[DreamSword]

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Volume 13

This was the arc where I officially stopped following the comics regularly.

Not to say I dropped them entirely. I'd still read the odd issue here and there, but this was the arc wherein I gave up on them ever being as good as they used to be.

First and foremost, Moises Hidalgo takes over as the artist, and his art is very stylized. And in some cases, it really works, like with a panel wherein he references Vegeta getting his arm broken in Dragon Ball Z.

But in others, like in the panel above, things just more so come across as off model and it makes things really awkward to look at at times. I can give him this though: Atleast his character designs for the Stone Canyon Trio are better than their previous ones, even if only by a little bit.

This also marks the point in the comics where, with control now being fully under Hasbro instead of Saban, alot of things that Ryan Parrott writes for the story comes across as rather mean spirited. Almost like he's bemoaning that IP that he's attached to and trying his best to say how much cooler his original stuff is, rather than embracing what really makes the franchise work like Go Go did.

It also made me wonder: Does Parrott just not like the Power Rangers villains in general? He already went to great lengths to disrespect Lord Zedd in Necessary Evil, and now here, he disrespects Rita Repulsa by having her replaced by a Putty copy who's stated to be just as strong as she was. Which is not only out and out impossible, but comes across as saying that Rita herself was weak and unimpressive. Majorly disrespectful to the first big bad of the franchise.

But the big highlight for alot of fans was the newly reimagined Dark Rangers AKA the Zedd Rangers. And let me just say, I did not like how they turned out. First off, the way Zedd repowers the Green Chaos Crystal is way too convenient. If it were that easy, Billy wouldn't have struggled with it for so long. Second, nothing about them is at all Power Ranger-like. I mean sure, you could maybe argue that that's the point, but these are meant to be Rangers first and foremost. I'd like to actually witness something I could see appearing in the show itself.

Meanwhile on the Omega Ranger side of things, despite Jason initially being written a bit out of character, it's mainly all just setup for their own storyline that'll be running alongside the Mighty Morphin' stuff. It's nothing horrible, but it's all very much just setup. I will say though that Hidalgo's' artstyle really lends itself alot better here with the very alien environments and designs, rather than the Earth side of the story wherein things just look weird half the time. Wasn't much a fan of Trini's' new hairdo though. Her hair length really has been all over the place in these comics, now that I think about it.

Anyway, the biggest annoyance for me in this entire thing was everything that had to do with Ryan Parrott's' waifu, Grace Sterling. Everything surrounding her in this arc makes no sense. How she's able to bypass Zordon's' defenses make no sense, and her ability to easy get at Drakkon emotionally comes across as character shilling. Ontop of that, Billy humoring her at all throughout this whole thing is extremely out of character ontop of being nonsensical. Billy was the one who initially distrusted Promethea in the first place, and him humoring her argument for making Drakkon the new Green Ranger, ontop of him allowing her to keep the Dragon Coin is just annoying to read.

And yes, I already know who Green Ranger V2 ends up being, but even so, the arc itself is just frustrating to get through. Here was where the past me had concluded that the comics glory days were over, and that my spare time was better spent elsewhere. And unfortunately, there were no immediate signs of improvement as things went on. Now, granted, as we're now entering brand new territory, perhaps things will get better, but I don't have high hopes.

God, Drakkon's' new hairdo is so dumb.

[Androzani84]

Two things I remember about this storyline:

1. The VR Troopers are candidates for Promethea’s Green Ranger.

2. The last page of #55 plays out exactly like the first page of #0: A female who has history with Zordon congratulates a new Green Ranger for a job well done. Which Parrott confirmed via Twitter was intentional.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

1. The VR Troopers are candidates for Promethea?s Green Ranger.

That was a cute touch, yeah. It's cool to see that every Saban Toku is still considered canon to Power Rangers, even if rights reasons mean we'll never actually see most of those characters again.

[DreamSword]

Power Rangers: Ranger Slayer

Overall this was... fine.

Right away though, do not believe the advertising that claims this is a good jumping on point for new readers, because it very much is not.

If you haven't read any Coinless stuff before this, then you will have zero context for literally anything going on in this one shot. Finster-5, how the world got to the way it was, the Ranger Slayer herself; Nothing.

In terms of the story itself though, it's about how even with Drakkon's' defeat, the World of the Coinless still can't know peace due to various factors. Most importantly that Drakkon being gone created a power vacuum that many are trying desperately to fill.

