From the Command Center
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Volume 11 Necessary Evil Part 1 Review

About this Episode
Ladies and gentlemen, and all you other people,
this is TFG1Mike, and if you're hearing the sound
of my voice, ignore any numbering in this episode
that I mention, please. I've had to move some
things around, I can no longer number them as
.5 episodes anymore, so even though you're still
getting the same great podcasting content, if
you're hearing this message, just ignore the
episode numbering for a while. Thanks, and on
with the show. Yeah, we have all that and so
much more. It's all inside the pull bag here
on the Geekcast Radio Network. So without further
ado, it's time to talk about the comics we're
reading right now here inside the pull bag. Hello
and welcome to... The pull bag as we are coming
to you from the command center here on the GeekCast
Radio Network. I'm of course, TF2 and Mike. Joining
me for Mighty Morphin' March 2022 is Mr. Jesse
Raz. The ultimate power ranger. And you, sir,
are finally getting the answers you have begged
for for years. Yes, um, maybe. So I'm working
on a plan for us to cover more than what we're
going to be covering this month, but I have looked
at other things and you have always said to me,
what in the hell is the Phantom Ranger blah,
blah, blah? Well, they've done that. And I read
it. I got it for Christmas for my kids. And so
I The short end of it is we got answers. Do we
understand some of those answers? No. No. I have
not read it yet. I still have to get it. But
one of the answers that we kind of get here,
other than the fact of 30 years ago, three actors
went off into the sunset to, you know, do a peace
summit. Well, that's technically like, I'm loving
this. This is cool. You know, I think we, I think
the last time we talked, I think we touched on
this a little bit, but I really like how they
sort of retconned what in reality was a pay dispute
and some other stuff and a bad right job on the
show into a whole other storyline because I knew
at some point we were going to come to this and
I love Jason. I will always be, he'll always
be my guy. And I love Trini and I love Zach.
And so I knew at some point I was like, man,
it's gonna suck when we have to say goodbye to
these characters. And so keeping them on and
writing this whole, I freaking love it. And it's
one of the smartest things they did. Yeah, absolutely.
For those that don't know, Mighty Morphin Power
Rangers Volume 11, Necessary Evil Part 1 is what
we are discussing in this episode, in the first
episode of Mighty Morphin March here inside the
pull bag, written by Ryan Parrott, illustrated
by Danielle DiNiucolucco. I'm sorry, Danielle,
I don't know how to pronounce your name. Walter.
Yeah, I suck. I know. Walter. I can't eat. Amazing
colorists, amazing letters. Ed Dukeshire is the
letter. I just wish that some of these other
names were pronounceable for me personally, folks,
but they're not. And this collects, what I find
interesting and what I love about the trade paperbacks
for this series is that we know that technically
this is issue 40, 41, 42, 43. Right. The trades
list them as chapters. And I'm like, oh my god,
I'm 40 chapters into a Power Rangers comic book.
It kind of feels like that. Yeah. What's nice,
you know, they've kind of, you know, at this
point, you know, they've wrapped up because they
had two series going. So now we're we're telling
two stories and one kind of series and You know,
one thing that's been nice and I'm glad because
you were mentioned, you know, colorists and artists
and stuff that they've really kept going is how
vibrant these comics are. I mean, you know, you
have a very colorful superhero team, but everything
just pops off the page. It is. I mean, even when
artists, you know, artists changing hands, it
is still just a beautiful piece of artwork. Yep.
Yeah, everything in this the backgrounds the
colors the lines the care even the kitley I've
said this in the other ones that we've done and
the other ones that my buddy Steve Megatron and
I did because we did the first six volumes then
I brought you on for shattered grid Everything
about this to me is my Power Rangers like yes,
I was 13 when MMP are debuted I watched it and
whatever and, you know, and then I kept up with
several of the series going forward. I have some
favorites just like everybody has some favorites
and I have some that I just don't care for, yada,
yada, yada. But what this comic book and what
Boom Studios and their staff have done is essentially
a love letter to Power Rangers. You would not
get this in a television show 30 years. Oh God.
Oh, no. Fuck, I'm old. It's the 30th anniversary.
It's a 30. Well, you know, I mean, you know,
here's the thing, though. Every every five years,
we should be excited about the anniversary because
we've been getting sort of these anniversary
shows. Some have been better than others, you
know, to kind of diverge, you know, Forever Red
was really good, you know. had its pluses and
minuses so we've been we've been getting these
so we should be excited about these these anniversaries
and not thinking about how ancient we are well
let me tell you as far as i can remember forever
red was the i'm just gonna say it uh forever
red when was that that was ninja storm that was
wild force that was wild force right right right
uh Yeah, Forever Red and when Tommy got the Master
Morpher. That was Ninja Steel. Right, Ninja Steel,
right. Those two are probably my favorites. How
they try, like I am sorry. Television, unless
you're going to go off and do a completely separate
series on Netflix or on Hulu or on wherever.
They butchered the crap out of Kyle Higgins's
Shattered Grid on television. That was horrible.
It was nice, though, that they sort of paid homage
to it, I guess, you know, because you're not
because at the core of it, it's still a kids
show. And the thing that, you know, Saban Saban
finally decided he's like, I don't. And I know
Hasbro owns them now, but like the formula was.
You always got to have more toys coming out.
You always got to have more toys coming out and
continuity Doesn't really build that and so they
still stuck with that, you know You're the inner
big anniversary season Super Megaforce, you know
that had a lot of potential and I watched the
Sentai version of that and that senta and I didn't
watch You know, I haven't watched many sentai,
but I watched that version. That was a much if
you know, they put a little bit more effort into
it, but That's what I guess, bring it back to
the comics. That's what's nice about this is
you get that side, that kind of fan service,
you get that sort of storytelling. But what's
interesting is I don't know if you've been following
this, but like Toey, who provides the Sentai
footage, Hasbro has kind of cut ties with them.
So it looks like Hasbro is going to maybe attempt
to go off and kind of do their own thing. We're
not really sure because I think this next Season
is the last one they have. So it'll be interesting
to see if we get something that aligns a little
bit more with the comics or if we get something
that is pretty formulaic to Power Rangers and
that, you know, hey, there's a new sort every
three episodes because we want to we want to
sell toys. So, you know, there may be some potential
there, but, you know, but now the comics seem
to be really filling in a lot of those holes.
Pretty nice. Yeah. The comics are, and I had
like, when this series, when the original, cause
this is still the original Mighty Morphin Boom
series, they ended it at issue 55, which I don't
understand. Whatever. I don't, whatever. Yeah,
I know. But it's just one of those things where
when this was a thing and when this debuted,
especially more so like. More so when shattered
grid was announced because when that was announced,
I was like, Ooh, Power Rangers comics. Ooh, I
have six volumes before I can, you know, actively
really die. And like they have, and we've talked
about this in the other Power Rangers episodes
we've done on the podcast where they are crafting
the story. They're taking hints and things from
the original continuity, but they're still like
right now. What we're about to start is Tommy
Oliver entering that white light. And what they
did with it here is completely different from
the show. And I like that. What's nice is it
is, but it isn't. So, you know, we get we get
the same series of events, but we get it from
a different perspective. You know, on the TV
show, we got. the little half an hour, three
-parter, two -parter, whatever it was. Yeah.
But the thing was, is behind the scenes, the
reason why it happened was, you know, we had
behind the scenes, we had, you know, three actors
who were trying to leave. You wanted to introduce
a Sixth Ranger because Sixth Ranger sells, and
there was TigerZord footage, so you had to create
that somehow. So you had all that stuff going
on behind the scenes. So you had to create a
reason for that. Here, they changed the reasoning
a little bit. You know, they tied it into them,
you know, Zach Trini and Jason leaving. Which
in reality, you know, there's a scene in the
show when Tommy is announced as the White Ranger
and Zordon makes an offhanded comment like So
I take it you approve of the new leader of the
Power Rangers. Jason gives an answer that doesn't
make sense. That wasn't originally Zordon's line.
So it's like, well, wait a minute. Why did you
all of a sudden you serve Jason as the leader?
This is why and this makes sense. And so it makes
for a fuller story. Yeah, I'm just saying the
events of how the fact that obviously Tommy was
the Green Ranger, the candle, the this, the that.
