a sequel, a prequel and change the fandom forever. Thankfully, the fans wanted more from Kevin and Tom, and I gotta confess I got very excited about what they could be planning, I never know what’s gonna happen until I read the script, and that’s what makes it so interesting, I discover the story just like any other fan (just a bit earlier).

I have a lot of ideas of where I would like the story to continue, I’m sure I’m not allowed to say them in case any of them are actually true but I really hope we get to see a new ongoing series focused on these young TMNT and to expand on everything built before them, I want them to have their own fandom and for them to continue for many years.

AIPT: Andrew Isidoro asks: What was it like creating a whole new generation of Turtles? The original four brothers have held such an iconic pop culture status, was there any trepidation in trying to catch lightning in a bottle again, so to speak?

Tom Waltz: Frankly, it was terrifying. Adding the four baby turtles in the terrarium at the end of THE LAST RONIN was Kevin’s idea. A fun easter egg he wanted to include to see how fans would react. And right away, we realized the easter egg was taking on a life (four lives?) of its own. Fans were asking, “Who are those little turtles? Are they the new TMNT? What’s going on?!”

And once sequels were green lit (or in the case of LOST YEARS, a prequel/sequel combo), we realized our little easter egg (eggs?) needed to hatch. Easier said than done, especially considering the iconic status the four original TMNT hold in the modern zeitgeist. How the heck do we compete with that?

The answer was, we don’t. We allow ourselves to be inspired by it…and trust our instincts to key in on that inspiration in order to create new and original TMNT with traits both familiar and exotic.

Again…similar yet different. That was the plan that guided us to take our ideas to artist Ben Bishop for his fantastic work on the early (and eventually, final) visual designs. We told him he didn’t need to reinvent the wheel…just maybe give it new rims, new tread, etc. And he did (with the unconquerable Luis Antonio Delgado slapping on his amazing colors as he always does)…and I’m happy to report it all turned out even greater than I’d hoped for. Odyn, Yi, Moja, and Uno seem to have struck a positive chord with so many readers, and have been accepted on their own merits…their own personalities and aesthetics. How cool is that? But, yeah…it was terrifying at the start. I still can’t believe we pulled it off.

Luis Delgado: Definitely. As a fan I know what it’s like to see a new character come and try to give some new life to an already established franchise. I knew that if we did things right this new iteration could live forever, tell a completely new story and grow exponentially. We have to give them all the tools to succeed and it was my job to make them look fresh but still feel familiar even though this time they were all different from each other.

I was blown away at how many different types of turtles there are in the world, I might have know very little about what these 4 baby turtles were gonna become but the importance of what Ben Bishop was doing immediately made me realize I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to expand the legend that are the ninja turtles.

AIPT: The Last Ronin presents a much darker and more mature take on the TMNT universe. What were the biggest creative challenges in balancing that tone while staying true to the spirit of the franchise?

Tom Waltz: I’ve written for the TMNT brand since 2011, including the first 100 issues of the long-running IDW TMNT series. Although, that series is more teen-plus oriented, we never shied away from darker scenarios (heck, we had Shredder beheading four small boys in Feudal Japan in issue #5), so I wasn’t a stranger to more mature TMNT storylines. And Kevin, of course, was there at the very beginning of the TMNT phenomenon, in what many fans now call the “gritty” Mirage era.

So, with that combined experience in tow, Kevin and I realized early on that the best way to present THE LAST RONIN would be to find a happy medium between the Mirage and IDW eras…dark, but not pitch black dark. Plus, we’re both huge DARK KNIGHT RETURNS fans (which was a massive influence on THE LAST RONIN) and Frank Miller fanboys in general, so we would often ask ourselves, “What would Frank do?” Honestly, it was easier said than done, because after writing so many issues of the IDW TMNT series for so many years, my first reflex was to settle back into that mode.

Thank God Kevin had a very firm grasp on the overall vision he wanted us to present to the world, and was able to rein me in early on (after multiple script drafts), and help me find the proper tone and rhythm he was seeking. He was (and continues to be) the Batman to my Robin for all things in the Roninverse for sure (although I kinda like to think of myself more as Nightwing, but you get what I’m saying).

Luis Delgado: The Last Ronin has a completely different vibe from most of the things we know as a part of the TMNT multiverse, it has an ‘80s feeling that’s very different from the way most books are colored these days, so I had to go back and look for the best way to tell this story, stay true to its origins and adapt it to our way. It’s a very personal work what we do, we want to give a bit of ourselves to the story and the way I can do it is with colors.

AIPT: John asks: Hi there Tom and Luis, I have a mindful question for you guys. What inspired you guys to name the 4 turtles each after the number 1 in different languages!? Is it a hidden meaning that viewers haven’t figured out quite yet!?