And while it's an interesting angle, and I love the idea of an Undead Rita(Dan Mora does fantastic with the art direction in this), I overall just felt like the story wrapped up a bit too cleanly, even by one shot standards. I get that it's also a hook for an extra mini-series, but even so, everything just kinda goes a bit too perfectly for everyone involved.

Not to say that ruins the book or anything, as there's still stuff to like here. Dan Mora's' art is great as always, the atmosphere is handled well, and some of the banter, especially from Bulk and Skull, is very on point. It's overall a decent way to kill a small bit of time if you're at all interested in it.

So... yeah. A decent break from the main story, but nothing super engaging.

[DreamSword]

Mighty Morphin' Volume 1

Marco Renna is our new artist for this one, and he does some good stuff.

While I could see certain aspects of how his style in relation to these comics could be considered "safe" I personally don't think that's a bad thing.

It does great for the character design department, especially in terms of the Stone Canyon Trio, and I actually really like the way that he draws and portrays energy effects. It's nice to look at.

That all aside, we've now reached the point in the comics wherein I have very little context for future content as well as the point in which, atleast when it comes to the circles I'm in, more and more readers began to drop off from the Power Rangers comics. The Mighty Morphin'/Power Rangers split.

And yeah, I can definitely see why people got fed up, because BOOM decided to do the split in a very annoying way: To get the full story, you need to flip-flop back and forth between both runs of the comic, and that's quite the order of busywork to demand of your readership. Especially people like me who prefer to wait for Volume releases.

In regards to the narrative itself though, this is very much building up to be the Power Rangers version of Marvel's' infamous Civil War event, and boy, Ryan Parrott sure went all in on copying that idea, because it even features things like making characters act not like themselves in order to either further conflict or make others look bad. And in this case, it's making Zordon go out of character in order to give Grace more good, well, graces. Joy.

One thing that Is nice though is that Lord Zedd is a threat again, and his scheme this time results in a very cool all out brawl between the seven Rangers and a legion of supercharged Putties. The entire thing takes much advantage of how this is a comic and no live action, and the entire ordeal is really cool to see play out. My favorite bit being when a swarm of Putties begin to climb and lay siege to the Zords, with the Rangers desperately trying to fight them off while doing repairs. The Giant Chaos Putty being made up of multiple smaller Putties is a really neat idea too.

Lastly, there's a subplot about Bulk, Skull, and Skull's' girlfriend who turns out to an alien. To be honest, I found these bits way more interesting than the stuff going on with our heroes, as it made for very good interpersonal drama that didn't rely on anything being forced. Bulk and Skull remain in character, and despite their small divide over Candice, Bulk does still care greatly for his best friend. It's some touching stuff.

Oh, and in case you didn't believe me about this arc being heavily inspired by Civil War, the unmasking of Green Ranger V2 here is a direct reference to the unmasking of Spider-Man from said storyline. We're in for a bumpy ride.

[DreamSword]

Power Rangers Volume 1

Ryan Parrott seems to more so excel at smaller, more personal moments.

This little exchange between Rocky and Jason was my favorite part of the entire volume: Rocky feeling like an inadequate replacement with Jason comforting him.

It's part of what made Go Go so good: It was a simple, straightforward story that focused on highlighting the characters. It's when Parrott tries to be grandiose or "provocative" that he tends to fumble.

Ever since Necessary Evil he got put in charge of some gigantic space opera and like, it just hasn't panned out, really. Case in point:

Issue 2 has XI pointing out just how stupid this plot really is, and yet by the end of the volume he's painted as the one in the wrong. Just because you point out how ridiculous your plot is, that doesn't instantly make it okay. Especially not when the characters are written poorly, like how Zack is a few times.

So what is the plot? Since Drakkon is the only one with any real intel on the Emissaries, the Omegas decide to break him out of his confinement in the Command Center, and try to force him to help the team find a way of tracking their newfound enemy down. And then space vampires show up to mess things up. And if that sounds interesting to you, lemme tell ya, it isn't.

Nothing is really engaging in this entire affair when it comes to the character work. A Ranger Horror Movie type plot is a decent idea on paper, but in terms of overall execution this left alot to be desired. And the final issue, detailing the remains of the world Drakkon created when he hod godlike powers, is a little better, but nothing incredible. The commentary on his loneliness doesn't work when there were infact people who lived in his universe, despite issue 4's' implication to otherwise.