In the comic it is handled completely different
and it took them 39 chapters to get to adapting
or making their own version of White Light and
I am just loving it. Now, honestly, I'm kind
of glad too, because, you know, one of the things
that, you know, as those of us go back and look
at the show with nostalgia, you know, it's a
kids show and it's very quick. And, you know,
even though there's like 32 episodes, this allows
you to... build up some nostalgia, but you get
to marinate in it and you get to tell some unfinished
stories that you didn't have. You get to build
the team together. They get some camaraderie.
So I'm glad that they did that. And then the
Shattered Grid, which was the anniversary episode
we should have had on TV, but we weren't going
to get it. We got that storyline, you know, and
we talked in the past too about how Beyond the
grid really didn't hold up as a follow up to
shattered grid. Whereas I think necessary evil
is a nice follow up. That should have been what
followed up shattered. Yeah, absolutely. Beyond
the grid felt like and we talked about this in
the last episode of the show that we did. It
felt like they were trying to like, if someone
had, they felt, it felt like they were trying,
the creators were trying to say, Hey, here's
your jumping on point. Not that you don't need
to read shattered grid for anyone who's coming
into a comic book shop for the first time and
seeing power Rangers issue 31. Right. You know,
and say here, jump on here. and follow us and
have an adventure that no one knows about. Whereas
us old guys are like, what the f... Who is this
character? What kind of... Anyway, anyway. They
do a really good job of that in the beginning.
In my head, I read it as previously on Power
Rangers. Yeah. I absolutely have that in my head
all the time. With this one, I love how this
opens. We're in London. Yes. We are facing some
sort of nefarious bird monster and we already
have Rocky, Adam and Aisha in what I assume is
their first battle because they go on and mention
about how You know, oh is this our first flying
monster or this or that or the other? It's definitely
one of their first few battles. Yeah Yeah, so
we have Rocky Adam and Aisha as the new red Red
black and yellow we have Billy and Kimberly is
blue and pink and then obviously we have the
legend himself Who just grabs the bird by the
foot? True, and I do love that. But what's really
interesting is they set up a lot of dynamics
here very early on that we didn't get to necessarily
explore in the show. One, the White Ranger is
kind of overpowered compared to the other Rangers,
which we did get a little bit of that on the
show. And reality is when it came to stock footage,
we had ZHU Ranger suits versus Dai Ranger suit.
And so if you had stock footage, you couldn't
show them together. So you had to shoot new footage.
So a lot of times it was just easier to have
Tommy off on his own. Yeah. But here and so therefore
he could handle more. But here he's clearly a
little bit more powerful than all the other ones.
You have that dynamic. But then you have these
three outsiders and learning about that. He's
also now in the role of a leader. And so just
from a character build and like drama standpoint,
They're sowing all these seeds, which is really
good and pays off in the character development
later on. Yeah. Absolutely. And. It's going to
be interesting to see what happens with Tiger
Zord, because so far, at least in this first
part of the story here, we only have Tommy using
Saba in this battle. Obviously, this monster
is normal. size monster. Yeah, we have a bunch
of spider Z putties. Like, why did Spider -Man
give the putties his anyway? Well, there is a
panel about that. And I do like that, you know,
because Zed does come across as kind of, you
know, He was definitely terrifying before Rita
came along, but he does come across as one note.
We're going to send a putty just like Rita did.
So having him experimenting with more newer putties
and all that stuff, I think it's a way to keep
the comics from feeling as flat as the TV show
kind of did, you know. See, I didn't ever. So.
You can go back and I think it's episode 45 that
we did both of the in episode 45 of from the
command center We did a commentary and I believe
we did both episodes part one and part two of
white light in one podcast right I never felt
like When Zed showed up, oh, I'm gonna have more
powerful putties and they're gonna have my logo
on them and that's gonna be the key to their
I never ever felt that those like I really felt
the danger like they didn't know what to do at
first right to beat them kind of thing and in
this after this battle this first battle they
go back to the command center and they talk to
Zordon and everybody else goes away and Tommy
stays and he and Zordon have a conversation about
the guiding light of goodness and white light
and all the powers and this is why i like this
because he even says i may even be a little bit
taller i can just i know i love that i can just
hear jdf in my head saying that uh but Zordon
tells him the white light of goodness is a powerful
force. I'm sure it will be some time before your
body fully adapts to all its new abilities, but
Alpha will keep a close eye on your power signature.
Just to be certain you were chosen for a reason
Tommy blah, blah, blah to be a guiding light.
So I like that that's different. And I like there's
nothing like, yes, Tommy came in. I don't want
to say like a wrecking ball, but I will. I'm
sorry. I have really weird pop music in my head
as we're recording this, folks. Anyway, you know,
he came in and he did the power thing with Saba.
He even says in the battle, Saba, give me everything
you got. What i'm the reason why i'm saying this
way is what i like is he's trying to use his
powers he's trying to learn his powers and this
after scene with him and zordon are like you
know zordon's like you're just now learning this
you're not any superhero any giant robot any
anything that has a new thing to them should
not know immediately. How to control it use it.
correctly kind of thing. I'm not saying I want
them to go off the rails and screw everybody.
I'm just saying that it makes for better storytelling.
Yeah, you have the new guy, technically the new
leader with new powers. It makes for better storytelling
that he is on a journey to discover all of the
power that he will eventually have. Well, and
you know, like I was saying, it is nice. You
know, Tommy's had, you know, quite a few arcs,
which, you know, Tommy always does, you know,
Tommy Oliver show starring, you know, the Power
Rangers. But again, it kind of sets up a lot
of things that be beyond this arc, we kind of
get pay off. So Kimberly, Kimberly's in a different
position because she's a veteran, you know. Um,
she's trying to hold the team together, but she's
trying to figure out this relationship with Tommy
who's going through his own thing. Billy is,
we start to see Billy kind of going off on his
own and we start to see him interacting a little
bit more with grace. And that sets up some stuff
later on. And then again, you have Rocky Adam
and Aisha and what's really nice. Um, so in this
first part, um, you know, we get more of the
training. That's really a big part of this episode
is those three trying to not, you know, come
to terms with their power and Tommy talking about,
you know, Billy's like, hey, cut them some slack.
You know, they're they're about as good as the
other three were. Well, it doesn't matter. They
got to be better. They got to be better. You
know, we need better. Yeah. And the the way that
the first issue ends 40 or toward the end is
we get an evil doggy Kruger. I was like, wait
a minute. When did they they they trade in the
blue Kruger for the red Kruger. But before really
quickly, I do want to go into the next issue.
But I have to say that every time like he is
now shown the first you know, I won't strengthen
their resolve with another hollow victory you
see. Yes. You see him from the front, and I am
not Rita Repulsa, and there's another panel.
Oh, there's a panel right before the scene switches.
Instead, I simply change the rules. I miss Robert
Axelrod so much. Rest in peace. Yes. Cause literally
I can hear him. He's not here anymore, but I
can hear his Zed voice in my head as I'm reading
this. And I'm just like, Oh Lord Zed, I hope
you are so much different in this comic than
you were in the show. He was bad -ass in the
show, but I'm hoping that he doesn't. I'm really
hoping that Rita doesn't come. Well, wait a minute.
Isn't Rita dead in this universe? I know Dragon
killed his Rita, but anyway, the point is - No,
no, no, no, because we reconstitute all that.
That stuff just hasn't happened yet. Okay. But
you know, what's funny is, you know, if you didn't
watch, you know, Lord Zedd for the first time,
like as a kid, it was terrifying. It was legitimately
terrifying. And they somehow, and this is a credit
to the artwork and the writing, that menace.
Yeah, it translates really well through the comic.
Yeah, it does. Just the way they lay him out,
the lighting on him, like all of that. They do
a really good job of translating some of that
same terror that happened on TV through the comic,
which is really, really good. Yeah. When he showed
up in Mutiny and you see him being, you know,
debuted for the first time. his red pulsing stuff
and it looks like there's blood and there's this,
that, you know, it was just so chilling. And
for, you know, a 13 year old and however the
hell young you were and whatever else, it scared
the ever living shit out of us. And here it's
just so, I love the art style. I love the colors.
So good. Yeah. Again, the comic really does a
good job of universe building because, you know,
we don't really get a sense that there's another
group. It's mentioned a couple of times offhand
in the show, but it's not until turbo and then
space that we get the sense of this universe
of evil and all these other bad guys out there.
