A Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #11 Review – Lord Drakkon Revealed

01/19/201701/18/2017Rob Siebert 3 Comments

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #11
AUTHORS: Kyle Higgins, Steve Orlando
PENCILLERS: Hendry Prasetya, Corin Howell. Jamal Campbell.
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: January 18, 2017

***WARNING: Spoilers lay ahead.***

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

This is more or less what I imagined we’d get from this follow-up to the big reveal in issue #9. They threw in a little extra garnish. But it’s essentially what I expected.

For the most part, that’s a good thing.

After the big battle in issue #9, Tommy and Billy have been transported elsewhere in time. A time when Earth has been decimated, and ruled by a mysterious White Ranger called Lord Drakkon. But who is Lord Drakkon? What’s become of our heroes? And how do Tommy and Billy get home?

Lord Drakkon is in fact an alternate version of Tommy (shown below). Though in all fairness, that’s a pretty easy prediction. The costume is clearly an amalgamation of the Green and White Ranger suits, with some extra stuff thrown in. It’s unclear how old Tommy is supposed to be. He’s got some gray in his hair, and some odd purple vasculature going on. But I assume this Tommy has been doing weird things with the Morphin Grid. So perhaps his body is feeling the effects.

To create this alternate timeline, Kyle Higgins and Hendry Prasetya are plucking things from subsequent seasons of the show. As our heroes make their way to the wrecked Command Center, we see the remains of the Thunderzords. Tommy eventually makes his way down to what would become the Power Chamber in Power Rangers Zeo. There he finds Saba, the White Ranger’s talking sword from seasons two and three.

Normally I don’t like when creators get cute like this. Having Tommy and Billy see things from their future taints the emotional intensity of what happens later in the show. But I’m holding off on judging too harshly until they’re done. Stories like this tend to come with mindwipes anyway.

As Billy alludes to, it’s unclear at this point whether this is an alternate timeline, or the timeline we know with an altered future. Given Tommy’s gray hair, it’s entirely possible this takes place decades in the future.

We get another tweaked costume here, in the form of the Mastadon Sentries (shown below), designed by Prasetya. According to Higgins, Drakkon has warped the Power Coins to create an army for himself. As such, we get this sort of Black Ranger S.W.A.T. team outfit. Note the lining on the gun barrel, which resembles the handle of the Power Axe. It’s a fun design. I can’t help but wonder if Drakkon has an elite guard that has the Red Ranger design. Sort of like Palpatine’s guards in Return of the Jedi.

The capitol building in Angel Grove has some cool design elements from Rita’s castle, most notably the orb on top. What used to be Angel Grove high is now called the Finster Memorial Correction Facility, which is a riot.

I also love the Planet of the Apes homage cover by Jamal Campbell. We don’t see anything like that in the issue, but you get the idea.

We’ve got a little bit more parent drama in this issue, as Billy’s parents and Tommy’s mother talk to the police about their missing kids. I always appreciate that in my teenage superhero dramas.

“The Ongoing Adventures of Bulk and Skull” continue, as Steve Orlando and Corin Howell tell a tale about the boys controlling a two-headed monster. This still doesn’t do much for me. The highlight was Bulk calling Rita “that nice lady with the wicker rabbit hat.”

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers continues to be at or near the top of my stack each time it comes out. We’ve reached the point where Higgins, Prasetya, and the team are really sinking their teeth in, and starting to forge their own ground. For this ’90s kid, it makes for supremely interesting comics.

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A Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #9 Review – A New Room in an Old House

12/02/201612/05/2016Rob Siebert 1 Comment

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #9
AUTHORS: Kyle Higgins, Steve Orlando
PENCILLERS: Hendry Prasetya, Corin Howell. Cover by Jamal Campbell.
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: November 30, 2016

***WARNING: Spoilers lay ahead.***

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Can we talk about the Power Rangers movie for a second?

They’ve started showing the trailer in theaters, and a few days ago we got our first look at the movie’s Alpha 5 (yuck). For better or worse, it looks very much in the same vein as the darkened, CGI overhauls that franchises like Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got. As such, it looks big, epic, mostly serious, and only slightly like the show I watched as a kid. As a longtime Power Rangers fan, that’s disappointing.

