I don’t know if you’ve heard, but BOOM Studios is doing another major arc in their long-running Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book. And when all is said and done, things will never be the same again.
Again.
It seems like every time I write about the current line of Power Rangers comics, there’s almost always a negative slant towards it. I often wonder why I’m devoting much thought to a series that I do not actively follow or pay much attention to. Every once in a while, somebody asks my thoughts on the current comic and my only reply is to say that I don’t read ’em. Outside of the occasional graphic novel – which tend to be hit or miss – I largely ignore a series that left me with a sour taste.
For those wondering, I was on board with the series when it first started up back in 2016 and I thought, for the most part, it was promising enough. A new take on the original Mighty Morphin series, slightly reconfigured to fit in with modern times (but is still in line with the original continuity – or so they say…), and certainly the writing was a step above the Power Ranger comics that had come before, which were largely simplistic and sometimes inconsistent with the material it was adapting.
About eight or nine issues in, we’re dealing with alternate universes and evil versions of characters. Next thing you know, the focus is more on original characters that feel like they were pulled from the worst dreggs of the fanfic litter and less on the title characters – even then, it’s mostly on the Tommy worship because the guy who writes this stuff is good buds with JDF and that’s as far as I’ll go. Then Shattered Grid became a thing; the less said the better. And then we’ve digressed from the OG Rangers to this hodgepodge crossover group taking place in some alternate dimension and that’s when I decided, “I’m out.”
I’ve tried giving the comic a few more tries… but it’s the same rubbish as before. Hey, we’ve jumped ahead to the second season and we did our Ranger swap… LET’S BRING BACK EVIL TOMMY FROM THE DARK DIMENSION. Fuck off. Then they split the series into two… Mighty Morphin kept things on Earth, while Power Rangers followed our Omega Rangers (aka – the other half od OG Rangers who didn’t go that peace conference after all.) We have another game-changing event leading to issue 100.
And now we have yet ANOTHER major comic event coming up posed to change the game once again… and as I’m checking the previews for these things, I wonder whether they’re going to be upfront about this being its own thing rather than try to gaslight everyone into thinking that this is perfectly in line with the TV show canon, which is pretty fucking stupid at this point… because I fail to see how you’ve got this uber-Rita or Mister Vile or whatever she’s called having unlimited power, but she eventually gets defeated and her plot for revenge is having Zedd fall in love with her and marry her?
Like I’ve said, I tried… TRIED to give it another shot, because they got a new writer on board and I’m sure she’s talented and all, but I’ve read a couple issues and I don’t know what new thing she brings to the table. It’s a variation of what I’ve seen before. New threat on the table, more focus on the uninteresting OG characters than the people that this comic is supposed to be about, Drakkon is a thing once again, more shit about the multiverse, who else can we turn into a Ranger and whip up some shit design?
Is it really sad that the only Power Rangers comic that I’m looking forward to is the one that Pinky is writing up? And I’m waiting a whole year for that… and, by the way, if that thing ends up sucking, don’t think I’m going to shy away from that… but yeah, this current crop of Power Ranger comics… happy to see it still going, happy that it’s got a fanbase to support it, but I don’t care for it myself… do I really need to go back to the fanfic well for my PR fix until Cosmic Fury hits? Do I have to do this shit myself even? Let’s hope not…
Don’t get me started on Lord Zedd was done dirty post Z-wave. It’s embarrassing to even contemplate.
dtm666 