[DreamSword]

Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon

Now I know what some of you might be thinking.

'What the heck? That's clearly Tommy Oliver! What does he have to do with Power Rangers SPD?"

And the short answer to that is, well, "practically everything."

Written by Kyle Higgins while consulting Jason David Frank himself, "Soul of the Dragon" takes place roughly a decade after the events of SPD, and involves not just Tommy, but his son, JJ, who is currently enlisted in Space Patrol Delta.

And boy does this story go places. Involving things such as a deconstructing of Tommy's' life long mission of being a Paladin of sorts to the Power Rangers, a view into how the world has changed since SPD took over, and both good and bad that comes with legacies.

The biggest source of drama throughout the story though is Tommy's' strained relationship with his son, JJ. The two were close, but ever since JJ joined SPD, he seems to be growing more distant. And things only get worse when one day, a friend of JJ's' named Anara comes to Tommy bearing the unfortunate news that not only has JJ quit SPD, but he's gone missing as well.

Thus, Tommy begins his own investigation into the matter, only further motivated in how SPD seems to be totally useless on the matter. Sky himself seems to be keeping quiet about the whole ordeal, though it's easy to tell that he doesn't want to. I love how the passage of time has clearly hit every character involved here; with Sky now sporting some scars. It's clear that he's seen his fair share of battles over the years.

When it's revealed that JJ has seemingly gotten himself involved with an ever growing gang war in the city, Tommy is at a loss at how his son could even go down such a path. And this is probably my favorite scene in the entire comic. Being the son of the most legendary Power Ranger of all time makes for some serious shoes to fill. It's the sort of thing that a child can't easily escape growing up; having a parent so famous and respected. It applies a ton of pressure(and resentment) that could easily break alot of people.

But this story has just as much to do with the past as it does the future. Tommy enlists the aid of Finster, who's long since been purified(and not incinerated) by the Z Wave. I love Finster's' speech here, about how despite the machinations of good an evil, even in the Power Rangers universe, anyone is capable of repeating old mistakes and doing the wrong thing. This comes up because the boss of the gang war is known as "The Witch" and thus people think it might be Rita Repulsa. Fans will know that she eventually became the Mystic Mother, but really, the public at large wouldn't be privy to such information, right?

No, the culprit instead turns out to be Scorpina, who became displaced in space and time due to a trap set by Rita herself(and thus why Scorpina disappeared without a trace in MMPR proper). She ends up in the realm of Talos, ruled by Lokar, a very infamous figure from the Mighty Morphin' days. Scorpina plans to be Lokar's' avatar of sorts, and help him to take over her home dimension. In order to make the pact official though, she offers to feed Lokar the soul of JJ, given how Lokar was foiled by the original Ranger team in the past. Thankfully though, JJ isn't willing to just go with that idea, especially since it turns out that he'd been undercover investigating the entire thing this whole time.

And so the fight for JJ's' soul(in more ways than one) is on. But it's not just Tommy alone. He's got the Blue Senturion and all of SPD backing him up on this one. And keen readers might notice that the Blue Ranger of SPD is a woman. How curious. That aside, the final battle, like all the skirmishes in this comic, is pretty intense. Tommy's' powers are on their last legs(the Master Morpher barely even functioning at this point), and Kat and JJ are for all intents and purposes just normal people now, fighting against a new monstrous form that Scorpina takes on to try and kill everyone in one fell swoop. It's a hard fought battle, but in the end, the day is saved not by Tommy shouldering all of the burden himself like usual, but by him entrusting everything into his son.

Sadly, the defeat of Scorpina also means the end of all of Tommy's' powers. But in the end, he's content.

It's another thing that I really love about this comic. It serves as a wonderful send off to Tommy, while also being a great tribute to not just the character, but Jason David Frank himself and just how much good he did for friends and fans. He's fondly remembered for a reason, and this comic does just as great a job at showcasing why as "Once & Always" did for many of the other MMPR alumni.

By the way, if you're wondering who's responsible for all of this wonderful artwork, that'd be Giuseppe Cafaro, who did a great job here. The mood is captured in his artwork perfectly; Whether is be the more downtrodden and dramatic stuff or the big action pieces. Heck, especially those action bits, because I feel Cafaro did a fantastic job at displaying every power at play here for all of their worth. Case in point:

The elemental mastery of Dino Thunder Black.

The incredible speed of Turbo Red.

The raw power of Zed Red.

The duality of Mighty Morphin' Green and White.

And last, but most certainly not least...

Yeah, I really couldn't think of a better image to end the story on.

And that, for all intents and purposes is where the story and setting of SPD stop. Hasbro certainly had a few things to say about the characters in it though. That female Blue Ranger? That's Lina Song from Power Rangers Hyper Force. And given how Hasbro themselves have posted about the cast before on their socials, yes, both "Soul of the Dragon" and Hyper Force are infact canon to the main Power Rangers timeline. Along with the casual reveal that, after being promoted to Commander, Sky takes on a new Ranger form known as the Deca Ranger. As such, it is my headcanon that Sophie goes on to become SPD Gold. But there's been no official word on that suit as of yet.

Overall, while I'd love to explore more aspects of SPD as a whole, just as I would any other PR season, I am still very happy with what we do have. And this comic is no exception to that.