Power Rangers Comic License Up for Grabs - Who Should Take it?
 

So PaperCutZ recently revealed that they no longer hold the rights to the Power Rangers comic book license. While they only published ... what ... three issues? Maybe? Not a lot of fans are upset about it. The books were full of errors (calling "Skull" as "Spike", etc.). Now that the comic is up for grabs - who should take it?

Marvel Comics -

Unlikely. Seeing as Marvel is now owned by Disney, giving back any part of the property to Marvel just seems silly. Plus, with Marvel's inclination to allow their own titles to die (X-Men, Fantastic Four) just to spite Fox (who holds the movie rights to those titles), it would be like taking the license money and calling it good for however many years the deal would be worth.

Likelihood: Less than 10%

DC Comics -

While not as a bad of a choice as Marvel, DC still isn't what I would say is a stellar choice for the property to go. They haven't had much success in their licensed comics and DC's fanbase seems to come and go. Still, more likely than Marvel but still not likely.

Likelihood: 25%

Image Comics

This one comes down to how much Saban Brands would charge on the licensing front. Image has the money thanks in part to the massive success of The Walking Dead franchise, but does Power Rangers really fit with what they do and what direction they want to go in? More likely than the big two (DC and Marvel), but still not very likely.

Likelihood: 30%

Darkhorse Comics

It depends on how sour they are after losing Star Wars to Marvel Comics. As one of their big books, it's uncertain what their future has in store for them now that it's gone. They may not even have the money now.

Likelhood: Uncertain, but probably less than 10%

IDW Publishing

This one makes the most sense to me. IDW Publishing is pretty much THE licensed property of comic books - from Star Trek, to Transformers, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to Godzilla, to G.I. Joe, to Jem, to My Little Pony ... everything they do is based around licenses. And more importantly - they are all successful. The only stuff that doesn't work is their own stuff. Some valid questions is - does Hasbro have any control in what IDW Publishing is allowed to do, as all of Hasbro's properties are with IDW Publishing? And does IDW Publishing want to do a Power Rangers comic? With a movie coming out in 2017 and the franchise having a rich history, they might.

Likelihood: 50%

Things to remember:

PaperCutZ had mentioned that pretty much everything they did was under the control of Saban Brands. It dictated the type of story they wanted and gave them strict limits on what they could write or show in the book. That kind of over-reaching control is a turn-off to a lot of companies, but IDW Publishing is known for being able to work with big name companies. How else would they have been allowed to create a romantic relationship between two characters traditionally seen as male characters in a Transformers comic?

Secondly, does Power Rangers even work as a comic? A live-action show is hard to translate to a graphic novel type of medium. And could IDW Publishing get a crew together to create a GOOD comic - a well-written, universe-expanding/creating story with art that works?

Cast your vote!

Sadly, it doesn't matter unless the people working on the comic are given the freedom to make a good comic. Most Power Rangers comics are forgettable extra adventures that have no real substance to them. I feel that Saban is not going to allow such freedom, so this is most likely doomed from the start.

That said, I would love to see IDW do what they do to Power Rangers.

I was skeptical that the MLPFIM comics would be G3 with G4 characters.
Then IDW showed me wrong.

IDW could do beautiful things with a PR comic if they're not under constant surveillance by Saban.

This is only good news if IDW or DC Comics gets it.

Seeing as Power Rangers is strictly controlled by Saban I doubt any comic company could do a PR comic series, which is a crying shame.

Also that sucks that Dark Horse might go under because of the Disney/Star Wars deal. My dad loved DHCs when I was growing up and it's a bummer they might be in the red because of the loss of Star Wars; which I feel has lost so much of its luster it's not even funny but a fact.

Oh thank God. I really hope IDW gets the rights, so we can get another TMNT/Power Rangers crossover.

IDW getting the license would be great. Their current Transformers comics (MTMTE in particular) are fantastic, and I've only heard good things about TMNT and Ghostbusters. I'd definitely be interested in an IDW PR comic.

I gotta go with IDW because of how they made a lot of TV show based comics. But a close second is dark horse.

IDW also own the rights to Godzilla, Transformers and G.I Joe as well. Imagine if we got a crossover with those franchises too.

IDW. I need, outright need, to see a Transformers/Power Rangers crossover.

So I tweeted Chris Ryall (EiC of IDW) and his response:

"Power Rangers? Not a bad call." ... then tweeted pics of the episode he was in on MMPR.

Fingers crossed!

My hope has been raised!

I'm all for IDW they are the best license book company today.

Dark Horse is still around yeah they lost Star Wars but they still have a lot of good going for them. DC would not work well as in there rebranding from DC comics to DC Entertainment they dropped there license book division formerly known as wildstorm. Marvel is Bad for the obvious reason. Image is also not great fit as they very much creator control on the book titles.

So as I stated above IDW would be awesome the TMNT is great, the transformers books are awesome as well, Ghostbuster is just what you'd want from that, Their star trek and Doctor who books are not bad loved the cross over, the G.i. Joe is the only way that property is still alive.

However if a PR book was to happen for me it would need to be one of a few types of books. One a complete reboot for older fans like the TMNT book, A book that is related to the current season of the show much like TMNT New Animated Adventures again, A book line that focus on a single ranger after their time as a ranger like Transformers Spotlight. or a ongoing movie tie in book like star trek.