Tom Waltz: Kevin and I struggled with what to name the new TMNT for many months, throwing out all kinds of ideas and/or themes. At one point, I even suggested naming them after classic rock ‘n roll artists (Hendrix, Jagger, Joplin, etc.). We invited the art and editorial teams to chime in, too, but we weren’t quite finding what we were looking for.

One day, while plotting, I mentioned to Kevin that when I was in boot camp for the U.S. Marine Corps (way back in the prehistoric age), our drill instructors saw us all as recruits…no rank yet, as we hadn’t earned it (you don’t officially become a private until you graduate). I said something like, “We were really all just numbers until we made it through.” And I could see that statement immediately sparked something in Kevin’s mind. He says, “Hmm…what if Casey Marie sees the new TMNT all as number one in her heart…even though there are four of them?” He continued, “And what if we gave them names that mean ‘one’ in all the languages of the different places Michelangelo traveled to when he left Japan after Splinter’s death in The Last Ronin #4 (the prequel story we shared later in LOST YEARS) for New York?” And BINGO! That was it! That was the answer! We both loved it, so Kevin came up with names based on that concept: Yi (Chinese), Odyn (Ukrainian), Moja (Swahili), and Uno (Italian).

Once we made the decision and had the names, there was no going back. And, yes, we have even explained this within the Roninverse stories as well. You can find that scene at the very end of the LOST YEARS, when Gramma April shares the origin of their names with the new TMNT.

Luis Delgado: I found out just like everyone else the meaning of their names, it was all Tom and Kevin and I thought it was brilliant. At first, I didn’t realize the meaning, even after reading Uno’s name as the Italian word for One, and once I heard Tom explaining it, I remembered that Yi meant One in Chinese from my old lessons. I felt a bit stupid
not to figure it out sooner, lol.

AIPT: Ian Cherry asks: Will we see more past mutant characters from Mirage show up in the Last Ronin universe? For example if we saw Leatherhead would we see how his mutation has evolved much like Mikey went through?

Tom Waltz: I’m not saying the appearance of characters such as Leatherhead in the future is impossible…but definitely improbable. The truth is, Kevin and I are firmly focused on keeping the mutant characters in the Roninverse at a minimum for now (the mutant-like characters in LOST YEARS were actually victims of severe radiation exposure). We’re finding we’re having more fun having evil humans be the real monsters in the Roninverse. Which, let’s face it, isn’t a far stretch from reality, sadly.

Luis Delgado: I would love to see old Mirage characters show up and see what 40 years have done to them, get to know them more and be a part of their story. But all I can do is wait to read what Kevin and Tom have in mind.

AIPT: Shonna Miller asks: Mr Delgado, how challenging/exciting do you find matching the right color pallet to the line work and script? Colors used between The Last Ronin, Nightwatcher, Saturday Morning Adventures, and Ghostbusters are all so different. In my eyes linework is like a signature, how can a color artist leave their signature mark without an actual signature?

Luis Delgado: I completely agree with the analogy. I have even used it myself many times talking about what we do, and I know I have a style that shows in my work that I can never hide. As a colorist I have to adapt to each artist’s style, complement it, allow for their work to shine, it’s like stepping back from the spotlight and help the art be its best version. They are all very different, and the coloring and rendering can’t stay the same because the story and the art are different, so I have to listen to what the artist likes in order to make it work.

AIPT: Follow up, Luis, your colors play a huge role in setting the mood of The Last Ronin, from bleak dystopian cityscapes to intense action sequences. How did you approach color choices to enhance the storytelling, and were there any particular influences that shaped your work?

Luis Delgado: I like to read the script to understand the story; I like to talk to the artists and see what they were thinking when penciling in the page, and that way, be able to add to the storytelling and create the right mood with the colors. Most of the time I see some palettes in my mind from other books, movies and artists (people like fellow Mexican colorist Marte Gracia and the fantastic [longtime TMNT colorist] Ronda Pattison) and apply them to the pages. The best part is when working on a page and halfway through, I think of something more to add to it, and it turns out better than I planned it; that makes my day.

AIPT: Shonna also has a follow-up: Mr Delgado, do you have a favorite art style that you gravitate toward and a favorite project because you could apply it to that project? If so, what is the style and project?

Luis Delgado: I have worked on tons of different styles but the one I enjoy the most is the one I did for Ghostbusters and most recently on an original IDW graphic novel named Kingdom Riders. I get to use vibrant colors, several palettes for day and night sequences, special effects for supernatural or magical elements. But at the same time I like to try new things and new projects allow to do things in a different way, keeping it fresh.

