Power Rangers Soul of the Dragon Review

This is Jason David Frank, and you're listening

to the ETCash Radio Network. December 26th, 2015.

I promised everyone that From the Command Center

was coming back. It's been three years and two

days since I released that content update. Well

folks, it's finally happening. From the Command

Center will be coming back. and crossing over

with the pull bag as we cover the boom studios

mighty morphin power rangers ongoing series since

that initial content update where i announced

that we would be doing this i have read through

shattered grid so i've read from issue zero to

issue 30 and then shattered grid number one which

was the finale Kyle Higgins' run on Mighty Morphin

Power Rangers from Boom Studios. We will be covering

them in trade paperback form. Collected editions.

I'm not sure just yet if Scotty and Spada will

be joining me. Hopefully Scotty will. I'm not

sure about Spada. I hope he can. I hope he will.

But we are coming back in 2019. And here's a

teaser for you as Steve Megatron and I reviewed

Saban's Power Rangers Soul of the Dragon. Written

by Kyle Higgins, this is a one -shot story. Enjoy

everyone, and may the power protect you. We'll

see you in 2019, because March is Mighty Morphin'

March. Hi, this is Kyle Higgins, and you're listening

to the Geek Catch Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to The Pull Bag. This is episode 335, kicking

off the new year. 2019 is here. I am, of course,

TFG1Mike, joining me for... I don't even remember

the last time he was on. Steve Megatron is the

first co -host of 2019. Hello, sir. Jello. Jello.

And what better way to kick off our Power Rangers

coverage than with the original graphic novel

written by Kyle Higgins, Power Rangers Soul of

the Dragon. For those that have been living under

a command center rock, Kyle Higgins wrote the

first 30 issues of Boom Studios, Savan's Power

Rangers, all the way up through the Shattered

Grid event, and then he moved on to other things.

I think he's writing Bucky for Marvel? I'm not

sure. I don't know off the top of my head. um...

but yes power rangers soul of the dragon i've

actually uh... i've told this story before i

think march of last year in twenty eighteen i

went through and bought as many as i could available

uh... the first four or five trades of the boom

studios power rangers main comic ongoing and

i read through them within a whole weekend all

three or four or five or whatever it was and

Damn what boom studios is doing is exactly what

Power Rangers fans have wanted for decades at

this point Old man Tommy yeah with this yeah,

we get old man Tommy with this Power Rangers

soul the dragon As I said creative on this is

Kyle Higgins as writer Giuseppe Caffaro on illustrations

and Marcelo Costa is the colorist Ed Dukeshire

is the letterer and the cover was done by Nick

Robles I assume I'm saying that name correctly

we butcher a lot of names around here inside

the pullback and obviously special consultant

Jason David Frank because you know JDF needs

to you know Who knows the role better than the

man himself exactly. Yeah, I mean he's kind of

taking the role and not really Well, he made

it his own but past the time that he was on television

26 years ago With boom studios doing the the

Power Rangers comics now It's Tommy Oliver has

really grown in the last 26 years So when you

first heard about this, I assume it was because

of me I could be wrong, but what were your initial

thoughts after? Hearing about this story that

was coming at the time I liked the art Because

you got almost the old man Logan vibe out of

him Oh, yeah, but you had all five of his his

power suits. Yep the Some of the interesting

twists in the beginning of it, though, were what

threw me when I actually started reading. Yeah.

Yeah, this I was not sure where this was going,

but I absolutely love where it went. I think

it's an amazing story, and it's a story that

has. Then I don't want to say needed to have

been told, but. when a writer or when a creator

has a thing that they want to do and the powers

that be say yeah sure go for it kind of a thing

and I don't know how much free rein Kyle had

on this for the writing of the story or anything

I assume enough but yeah I mean this was so so

fun I love Giuseppe's art in this the story Is

it starts off with Tommy and Katherine at a party

They're married I assume Together dating whatever

and they have a child together. So maybe they

were married But they probably aren't now I'll

say this with the art The the party Tommy at

in the beginning of this. I love the look They

kind of changed the way the beard looks in the

car scenes with with Katherine and another cat.