Yeah. But they do a really good job of incorporating
that greater universe. You know, because Zed
calls in this guy, again, the evil doggy Kruger.
Yeah, Dane. And what I love about the ending
of this first issue is I don't I'd have to go
back and see, but I don't remember a lot of Rocky,
Adam and Aisha, just the three of them. There
wasn't. There wasn't much. I mean, there was
more. There was more on the show. leading up
to the power transfer, then there really was
afterwards. Yeah. So that's what I'm loving here
that we don't need to see the path like we for
those of us who know we know we don't need to
see the power transfer because technically the
power wasn't transferred. I mean, it really was.
I mean, Jason Trini and Zach are still Rangers.
They're just different or whatever. But the point
is we're seeing Aisha, Adam and Rocky after and
we're seeing them, you know, I miss Stone Canyon
or this or that. And I'm really digging that.
Which they're turning them into actual, you know,
characters. instead of just three people who
replace these three people and we're not really
going to give them a lot. You know, really, Aisha,
all she had was she's Kim's new best friend.
No questions asked. You're just you work with
besties. We're going to go shopping. Yeah. You
know, Rocky was given nothing. You know, Rocky
was kind of this goofy guy, but like wasn't like
he was probably given the least of the three.
Yeah. Adam had a little bit more to do and especially
later on in the series came more into his own,
especially in Zio, where he was kind of the set
up is sort of the number two. You know, so yeah,
it is nice to see them with more flushed out
personalities. But the way you know, but the
way this one ends is very interesting too, is,
you know, just as we're getting more rocky Adam
and Aisha. we get a little bit more Zach, Trini,
and Jason, and then flat out lying to their friends.
Oh, yeah. That because they do this weird like
scratchy TV background thing to hide where they
are in the reception. It's still the 90s. True.
But I understand that. I'm just saying that,
you know, on these I think the only reason, who's
holding the phone here? Billy. I think the only
reason why Billy is holding the phone the way
he is in his left hand is to hide the iPhone
3GS home button. He's holding the phone the other
way because the speaker is on the right here.
So it's like, oh, he's just hiding the old Apple
home button as they're talking to them. And then
like you said, the issue closes with Jason, Trini,
and Zach in red, yellow, black, and gray ranger
suits on some unknown planet. Yeah, man, Steve
Jobs, I guess, I guess he's rolling over in his
grave, isn't he? Right. Well, and that's the
kind of interesting thing that they've done about
this whole comic series is it's not really set
in the 90s. Like, you know, that's where the
nostalgia plays. But You know, it is sort of
contemporary. I don't think anybody ever date
checks anything. Oh, no. There are smartphones
like the which is kind of funny because that
makes the communicators less cool. The question
is, do I like I haven't noticed so far, like
I know they had them in the past issues in the
past stories, but do they even still have communicators?
Well, they do. And it only kind of comes up.
Occasionally, it's usually used for more teleporting
than it is like, yeah, direct communication.
So, but yeah, I mean, but yeah, like that's kind
of the problem is, you know, before they had
to kind of explain like, oh, that's just my watch
alarm. Oh, that's this. And now it's like, oh,
you're talking into your watch. Big deal. I do
that all the time. You know what, folks, I'm
going to say this and I stand by this. Michael
Knight did it first. God damn it. Oh, gosh. So
issue 42, I have to say, or issue 41, I should
say, I have to say I love the main cover. Really?
Oh, the three of them there. I love that. That
is so cool. It is a nice piece of cover work.
Yes. Which I think that's also one of the things
that is like most consistent throughout the series,
too. Like, there's some really good cover work
going on. And, you know, sometimes the the standard
one or the regular one. But there's a lot of
really nice variants out there, too. Yeah, there's
so many nice variants and there's so many times
that they constantly will do the helmet ones
like I'm looking at. I'm not jumping ahead for
the story or anything, but I'm looking at issue
42. I love the issue 42 main cover, but they
have a variant of Kimberly holding her helmet
and it's the it's the similar ones to when when
the series first started. Issue zero. Yeah, issue
zero. So I think those are just maybe reprints
or something. They don't look different, but
anyway. So that was the thing that was really
nice about when you get into Shattered Grid.
There were so many variants. I have Lord Drakken.
It's very reminiscent of the... Issue zero, but
I have them holding I have all six of him holding
their cracked helmets. Yep I have those framed
and on my wall there is a great artist on Etsy
and I Cannot remember his name and I apologize,
but he does The entire he does every team just
like that in that sort of style Wow, and so I
have on my wall I have the legacy Gold Ranger
power staff. And I have his version of the Gold
Ranger helmet like that. And it is beautiful.
That's amazing. So sorry, side note is tangent.
No, no, no, absolutely. Yeah, no, that's that's
what we're here for. Because I would love I was
like, man, I need a Gold Ranger just like the
Red Ranger issue zero. And I'm currently making
a power sword of my own. And so that's going
to hang up there. And then I've got to find a
decently priced issue zero cover that I'm also
going to hang because I had an option to buy
to buy them when they came out. And I was like
that cool. That was cool. But I wasn't buying
comics at the time. And now I'm like, I'm an
idiot going for like 50 to 100 bucks a pop. Yep.
Yep. Yep. Yep. The reason why I like The main
cover to issue 41 is that, and I like it in the
trade. I do not like it in the actual physical
single issue comic, because you have all of the
Power Ranger and the, don't get me wrong. I like
the Power Ranger logo and the Boom Studios logo
and the number. Right, right, right, right. This
is so clean. It is so interesting. You have Jason
in the center with Zach on the left and Trini
on the right. And this was done by Jamal Campbell.
And I swear, it's like, hmm, I wonder if he talked
to JJ Abrams, because there's a lot of lens flare
in this cover. I think it's awesome. Yeah, I
mean, there is, you know, there is some of that,
I'm sure. You know, a lot of these artists are,
I mean, they're influenced by the movies they
watch. I mean, that's why they get this great
cinematic. covers and things like that so yeah
no I mean I don't I don't disagree with you you
know I kind of thought the same thing I was like
yeah yeah so issue 41 starts off with we are
on the moon and we are watching Dane his name
is Dane so we don't need to call him red doggy
Kruger even though I know what he is kind of
like evil doggy Kruger just yeah yeah Technically
he is a great Dane. So he and what I love about
this new character is that. He's. these so -called
tactics ridiculous he's watching all these replays
and he's watching apparently Lord Zed and Rita
have filmed every single battle ever and squat
and Babu have cataloged them all but this one
this first panel where you see doggies sitting
Indian style on the floor he has all this food
around him and I'm like oh my god how long has
he been watching yeah really And I love that
he he doesn't he he's one of those military type
leaders that doesn't give a rip about names like
he's sitting here calling squat and Babu the
wrong names. And I really feel sorry for squat
and Babu because they've really come into their
own with this this comic series. They're not
even that. Yeah. They've had more character development.
I mean, especially Finster. Yeah, an insane amount
of character development through this entire
like even beyond this like it's it's very cool.
Yeah, it is very much so. So, you know, Dane
wants to see everything and we cut to I'm just
gonna say the Omega Rangers. We haven't got to
that reveal yet, but that's what they are. So
they're still having the conversation with Billy
and Kim and All of that and they're like, oh,
let's you know hang out and find the perfect
time and blah blah blah and Billy looks like
Right. Well, it was just an idea You know, he
senses something's up yeah, he knows something's
up but you the look on his face is not only of
I wonder what they're actually hiding, but it
also looks like a little bit of disappointment.
For sure. Well, the thing is, too, with Billy,
we've got to also remember Billy's carrying some
secrets of his own, too. Yeah, that's true. I
believe I mean, I believe he is. And if he isn't
by now, he will be. Yeah. And so that's also
kind of I'm sure we're going to weigh on him
a little bit as well. Yeah. Uh, and I love the
three of, I love the Omega Rangers. I think they
bought it. Really? No, not at all. Yeah. Yeah.
So, and again, I love the three of them on, just
like I love Rocky, Adam and Aisha, you know,
seeing Jason, Trini and Zach on their own. And
obviously they will eventually come into having
other team members. Like we're just, uh, you
know, we're just about to meet. Kaia K. I don't,
I assume Kaia. Cause you removed the Y then she's
named after a car company, which is not good
to be kicked in the ass. So we're meeting her
for the first time. You know, they're doing,
you know, they're at this safe haven place and
they're, you know, helping out with the rebuilding
and. All of that. So I mean, not technically
a peace summit, but at least they're doing some
good that is not necessarily superhero. Like
it's not fighting super villains kind of thing.
