Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 Review

Welcome back everyone, to the crossover every child of the 90’s has been waiting for. Last time, The Green Ranger, Tommy Oliver, had infiltrated the villainous Foot Clan for reasons that are as of yet unclear. Unbeknownst to Tommy, The Shredder is well aware of his identity as a Power Ranger and seems to have plans for him. One of Tommy’s missions for the Foot Clan brought him into conflict with The Ninja Turtles, which led to a fight between The Turtles and The Rangers who had come to New York to find Tommy, Tommy himself managing to slip away in the confusion.

Issue two opens with the fight between the Turtles and The Rangers still in progressthough the dialogue between the two teams leads them both to believe that they’re on the same side. The two teams agree to work together to find out what’s going on, the Rangers even reveal their secret identities to the Turtles as a symbolic gesture of trust.

Meanwhile, at the Technodrome, the high-tech lair of Shredder and the Foot Clan, Tommy presents the piece of tech he stole in the last issue to Shredder who admits him as a member of the Foot Clan’s elite. Later, we learn that Tommy has infiltrated the Foot because a friend of his, Tyler, has apparently joined with them and Tommy hopes to bring him home. Unfortunately, it appears that Tyler has already been indoctrinated by the Foot and incapacitates Tommy with a taser.

Back with our heroes, Kimberly poses April O’Neil’s intern in order to use the News Studio’s resources to look for clues, Billy and Donatello work together to upgrade one another’s tech, Donnie acting like an adorable fanboy the entire time, and the rest attack a nearby Foot Clan hideout where they capture Karai, one of Shredder’s top generals. The Rangers want answers but Karai refuses to talk, stating that our heroes are already too late.

Back at the Technodrome, Tommy wakes up in a cage where Shredder reveals that he knows exactly who he is. No longer needing to keep up the charade, Tommy Morphs and challenges Shredder to a one on one fight. In response, Shredder blasts Tommy with a weapon made using the piece of tech Tommy stole, forcing the him to de-morph.

Later, on the Moon, Rita Repulsa, the enemy of the Power Rangers, senses that someone very powerful has activated The Green Ranger’s Power Coin. Wishing to take back what she feels is rightfully hers and likely wishing to eliminate a potential threat to her power, Rita takes her minions and teleports to the source of the power she senses. Shredder seems to have been expecting Rita’s arrival but Rita doesn’t really care and demands the return of her Power Coin. Much to Rita’s shock, Shredder uses Tommy’s Morpher to become his own twisted version of The Green Ranger, inviting Rita and her minions to try and take the coin from him if they can.

What Works:

I went on a whole spiel about how much I like the simple concept of the Turtles being aware of the existence of the Power Rangers, but it continues to service the story positively in this issue as well, particularly in the scene where Splinter treats the rangers with great respect and humility upon meeting them, recognizing the teens as honorable warriors and agents of good. In fact, this issue is full of great character moments. Whether it’s Donnie being a fan boy, Mikey and Zack debating weird Pizza toppings or my favorite moment in the comic, Leo and Jason fighting Karai, arguing over which sword fighting technique would be the best to take her down only to have Trini conk her on the head. Even the villains get some fun interactions, with a pretty funny exchange between Squat & Babboo and Bebop & Rocksteady when Rita enters the Technodrome.

That actually leads me nicely into my next point. I was very happy to see Rita get involved in the story as the absence of a major Power Rangers villain was something I was somewhat disappointed with in the last issue, and the fact that it looks like she’ll be in conflict with Shredder instead of joining forces with him is an unexpected but welcome twist on my expectations of how things would unfold. I was hoping it would be Lord Zedd and not Rita, but that’s just personal preference and I won’t hold that against this comic.

The idea of Shredder as a twisted version of The Green Ranger is just awesome. Shredder, with his absolute mastery of the Martial Arts, access to powerful technology from other dimensions, keen intellect and gift for strategy, bolstered by the enhanced strength and agility that comes with being a Power Ranger, not to mention the ability to summon the Dragonzord, could constitute a threat beyond anything the Turtles or the Rangers have faced and I for one cannot wait to see it in action.

What Doesn’t: My only real complaint stems from a lack of focus. The comic jumps around a lot and it can be disorienting.

Overall: 5/5

This comic continues to be everything I want out of a crossover between two major franchises of my childhood. I hope it continues this momentum going forward.