Even though theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfranchise has spawned countless imitators since its 1984 debut, creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird have never been shy about their influences. Chief among those inspirations is the work of Frank Miller, who changed the face of comics in the eighties when he released what many consider thegreatest Batman story of all time,The Dark Knight Returns.
In an intervirw with AIPT Comics, the creators ofTMNT: The Last Roninmade no bones about howDark Knight Returnsinspired their own dark, future vision of the Turtles. Writer Tom Waltz explained how both he and co-creator Kevin Eastman were inspired by Miller’s work, saying: “We’re both huge DARK KNIGHT RETURNS fans (which was a massive influence on THE LAST RONIN) and Frank Miller fanboys in general.”
Waltz further illustrated howMiller became something of a guiding light forThe Last Ronin,especially with regard to the story’s darkness, revealing:“We would often ask ourselves, ‘What would Frank do?’”
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As Tom Waltz explained:
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 presentTHE LAST RONINwould be to find a happy medium between the Mirage and IDW eras…dark, but not pitch black dark. Plus, we’re both hugeDARK KNIGHT RETURNSfans (which was a massive influence onTHE 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.
When comparing the two stories side-by-side, it’s easy to recognize howDark Knight ReturnsinspiredThe Last Ronin. Miller’s 1986 story featured an aging Bruce Wayne in a near-future Gotham City, becoming Batmance once mre to save his city from mounting crime and corruption.The Last Ronin, meanwhile, depicted the last of the Turtle brothers fighting a one-man war against the forces ofOroku Hiroto, the grandson of the original Shredder, whose Foot ninja have taken over a futuristic New York City.
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The Last Ronin’s overall story certainly recallsThe Dark Knight Returns, but perhaps more importantly, the creators looked to Miller’s overall approach in telling their own story of an aging hero in a dark, corrupt world. When Frank Miller established himself as one of the premiere writer/artists in comics thanks to his groundbreaking work onDaredevil, it was thanks to hisheavy, noir-infused shadows, his unvarnished approach to violence and inventive layouts that traced martial arts fight scenes move-by-move across a series of panels.Eastman and Laird took note, and applied many of the same techniques toTMNT#1.
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There Are Strong Parallels Between The Series
With the release ofThe Dark Knight Returns, Miller mastered all of these elements, elevating his craft in a way that forced the entire industry to evolve along with him. For better or worse,Dark Knight Returnsinfluenced entire generations of comic book creators, and the pangs of the near-forty-year-old work arestill being felt in pop culture to this day. Even though Eastman and Laird had established themselves with theirTMNTseries by that point,it was clear the two continued to look to Frank Miller as an inspiration as they built their own empire with their black-and-white comic.
It may have been inspired byThe Dark Knight Returns, butTMNT: The Last Roninstands as a masterwork in its own right.
The influence ofThe Dark Knight ReturnsonThe Last Ronincan also be felt on the sales charts, as the dark future vision of theTMNThas been a consistent presence on the best-selling graphic novel charts since the collected edition was released in 2022. With multiple sequel series, a video game and a feature film adaptation in production,The Last Roninhas managed to establish its own formidable legacy in the industry. It may have been inspired byThe Dark Knight Returns, butTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Roninstands as a masterwork in its own right.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a multi-media franchise that began with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comics in the 1980s. Throughout the years, their comic books expanded to movies, TV shows, video games, and toys. Most notably, the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ran for nearly a decade and has become a nostalgic staple of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Several other movies have featured the four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), including the trilogy of live-action films in the ‘90s and the more recent movies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
The Dark Knight Returns
Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is a comic book miniseries centered on an older Batman. Set in a dystopian future, this iconic DC storyline follows Batman as he comes back from retirement to fight criminal gangs and cross paths with characters such as the Joker, Two-Face, and Superman along the way.