I bring this up because, like the movie, this Mighty Morphin Power Rangers book from BOOM! Studios is also big, epic, and serious. At one point in this new issue, the Tommy character finds himself in a life-threatening scenario. Thinking these are his final moments, he starts to ask the other Rangers to tell his mother that he loves her. That’d be a pretty intense moment for a Saturday morning kids show. But it works here. In fact, most of what we’ve seen in this series works. So why does MMPR work, but the Power Rangers movie looks so contrived?

I think a lot of it has to do with what seems to be an affection for the source material. Kyle Higgins, Hendry Prasetya, and this team are looking at this world through a different lens. But it still feels like the world and characters that we know. Everyone is in the same role, everyone looks and talks (mostly) the same, and the suits and zords are the same. But it feels like we’re breaking new ground. This series almost feels like magically finding a new room in a house you’ve lived in for years. Whereas the Power Rangers movie feels like a different house, built to vaguely look like the old one.

Even when we’re introduced to an element exclusive to the book, it feels like it’s cut from the same cloth as the show. Case in point, Black Dragon, and the mysterious new Ranger we meet at the end of issue #9.

By splitting Tommy’s powers, Jason, Kimberly, Zack, and Trini have regained access to the Morphin Grid. They once again have their powers and words, albeit with a green tint. Now they must rescue Billy from Dark Dimension and defeat Black Dragon. But during the battle, they learn this new enemy is not all that he seems. This new revelation will lead two Rangers to discover a new world of peril. Literally, a new world.

The big news from this issue is the introduction of our comfy friend on the right. He’s obviously a mix of the Green and White Ranger (designed by Jamal Campbell), with some nice little additions thrown in. The Black Dragon we’ve seen previously is apparently an empty vessel. We find this mysterious Ranger in another plane of reality, which is dark and decimated, and features big statues of Rita and the Green Ranger. My guess is this is alternate-Earth Tommy, who was somehow victorious with Rita as the evil Green Ranger, and then turned on her to rule the world on his own.

This has been treated as a big reveal, with BOOM! advertising it as the first new Ranger introduced to the MMPR world in over two decades. Indeed, it’s pretty damn cool. With this new Ranger comes a new sandbox for writers and artists to play in, and a boat-load of new story possibilities. I’m guessing (and hoping) this is what Higgins was referring to when he talked publicly about not sticking to the show’s continuity.

Turning the other Ranger costumes green is a neat gimmick. Power Rangers fans like little tweaks like that. Colorist Matt Herms pulls it off very well, and Campbell even gives it a certain grandeur on the cover.

The superhero action stuff is where Prasetya really excels, as opposed to the quieter moments with the teens. So this is a big issue for him. There’s a fantastic splash page (shown below) where the Red-turned-Green Ranger teleports in, with the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord and the Eiffel Tower in the background. There’s a great shot where Black Dragon has his back to the camera as the zords advance. There are also a lot of great little things, like a rubble effect around the Dragonzord’s face when it takes a punch.

Higgins also has a nice handle on Goldar. Via some convincing, he actually releases Billy from the Dark Dimension so he can help the Rangers destroy Black Dragon. When it’s revealed Black Dragon is a robot, the idea is to let Billy dismantle him so that Goldar can take his spot back at Rita’s side. It’s shades of the dynamic he had with Tommy during “Green With Evil.” What made Goldar so intriguing was that while he worked for Rita, and was ultimately loyal to Lord Zedd, he had his own agenda. In this series, and the Pink miniseries, we’re seeing him act on that agenda. The only hole I can poke in the Dark Dimension stuff is why Goldar is so transparent with Billy. Agenda or no agenda, Billy is still his enemy.

Steve Orlando and Corin Howell are also back with more Bulk and Skull. While these back-ups haven’t done much at all for me, But the inclusion of Rita in this one offers a little more intrigue. And this story about Rita wanting the boys to control a monster does seem like something that might have happened on the show.

I admit, I’ve been nervous about this book since Higgins said that continuity stuff to Newsarama. We’ve got such a good thing going. So when the writer says something like that about the continuity that everybody knows and loves, I get antsy. With this alternate reality stuff, he’s found a nice way to have some fun and sell a lot of comics. I’m just hoping the fun continues.