So I think that's cool that they have a life.
You know what it is? It is they are, but you
know, it's not the peace summit that we assume
they're at, but they are kind of doing some of
those things. Yep. Hold on. Sorry. They are doing
some of those things. Which, which really is
nice because it lends to that same like hero
helper personality that they have. Yep. And I
don't know about the inside of it, but eternity
point. First of all, you're not a He -Man. Oh,
you look like, um, a box coin bet. Like literally
I'm XI has the worst timing ever. Eternity point.
I'm looking at this building of what their command
center is. And I'm like, okay, I'll put a quarter
in that door. Like serious. It looks like a cheap
ass old ass 1970s money bank. Uh, well. You know,
they can't there can't be just another command
center lying around with another floating head.
Well, I wasn't expecting another floating head,
but I was. I mean, there could be command centers
all over the galaxies. You don't know. You need
to get out and see more galaxies, apparently.
Well, I mean, I guess we didn't know that there
was a, you know, there's a power chamber underneath
the command center. So, you know, I mean, you're
not wrong. That's the backup case. Anything goes
wrong. This is a stop stop stop stop asking questions
It's okay, but you had those you had those ships
like on a moon Just like waiting couldn't we?
No, no, no, no, no Yeah, and this whole Omega
Ranger command center thing between XI and the
emissary. I'm like, okay, who's in charge here?
There can only be one Zordon like leader per
team here and you've got the blue emissary and
XI or whoever the hell he is, nine or no, technically
11. But you know, but he is a little bit like
a beefed up Zordon Alpha dynamic though. Yeah.
You know, like like it is. It kind of is, you
know, except, you know, Alpha's very wimpy. This
thing could take your head off. Yeah, pretty
much. You know. Yeah. So I mean, it's not that
dissimilar. And it's certainly one that they
are familiar with. It's certainly a, you know,
a dynamic they know. Yeah. And. I love Kaya and
Zach. Zach is like, is it just me or is he starting
to make less sense? Yeah, he talks like a headache.
I need to change that to my Facebook quote on
my pro, because seriously, like that's a Rita
line. Rita may not be here right now, but really
that's a Rita line. I've got such a headache.
Um, so we have some team building and we have
them, you know, talking to, you know, the emissary
are in Omega Ranges. It's morphin time. Now I
before, do you have anything to say before I
talk about this morphin sequence? Cause I want
to make sure that you have your say of what's
happened to the point right before we get to
this. I think I'm good. I think, I think you
go into this. My first thought as I okay, so
You know Jason says that we will emissary. All
right rain Omega Rangers. It's morphin time Omega
Earth power Omega air power Omega fire power
Omega water power Where's the heart power man?
You're supposed to be summoning captain Seriously,
the first thing I saw, the first thing I heard
in my head was the voice of Kwame with Earth,
you know. It's just so 90s. But I will say, so
this is one area that I think the comic. doesn't
translate as well as a TV show would. Because
with Power Rangers, on paper, the Morphin sequence
is okay. I mean, you say it, boom, next panel,
they're morphed. On the TV show, it's kind of
a cool thing. But we can read the comics because
we're playing it out in our head. This Omega
sequence, we've never seen it before. And so
it feels a little lackluster. And I'm not crazy
about the elemental thing. And I'm not a huge
fan of their jewelry. Going from a morpher to
a, you know, a bracelet is a little, and I know
you can make the argument that the zionizers
are bracelets, but I swear it's different. This
is like going from, you know, a morpher. to magic.
And I'm like, I'm not ready to make that jump
yet. So I like my Captain Planet and this aside,
I like the visual of omega now omega forever
where you see them. That's nice. I like that.
I love that drawing. I love the colors there.
I think that's great. Trini, Zack, and Jason
all look like they have upgraded versions, completely
different versions, but upgraded versions of
their original Mighty Morph. It's basically instead
of yellow and white or red and white, it's gray
with their colors. You look at poor Kaya over
here. She looks like she's from... Oh, Tori,
Tori, Tori, Tori. Oh, Ninja Storm. Yeah. Seriously,
her outfit in this opening morph sequence looks
like Tori's from Ninja Storm. Well, yeah, I mean,
the whole thing does kind of evoke a feel of
that. I guess. You know, but it's interesting.
This is the first time in the series that we
have invented New Rangers. True. Well, we have
deviated completely from the continuity and we're
inventing New Rangers. And I think they do a
really good job with it. Again, I'm not crazy
about the design and everything, but I think
for what it is, I think it serves its purpose.
I think it's cool. I think their original stuff
is cooler, but, you know. Yeah. So they go out
and do some battling against these weird looking
V shaped borgs or whatever they are. We cut back
to the spectrum with XI and you know, so he's
giving them kind of instructions on on battling
and whatever. It's really interesting because
they're on this. What's the name of the stupid
planet? Xernox 2, and Kaya comes across this
little girl where Kaya says, you know, we're
here to help. What happened? Who did this? We
have this whole thing and we have the introduction
of Garrison Vox. The panel where he comes down
and is in front of of omega blue here He kind
of reminds me of a really really red version
of dark side a little bit Yeah So yeah, I could
see that. Um, you know, he's kind of a He's kind
of a generic baddie. Yeah, you know, he doesn't
There's nothing super like unique about him,
which he's not he's I mean, he's not like the
mega bad person of necessary evil. Yeah. So I
think it's OK. I mean, he does have a little
bit more of a beefed up monster, the weak quality
to him. Yeah. You know, and he does kicks their
butts. Mm hmm. And I. I love when he introduces
himself. And what exactly are you? I hear Walter
in my head. Super secret space ninjas, dude,
or your worst nightmare. Take your pick. I guess
we should because I believe at this point they
have sort of outlined what the Omega Rangers
mission is and what the emissary has conveyed
to Jason. When Shattered Grid was put back together,
when they fixed everything or tried to, Wolfman
Energy leaked out and inhabited... random people
across the universe and has corrupted some of
them. And so you have people with essentially
the power of a Power Ranger or in some cases,
maybe multiple ones, but no mentors, no idea
how to handle it. And so they're going and they're
trying to deal with they're mopping up. They're
cleaning up after after Shattered Grid. Oh, you
know, I really dug. what they were doing with,
now that you phrase it like that, I feel bad
for Jason Trini and Zach that they're just the
janitors of the universe. Well, I mean, they're
tying up loose ends. I mean, you know, you can
say what you want, but that's what they're doing.
They're tying up loose ends and they're trying
to, ultimately, they're trying to save people
because... Their goal is not to lock everyone
up, although that's mostly what they do. What
they do, yeah. But their goal is to save these
people essentially from themselves. Yeah. And
we get to a point in this where they get Garrison
to the point where they can quote unquote bottle
him up. I am sorry. That bottle looks like a
goddamn space dumpster to me. Well, I mean, it
worked on Rita. Well, true, but come on. I mean,
listen, we know space dumpsters exist. We know
that Ninja can be held in a bottle. That's true.
So why can't these bad guys be held? Why can't
they have bottles? I'm not saying it's a bad
thing. I'm not saying it's a bad concept. Oh,
wow. They're just renaming space dumpsters to
these bottle things, because look at that, where
they say we're bottling him up. Look at the design
on the... Oh, my God. Oh, God. I'm not disputing
what you're saying. I'm just saying, you know.
I love the fact that... these rangers have, you
know, they're, it's another planet. It's a different,
there are different species around. It's a different
community. But the fact that this little girl
can come in and give Zach, you know, this colorful
squid looking thing in a jar. And she says, the
colors help you sleep. I wish I could sleep anyway.
You know, wish that worked on me. But at the
same time, they still miss home and and all of
that. I just love I'm just loving this. I, you
know, I make little complaints about space dumpsters
and whatever, but it's such a good, interesting
story. It is. And it allows us. So what's really
nice about this whole thing is it allows us to
tell more in continuity stories. with, you know,
with things that are going on with the White
Ranger, Rocky Adam and Aisha and that kind of
thing. But at the same time, we get to explore
the greater universe with three people that we
already know. So it's a nice way to, again, build
on the universe, but tell more more stories.
