Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1 Review
Like many children of the 90’s, I grew up watching Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. While nowadays I acknowledge that the show was cheesy and relied way to much on stock footage, as a kid, I loved this show and even today find that it holds up well enough to where I can still enjoy it as an adult. So naturally, when I noticed that there was a comic book based on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, not one of the numerous spinoffs mind you but the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I decided to check it out.
For those of you who either did not grow up with the show or simply just never had the interest, here’s the basic overview of the premise. When astronauts on the moon accidentally awaken the evil space witch, Rita Repulsa, Zordon, a vaguely defined entity who takes the form of a disembodied head in a tube summons five teenagers with attitude to become the Power Rangers, five color coded super heroes sworn to defend the earth from Rita and her monsters. The five are granted colorful costumes, enhanced strength, weapons and, in the event of a real emergency, are granted control of five powerful robot dinosaurs called “zords” that come together to create a powerful giant robot called the “Megazord.” After many failures to defeat the rangers, Rita kidnapped Tommy, a talented martial artist and new classmate of the five and turned him into her evil Green Ranger, who commanded the Dragonzord, a Godzilla-like robot that Tommy summons from the sea using a flute that doubles as a dagger. Eventually, the rangers manage to break Rita’s hold over Tommy and he joins forces with the team.
Our comic opens properly with Bulk and Skull, two comic-relief characters who were bullies and classmates of the Rangers, recording a youtube podcast about the Power Rangers. Seeing as how the original series took place in the 90’s, long before the advent of youtube, we’re immediately told that this is a modern adaptation of the series. How you feel about this depends on your attitude towards modernizations such as this, but me personally, I find the idea intriguing. Anywho, Bulk gives us the recap of the series that I just provided above for “new subscribers.” Bulk’s discussion of the Green Ranger however seems to be a topic of controversy as until recently, as far as the public was concerned, the Green Ranger was the bad guy. Bulk interviews several students regarding their opinion on the matter, including Billy and Trini, the Blue and Yellow Rangers respectively. However, when they try to get a statement from Tommy himself, he’s reluctant to speak on the matter, irritating Bulk and Skull. Fortunately, Tommy is saved by Kimberly, the Pink Ranger and Tommy’s romantic interest. Tommy suggests that they head to the Ranger’s command center after school to get some training in, Kim suggests they go out on a date first. Later, the six are having lunch with Zack, the Black Ranger, and Jason, the Red Ranger and team leader. The conversation is mostly about school and other mundane topics but Tommy is distracted. It seems even though he’s free of Rita’s control, the evil witch’s presence still lingers within him as a voice in his head and is trying to influence him. Tommy resists, but it’s clearly affecting him. It’s also made clear that, with the exception of Kim, the other Rangers haven’t fully accepted Tommy as a teammate.
Finally, it’s time to check up on our villainess Rita in her castle on the moon, which in this version has been bizarrely named Bandora Palace. This warrants an explanation. Earlier, I mentioned stock footage. That footage was taken from a Japanese series called Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. The character of Rita in the Japanese version was named Bandora. It seems an odd reference, but I appreciate the nod to Sentai, anyway. Rita seems to have an evil plot brewing that apparently involves Tommy and some kind of crystal. It’s a short scene, but it works well and actually makes Rita seem like an intimidating and intelligent villain, as opposed to the annoying voiced comedy character from the series.
Elsewhere, Tommy and Kimberly, in their ranger forms, are busy saving civilians from Rita’s soldiers, the putties. Something of note here is how Kim uses her Zord, the Pterodactyl, to thin out the numbers of the Putties, something they never did on the show allegedly because Zordon set it up as a rule, but likely because of the limitations of the stock footage. Tommy tries to lead the civilians to safety but they are ambushed and the people are carried away. Fortunately, this was all a simulation set up by Zordon to assess how Tommy deals with insurmountable odds, not unlike the Kobayashi Maru from Star Trek. Disappointed with himself, Tommy returns home, only to find Rita’s Henchwoman, Scorpina, waiting for him.
What Works:
Let me say this, despite its silliness, there is definitely a reason Power Rangers is so fondly remembered even 25 years later, so the idea to bring it into the modern age with better character development and darker and more mature themes is an excellent idea. The comic book format is also perfect, as the writers are not restricted by budget limitations or stock footage. So, does it work? I think so. Despite the minimal action of the comic, the characters feel more fleshed out in this series. Not that the characters from the show weren’t fleshed out, but they ultimately boiled down to being fairly flat, goody-two-shoes types. Some new additions, like Rita trying to corrupt Tommy and the use of the zords outside of giant monster battles are welcome changes and open interesting story telling possibilities. And finally, while her appearance is brief, Rita appears to be a much more serious villain in this series and I’m intrigued to see where that goes.
What Doesn’t: As I said, this is not an especially action heavy issue. I’m not saying it has to be, character development is always great, but the main draw of the show was always the action, and this comic barely delivers upon that. I’m sure there will be more to come, so I won’t hold it against the work too much, but I feel like an increased amount of action could have simultaneously hooked new fans and held the interest of old fans. Also, while this is an admittedly dumb complaint, I have to say, the one drawback of the comic book format is the lack of a rocking Ron Wasserman soundtrack.
Overall: 4/5
This issue is really good and I certainly intend to pick up the next issue, but it could have benefitted from more action.