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A Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #5 Review – Where Is Walter Jones?

07/21/2016Rob Siebert 2 Comments

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #5
AUTHOR: Kyle Higgins, Steve Orlando
PENCILLERS: Thony Silas, Corin Howell. Cover by Jamal Campbell.
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: July 20, 2016

***Miss last issue? Check out Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #4.***

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

As a writer, you look at stories like this one and say: “Damn, why didn’t I think of that?” I certainly didn’t expect to say that about an interlude issue. But Kyle Higgins takes this opportunity to add a bit more depth to his Green Ranger storyline, and the overall mythology around the character. The execution isn’t perfect. But the idea is so interesting it almost doesn’t matter. Almost…

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #5 tells us that before Tommy became Rita Repulsa’s evil Green Ranger, she made a play for Zack, the Black Ranger. After being “upstaged” by Jason during a fight, Goldar and the putties abduct Zack so Rita can make her pitch. Obviously, Zack doesn’t accept. But how do the events of this issue impact Zack’s relationship to the team? And what happens when Zack tells Zordon?

Rita tempting one of the Rangers toward the dark side is such a simple, classic tale. It’s perfect for this series. I’m not sure I wouldn’t have gone with Billy instead of Zack, especially considering the scene we saw in issue #2. He was comparing himself to the others, and he seemed to become self conscious and bitter. If Rita could have seen that, she might have exploited it. On the other hand, we’ve seen some curious behavior from Zack in this series. He’s been very suspicious and apprehensive about Tommy. This issue seems to explain why. This experience gives him a negative connection to the Green Ranger that we never knew about.

The Zack we’ve seen in this series isn’t the one I expected. On the show, Walter Jones played a fun-loving dancer. Zack is in love with life, and he’s not afraid to show it. That’s not the character we’ve seen in this series. For the most part he’s been very straight faced. I understand he’s in a very tense storyline. But flashes of personality aren’t going to hurt anything, are they?

In essence, what we need in this book is a little more Walter Jones.

Fussy Fanboy Moment: After Zack is abducted, he wakes up in Rita’s Dark Dimension, which we saw in the show. But in one of the “Green Candle” episodes, which these events obviously predate, Jason says he and Tommy are the only Rangers that have been there.

Then again, maybe in Higgins’ mind, Jason never finds out about this. Near the end of the issue, Zordon asks Zack to keep this incident hidden from the others for now. He says it’s so he can “assess the situation and Rita’s capabilities.” But with everything that’s happened, why don’t the Rangers know by now? At least I assume they don’t know…

On the plus side, Higgins sneaks in what seems to be a hint at Zack going to the Peace Conference later in the series. He tells Zordon, “I need to do more … I don’t care about leading. It’s not like that.” I like that second line. It speaks to why Rita’s plan for Zack doesn’t work. He’s imperfect like anyone else, but in the end he’s selfless. It’s more about the good that’s being done, as opposed to the glory you get from it.

The opening sequence, set in Italy, is a lot of fun. The Rangers face Rita’s monstrous take on The Vitruvian Man, who can apparently only speak in da Vinci quotes. Afterward, they receive some fanfare on the ground. We even have the prime minister in the middle of the action. This is yet another example of Higgins doing something that never could have happened on the show.

Thony Silas tags in on pencils for this issue. His style isn’t dramatically different from Hendry Prasetya’s, though his characters are slightly better at emoting. His Rita is particularly sinister. Again, his Zack seems very reserved and stoic, which is not the character we’re used to.

“The Ongoing Adventures of Bulk & Skull” still doesn’t do much for me. Though we do get a surprise in this issue: The BOOM! Studios debut of Lieutenant Stone, Bulk & Skull’s foil from seasons 3 and 4. I’d always been under the impression they’d never met before. Either way, I’m glad to see the putty patroller story is over. On to (hopefully) better things.

Higgins pleasantly surprised me with this Zack story, by following up on a plot seed he’d planted as far back as issue #1. It makes you wonder what else he might come back to in future issues. Whether it’s how Billy sees his role on the team, Jason feeling threatened by Tommy, or something else fans may have wondered about. There’s so much fertile ground to cover, and I’m hopeful that we’ve only scratched the surface.