AIPT: Ian Cherry had a follow up: Luis you’ve colored a wide array of Turtle comics. Which one has challenged you the most but has been the most rewarding thus far?

Luis Delgado: Definitely Last Ronin has been the most challenging. Most recently, with Nightwatcher and when I first did Turtles in the Ghostbusters crossover, I had the IDW run as a reference. If you talk about Saturday Morning Adventures, it has dozens of episodes to go back to, and all I have to do is watch it, and it tells me how to do things. But Last Ronin was completely new, I had Kevin looking at my work and the importance of the story was like nothing I ever worked on before. But the reward of being a part of it is beyond my wildest dreams.

AIPT: Andrew returns with another questions: What was the process like developing Casey Marie’s character? How did you go about selecting the right parts from both of her parents, April and Casey, to create a totally new character, but one we could still see parts of her parents in.

Tom Waltz: Kevin had the idea for Casey Marie from the very start. He explained to me that she was Casey and April’s daughter, that she was tough yet smart, and that she would become Michelangelo’s protege (and ultimately his path to redemption) in THE LAST RONIN. That was all I needed to get rolling…and like with all good characters, Casey Marie took care of the rest. She took on a life of her own, guiding me down the character development path she had chosen for herself, which included aspects of both her mom and her dad…and later, aspects of her sensei and master, Michelangelo.

It was like Casey Marie already existed – I just had to open myself up and let her flow through me as I scripted, never losing sight of Kevin’s original vision. And then, later, she really came to life when Kevin and Ben Bishop teamed to bring her into existence visually.

Luis Delgado: Helping create Casey Marie was an important way to keep Casey Senior alive and colors were my way to do it. She has Casey’s hair and April’s eyes, both her uniforms use purple, the exact opposite from April’s traditional yellow and her use of her father’s mask is the final touch. I believe she’s both her own person but at the same time the sum of her mother raising her and her father’s memory.

AIPT: Nate Myers asks: If you had to choose another turtle besides Mikey to be the Last Ronin who would it be?

Tom Waltz: It’s hard for me to imagine another turtle as the Last Ronin at this point, but if forced to, I would’ve gone with Leonardo. Raph’s hothead was always going to be the thing that started the dark days, and I feel Donnie would be looking for technical solutions in a dystopian future…and we really wanted to stay in that conventional, gritty, street-level pocket, so to speak.

Luis Delgado: I believe Leonardo would have been a good choice. As the leader, he puts all the responsibility on his shoulders, and seeing all his family die would make him a different Ronin than Mikey. I imagine him being more sad and guilty than angry. But I also think he would’ve had a more specific plan to enter Hiroto’s tower and get to him (obviously, it wouldn’t have worked, so the story couldn’t happen).

AIPT: Nate has a follow up: If you could add anybody from the ‘87 cartoon series into The Last Ronin who would it be?

Tom Waltz: Shredder. (And who’s to say we won’t see Shredder stories in future Ronin-verse tales…?)

Luis Delgado: I think Mona Lisa. I like Bebop, Rocksteady, and Krang, but I don’t think they would be the right fit for the story. On the other hand, Mona Lisa might add some wisdom, and seeing how the years changed her would be interesting. Besides, I really like her character and would like to see more of her.

AIPT: Antonio asks: What was your inspiration for the personality of the new Ninja Turtles?

Tom Waltz: Again, we were shooting for a theme of similar yet different. We wanted familiar aspects of the original four TMNT (as the new TMNT are derived from their DNA) mixed with modern teenager personality traits…things like social anxiety, autism, enhanced empathy, narcissism, etc.

Luis Delgado: I had nothing to do with their personalities story-wise, but I hope that the colors chosen based on their designs and the description I got when working on them helped to make them each their own. Odyn has a similar palette to the original Turtles, he feels familiar and the closest to the past. Uno and his ability to change colors is just amazing and I love how he has his darker side but tries to be a light for the team. As for Moja she’s the only one with warmer colors, she’s also always on her headphones in her own world, basically apart from everyone else. Yi has a balance of two different colors; she has a very powerful ability, but she also wants to use her mind to solve their problem, like two sides of the same coin.

AIPT: Senem asks: What was the most entertaining and difficult thing to write in a post-apocalyptic world like The Last Ronin?

Tom Waltz: Actually, the part that was the most challenging was coming up with new future tech that was different from what Peter Laird had included in the original outline. Remember, it was written in 1987, which means 2020 (when we started) was the future…and Peter (whom I now have nicknamed Peter “Nostradamus” Laird) had predicted our modern technology (things like flip phones) with uncanny accuracy. I told Kevin, “Um…we’re gonna have to imagine some new stuff because everything in this outline already exists. Some of it is even outdated.” We both laughed and then just leaned into our shared love for Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi film BLADE RUNNER. Again, it is similar yet different. A dystopian futuristic look grounded in reality.