It's not exactly my favorite, but other than

that It's still all good The Basic story is is

that Tommy has to save his son But Tommy himself

is is having a bunch of back problems he has

you know implants and things like that and cybernetic

implants because He's he was ravaged in battle

Mm -hmm as his green ranger. Yep Man that dragon

which unfortunately damaged his More I said which

unfortunately damaged his morpher. So yeah Like

that they can tell this story years in the future

and you know Tommy is still around and and all

of this and I Like that they're able to do this.

I think this is really really cool I love how

they work in the master morpher from Not shattered

grid the most recent Power Rangers crossover

yes Dimension in Danger. I love that. I think

that's super cool. And it could only be Tommy

that would have something like that. Because

he's been a Ranger so long, as you already said,

he has at least five different Ranger power sets.

And being able to switch between them all...

Even though in this story you can only use them

once Very very cool very interesting. Well. What

was great about it was The unfortunate part was

once he used it. He was done. Yeah with that

with that that Ranger power Because the master

morpher was damaged and he wasn't able to quick

change between multiples and so he had to go

in the Basically a straight order which was the

reverse order and Started out with the the black

dino ranger. Yep, and then went to turbo which

is funny because he didn't keep that power So

it's funny that that was included and he didn't

use it the show Probably because he didn't keep

that power originally but But still it served

its purpose and then he had the zeal then went

to the white tiger and then Ultimately passed

the green ranger to his son. Yeah, which was

epic Yeah, it was It has a very as the story

progresses through and Tommy meets up with this

care We learned that JJ his son who I believe

is either wasn't the current one of the Series

whatever the current not beast more first because

that's coming out next month. Whatever the current

thing is, Super Dragon Force or... I'm so out

of the Power Rangers television thing. I don't

even remember what... Oh, I think it's Super

Ninja Steel or something or other. I think that's

what it is. I could be wrong again. Sorry, folks.

I'm not... Unless it's the like you said the

the anniversary episode the reunion episode kind

of thing I have not watched any new Power Rangers

shows since I think Super Samurai was the last

full show I watched hmm. Yeah So we have JJ his

son kind of going undercover to figure out all

this stuff and we meet up with Anara who apparently

is a friend of his son JJ and I Don't know. I

kind of get a Mad Max vibe off these these two

like in you know They're traveling across to

find the kid and whatever. I don't know. Maybe

it's just because the art colors and everything

else Like when they're in the car And like you

said, you've got him trying to save his son,

and you've got SPD involved, because JJ was a

part of SPD. I just think this story is so interesting.

And it is fun, but it's also fitting at the time

when it was probably written, 25 years of character

history. Into one story because this is not this

is it like I said This is an original graphic

novel. This really isn't taught as a set in the

future. It's not tied into the Storylines in

the main ongoing from boom studios. It's basically

a one -shot and I love it when one -shot stories

can exist and Tell a story that we would have

never seen before And you still have whatever's

going on in the main, ongoing part of that comic

series. So basically, we track AJ down. Or not

AJ, JJ I should say. Where the hell did I get

AJ? This is not WWE. It's not AJ Styles over

here. and they go through and they have to talk

to all these unreputable, disreputable people

and criminals and monsters and Tommy has, you

know, flashbacks and all of this. The one thing

I did love about the art is, as you said, when

the morphing happens and you go through each

suit, I love how the art depicts all the suits.

I think that's super, super cool. I love Kyle's

writing because Kyle always finds a way to make

it seem like this is a story that we should have

been able to watch on television 25 years ago.

Yeah, it's rather interesting how the whole story

progressed. I did like that they worked in Finster

and into the storyline. And I completely forgot

who the heck Scorpina was. I recognized her immediately.

I'm like, hey, I know that lady. And I like that

because this is a future story that they still

use past characters, but they're not reliant

on Rita or Zed kind of a thing. And you said

earlier that Tommy, yeah, you're right. Tommy

didn't have the turbo powers, all that Long but

he did have them because Say what you will say

what anyone will turbo a Power Rangers movie

does count as part of continuity No, it does,

but he still handed the powers off. Yeah true

But he that Ranger also became a blue Ranger

for what space or something? Yeah TJ in the blue

space Ranger afterwards because andros was the

red space Ranger at the time So we get you know

his son and him and whatever battling these people

is as he's you know losing the Red turbo power

He has more back problems with his his cybernetic

implants and I just think that this is it's Power

Rangers murder mystery kind of thing even though

He's not out solving a murder like you said earlier.