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A Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #4 Review – Easy, Red Ranger…

06/29/2016Rob Siebert 2 Comments

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #4
AUTHORS: Kyle Higgins, Steve Orlando
PENCILLERS: Hendry Prasetya, Corin Howell. Cover by Jamal Campbell.
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: June 22, 2016

***WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #4.***

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

If you dare to think of the Power Rangers from a semi-realistic standpoint, you come to the conclusion that in some ways, they’d operate like a military operation. What you basically have here are soldiers fighting in an interplanetary war with space-age weapons and giant robots. So logic dictates that you’d have your leader, in the case the Red Ranger, dictate your battle plans while the other Rangers fall in line. Makes sense, right?

Of course, logic and realism weren’t the strong points of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. (I think the my first clue was seeing that blue sky on the moon.) On the show, the Rangers didn’t really operate like that, at least not in the era this book takes place in. Jason was indeed the leader, but it seemed like more of an honorary title. He took on the role, but the Rangers were a team. We never heard lines like: “Jason gave you an order.” That’s not the case in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #4, and it’s a turn-off.

The team’s trust in Tommy has been shaken, as he’s revealed he’s having visions of his former master Rita Repulsa. The Green Ranger is benched for the Rangers’ battle against Scorpina and the Dragonzord, which is once again under Rita’s control. But Tommy isn’t one to sit idly by when he knows he can help. The resulting argument will lead to disaster for the Rangers.

Early in the issue, Jason tells Tommy not to come into the field. As the battle progresses, he tells Zordon he wants to go in, as he’s seemingly rid himself of the visions and can help. Zordon advises him not to, as “Jason has given you an order.” That line by itself is weird. Especially because Zordon says it. He’s the boss, isn’t he?

But after the fight, which they win thanks to the Green Ranger’s help, Jason gets indignant. He actually says: “I don’t know how I could have been any more clear. You were not to come into the field.”

I don’t have a problem with what Jason is saying. It’s how he’s saying it. He almost comes off like a parent disciplining a child. Jason and Tommy, even when they were at each other’s throats, never talked to one another like that on the show. As such, Jason looks like a condescending jerk. I’m wondering if this is being done to establish Jason feeling threatened by Tommy. One might gather that from things he’s said in previous issues. I’m trying to give Higgins the benefit of the doubt on this one. Either way, I don’t like this side of Jason.

As we’ve seen in previous issues, Higgins, Prasetya, and the team show us things we never could have see on the show. In the zord fight, we see Green Ranger crash through the eye of the Dragonzord, which is spectacular. We also learn that the Triceratops zord has an underwater mode. We also see Scorpina in the Command Center. The Rangers restrain her by tying her to a chair, which is downright comical. We’ve seen characters trapped in force fields numerous times on the show, but for some reason Scorpina gets tied down like a damsel in distress.

Hendry Prasetya’s performances have been consistent in the five issues he’s done. His take on the Power Rangers and their world hasn’t gotten old. Even simple things, like a shot of Dragonzord walking away from camera and rising out of the sea, manage to be extremely cool. Ditto for a handful of panels where we see the words powering up. My favorite panel in the issue is pretty basic shot of the Blue Ranger in the cockpit of the Triceratops Dinozord (shown right.) We’d never seen it from that angle before, and it’s panels like this that make this book so fun for longtime fans like yours truly.

We have yet another edition of our back-up feature, “The Ongoing Adventures of Bulk & Skull.” I hate to say it, but I’m officially turned off by this. Not because the writing or the art are bad, but because we’ve been on this story since issue #1. Bulk & Skull manage to capture a putty, and use it to try and make themselves look like superheroes. They could have done this in one, maybe two installments. This issue gives us our fourth. If they’re going to keep doing this we need a new story, and we need to quicken the pace.

This Jason thing is the biggest hiccup the series has seen so far, but by no means is it a reason to drop the book. Higgins, Prasetya, and the team have got something special, and it’s been consistently good. PR fans have been given a great gift with this series. And by and large, it keeps on giving.

