WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin #3 by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz, Esau, Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, Samuel Plata, Luis Antonio Delgado and Shawn Lee, on sale now.
The Last Ronin continues to portray a darker, gritter future for the Ninja Turtles, showcasing how the quartet was massacred and slimmed down to only the Last Ronin — Michelangelo — reamined. Besides the other three turtles, other friends and family members have also been taken out in the course of the story’s events, one of whom was former vigilante Casey Jones.
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Before going out in a literal blaze of glory in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin #3, Casey Jones and Leonardo give their all to fight off the Foot Clan. Before being swarmed by the Foot and a legion of Mousers, Casey issues out his infamous, if nonsensical battle cry from the Mirage Comics. Now, Here’s the history of the hockey mask-wearing hero’s weird catchphrase, “Goongala.”
HOW CASEY JONES DIED
The issue contains an extensive flashback sequence showcasing the deaths of both Leonardo and Casey Jones. This happened due to a supposed truce with the new Foot Clan leader, Oroku Hiroto, being a mere farce that led to the Turtles and their allies being ambushed by enemy ninjas. Casey orders the Turtles to get his wife April to safety before facing a new onslaught of Foot Clan soldiers head-on. These ninja are not human, but rather robotic killers resembling far deadlier versions of the Foot Clan robots from the 1980s cartoon.
Leading hockey stick-first into the fray, Casey yells out “Goongala! Goongala!” as he tries to destroy its hardy hide. The battle only goes South from there, however, with upgraded versions of Baxter Stockman’s Mousers being sent to attack the Turtles in an attempt to gain access to the Fugitoid. In the end, a massive explosion kills almost all of the combatants, making this the last time that Casey speaks his old-school battle cry.
Goongala
Though it may not be as well-known a term as the Turtles’ infamous “Cowabunga” cartoon catchphrase, Goongala actually has an even longer history with the franchise. It debuted, along with Casey, in Eastman and Laird’s original Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics back in the mid-’80s, though it never quite caught on in early adaptations. The phrase didn’t show up in the original cartoon or the first live-action movie series, which is part of why it’s so obscure beyond the most die-hard Ninja Turtles fans.
It finally made the leap outside of the comics in the 2003 cartoon, which was notably closer to the original comics than its more child-friendly ’80s counterpart. It also showed up again in the 2012 cartoon, helping to cement it as part of Casey’s character. The phrase itself was made up by Eastman and Laird, and means absolutely nothing beyond sounding cool. This is somewhat similar to Cowabunga, though that made-up surfer phrase has come to be synonymous with positivity or excitement. Future variations of Casey Jones may continue to scream “Goongala” and help to further bring it into the mainstream, but the version of The Last Ronin won’t be saying too much of anything anymore.