The Dream of the 90’s is alive in Angel Grove! The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers are back to protect teens with attitude everywhere from the forces of Rita Repulsa. But how do the Rangers stack up in 2016? Find out in our review below! Also, beware of spoilers for a TV whose details are relatively common pop culture knowledge.
Written by Kyle Higgins & Steve Orlando
Illustrated by Hendry Prasetya & Corin HowellWhat’s to Love: With over four million viewers per week watching episodes that air three times a day, seven days a week; an awareness of above 90% for men and women ages 7-54; and a new film coming in 2017, the Power Rangers are more popular than ever. Dive headfirst into our original, modern ongoing Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series that will appeal to both nostalgic fans and new readers who enjoy epic, action-adventure fantasy stories.
What It Is: Based on the long-running Power Rangers franchise, five teens from Angel Grove High are granted superpowers and giant robot dinosaur Zords to defend Earth against the alien villain Rita Repulsa. When Repulsa creates an evil Green Power Ranger by brainwashing recent transfer student Tommy, the team is able to free him from her grasp and get him on their side. But with remnants of Repulsa’s control still stirring in the back of Tommy’s mind, he must confront the fact he may be more of a danger to his new team than a help. This is “Green Ranger: Year One.”
The Power Rangers are distinctly of their time. They’re like Archie Comics or Reaganomics: an idea that seemed great at the time but falls short under modern scrutiny. Despite how 90’s the franchise’s basic premise is (teenagers with attitude transform into colorful ninjas to fight weekly bad guys that are really just footage from an entirely different Japanese show we’re writing this whole other show around), Power Rangers has stuck around forever. From training as actual ninjas to going full Van Damme and becoming time cops, the Power Rangers have been able to more or less reinvent themselves for over two decades. But even then, the basic formula is always the same. Teenagers get ninja outfits based around whatever the hell Super Sentai was doing last year, fight the monster and sell some toys, rinse, repeat. But “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” #1 makes an effort to break the formula, not settling to be a nostalgia grab like I initially thought it would be. And like Archie Comics, which is currently in the middle of a damn renaissance, “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” brings a fresh take to a dated concept and redefines it for today.
It’s appropriate that I bring up “Archie” so much, since that’s the easiest comparison I could for “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” #1. The new series takes place in 2016, retelling stories from the original TV show that everyone is vaguely familiar with. No worrying about the continuity of Lost Galaxy here. As Bulk and Skull explain on their podcast (which is the most 2016 thing about this comic), the Power Rangers just welcomed the Green Ranger to the team after Rita Repulsa introduced him as a weapon to fight the Rangers. This comic picks up there, at an early part in the Power Rangers storyline, and focuses on Tommy Oliver coming to grips with becoming a Power Ranger while still under Rita Repulsa’s control.
Like “Archie”, “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” is a modern high school drama, in a way that the old series could never be thanks to its monster fighting obligations. Rather than try to jam some violin monster or whatever attacking the city into Tommy’s story, “Morphin'” opts to really dig into his relationship with characters like Rita and the Pink Ranger, Kimberly, while touching on the other members of the team. It’s a cool choice, and one that helps add a lot more weight to all the attacks going on in Angel Grove. It’s one thing for the Rangers to meet up at the juice shop every week and talk about how cuh-cuh-crazy it is to see aliens wreck the town. It’s another to see a group of high schoolers balance their everyday lives with their superhero lives. That’s just it. “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” makes the team feel like superheroes, with secret identity angst and everything.
Not only are everyone’s day to day much more prominent in “Morphin'”, but the villains feel a bit more real too. While the art doesn’t capture the majesty of Rita Repulsa’s maniacal laughter (what could?), it does ground the Rangers into a very real setting. The art doesn’t try to go full hammy and play up the nostalgia factor, nor does it try to deconstruct the Power Rangers and make the Putty monsters really messed up. It’s all played completely straight in a way that’s incredibly satisfying. I should also mention, if you are looking for more campy nostalgia acts, Steve Orlando and Corin Howell are also doing a fun short back-up story featuring Bulk & Skull accidentally beating up a Putty monster for the chance to show up the Rangers. I don’t exactly know where that’s going but I am thrilled to find out.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” #1 redefines the Rangers in a way that will help you realize that, hey, this whole teen space ninjas concept was actually pretty rad to begin with.