So I mean, I really am liking it as well. You
know, yeah. I mean, so I'm liking it too. Yeah.
And I am, as I've said in the other episodes,
I am not like, I, the whole reason why we even
have Mighty Morphin March, 2022 folks is over
Christmas in 2021. I was like, you know, I paid
all my bills. I had everything taken care of.
I had a little bit of extra money left over after
I saved some stuff and whatever. And I'm like,
Ooh, volumes 11 through 14 trades. Hmm. That's
not that bad of a price for all you know those
so that you know that's why we're doing this
and i was you know i mentioned to jesse a couple
months ago i'm like hey you want to do this he's
like sure let's do it so yeah and the way this
one ends with them showing off their bottle collection
i feel like it's the what -if corridor yeah We
are a little down that path. You're not wrong
there. Honestly, that's a pretty good sort of
tangent to say that maybe we're kind of in that
realm anyway. Yeah, I like that. Once again,
going into issue 42, Jamal Campbell's main cover.
Absolutely love it. Rocky, Adam and Aisha of
them morphed, but that also has them with, you
know, their eyes, their, you know, their facial
expressions and so cool. Absolutely love that.
We kick it off in Angel Grove against the spider
Zed putties. Oh yeah. And the sad thing is in
the one panel where Aisha is like, uh, Adam holster
the blaster. And she slices. I'm like, wait a
minute. That body used to belong to Mr. Freeze.
They made him a spider in Batman, the animated
series. So you just cut off Mr. Freeze's head.
Don't do that. That's funny. Yes. Uh, so yeah,
they're, they're fighting. Spider Z putties and
that's what this battle is. And they're, you
know, We see Tommy and all of them doing this
battle and we see the monologue because really
what's happening is Dane is observing them and
he's preparing because they know nothing of him
yet. He knows that they're going to win that
the Power Rangers are going to win. But that's
that's not the point. The point is he is getting
one last little look at how they operate so I
can come and destroy them. Yeah. Yeah, because,
you know, as you know, as they're celebrating
and he goes on to say, Congrats on winning the
battle there, Tiger. I just but I just think
you lost the war and he. goes. Exactly. Exactly.
Cut off. Yeah. I'm very excited to see because
I what I am most excited because again, like
I said, I have not read ahead. I am reading these
for the first time as we're covering them. I
cannot wait to see Tiger's art. Well, what's
what's, you know, what's really cool about and
I don't remember if it's this one or the next
issue. But like, I like that we're getting More
of the individual Thunder Zords. We never got
the individual Thunder Zords with the exception
of the Red Dragon. You know, we would get the
Thunder Assault team, but they're all together.
They're never working separately. So we're getting
more of that. And I really, I really like to
see more of that because I mean, that's as somebody
who has an extensive Megazord collection. That's
half the fun. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So we go
back to safe haven and the Omega Rangers and.
You know, they're, you know, doing all of the
garrison Vox stuff and and yeah. And I like what
he says here. Uh, you know, you know, emissary
says garrison, please. We know this didn't start
off well, but we're trying to protect people
from. From what? Taking care of themselves? You
say I'm infected. I say I'm blessed. Right. I
mean, there is they do. What's really kind of
cool with the Omega Rangers is they do get kind
of a like a moral quandary here. It's like, do
they have a right to dictate how this power is
used? You know, who who gives them the right
to do this? Now we know it's a Morphin Master.
It's like we know who, but it's like, you know,
you're a person, you know. It's like all of a
sudden, I gain the ability to fly and punch things.
And then someone comes along and it's like, yeah,
you can't do that. We need to take that power
back. And it's like, screw you, dude. I'm going
to throw you a flying punch right to the face.
Right. I've never met you before. Why do you
have that right to do to take this away from
me? No. And again, this is more character development
for Garrison. This is more character development
for all of them. And we have Trini going out
to basically the outside of the ship with Kaia.
And, you know, Trini says, you know, I really
hate that you like to hang out on the rooftop.
Yeah. Yeah, this would freak me out, too. But
I love the way that Kaia is. I love the way her
character is, you know. Where she's talking about
her look her brother. She doesn't say little
so I don't know if he's older or younger I'm
assuming he's younger but yeah, you know, he
asks me Kaia. Where's the Sun? Where's the this?
Where's the that and you know, she just loves
shouting wake up son wake up, you know sky whatever
And oh that's right he would have been four and
he is not You know, so you kind of get that That
heart wrenching thing, but again, this is character
building. This is a character that we can attach
to now without needing to know 40 years of, of
traits and things. So you, again, it's the storytelling
that is, you know, really interesting with the
various characters. It's just so fun. Yeah, they
get they get they do a really good job of you
know kind of setting her up and sort of a quick
A quick way and then which plays into the rest
of her arc. Yeah, you don't know about yet You
will find out Later on Yeah So I love that scene
because again, it's and I love this thing that
they do sometimes where it's one or obviously
doesn't mean more than one but it's you know,
it's two or three mainly usually two characters
interacting with each other and You know, they're
either teaching The other character something
or vice versa or whatever and it's just such
a good good moment Speaking of a good moment,
holy crap, look at Amy Jo Johnson on the Great
Wall of China. Yeah. And that's the other kind
of cool thing is that, like, you know, they can't
teleport everywhere. And so, like, they do kind
of take advantage of the fact that, like, you
know, you can't. So we're going to go for a jog
on the Great Wall of China. I feel like that
is abusing your power a little bit, but, you
know, why wouldn't you as a teenager? Hey, look,
even at. Well, yeah, because this is Mighty Morphin
March I am now 42 years old folks, which means
I am the answer to everything at least for 2022
But anyway even at 42 if I could morph please
it would solve all my transportation issues since
I can't drive You kidding me, you know, oh, yeah
That is kind of cool, too. And again, I've talked
about, you know, the way they build the universe
and everything. But it is really nice, too, that
we have stories that take place outside of Angel
Grove, which is really nice. You know, that is
a limitation that we got on the show because
of budget, even though so much of Angel Grove
looks like a Japanese, you know, fountain or
garden. Except for that one time when they were
shooting the movie in Australia and they had
to shoot the show there but You know, it is nice
so that you know, we have more parts of the world
so it looks like Zed is really a threat to the
world and not just the city of Angel Grove because
if it was true that why would you ever live in
Angel Grove? Exactly. That's why I said at the
beginning of this episode so far, like I love
that they start in London, that they start somewhere
that is more worldly. And you know, you have
here the scene with Kim and Tommy with the Great
Wall of China and this whole thing that we're
starting to see about Tommy where he's not tired
at all. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't sleep and
he doesn't this and he doesn't that and And I
love this. You know, she says you're really not
tired, like at all. Nope. Now, come on. Last
one to Ernie's Pays. Sigh. Stupid new White Ranger
powers. It's a cute interaction with them. But
again, it also kind of tells you where Tommy's
he's kind of overclocked at this point, power
wise. Yeah. And the one thing I noticed about
this entire scene. Obviously, she's wearing the
color she's supposed to be wearing, but he is
still wearing green. Well, you know, because
again, they go for a little bit more realism.
Tommy hadn't had time to go shopping yet. Oh,
listen, a good workout shirt is a good workout
shirt, Mike. True. But, you know, at all, as
I all as I can, oh, all as I have in my head
now, and we're not even there and I don't even
know if they're eventually going to get to this.
All as I have in my head is Tommy with his Invisigym.
Oh, sorry. I had to stop off at home. I had to
stop off at the store. I didn't have enough black
in my closet. Oh, no. He says it's something
at the end of that episode right after he gets
it. And he's like, I got to go shopping. I don't
have nearly enough black in my closet. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm like, oh, God. So that's going to be
fun and interesting if we see that. So we cut
back to XI. And the Omega Rangers and apparently
they have a level six threat now. And they're
talking about. I do love this because Jason says
the emissary, he just means the planet has a
strange effect on morphing. We switched colors
and and we could hear each other's thoughts.
Yeah, you could. You could, you never mentioned
that. Oh, neat. You switched colors. This is
Kaia talking. Oh, neat. You switched colors.
Maybe I'll get to be the Red Ranger then. I just,
I think this is just so, I'm just loving this.
The way that they're writing this and the way
that these characters and the places that they
get to go. Right. And you know, it's kind of
interesting kind of talking about the the actual
dynamic. And I don't I don't remember if it's
in these issues or not. I don't have them. I
had them in front of me earlier, but I don't
right now. But it's funny. So they're weapons.