Images from readcomics.net

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A Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #2 Review – This Time, It’s Personal…

04/08/201604/07/2016Rob Siebert 3 Comments

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #2
AUTHOR: Kyle Higgins, Steve Orlando
PENCILLER: Hendry Prasetya, Corin Howell. Cover by Jamal Campbell.
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: April 6, 2016

***Miss the first two issues? Check out issues #0 and #1.***

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

It’s quite obvious that Kyle Higgins was an MMPR fan growing up, and as such is a perfect fit to write this series. How can you tell? Because he’s showing us things we always wanted to see on the show, and taking us places we’ve always wondered about. Case in point, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1 shows is the inner workings of the Dragonzord, and then gives us a confrontation inside Tommy’s home.

It’s not easy being the Green Ranger. Tommy continues to be plagued by visions of his former master, Rita Repulsa. What’s more, he’s having trouble getting the Dragonzord to respond to his commands, tensions are rising between he and his teammates, and now Rita’s minion Scorpina has invaded his home. Something’s got to give. Unfortunately, it may be Tommy himself.

Last issue ended with Scorpina appearing in Tommy’s room. In this issue she ups the ante, threatening his oblivious mother. This was one of those logic holes in the TV series. “Why doesn’t Rita just go after them at home and attack their families?” While it’s unclear why Rita hasn’t tried this before, it’s clear she’s crossed a line. Tommy neutralizes the threat to his family quickly by simply hitting his communicator and grabbing Scorpina, teleporting them somewhere isolated, presumably in Angel Grove Park. I’d enjoy knowing how he did that. Did he just have to think of the park?

Our opening scene also expands on the events of the show, as we see Billy and Trini working inside the Dragonzord. We also get an exchange in which Billy self consciously refers to Tommy as “another fighter,” clearly feeling left out and inadequate by comparison. This leads to Trini giving him a pep talk, in which she calls him “the most amazing person I’ve ever met.” If you watch the old shows, there always seems to be a touch of romantic tension between Billy and Trini, even through I suspect it’s not intentional. Are we finally going to see that addressed here? If Higgins and Prasetya are game, I’m game.

Prasetya continues to excel at drawing Power Ranger style action sequences, and Power Rangers stuff fin general. His rendering of a sleeping Dragonzord (shown right) is absolutely gorgeous. The quieter dialogue scenes also come off better in this issue. The character acting hasn’t been Prasetya’s strong point thus far. He seems more comfortable when he’s allowed to be more cartoony, i.e. Bulk & Skull scenes. But with characters that have to play it straight, like the teens, Prasetya struggles. But the exchange between Trini and Billy is strong. There’s also a two-page scene that simply consists of Kimberly meeting up with Jason after a karate class, which is well done. Naturally, I suspect as Prasetya spends more time with these characters, the better he’ll get at this sort of thing. Higgins understands their personalities (or at least what the show established of them) to a T. So the pressure is on him to keep up.

As expected, we also get more of “The Ongoing Adventures of Bulk & Skull” from Steve Orlando and Corin Howell. I can’t say I’m in love with this stuff, but it’s harmless fun.

Higgins’ writing style for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers definitely evokes memories of Chris Claremont’s work on Uncanny X-Men, and Marv Wolfman’s work on The New Teen Titans, both monumentally successful teenage superhero books. The presence of a “danger room” last issue not withstanding, Higgins has established a surrogate family dynamic among the Rangers, which has been an integral ingredient to the story he’s telling. Given the tone of the TV show, that’s a great way to play things. As history indicates, it opens some great storytelling doors.

Hopefully, this is only the beginning.

Image 1 from snappow.com. Image 2 from tokunation.com.

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A Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1 Review – Changing the Dynamic

03/06/201603/05/2016Rob Siebert 2 Comments

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1
AUTHORS: Kyle Higgins, Steve Orlando.
PENCILLERS: Hendry Prasetya, Corin Howell. Cover by Jamal Campbell.
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: March 2, 2016

***Miss issue #0? Morph into action!***

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is more than just a nostalgia trip, folks. Kyle Higgins, Hendry Prasetya, and the team are showing us things we could never have seen on the show. For this reason among others, I’ve got high hopes that this series will compliment Power Rangers in the same way IDW’s Ghostbusters compliments that franchise. They’re entirely different books. But like Ghostbusters, MMPR benefits greatly from the lack of television limitations.

