A Batman: Night of the Monster Men Review – Hollow Monsters

10/15/201608/04/2022Rob Siebert 2 Comments

TITLE: “Batman: Night of the Monster Men”
AUTHORS: Steve Orlando, Tom King, Tim Seeley, James Tynion IV
PENCILLERS: Riley Rossmo, Roge Antonio, Andy MacDonald
COLLECTS: Batman #7–9, Nightwing #7–8, Detective Comics #941–942
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
CUMULATIVE PRICE: $17.94
GRAPHIC NOVEL RELEASE: March 2017

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

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

This “Night of the Monster Men” crossover boasts some extremely talented creators, stars Batman and some of his more popular allies, and is even inspired by one of the very first Batman stories. It also began a week after DC “killed” Tim Drake. So there was a lot of potential here for a creative, emotional, thrill ride.

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

Running through Batman, Nightwing, and Detective Comics, this story sees Hugo Strange create giant monsters that attack the city. Much of Batman’s surrogate family gets wrapped up in the chaos. But despite all the innocent lives that hang in the balance, Strange’s entire plot is about Batman himself.

All this Hugo Strange/Monster Men stuff is inspired by a story from 1940’s Batman #1 entitled “Professor Hugo Strange and the Monsters.” It’s a respectable early outing for the Dark Knight in which Strange creates a bunch of big ogres to terrorize the city. Matt Wagner took the same cue for his 2006 miniseries Batman and the Monster Men, which was exponentially better than this book.

“Night of the Monster Men” suffers from a variety of problems. Chief among them is a lack of emotional stakes. That’s an odd problem to have, considering what just happened with Tim, and how many of Batman’s surrogate family members are in this fight. Batman repeatedly emphasizes that no one else is dying. This gives the impression that we’re going to get an overprotective Batman, frantically trying to micromanage the efforts of his partners. This would be futile, of course. But it would have made sense. We also had the perfect cast for such a story, with Bruce having recently trusted Batwoman to train this new crop of young heroes. And of course, we’ve got his original partner, Dick Grayson. Hugo Strange’s motive also would have been more poignant.

Instead, we just get a story about Batman fighting monsters. Monsters created from cadavers, no less. We can’t even go the route of, “Don’t kill the monsters! They’re people!” Later, two of our heroes are turned into monsters, but they don’t mine this for much emotion either.

Granted, they’re cool looking monsters. “Night of the Monster Men” enlists Riley Rossmo and Andy MacDonald, both of whom excel on the fantasy/horror side of things. We also have they very capable Roge Antonio, who gives us a nice blend of horror and naturalism. Instead of going the ogre route, the story opts for a mix of mutant aberrations and giant kaiju type monsters. They’re fun, but they’d be more fun if they were more than mere physical threats to our heroes. There’s little or any substance to them, and what the final issue attempts to pass as such via Strange’s motivation doesn’t connect in a meaningful way. (That monster represented fear? But weren’t we supposed to be afraid of all of them?)

So instead of a coherent crossover that ties into and takes advantage of Batman’s fragile emotional state, what we essentially get is a bunch of fluff that they attempt to tie together at the end with some psych mumbo jumbo. It’s all so hollow.

“Night of the Monster Men” also suffers from being a little too long, and a little too crowded. The story struggles to give Spoiler and Orphan something to do in all of this. Like Booster Gold in his Justice League Unlimited episode, they’re mostly relegated to crowd control. There’s a cave sequence (not that cave) involving Spoiler, Orphan, and Harvey Bullock that largely feels like padding. If they’d cut that out, along with the ridiculous scene where our heroes use giant guns and harpoons on top of buildings (conveniently adored with the heroes’ insignias) to stop a monster, they’d probably have been able to trim this down from six issues to four. Five at most.

Nightwing #8 and Detective Comics #942 also make full use of the “Hugo Strange dressed as Batman” trope, as we learn that Strange himself wants to be Batman. A fine motive, though not necessary in this case. “Night of the Monster Men” would have worked fine as Strange’s attempt to spotlight Batman’s inadequacies and force him to hang up the cowl, in the process pouring salt in the wound left by Tim’s departure. Perhaps the urge to use the only piece of classic Batman/Hugo Strange imagery was too intense. Admittedly, at that point I was just happy we were finally getting a scene between two human beings, as opposed to hollow monster battles.