Yeah. You know, Jason, it's a different type
of sword, but he's got a sword. But Trini and
Zach have different weapons that they have to
go and learn. And what's interesting is it would
have been really easy to give Zach the hammer.
Yep. And treating the knives on a blade, because
it's close to what they had. But they flip flopped
it. They flip flopped it, yeah. And I think that's
really kind of a smart idea. Yeah, because they
have to learn something new. And she even makes
mention of it. Oh, I wish I had my power daggers
right about now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's a
nice little bit of a nod of like, yeah, these
new powers are cool, but it's not I'm still not
comfortable yet. Everything that they're doing
with Jason, Zach, and Trini is awesome in my
eyes. The only thing I will say, and it's not
really a thing of, because they're not really
using Austin St. John as a model for Jason. Yeah.
And this is just a complete nitpick on my part.
I just wish his hair was black. That's the only
- It is sometimes, but it is in other times.
To me, I really enjoy it because it's more like
my hair, which is a dark brown, which depending
on the light, since I was eight years old, dude.
Yeah. But the reason why I'm saying all of this
is because every time you've I've seen these
these three Rangers in this entire story so far.
They look like amazing fashion show runway models
in their suit, in their power suits, in their
just general clothes. And now they're at this
whatever party it is. And, you know, they're
all decked out. Trini's in this yellow dress.
Zach and Jason are in, you know, black and red
tux kind of thing. They just make them look so
damn cool and it's awesome. I mean, that's kind
of what the TV show sort of did, too. You know,
I mean, those were those. Listen, those 20 year
olds were not real teenagers. I was really disappointed
when I got to high school and no one looked like
that. Yeah, especially me. You know, it's funny.
So like, I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up
because I really wanted to talk about because
I love the sort of like. James Bond is sort of
spy little story they're telling here. You get
you get Dark Honda, you start to see Elgar, you
know, you see all these future baddies in here,
because again, it would make sense that they
would be and they're all bidding on this. We
don't know yet with this thing. And then we find
out that this thing is like a kid that can destroy
a planet. Yeah, that's not cool. Yeah, all stupid
villains. But yeah, you're right. You know, they're
they're doing all of this and they think they're
they're they're being sneaky. But the queen knows
and yeah, and yeah, and what you know. And the
funny thing is, because I've mentioned this before,
how I read the comic is I'm reading for the story
first. Mm -hmm. Completely missed that Elgar
was here. You missed that? The first time around,
the second time I got it. But the first time
around, I'm like, oh, OK. Poor Elgar. He always
gets the raw end of the stick. It's so weird,
too, how he just, he stuck around in the show,
you know? Yeah. You know, it was just he, you
know, they needed comic relief, so they're like,
eh, we'll keep him. Yep. So like I said, the
Queen knows the Rangers are here and then we
cut to Bulk and Skull and it's, like I said folks,
next year is the 30th anniversary of Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers. It's taken 29 damn years for me
to feel sorry for Bulk because Skull has a new
girlfriend. That's good. We haven't really touched
on Bulk and Skull here, but that is really cool
that they are keeping them in here and they're
giving them, even them, they're getting a little
bit more plot development and Skull finding a
girlfriend and Bulk dealing with his jealousy
and all that stuff. I really like that. Yeah,
absolutely Yeah, I really I really enjoy that
and they don't do too much of it, which is what
I appreciate You know, I don't and I mean but
I don't want the whole comic book to be them
Yeah, like it's moments. It's little snippets.
It's it's you know, whatever Blame the fact that
I have the metallic Funko pop super shredder
over next to me. You know, smaller doses through
future mutants kind of thing. And that's how
I see, you know, Balkans go and the whole time
that we've been reviewing Power Rangers here
inside the pull bag and on from the command center.
We've never really delved into the whole. bulk
and skull sections of the books, because I like
doing them by the trade. And most of the time,
by the time we get to the end of one trade, it's
like, oh, okay, somebody got to go to the bathroom.
Somebody needs lunch. Somebody needs to go to
work. Somebody needs to do this, that, and the
other thing. And it's not that I want to ignore
bulk and skull. At some point, maybe I'll go
back and actually just have us do a whole episode
on the adventures of bulk and skull. But I do
like that. Again, we're here at Ernie's juice
bar and martial arts center and the juice bar,
gym place, whatever. And we see all these people.
We see Billy and Kimberly are coming up and we
see Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. And Kimberly's like,
they never got back to me. And Kimberly's like,
maybe it's time to admit we're living in two
different worlds now. She has no idea how on
the mark she is. Yeah, and you know, the other
part of this, and again, it goes back to something
I've said a million times, but like they are
a part of this world. And so having them in here
really fills out that universe. And honestly,
if you never saw the show and picked up the comic
and it was in Bulk and Skullward in here, you
wouldn't notice it. It wouldn't be that you wouldn't
know. Yeah. But since like this is really targeted
at those of us who are nostalgic for this. Yeah.
It feels right. Yeah. And I like that, you know,
Tommy's finally wearing a white shirt and you
know, we get the morphine sequence. I love the
panel before they start naming off everything
where it's just Tommy yelling it's morphine time
and it's all. I just love that panel. That panel
fills my screen and it's just so cool. And, you
know, we see the breakdown of it and we like,
this is a, like if they did a full page, like
if they did a full page print of page 74 of them,
like I, this is a thing I would love to have
framed. This would be cool. That would be so
friggin cool. I just it's so fun and so cool
and so good. And it's so very, very different.
And they meet up with with Dane and they try
to throw everything at him that they have and.
Yeah, he basically, you know, the end of it is
him saying, Micro, yield the MP. Rangers, I should
warn you, this isn't going to be a fair fight.
He's honestly, and we'll get into more of him
because there's more of him in the next trade,
but he actually ends up being a really decent
villain for the Power Rangers, but also kind
of a nice little foil for Zed because He's working
with said more than he's working or said even
though said thinks it's he's working. Yeah. Yeah.
The way and I'm I'm not tied to this at all.
But when Dane showed up when when that whole
thing where oh you know you shouldn't have pet
him or this that the other thing or you tried
to pet him and whatever else you know the whole
all the dog jokes that we'll be getting and whatever
he feels like an Ivan Ooze that did not come
in and take over. He feels like, but I like him.
I like Dane. I think it's cool. I think it's
interesting. I think it's fun. I think it's great
that again, this, even though Billy, Kimberly
and Tommy are originals, we have the new with
Aisha, Adam and Rocky. So you need sort of a
new villain form. I mean, and I think it's great
that they're going up against this guy and some
spider putties or whatever, because you don't
need of like, this is a comic. You can tell a
linear story. You can tell an ongoing story.
You can do stuff without having to just, oh,
we're like, we haven't seen a single Zord yet.
We're at the end of issue 42. We're three issues
into this. I mean, we've seen it. We've seen
we've seen some Thunder Zords. Yeah, but I mean,
we haven't really seen. Like there hasn't been
your traditional television show. Yeah, it's
not an epic. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I get what you're
saying there. Yeah. So we get into 43. We start
with Billy and you know, we weren't ready for
this and we get a recap of the battle and. And
Dane's commentary, you know Dane and Billy's
commentary Just awesome. I know Just awesome.
I I love this guy This this like so again I use
Even though it's probably gonna go away at some
point because it keeps giving me errors every
once in a while I still use comics ology and
I still use their guided view on their own website
I love the fact in the panel with the guided
view as he's taking everybody down with Zach
with the, the, the, the stinging bugs and, um,
not Zach, I'm sorry, Adam. And then Aisha comes
in with the daggers and the one panel is his
ear perking up and then he just kicks her away.
It's just such good art and such good storytelling.
It's fun. It's what it's what the I mean, it's
what the show was, you know, it's fun, but there's
enough. You know, the show was the show was like
candy, you know, you get you get it's enjoyable,
but this is a little bit more filling. Yeah,
this is more. To the point of what the shows
can't like, again, this is a comic book. This
is written, scripted, drawn, colored, lettered,
lined, whatever you want to, you know, however
you want to say it. This is something that they
don't have to rely on footage from Sentai or
from wherever they can, if they see it, if they
want to throw it in, they can like, I'm not saying
because I don't know. Haven't read forward. I
don't think these two things I'm going to mention
are like they could throw in a Titanus and tour,
you know, and it would look awesome because I'm
leaving you alone. Well, you already got a little
bit of that in pink in our, you know, the. Yeah.
