Category: Comic Musings

Longtime fans of Power Rangers will recall a series of comics produced by Marvel in the series heyday that focused on the Ninja Ranger portion of MMPR Season 3. One issue in particular features a story called Dark Thunder, where Lord Zedd seemingly creates Dark Rangers from old powers and had them pilot old Thunderzords to confront the Ninjazords, only for said Rangers to go away and never to be seen again. It is a popular story among the fandom, despite being the usual poorly-crafted drivel that comprised the majority of that Marvel run.

For those who don’t know, Boom Studios just released the first volume of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Archives comic collection, which is supposed to collect all the previously published comics from ages ago. Volume 1 collects all the Hamilton Comics series (6 Volume 1 issues, 4 Volume 2 issues, and 3 issues of a retelling of the TV show that was unfinished due to the license running out) as well as most of the Marvel Comics output (both their MMPR comic and their secondary Ninja Rangers run.)

For what it’s worth, it’s a pretty neat compilation with the artwork mostly unaltered (covers were changed to remove publisher logos and such) and the quality of the prints being clean for the most part. I bought this digitally for roughly 20 bucks, but I wouldn’t mind coming across an actual physical book if I can find one.

Anyway, having a collection on hand is spurred the idea of trying to look at some of these comics individually and doing quick little write-ups on each issue. It’s certainly worth thinking about.

So Boom Studios recently announced another Power Rangers comic book and wouldn’t you know it; it’s yet another Tommy-centric comic book written by Kyle Higgins. Oh boy, because clearly we haven’t had enough of the Tommy Wankfest from Mr. Higgins, what with the alt-universe “Evil Tommy” bad guy that reeks of unoriginal fanficcy tripe (we’ve all done that bit, even me).

I was fine with the focus when the book started because the transitional period of the Green Ranger and the addition of a new member of the team was something that was never really touched on. And then you toss in an alternate universe ruled by an evil Ranger that everyone knew was an evil Tommy because of course it was. And then we had to find a way to keep that worthless character around and make him the central villain of a major comic event.

Look, I’m going to reserve judgment on the whole Shattered Grid thing until it reaches its eventual conclusion and I’d imagine I’m probably going back to the beginning of the series and giving some quick thoughts on each chapter. And this older Tommy comic might give me a couple chuckles here or there (though to be honest; I’ve been that road as well, so that’s not quite original territory, either.)

But I’m warning you folks; if the end of Shattered Grid isn’t Kyle Higgins inserting himself into the story and giving Jason Frank a blowjob, then all the hype would’ve have been for nothing.

Don’t expect it to stick… despite claims to the contrary.

Comic books never do anything permanent; it’s just something they do to try and shock people.

The problem is that the only thing this would shock is people who don’t normally read comics.

For the rest of us, we’re just waiting on the return that’ll happen in a few months.

So this is a pretty lame grid thus far.

The above image sums up my thoughts on this whole thing in a nutshell.

Look, for longtime fans, seeing other Ranger teams in comic book form should be a ball… but wouldn’t it be better if they had their OWN comic books to partake in rather than having to share space with the Mighty Morphin reboot series that seems to have such a massive hard-on for the Tommy Oliver character that their big idea for a new evil Ranger was the same old tired “Evil Tommy” trope that has permeated many lazy fanfics written over the years.

I know. I’ve been there… but at least, in my defense, I used his clone, made him immortal, and ended up turning him into a bit of a puppet master before eventually killing him off in brutal fashion.

I want to get excited for this big event. The new Boom! Studios comic is actually pretty good when it isn’t doing the Tommy Wankfest thing and is giving the property the right kind of maturity. But when all there is to look forward is “Evil Tommy” being the big bad for a major event when you have many more enticing options, it’s hard to give this thing anything less than the above image.