So while a bunch of old-timers were revisiting past glory in New Zealand – resulting in the 30th anniversary special, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once And Always – OG Pinky Amy Jo Johnson was busy crafting her own anniversary story… out of beeswax. The kind that’s none of ours.
Nobody is going to get that.
In all seriousness, the announcement of The Return – a four-issue miniseries written by Johnson herself, along with partner Matt Hotson and illustrated by Nico Leon – drew some interest and would present a different kind of story. The general gist of it is “What if the original team never split?” No peace conferences, no ninja quests, none of that stuff. The original core group stuck together for years until tragedy struck and the team went their separate ways. There was a prologue chapter published in one of the 30th anniversary comics preceding the return that sets the backdrop for this story that you don’t really need to read, but helps in providing further context.
In any event, Issue 1 of The Return sets the stage for the world that the bulk of its story takes place; depicting the Rangers as adults and how they’ve grown and moved on from their younger heroic years. Issue 2 flashes back to the Rangers’ final battle and the reason why there’s a huge chunk of moon blown away while the last two issues move the story forward. Admittedly, a part of me felt as though this story was a bit rushed and probably would’ve benefitted from another issue or two to further delve into certain characters. Then again, there’s a lot about The Return that left me a bit wanting to know more about this alternate world and maybe there’s more to the story that could have been (or perhaps could yet be) told. That’s the only real knock I have against The Return and if there is any chance of this world being revisited somewhere down the line, then you could easily right this nagging feeling as a tease of things to come.
There’s a lot more that I’d like to touch on, but that would involve diving into spoiler territory and I really don’t want to do that here. What I will say is that despite that feeling of wanting more, what I got out of The Return was still great stuff. The characters were written believably enough – both in flashbacks and the present day – that I could picture this play out like a reunion episode of sorts. Of course, there are instances that draw comparisons to the 30th anniversary special, Once And Always, but both stories are completely different beasts and offer something different and distinct from each other. I’m not going to tell you which is better than the other because that’s a matter of preference, but I will say that The Return does a better job of focusing on the characters and their frame of minds… an advantage that a limited series would have over a sixty-minute special that’s more about the physical spectacle.
One cannot overlook the art of Nico Leon, which is absolutely splendid and is probably the best take on the Rangers that I’ve seen in comic book form. The action sequences are also exceptionally well-done, managing to replicate battles as they would play out on the show, completing with explosive blows inflicted among the Rangers and crew.
The Return is perhaps one of the best Power Rangers comic series that I’ve read in years and may very well be Boom’s best output with the franchise. It is a simple enough story that readers can jump in with only cursory familiarity with the original show (and there’s no need to jump into the main Boom comics run if you don’t want to) while .
dtm666 