It all started with a 20-page outline from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird that they had mapped out almost four decades ago. Set in a post-apocalyptic New York City thirty years from current canon, the story turns Michelangelo into the last man standing in a revenge-soaked miniseries called TMNT: The Last Ronin. With the rising popularity of the book, IDW Publishing decided to expand the IP into merchandise, like statues and action figures, and a proposed video game, which is currently in development. However, with fans still interested in how the fun-loving, nunchuck-wielding turtle brother turned into a brooding figure of vengeance, IDW greenlit a prequel series that paints a violent past while looking forward in posterity.