On the upside, this story makes fine use of Clayface’s new status as one of Batman’s allies. He plays a practical role at first, spreading himself out to guide people out of the city. He also plays an integral role in the finale. But his highlight here, and one of the highlights in “Monster Men” as a whole, comes in Batman #8. As the Dark Knight is about to face one of the monsters head on, Clayface envelops him, effectively becoming a suit of armor. Does technically this fall under the banner of giant awful Batman robots/armor? Absolutely. But the execution is unique enough that it gets a pass from me.

“Batman and the Monster Men” offers good showings from the artists attached, and a bright spot here or there. But by and large, this was a turn off and a waste. Nightwing and Detective Comics were both on a solid course up to this point, and things were starting to look up for Batman. Hopefully we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming in short order.

Email Rob at at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Detective Comics #941 Review – The Dead Robin Trope

10/03/201610/03/2016Rob Siebert Leave a comment

TITLE: Detective Comics #941
AUTHOR: Steve Orlando, James Tynion IV
PENCILLER: Andy MacDonald. Cover by Yanick Paquette.
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASED: September 28, 2016

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Thus far, “Night of the Monster Men” has left me uninspired. Certainly not what I was hoping for after what happened with Tim Drake last issue.

The plot of this Batman/Detective Comics/Nightwing crossover is pretty straightforward. Professor Hugo Strange is unleashes a bunch of giant monsters on Gotham City. All the while, a hurricane threatens to hit the city during the attack. Batman, Batwoman, Nightwing, Gotham Girl, and various other members of the surrogate “Bat-Family” are truly in a battle against he elements. But in the wake of Tim’s “death,” the Dark Knight is having trouble allowing others to take the risks necessary to save lives.

Before we get into this issue, or “Night of the Monster Men” as a whole, let’s talk a little bit about what happened to Tim. Rumors of his demise are greatly exaggerated. During the events of Detective Comics #940, he attempted to sacrifice himself in the battle against Jacob Kane and the Colony. But the mysterious Mr. Oz, who we’ve previously seen interact with Superman, captured him. Now everyone, including Batman, believes Tim to be dead. By and large, the whole thing was well done. The art was engaging. The writing was impactful. It was a nice way to put the character on the shelf for refreshment, while also paying tribute to him.

But part of me really wishes they hadn’t done it.

I understand there are only so many routes to take with these superhero characters. At some point, everybody’s going to have a brush with death. But now, all four characters that have been the official canonical Robin have either been killed off, or thought to be dead by almost everyone in their universe. Even Stephanie Brown, who was only Robin for about a month, has “died” and come back. What’s more, most of it has happened in just the last five years.

Let’s look at the timeline…

* 1988: Jason Todd is killed by the Joker in “A Death in the Family.”
* 2004: After a short stint as Robin, Stephanie Brown, a.k.a. the Spoiler, fakes her death.
* 2013: Damian Wayne is killed in battle by Heretic.
* 2014: With Batman’s help, Dick Grayson fakes his death and joins Spiral.
* 2016: Tim Drake is captured, presumed killed after a fight with the Colony.

The concept of Robin is pretty hard to swallow. It’s always been fun, but if you look at it in a real world context, there’s a definite creep factor to it. This Dead Robin trope ups that creep factor considerably. What we have here is a man continually enlisting aids from these boys, who eventually age out of their role, and all have the same black hair style. And eventually, they all die violently.

Am I getting carried away? Maybe. But at the very least, the storytelling in these Bat-books is getting repetitive. I’ll at least credit Tynion and the Detective Comics crew for doing it better than it’s been done in awhile.

“Night of the Monster Men” feels like it’s going to be an examination of the trust Batman puts in his partners, which he’s reconsidering after what happened to Tim. At one point in this issue, Batwoman tells him he’s in a situation he can’t control. Our hero’s response is: “I refuse to accept that scenario.”

What’s happening in Batman’s head is, thus far, the most interesting element in all of this. The trouble is there isn’t much more to latch on to in terms of meat. At least not yet. The monsters look cool enough, but we see they’re somehow created from cadavers. So while they’re obviously very threatening, we’re not invested in them much more than we would be mindless foot soldiers or zombies. Thankfully, that changes at the end of this issue.

This is my first exposure to Andy MacDonald’s work. But he and colorist John Rauch give everything a nice texture, and make solid use of splash pages and larger panels to show off these Godzilla-ish monsters. Our creators also don’t hesitate to use “They’re not alive? Let’s rip ’em to shreds!” logic when it comes to Gotham Girl fighting them.

“Night of the Monster Men” seems like a summer blockbuster that arrived late. Thus far, like many a summer blockbuster, it’s heavy on the action, but low on substance. As we’re halfway through, that doesn’t bode well. We’ve got some really good talent on these books, so I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. But I don’t have high hopes.

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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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