AIPT: Senem also asks: As a huge fan of Rise of the TMNT, what are your thoughts of this version of the Turtles?

Tom Waltz: Kevin and I were actually lucky enough to sit with RISE OF THE TMNT’s writer’s table in the early stages of its development. Personally, I loved everything they were doing (and did). Heck, I think the Danny DeVito-like Splinter is my favorite part of the show (again…similar yet different). I dug the creative chances the show took and no matter what the end result was as far as longevity is concerned, I feel the producers, directors, writers, and animators should all be proud of what they accomplished. Plus, there’s nothing geeks love more than a cult classic, am I right?

I mentioned BLADE RUNNER earlier, and that wasn’t exactly a hit out of the gate. But now it’s considered one of the greatest films ever made. RISE rose to the occasion in its own way, and something tells me we haven’t seen the last of it yet.

Luis Delgado: I believe all iterations of the Turtles have a lot to offer, they’re all different and help the whole mythos grow. TMNT ‘87 came back thanks to the comics, maybe Rise could have the same opportunity some day and give us more stories; I strongly believe there’s still so much Rise can offer and I don’t think it’s really over.

AIPT: Nikola asks: Can we expect some crossovers between different TMNT universes and different franchises in TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures comic?

Tom Waltz: That’s a question better presented to the current IDW TMNT head editor, the mighty Andy Khouri. I can say that we don’t have any plans to crossover the Ronin-verse with other TMNT iterations in the near future (other than a very funny Ronin cameo in one panel of TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures #3 recently). It’s too early in the Ronin-verse to do that – we’ve still got a world to build.

Luis Delgado: Actually we have already seen a crossover inside the pages of SMA #13. It was a great story and I would like to see an even bigger story like that. We would need to add Last Ronin’s Mikey though, they won’t be able to believe how different he is from the brother they know.

AIPT: Gracie asks: What ships would you make canon if you could? How would they play out? What kind of dynamic would they have?

Tom Waltz: Hmm…I usually let the characters decide for me whom they love whenever I’m writing (they’re in charge, always). Raphael with Alopex was always an intriguing relationship that those two characters allowed me to be a part of when I was still writing the series.

Luis Delgado: The most important were Casey and April [in the Ronin-verse] and they were able to see it through, but I would like to see more of it, like the Untold Story of the Joneses or something. Seeing them getting engaged and how Raph’s death impacted them all the way until he died right before his daughter was born. Casey Marie is the result of their love story.

AIPT: A follow-up from Gracie: Which turtle do you think deserves more screen time/comic book time than they get? What would be a cool arc centered around that character look like?

Luis Delgado: I don’t know if April counts as one of the turtles, she probably doesn’t, but her Ronin-verse version is one of my all time favorite characters, she’s a badass, strong, smart and wise. I would love to see her “Lost Years” and have more of her adventures on her own as the foundation of the resistance and a single mother on a dystopian society.

Tom Waltz: Again, going back to the IDW TMNT ongoing series, I really, really miss Slash. His death was one of the hardest for me to write in those first 100 issues (I still tear up thinking about it, no lie). If ever there was a character I would want to resurrect (as often happens in comic books), it’s the Big Guy.

AIPT: Tevin Davis asks: If Jennika was in this how would her death go?

Tom Waltz: I could see Jennika going out in a similar fashion to Raph – but in her case, she would have gone to Japan to avenge Splinter (the closest thing she’s ever had to a real father) after Oroku Hiroto betrayed him and Donnie in issue #4. She’d take on the entire Foot Clan in Japan…a no-win battle for her beloved master and surrogate father.

So, when Mikey finally gets there, he learns that not only Splinter and Donnie were killed, but so was Jenny. But, for the record, this is only a hypothetical – Jennika does NOT exist in the Roninverse (in case my answer causes any controversy and/or confusion LOL). That said, Jennika remains a character near and dear to my heart. Co-creating her with the amazing Sophie Campbell remains a peak moment for me in my long IDW TMNT career.

Luis Delgado: I see it in 2 different ways but with the same idea, she dies with family. After all she went through to get the family she always needed, I don’t want her to go like Raph, on her own. I would hope she would die with Raph or actually survive and grow old with April before sacrificing herself to save a very young Casey Marie before Mikey arrives.

And that’s a wrap on TMNT Tuesday! Come back next week as Andy Khouri returns to answer your fan questions!