What isn't a disappointment though is the art, drawn by Francesco Mortarino. It looks good all throughout, and one thing I definitely wanna compliment it on is how smartly is uses pinstriping. Ever since the release of Across the Spider-Verse, we've had other works try and emulate its style while never quite understanding just what makes it work. Typically this translates to things like just randomly using pinstriping for no reason(see: Velma).

But here, it, along with many other tools of the comic art trade are all used to splendid effect. If nothing else, this volume is nice to look at. So, major props to the colorist, the panel layouts... everything. Very aesthetically engaging and pleasing. I just wish it were tied to a more engaging story.

Oh and uh, Zack being written so poorly doesn't help matters either.

[DreamSword]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 25th Anniversary Special

A collection of short stories not just focused on MMPR, but various seasons across the Power Rangers timeline. This special is largely forgotten by the fanbase, and I find that an incredible shame because it's actually rather good. Like I've done before with other collections, I'll give a brief summary of each individual story alongside my personal thoughts. But as an overall, I found this special to be quite enjoyable and I highly recommend it to any Rangers fan.

Pet Project: A cute story showcasing the power of empathy; Not just from the Power Rangers, but from Scorpina as well. Rather on point with the tone of the show.

Golden Ideas: As Goldar attempts his own plan to take out the Rangers, Aisha and Adam resolve to prove themselves to the rest of the team. Provides a fun answer to the question of whatever happened to the original Rad Bug, and the idea of Rocky and Tommy being besties is interesting.

The Sweetest of Dreams: A prequel to the events of Mystic Force, this story is all about Udonna's' struggle to rescue her husband, all while smartly playing with the dramatic irony of Koragg's' situation that readers are likely already aware of. Very nicely pulled off in terms of atmosphere and visuals.

Sealed: A crossover between Ninja Steel and Mighty Morphin', this story details both team's' attempts at combating a cosmic horror. Very brief, but very cool character interactions in this one.

The Trial of Astronema: While the Rangers might be forgiving of Karone's' situation and by extension her past, the rest of the galaxy isn't so kind. A very realistic look at how hard redemption can be, not just in the eyes of others, but in the eyes of oneself too. Also features a surprise cameo by Cruger from SPD.

[DreamSword]

Mighty Morphin' Volume 2

I think I figured out Ryan Parrott's' thought process when it comes to this story.

It's all an attempt at being more edgy, while failing to do anything actually fun, smart, or meaningful along with it.

As someone who never sided with the fanbase that demanded that Power Rangers become darker and edgier, I kinda need more than just swear words and infighting, here. Overall this arc just comes across as pretentious.

I can't help but feel a sense of laziness here too, because there's a noticeable amount of typos and other mistakes throughout the volume. Combine that with the story turning Matt into a massive hypocrite and I nearly checked out really fast. And of course, it's all under the banner of Jerk Sue Grace Sterling.

And there's no excuse here. Matt was a character created and written by Ryan Parrott for Go Go Power Rangers. His entire thing was feeling cheated because of how his friends kept such a major secret from him. So to not have him called out for doing the exact same thing, under the oh so convincing argument of "Because Grace says so" seems like a major misstep.

But the biggest misstep, and the part that set me off the most was this. Now, some of you might not even get what this panel is even supposed to signify, so allow me to break this down for you: Aisha and Candice are currently doing a stealth mission to reclaim the White Tigerzord, hence the initials WTZ. And by itself, cut off from greater context, calling the Zord "WTZ" doesn't seem like that big of a deal, right?

Ha ha, wrong.

Because "WTZ" is what Grace and her cronies refer to the Tigerzord as. Not only has Aisha nor any of the other Rangers ever abbreviated the Zords' names before, but it is incredibly out of character and unnatural for any of them, much less Aisha, to do so. It leads me to believe that Grace is Ryan Parrott's' waifu because he figured he could use her to push whatever elements into the narrative that he felt like, but didn't bother to check for consistency of any kind. Or at the very least his editor sure didn't.

And again, pointing out the flaws in your own narrative doesn't justify anything. Grace having knowledge of events she couldn't possibly know about(Matt escaping the moon), doesn't justify anything. The pretentious nonsense about keeping secrets doesn't actually mean anything to anyone who's ever experienced a superhero story like, ever. This entire thing makes me believe that Ryan Parrott was a big fan of Brian Bendis' run on Superman more than anything. I just really, really am not jiving with the direction that the comics are going, and it's making them alot harder to sit through.