You know going back and seeing Finster and Learning

all that kind of you know history thing and all

of that and just trying to figure out the mystery

of what's going on with his kid And how you know

Anyone, well, anyone our age goes back and watches

the old Power Rangers series, their first Mighty

Morphin series, and you just assume that Finster

is just, you know, this bumbling lackey of Rita's,

and that's not the case. I mean, yeah, he was

her monster maker and everything else, but he

was also a very trusted ally of hers, and, you

know. What they set up here with him saying oh

after the zordon wave and after this and after

that and whatever I love that. I love that part

of the story. I think that's super fun and cool

and like you said It's nice to see them weaving

in the history at the same time telling a completely

new story Mm -hmm Yeah, it was it was totally

um Totally different like what they they did

with the story, which was cool. I hated to see

the powers go but I did like how JJ was able

to have basically an updated version of the Green

Ranger with the the chest armor piece Yeah, absolutely

The reveal of Scorpino was amazing where JJ's

like dad the witch isn't Rita No, I thought that

was super cool. And the reason why I always remember

Skorpina is even though she wasn't, she was in

a majority of the first and maybe even the second

seasons of Mighty Morphin, but she's always the

female version of Goldar a lot of the time. And

what Kyle has done with her here is... Very cool.

Like I said, not just relying on on the old standbys

of Lord Zed and Rita Repulsa and all that. I

never thought this would happen. But I actually

cried when they found Finster dead. Just a little

bit. I didn't, but it was interesting that he...

resurrected himself in a sense. Mm -hmm. In his

clay form, yeah. Mm -hmm. Yep. He was just sad

when it started dripping away. Yeah, that was

the sad part. I was like, no! And again, like

I said, as we're going through this, we learn

the history of what has happened over the years

to Scorpina and whatever. We do see a shot of

Zed and Rita. and I think that you know this

is a story that that any Power Rangers fan can

come to and really appreciate it because it is

anything to do with Tommy Oliver it's a love

letter to the franchise no cat leave us alone

It's one of those things where he is the ultimate

Power Ranger. He's, you know, five different

suits over 26 years of continuity. You know.

And they come up with this plan to stop Scorpina

and I love JJ where he's like... Finally I've

had her talking for like five minutes like about

time do your job Tommy And then she finally was

like wait what yeah? exactly And like you said

you know the white powers fade and he passes

the the the green ranger power onto JJ and JJ

is the the new green SPD ranger uh... coming

up in the uh... in the next story or whatever

kind of thing and it's much like uh... it's almost

as if JJ using the power Is like come it's like

the old days when Tommy would take off the shield

and like transfer it to Jason You'd have the

Red Ranger with the gold shield kind of thing.

It's it's that kind of kind of deal and By the

end of it, you know the whole family, you know

reunites and hugs it out and all that I do love

Tommy's final words here. You know, in all seriousness,

it's fitting. I've defined myself for so long

with being a ranger, but the future is in good

hands. We hope so. And, you know, we have all

that going on. And it's a nice little passing

of the torch. kind of thing. I love seeing the

designs at the end of the book. I think that's

super cool. I love that they give you a preview

of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Volume 1. Because

if you have not read any of Boom Studio's Power

Rangers stuff, folks, you really should. It's

so good. It really, really is. Soul of the Dragon,

I wasn't sure even when I read the synopsis I

knew what it was gonna be about but I wasn't

sure how the story was gonna be told and now

that I've read it and absolutely love it I This

is easily one of the best comic issues of 2018

for me if I was making a list of top comics that

released in 2018 Any any other thoughts on your

end anything you kind of just felt iffy about

on it or is it all good? It was good. I just

wish that they would have been able to like at

least Have some kind of a hint that he got to

keep at least one power Yeah, but I mean we all

must you know grow old at some point Quite literally

grow up he's he's supposed to you know be the

be the ultimate ranger forever so and he will

be and I'm sure people will tell other stories

with him now I have I'll say this folks I have

read up to issue 30 and the shattered glass number

one kind of finale for the I've read the first

Part of the Power Rangers comics from boom studios

I have not read anything from the Beyond the

grid storyline, which is after shatter the grid

but I Just love that boom studios has the Rangers

license and they're doing these stories. I think

it's super fun super cool and It's what we've

wanted for so long. I remember when we first

started podcasting almost ten years ago now and

it's like hmm we want a more serious Power Rangers

with Tommy Oliver and his powers well ten years

later boom here you go that's what you get a

cool story a story of the character of Tommy

you know coming to the realization that he needs

to redefine himself after all this time and basically

coming to the point of acceptance and saying,

hey, I had my time, but now it's time for my

son to shine as the new era of Power Ranger.