Didn't Marvel make some Power Rangers comics back in the 90's when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was still on?

Yes they did. They had the Transformers rights back then too, but they never crossed over.

Marvel, DC and Image would be options more sure of long publishing stories. Is that what you want?
IDW probably would gives you an end, but a really nice comic.
Between Marvel, DC and Image, I would prefer Marvel.
Image... Todd is a troublesome guy, all he touches have problems with publishing rights. DC is nice, but Marvel is the universe of charismatic characters like we have in Power Rangers. Actually, Avengers were created based in super sentai. Colorful team with a giant robot (Ant-man turning giant).

And Marvel would give you more crossovers. I mean, we could even see Star Wars X Marvel X PR crossover.

I don't see Image Comics picking up the PR comic book rights. Image Comics is more into mature and older comics like The Walking Dead, Spawn, Savage Dragon, Invincible and The Darkness. I don't think Marvel cares too much about Power Rangers to pick it up. I think they will likely turn down the offer if it was given to them.

IDW seems like the most logical choice.

Marvel has too many properties including Star Wars. Hence, Power Rangers would get lost in the mix when it comes to attention and advertisement.

I choose IDW. They have done a good job on the other properties.

I'd like to see them tackle storylines in the show that was vague, like Lord Zedd's origin, and Andro's time before he met the Turbo rangers.

They could also do a prequel comic for the upcoming Power Rangers movie like IDW did with the Transformers movie.

Transformer Megazord VS. The King of Monsters!

I would not mind IDW. I've only read a bit of the Transformers IDW lore, as well as My Little Pony and Star Trek, but from what little I've read, they're quite imaginative in developing the properties they have, with lots of world-building. I have full faith they'll make Power Rangers comics into something special, and I would probably support them.

Image produced Power rangers Zeo comics back in the 90s. Rob liefield power rangers where they team up with youngblood.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6...dsa7o1_500.png

You do know that the Avengers were created way before Super Sentai.

Marvel and DC most likely wont take this property. I dont see why they would. Image is also not likely since they rarely do licensed properties anymore and are mostly focused on creator owned comics.

The best place for a PR comic would be IDW. They do great licensed books like the Cartoon Network stuff, TMNT, Transformers, Ghostbusters and Godzilla.

Personally I'd love to IDW do it. How much Saban hinders them or lets them be creative is the biggest hold up. The idea of a generic "Power Rangers" line that's more aimed at older fans and functions as a big team up series would be really cool, even give them the opportunity to make something reminiscent of the old Hexagon pitch. A PR comic can completely work, they're brightly colored super heroes descended from comic books basically. That said, its how much its allowed to breath as a comic and putting correct talent behind it. Some of the bigger issues with PR comics in the past were them being glorified picture books of just the big explosion moments and nothing else. Need to have some sort of compelling narrative to make it interesting.

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Most everyone who posted said IDW yet Marvel's leading with 57 votes.

I take it hey; anything's better than Saban right? I still have doubts as to whenever PR can work as a comic but at least the idea's picking up stream.

That's because those people that have posted are the ones that voted for IDW. People that voted for Marvel didn't want to put their two-cents in. :lol

IDW, Id love to see a more expanded universe for PR, and IDW does do some great things with TFs and TMNT.

IDW.

You know Marvel's deals with Toei is what created Sentai, right? Like, literally :lol
Avengers basically forged the foothold for Sentai (Since Battle Fever was gonna be a Marvel property (Cap, I think) before the deal fell through) :lol

Well technically Gorenger and J.A.K.Q. came before the deal. So no, the Toei-Marvel partnership didn’t create Sentai, it just introduced many tropes that are used to this day, like the giant transforming robot from Supaidaman.

I think what you mean is that Battle Fever J (which really was intended as Japans Captain America) introduced the term "Super Sentai" that wasn’t applied to Gorenger and J.A.K.Q. until 1995 when they were officially included as the first two shows.

Don't ask me why I know this, I don't even like Sentai, but the history behind it (and Tokusatsu in general) is very interesting.

To be even more technical Gorenger and JAKQ arent even the first "Sentais" out there. Sentai is a genre in japan and consists of alot of different military themed tv shows.

Ishinomori basically did one of those with superheroes.

Matrix is right that the Toei-Marvel deal created Super Sentai as we know it. Gorenger and JAKQ influenced them in how they wanted it to look etc. but without Marvel Toei probably wouldnt even have tried something with the Sentai name again.

Also wasn't sentai just like rider inspired from ishimori manga.

IDW Publishing yes, D.C.Comics yes, everyone else no.
 

So the top choices by popular vote are Marvel and IDW, while the most likely new publishers are D.C., Image ( for some reason ) and IDW. Well, as much as I would love D.C.Comics to become the permanent publisher of Power Ranger Comics, IDW Publishing is the better and most likely next publisher of P.R.comics.

Dark Horse Comics will sadly be gone before the end of 2020, Image Comics is possibly gonna be gone by that time to and all of the other unmentioned Comicbook Companies should probably go out of business to. All We need are Marvel Comics, D.C.COMICS, IDW Publishing, Viz Media and the Newspaper Funnies.

:lol :lol :lol :lol

Yeah not gonna happen buddy.

as long as Hellboy and Berserk exists Dark Horse can live off their fumes.