Tommy, the Green Ranger, is getting used to life as a Power Ranger. But the Rangers are getting used to life with Tommy as well. This new teammate changes their dynamic, leaving at least one Ranger wondering if the addition of Tommy is a good thing. Meanwhile, as if Rita Repulsa continuing to plot against the Green Ranger wasn’t enough, Tommy continues to see visions of her in his head.

Higgins and Prasetya have a pretty straight take on the Power Rangers universe, which is a surprise considering how goofy the show could be. MMPR was a strange beast. It could be very dramatic in certain episodes, but focus more on comedy in others. Higgins’ dramatic scripts, ripe with teen angst, are refreshing. To my knowledge, we’ve never seen PR comics done this way. As someone who grew up with the show, it’s nice to see a universe I love so much treated with this kind of respect.

In this issue we see the Power Rangers have an equivalent to the X-Men’s Danger Room. The “pocket dimension” allows Zordon and Alpha 5 to manipulate and create artificial crises for the Rangers to practice responding to. In this case, Tommy and Kimberly are responding to a monster attack, and the Green Ranger practices guiding civilians to safety. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect an inter-dimensional wizard like Zordon to have, and it’s an interesting tool for plot and character development.

On the subject of technology, it still irks me that Higgins moved MMPR into 2016. I talked about this last time, but it bears repeating. The opening sequence in the issue sees Bulk & Skull working on a Power Rangers-themed video for what I assume is a YouTube channel. I say that because Bulk uses the word podcast in the dialogue. Smartphones can also be seen. This decision still makes me scratch my head. Thankfully, it doesn’t put a damper on the proceedings. Maybe it’s just something I need to get used to…

One thing that does put a damper on things is what appears to be a continuity glitch between the show and the comic book. There’s a scene where Jason and Zack are in detention. Zack mentions “problems at home,” which is curious. But when they start talking about Tommy, Zack asks: “…it doesn’t bother you that Zordon never actually asked anyone how they felt about him coming on board?”

Zack seems to be implying that it was Zordon’s decision to put Tommy on the team. Ultimately, I suppose it was. But in Green With Evil, Part 5, it’s Jason who extends his hand and asks Tommy to join them. None of the others seems to object to it. Granted, I’m reading heavily into something that probably wasn’t thought out so extensively. But it is the source material. On the other hand, Zack might be wondering about Zordon simply having a talk with the five Rangers about their new teammate. Either way, it’s confusing.

This is what happens when you adapt something as beloved as Power Rangers. Geeks who grew up on it (i.e. me) start to nitpick at little things.

Hendry Prasetya is stronger at action than he is at the scenes with the teenagers. This issue is heavier on the latter, so I wouldn’t say he’s in his best element here. But I buy his renderings of the characters from the show, so I can’t bring myself to sling much mud at them. On the subject of art, looking at the variant covers for this issue, you see names like Dustin Nguyen, Philip Tan, and Paul Pope. Again, as a life-long Power Rangers fan, it’s really cool to see big name like that associated with this book. Also among the variants is piece by Goni Montes, who as far as I’m concerned can keep drawing Power Rangers stuff as long as he wants. It’s tough to get tired of looking at his work.

Higgins, Prayseta, and everybody on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers have kept some tremendous momentum going from last issue. As a ’90s kid, that’s really exciting. Just as the TV show has a special place in our hearts, I imagine in time this series will too.

Images from comicbookresources.com.

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A Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #0 Review – Kid Tested, Adult Approved

01/13/201601/22/2016Rob Siebert 3 Comments

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #0
AUTHORS: Kyle Higgins, Steve Orlando, Mairghread Scott.
PENCILLERS: Hendry Prasetya, Corin Howell, Daniel Bayliss. Cover by Goni Montes.
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASED: January 13, 2016

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Getting attention with nostalgia is easy. Keeping that attention is hard. This certainly isn’t the first Power Rangers comic book to get my attention. The folks over at Papercutz got it, and did a decent job with the license. But in terms of keeping that attention, this BOOM! Studios series has more potential than any comic book take on Power Rangers ever has. That’s how interesting the main story in this issue is.