Yeah. So you got a little bit of that. But yeah,
no, I get what you're saying. Yeah, it's just
so cool. And apparently Tommy is his real target.
And yeah. Well, yeah, you want it because you
want and he says this toward the end when Zed's
like, you let him get away. He's like, no, I
I destroyed their leader. Yeah. And I let them
pick up the pieces. Yeah. You know, he he's taken
them out one by one. And so now Tommy's hurt,
but he's also psychologically he knows he's not
invincible anymore. Yeah, he knows that the White
Ranger powers do have their limits, but the White
Ranger powers are still. made from the light
of goodness. So they don't have limitations based
on a candle or they're not temper. That's, that's,
you know, so that's, that's good. Yeah. No, that
is true. That, that, that's 100 % true. Yeah.
We then go to, so Tommy is, is healing and he's
on You know bed rest and whatever and we get
to Briel planet Briel with the Omega Rangers
and. They can read each other's minds again or
for the first time or something. I like this
I think that this I think is going to make them
a better team I know it's just a temporary thing
but I think it's great that. I always wondered
in the show, in any of the, not just Mighty Morphin
from 30 years ago, when they're talking on the
communicators or when they're talking to each
other in the helmets or whatever else, I'm thinking,
okay, as an audience member, as a TV watcher,
we need to hear what they're saying. But as a
story point, don't the villains hear them? You
know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. So we get
the Omega Rangers we get them in battle with
the real villains here. And the Queen snaps her
fingers and damn you Kevin us so apparently the
kid did something to her power yeah yeah. Well,
it's because everyone kind of assumed that she
was the power and no, it was him. She was just
controlling him. Yeah. And so, yeah, they walk
away. And no, the Evil Queen is not hot. Man,
mind reading is helpful, but dangerous. Uh, we
get to Kaia and Jason and Jason is just like,
he's not keeled over, but he's bent over and
she asks him how he's doing. Oh, I'm good. You
know, just had my head bounced off a wall. I
haven't been hit. I haven't been hit like that
since Dracken and what the like, wow. That was
a good, that was a good line and that was a good
panel. This panel is, is wow. Yeah, no, that
was a good panel. That was, I really, I really
liked that. And it really, you know, it, yeah,
anyway, I was gonna, I'm gonna, I was gonna jump
into something that has, that happens next, but.
Yep, good. No, no, no, I don't want to spoil
anything for you. I'm talking about like, Oh,
okay. Yeah. Don't do that yet. Yeah. I mean,
I'm not going to cut your head off, but at the
same time, you know, I'm not one of these. Oh
my God. You like the fact that Daredevil had
a good action sequence in season one. Yeah, for
sure. Anyway, whatever. So we get back to the
moon and we get to Zed and Krueger. See now you
got me. Jerk got me doing it Got you monologuing.
Uh -huh. He got me monologuing. Uh -huh and You
know, this is where he says, you know now we
destroy their swords We you know hurts just enough
one of them cracks and then gives us sword on
And all of this and zeds like, well, if all that
happens, I'll pay you double what I promised.
And we have this amazing panel. I almost wish
the word balloon was not there, but he, you know,
turns around, you know, side eyes said, no, you'll
pay me triple. Yeah. It's pretty, I mean, again,
it's pretty bad ass. It is so bad ass. Yeah.
You know what, folks? I was having a really,
really hard time when we recorded Beyond the
Grid. I'm not having a hard time here because
this, everything in this part one of Necessary
Evil has been awesome. Yes, we brought up a few
little nitpicks, sure, but it's not going to
take away from the overall enjoyment of what
this is. Well, and that was kind of what I said
earlier. This should have been the follow -up
to Shattered Grid. Yeah, this should have been
the all that extraneous stuff. It just didn't
work. And I'm not saying they couldn't have done
it, maybe retooled it. But like to make that
the main focal point and the next major, it just
it didn't work very well. And they needed to
just kind of move on. And, you know, what they
were kind of trying to do tying up loose ends
with that other group out there. That's kind
of what the Omega Rangers are already doing.
So you get that dynamic with it as well And we
get the Queen versus the kid and I'm lost here
with these characters because they're new and
I'm not really but I don't dislike it I mean
I get it. She's the villain and he's her power
source kind of thing Well, so to be honest, I
was a little bit too and that's kind of the weird
thing about where this like volume, this volume
cuts off versus the next one. You get more, you
get a better understanding kind of going through.
Like there's some stuff that you just don't quite
figure out, but yeah, you get, it gets a little
bit better. Yeah, absolutely. So. And so basically
they have the battle where they. Don't think
they destroy that what do they do the Queen they
ensnare her they trap. I don't think they kill
her. Yeah you know and they free the kid and
Everybody's free and they say all the Kedri are
free and He explains of who he is and how that
what happened. Yeah Well, he becomes so he's
an interesting He is kind of a victim. Yeah,
absolutely. Whereas we had the other guy, he
wants to use this power and he's using it in
a way that they think is irresponsible. Yeah.
This kid didn't ask for it and it's causing him
problems. That's who they're trying to help.
And it leads to some other realizations a little
bit later on as well. Yeah. And we get back to
safe haven. And this is where everything we just
talked about happens where you know talking about
the kid and whatever And I do like I know I don't
know Like Kaia comes in and because they're again
They're talking about all of this with the kid
and she comes in and says I murdered my entire
Family while they slept if we were sticking to
the rules. I should be in one of the prisons,
too And the emissary says, what you describe
is not murder, but tragedy. There was no intention,
Kaeya, your conscience should be clear. I don't
know about that. Well, I mean, but it is. But
again, it kind of goes back to some of these
are victims, like some of these people are legitimately
victims of this power they can't control. True.
Yes. Uh, and we end this trade on man. I don't
know if it's because I feel like I'm 13 again,
looking at Kimberly and just envisioning, you
know, Amy Jo Johnson kind of thing. I had a crush
on her. Everybody had a crush on Amy Jo Johnson
back in the nineties. The point is, is we end
this on. Kimberly leaving Trini or not as a tree.
Yeah, Trini a voicemail and we get, you know,
every, you know, she recaps everything that happened
with Dane and what's going on with Tommy and
the fact that they're heading back out to face
him again and we could really use your help.
I'm not asking you to suit up or anything, but,
um, I'm scared Trini. It's just not the same
without you guys. And I think everyone knows
it. And the panel where I think everyone knows
it, that is one crazed looking Dane dog. Cause
yikes. And here is where we see the thunder Megazord
power up. And just wow. was really so not to
not to deviate too much. But I was really the
Thunder Makers or it was always one of my favorites.
Yeah. I really enjoyed the look of that. I liked
the big green orb kind of on the front. I'm sorry.
I'm looking at my I'm looking at my toy version
now. Yeah. I thought the red dragon was badass.
Oh, yeah, the red dragon. Yeah, I wish we got
more. And actually, one of the Okay, so Dye Ranger
is a little bit different of a Sentai, but one
reason to maybe go back and try to watch some
of that is you get more dragon mode footage and
it looks so awesome. So I love, that is one of
my all time favorite Zords is that. Now the Gryphon
and the Unicorn, they are, and the Lion's a little
meh too, they're not the best. I let the lions,
uh, Adams, right? Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Mastodon
lion, thunder sword power. Yeah. I remember now
I like the lion and I like the dragon functionality
though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, honestly, out
of the, out of the five of them, the Griffin
and the unicorn are kind of, it's a down grain
from Triceratops and sabershoot tiger, but whatever.
Yeah. So they have the fight against Dane and
he, you know, again, it's Kimberly's, you know,
voicemail, you know, I'm sure we went over to
this guy, throws us, we can take it. I just missed
my friends and I didn't want to not say that
in case, you know, forget it. Just, just call
me back when you can. Okay. And to be continued
in. Again, another panel that would be so cool
to have on a wall with Dane taking this energy
sword thing and right through that green, right
through the green old chest. Necessary Evil part
one is awesome. I think it's so good. It is so
fun. Zero to five on the GCR scale. It's a five.
There's nothing in here that would make me want
to not continue reading this arc. I'm right there
with you. I give it a five. I mean, it's like
I said, like I said several times, it should
have been the direct follow up to Shattered Grid.