I hope Kyle does come back to the series. I hope

he has some sort of kick -ass idea rolling around

in his head that he wants to eventually come

back and tell on the Boom Studios stuff. We will

be doing more Power Rangers reviews here inside

the pull bag Coming up in Mighty Morphin March

of 2019. We've got issues episodes 341 to 345

Which are the first five volumes of the main

ongoing series from boom studios? Other things

coming up in the new year folks I'm not sure

We've got Venomverse and Venomized, so that'll

be two trades, one podcast with Ryan and I. Joe

Reed and I will finally get around to doing TMNT

Ghostbusters 2. Since it's January, Beatles Diva

and I are gonna get political with Daveocracy

from IDW. Oh, if people haven't read Dave and

Dave 2. Please go do that. It's written by Ryan

Ferrier. It's about this future. You'd actually

like it. I'll have to send you the links to it.

And then we're going to talk about Amazing Spider

-Man, Red Goblin, the final storyline for Dan

Slott. And then in February we've got two gem

issues that we'll be doing for episodes. Soul

of the Dragon. Zero to five star rating from

the GCR and Universal rating system I'll give

it a four and a half What about you? I would

give it the same. I really enjoyed this story.

It was Original and it kind of fit that Fit that

role that It kept everybody pretty much true

to form and kind of told the next iteration of

The Power Rangers franchise like years later

Yep, absolutely So I think that's gonna do it

for us folks we hope you jump on board the pull

bag come on inside and Listen in as we read some

comics and talk about some comics and all that

good stuff 2018 was wow. It was a year folks

there was a lot of coverage that we did last

year and I've been trying to basically do the

pull bag year five in review kind of thing on

the Facebook page for the pull bag where I basically

relink all of the starting in January of last

year all the way up to the last week of December

just relinking each episode and seeing you know,

who goes back to what to listen, but we've got

huge things planned for 2019. What I've already

told you about January and February and even

Mighty Morphin' March is just the tip of the

iceberg, folks. We are eventually, this year

at some point, going to be getting to all three

volumes of Batman Nightfall. The only thing I

know about that story is that that's where...

Bruce gets his back broken by Bane. I read all

that when it was new. Right. See, I have not.

And it was great. Yeah. So we'll be doing that.

We will be covering more TMNT stuff, more Transformers

stuff, hoping to get to the last trade for I

Hate Fairyland with Comic Revolt Dan and I. Who

knows? Who knows what's going to happen? in 2019

for the pull bag thank you to everyone who has

stuck with us over the last five and a half almost

six years um i know it's not everything that

everyone wants to listen to but we find franchises

and stories that we want to talk about and that

was the whole point of the show in the beginning

and that's you know all this time later that's

still the point of the show you know i try my

best to cater each episode to have myself talking

about the comic and also having a co -host that

also wants to talk about it like you know I've

got Steve for various Batman things and other

other things like this JT mostly does the Batman

Beyond stuff with me and Ryan and I and to another

extent the Fembots, Lady Rek, Beetle Steve and

Haji Prime do some a lot of the Transformers

stuff so Joe Reed and I do the TMNT stuff So,

the pull bag has something for everybody, and

we're constantly expanding that. So, who knows

what's gonna happen. Who knows? Where can the

people find you online, sir? Mostly on the Twitters,

at SCP -21. I am at TFD1Mike, you can follow

at the pull bag, also follow at GeekCastRadio

on Twitter, look us up on Facebook, go to geekcastradio

.com Should say even though we're not announcing

it or saying anything specific about it the all

-new geek cast radio calm because we launched

a brand new website this month and Yeah, make

your great escape to comics. We will catch you

next time here inside the pull bag Hello everyone.

This is Jason David Frank, and you are listening

from the command center geek cast radio network