Will it have that effect on everyone? No. But as a life long Power Rangers geek (Power Geek?), they’ve got me lassoed pretty hard. The formula? Keep the stories kid-friendly, but tell stories that also appeal to grown-up fans with money in their pockets. On paper, that’s not easy. But Higgins and Prasetya pull it off here.

The issue doesn’t give us anything in the way of backstory. So you’re expected to know who’s who, and what’s happened previously. One might consider that a flaw, but it doesn’t effect this book’s core audience. The story centers around Tommy, the Green Ranger. While the spell that made him do Rita Repulsa’s bidding has been broken, Tommy is still feeling residual effects. He’s having disturbing visions of Rita speaking to him in his daily life. Naturally, this effects his duties as a Power Ranger, and may even cause a rift between he and his new teammates. Meanwhile Rita, as always, is up to something…

The opening (shown left) is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in Power Rangers, and it’s an incredibly smart scene to begin with. All of our heroes are down (Dead?), and we see what I assume are the remains of the Command Center in the background. For a variety of reasons, this is something we never could have seen on the old show. But the one that comes to mind immediately is that it’s too dark for a kids show. But not for a comic book like this. With only one page, Higgins, Prasetya, and the creative team have immediately sold the adult fans on what this book can offer.

Kyle Higgins is about 30, which means he was likely a Power Rangers fan growing up, and it shows. The Rangers all feel like the characters we remember from the show, even down to their dialogue quirks. Jason, for instance, ends three of his lines in this book with the word “man.” Case in point: “You okay, man?” “You didn’t listen, man.” This seems trivial. But it’s how he talked on the show, and it goes a long way toward making this book feel like a return to the old show.

A show like Power Rangers lends itself to the comic book medium in a lot of ways. It’s a low-budget action adventure series about superheroes who use giant robots to fight aliens. The scope is almost unlimited. You can do so much on the page that they couldn’t do on the screen, especially when you consider this show was made in the early ’90s. For instance, there’s a moment where the Pink Ranger detaches her Pterodactyl Dinozord from the Megazord, and uses it to catch some cars falling from a nearby bridge. That kind of thing was really rare in the show, and again, it serves as a selling point for this series.

Hendry Prasetya delivers big time on the artwork, giving us the kind of dynamic action we’re used to from these characters and this world. It’s almost like watching a new episode of the show, but from a different angle than we’re used to seeing things. The teenagers don’t necessarily look like the actors did, outside of superficial qualities. But that’s forgivable, as it’s more important that Prasetya captures the vibe and spirit of the show.

But as good as Prasetya is in this environment, it’s cover artist Goni Montes that Power Rangers fans are truly in debt to. Rarely, if ever, have the Rangers had the sense of grandeur they have on his variant covers. The one shown above is simply the one I got at my local shop. If you’re a Power Geek, you owe it to yourself to check them all out.

The biggest complaint I can lob at this issue is something rather subjective. Higgins brings Mighty Morphin Power Rangers into 2016 by giving the teens cell phones, and some talk about how Billy “posted review notes to the server and sent a push notification.” That’s basically extremely vague social media language. It’s not an unforgivable sin, but these are the only moments that take you out of the issue. It’s a new element to this world, which was created in the ’90s, that we have to adjust to. And it’s a curious one. This stuff doesn’t add anything significant, good or bad, to the story. So why have it? A similar thing was done in Ghostbusters: Legion, then Venkman and the guys had cell phones. You don’t need them. So why have them?

We have two back-up stories in this issue. The first stars our old friends Bulk & Skull. It’s fittingly cartoony, and sees them torturing their school principal. It ends with them setting a goal, fittingly involving the Power Rangers. We then get another follow up, where the Rangers duke it out with Goldar in what unfortunately comes off as a pretty generic fight sequence. There’s nothing wrong with the writing or the art in the second back up. But given the depth of what Higgins and Prasetya had already given us, it pales in comparison. I almost wish they’d just given us a few more pages of Bulk & Skull.

This issue is a prelude to a story being billed as “The Untold Epic of the Green Ranger.” Considering the quality of this issue, I’m already sold on it. Considering what we got with this issue, we may be in store for the best MMPR comics we’ve ever seen. That’s a bold prediction, but it’s merited. This issue is morphenomenal!

Images courtesy of craveonline.com.

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