And in many ways it is. And I think that's why
it's important that they kind of start off with
the previously on Power Rangers, you know, kind
of thing, because basically they're setting you
up for A lot of the stuff that has previously
happened, you don't need, you just need to know
the very end of Shattered Grid. Yeah, the bare
minimum. That's kind of their way of saying,
yes, this. And then in the cover gallery in the
back here of the trade, at first covered by Miguel
Mercado. of Tommy pulling Saba. Oh, that is so
cool. There's like three Tommy covers right in
a row by various artists, actually two are by
the same artist. And then we get what I never
saw this, I never knew this, the A files, the
alpha files. So yeah, I'm gonna have to go back
and read these kind of things, because I have
not read through these. I just assumed they were
part of the variant cover thing. So, you know,
maybe we'll do our own previously on next time
once I get a chance to go through these things.
But man, Necessary Evil part one. Very, very
cool. Yep, I like it. I'm right there with you.
It's definitely worth a pick up. And then, you
know, if you read it, you're going to want to
pick up Necessary Evil part two. Yep. Yep, absolutely.
All right, folks. I think we're gonna get the
heck out of here. If you want to, sir, where
can the people find you online? Best ways hit
me up on Twitter at Jesse Rass, J -E -S -S -E
-R -A -S. I'm on most other social platforms
as well under the same name, so give me a like,
tell me what you hated, all that stuff. You know,
feel free to make fun of me. I'll just block
you, whatever. No. Yeah. Good job. Because that's
the adult thing to do. I'm always up for a good
Power Rangers discussion. I have young children
that I'm sharing my love of the show with now,
so it's fun to explore that with them. But I'm
always down to talk with other fans about this
kind of stuff. It's big enough to get a comic
book series, but it's still sort of niche a little
bit out there. So I always enjoy meeting other
fans. Yeah. I mean, when boom studios started
this, when they got the license and everything
else and they started, we have Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers and we had go -go Power Rangers.
So they had two concurrent series running and
I never, I never felt the neat like go -go is
for the And I know it's not, but I'm just going
to say it this way. Gogo was for the kids and
Mighty Morphin was for us that, you know, it
was the darker story. I know they tie it. They
do tie it like this whole necessary evil thing.
There are tie -in events with, with, with Gogo,
but I never felt the need to read Gogo. Whereas
now that they've stopped this series and they've
moved on to Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers
unlimited or just Power Rangers. I don't know.
Anyway, I'm just loving catching up on these
things and seeing how the stories are going to
unfold and it's just a lot of fun. I'm glad they're
down to one sort of essential storyline and then
they have the Unlimited series just jumps around
and covers other things because I never really
understood... what the major difference between
go, I knew the storylines, but eventually they
kind of caught up to each other. And I was like,
this is a little, I mean, it was nice. It was
nice because of, you know, we only get a Power
Rangers comic every, you know, once a month.
So it was like, we got two, but I didn't think
it was necessary. I thought, you know, they were
kind of patent a little bit. I'd rather see one
line and maybe two issues a month as opposed
to two different lines and an issue. You know,
it just it just wasn't that different. It wasn't
different enough for me to justify my mind doing
that. And then when you're doing when you're
going back and reading crossovers, it's like,
OK, it's Mighty Morphin issue 31, but it's go
go 15. And then you have just it just makes for
a bigger pain in the butt when you're going back.
Yeah. So I have. I, you know, since, you know,
going down this road, I, did I already add that?
I don't know. Anyway, I've had the Lord Drakkon
thing in my, in my wishlist for a while. Which
is Ranger Slayer plus the Lord Drakken, the Lord
Drakken 1 through 3 or whatever it is. Yeah.
I just, because again, I'm planning for us to
do more of this once we get through the main
series here to go onto the other one. I just
added the Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers volumes
that they have. Good. Yeah. Good, good, good,
good, good. Is it just a one shot? Oh, yeah.
So Power Rangers Unlimited Edge of Darkness secret
origins revealed for the first time ever discover
true stories of two of the most popular Power
Rangers characters, the deadly assassin known
as Astronoma and the mysterious hero bearing
the name Phantom Ranger. That's what that's what
I got for Christmas. Yeah. Okay. I'm not gonna
I'm not gonna spoil it for anybody, but I will
tell you. They promise you those two one of them
is a little bit more satisfactory than the other
But if you read it, but if you read it and pay
attention You get more than one origin. Oh, yeah.
No, absolutely There's there's other characters
that aren't That are sort of there and you get
a little bit more of their origin stories, too
And you don't quite realize it until like a certain
point. You're like Aw, look at you being sneaky.
So there's more than those two in there. So it
was nicely written. I don't know that my answers
were quite what I wanted them to be, but it was
really nicely written. But at least you have
answers. I think so far from what I've researched
on the Boom Studios books going forward, I think
the only thing you don't have an answer for yet
is the zeocrystal. Right That's your big sticking
point now Yes, that is I want the zeo crystal
answered and I would you know What I would really
like I would really like and I don't know that
I've mentioned this on here either I really want
more Gold Ranger stuff, you know, I would love
a little bit of Triforia what happened after
he left, you know, I would like you know like
a you know a trade just sort of on the background
and the people of Triforia I think that would
be I would really appreciate that but you know,
I I know I'm not necessarily the only person
anybody's got to please. So true. But I mean,
it like, again, like I said, at the beginning
of this podcast, and like I've said in every
one of the boom studios episodes that we've done
that outside of beyond the grid, because it was
a little wacky, they've really gone above and
beyond to give us what I would say most like,
JDF always goes on and on about he wants an adult
series. He wants this. Yeah, that whatever to
me this even though they're still kids There
are more adult themes in these comics Than there
ever were in the show. Yeah, and I think honestly
this might be as close as you were ever gonna
get to that I mean, it's just I don't know that
there is enough universal demand for a series
that slants a little bit more adult because you
can't go full adult like that trailer with James
Vanderbeek because then you don't have kids and
kids you're gonna make money off that. So you
got to find a middle ground and I don't know
that you're gonna be able to find a satisfying
middle ground for any of that. I mean, maybe
I'm, you know, maybe I'm wrong, but I mean, just
kind of judging by the fact that that new movie
that came out, which was good. I have problems
with it, but it was good, but wasn't able to
recapture that sort of fandom. I think that's
kind of telling of what of what it is because
they did so much right. They did a lot wrong.
I thought, but they did so much right that if
you couldn't do it with that, then I don't know
that you're going to be able to do it. in a universally
satisfactory sort of way. Yeah. And the thing
of it is, is these franchises, Power Rangers,
Transformers, He -Man, whatever, they most of
the time have to bring in like the whole point.
And I, you know, I'm not trying to take away
from what the comic does at all. But the whole
point of a lot of these companies like Hasbro,
like Mattel, and Nickelodeon and all these, all
the toy manufacturers, all the major toy manufacturers
that we have nowadays that have these licenses
and own these brands and whatever, they're out
to sell toys and who are, you know, we can talk
about this on Toycast all the time and at some
point earlier you'll be on there, but it's one
of those things where who are toys generally
made for? They're generally made for kids. You
know, and we live in such an age now where, you
know, say your oldest son, his favorite Ranger
is Tommy, but say your youngest son, when he,
you know, obviously when they get up, when you're,
when Nolan gets a little older, uh, you know,
say his favorite Ranger is Adam or, you know,
Rocky or whatever. They can have their favorites
and they can have the best. This isn't 1993 anymore.
We don't need weird popping heads going from
facial to helmet. Oh God, I hated those figures.
Those were kind of cool, man. They worked really
well with the command center, dude. Point is,
is that today's children don't know how good
they have it because they have like literally
ripped off the screen action figures kind of
thing. Alright folks, we've been going on for
so long now and it's time to close out this episode
of Mighty Morphin' March. You can find me on
Twitter at tfguandmike. You can find that at
The Pull Bag and at GeekCastRadio. You can hear
all the other information in the outro. Coming
up next, we've got Necessary Evil Part 2, so
join us for that next week as we celebrate 9
years of The Pull Bag. Make your great escape
into comics. and may the power protect you. Oh
yeah. Send us an email, feedback at geekcastradio
.com, follow us on Twitter at ThePullBack and
at GeekCastRadio. So until next time, make your
great escape into comics and unleash the geek
in you. Let the power protect you.
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