[DreamSword]

Power Rangers Volume 2

Surprisingly enough, this volume ended as some of the better stuff in terms of recent volumes, though not without some caveats.

When read under the lens of "rules sometimes need to be broken" it just comes across as more pretentious than anything, much like how the ongoing plot regarding Zordon's' rules does in Mighty Morphin'.

When viewed with the lesson of "there's good and bad in everything" though, it actually ends up alot better, and having Ecliptor show up to be the symbol of that, with it reinforced with the alien race that the Rangers have to deal with in the latter half of the volume punctuates it rather well.

"Just because you're correct it doesn't mean you're right."

That was a meme phrase that circulated my circles of the internet a few years back, and on its face, yeah, it is a funny, nonsensical statement. But when put under the lens of morality, there's some credence to it. Drakkon was right in that the empire the Omegas were out to save would want to kill them, but what he didn't take into account was that not everyone of that race was vile.

Keeping in mind the rights, thoughts, and feelings of the individual can be tough, especially when you hear so often of all the bad a group of people under a common banner do or have done. But it's because it can be hard that we need to remind ourselves that everyone has their own motivations, thoughts, and ideas. Some people only do things for a paycheck, others are forced, and not everyone will agree with what their rulers say or think.

The Empyreals are short sighted in this sense as well; Wiping out entire civilizations based upon their own objective morality. And while the Omega Rangers might be doing things that are frowned upon by others, they have their belief that everyone deserves a chance to live and improve themselves, and that, you know, genocide is bad. Thus they continue to fight for it, even if it doesn't exactly feel good sometimes. And taking what one considers the high road is often difficult when put against things that are seen as easier or practical.

While that might all sound like very high praise from me, the biggest thing keeping me from fully enjoying this chunk of story is actually the character interactions. When it comes to Drakkon especially I feel like alot of them are poorly handled. Drakkon is meant to be seen as a sort of corrupting influence, but yet we never really see him digging into anyone all too much. There was a bit with Trini wherein she shut him down immediately, and both Zack and Jason are just sort of coming around to him... because they are. For Jason especially it just comes across as out of character.

Overall this volume isn't bad, but it could've been so much better, and that's a shame.

[DreamSword]

Mighty Morphin' Volume 3

I really don't like Rogue Sun.

It's just a nasty story full of backstabbing and unlikable characters that are constantly at eachother's' throats for little to no reason, amongst other reasons.

I bring this up because Rogue Sun is the original story headlined by Ryan Parrott for the Massive-Verse, and you can really see the seeds for that story beginning to plant here in this arc.

For example, not only is everyone constantly bickering, but Rogue Sun's' tendency to gaslight the reader starts off here too, with Matt saying things about Grace that, frankly, aren't at all true, and anyone who's actually read the comics up to this point would know that.

I won't go into super detail, since I've complained about Grace plenty all throughout these reviews, but it just amazes me how, under Kyle Higgins, it was made clear that Grace was only ever out for petty self-satisfaction disguised as a moral high ground, and I guess Ryan Parrott either never bothered to check or just decided to ignore that for the sake of making Grace out to be "good."

That all aside, we also get alot of backstory on Lord Zedd here, with all of the flashbacks of previous issues being the story he tells to Candice. And it's a neat idea and all, but it also completely retcons and flies in the face of everything we know about Zedd from the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers TV show proper. Zedd can't be Eltaran, because he's revealed to be human during the finale of Power Rangers in Space. How Parrott knew that about Rita but not Zedd baffles me.

Well, I guess it doesn't confuse me too much because again, these comics are now supervised under Hasbro and not Saban, and Hasbro made it clear many times over that they didn't know the Power Rangers franchise like, at all. Like, the writers of the Massive-Verse have talked about the various notes they've gotten under Saban before, and sure, some of them have been ridiculous, and I even get wanting as much creative freedom as possible when you're a writer, but here's the thing: Power Rangers is a pre-existing IP.

Saban actually cared about the brand and its image, as well as did their best to keep things consistent. There needs to be such a thing as quality control in writing. A writer is only as good as their editor is, and in my eyes, Saban's' editing resulted in much better stories than Hasbro's' ever will. Case in point:

Under Saban, I can guarantee that this moment never would've flown, because they would've known that it completely flies in the face of Power Rangers in Space and what's established about Zordon there. But Hasbro? They didn't know and/or did not care, and as such we have a moment that totally spits in the face of what was one of the most powerful moments in Power Rangers history.

I really don't like this arc.