Saban’s Power Rangers Soul of the Dragon Review

This is Jason David Frank, and you're listening

to the Geek Catch 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 0 to

issue 30 and then Shattered Grid number 1, 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. 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,

TFG1 Mike, 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. But

yes, Power Rangers, Soul of the Dragon. I've

actually told this story before. I think March

of last year in 2018, I went through and bought

as many as I could available. 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. Damn. What Boom Studios is doing

is exactly what Power Rangers fans have wanted

for decades at this point. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Old Man Tommy. Yeah, with this. Yep, we get Old

Man Tommy with this. Power Rangers Soul of the

Dragon. As I said, creative on this is Kyle Higgins

as writer. Giuseppe Caffaro on illustrations.

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 taken 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 Power Rangers comics now, 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 power

suits. Yep. 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 been... 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 reign 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...

It starts off with Tommy and Catherine at a party.

They're married, I assume, together, dating,

whatever, and they have a child together. They

were married. They were married, but they probably

aren't now. I'll say this with the art. The party,

Tommy, in the beginning of this, I love the look.

They kind of changed the way the beard looks

in the car scenes with Catherine and the other

cat. It's not exactly my favorite, but other

than that, it's still all good. The basic story

is that Tommy has to save his son, but Tommy

himself is having a bunch of... back problems.

He has, you know, implants and things like that.

And cybernetic implants because he's, he was,

um, ravaged in battle as his green Ranger. Yup.

Man, that drag, which unfortunately damaged his

more, I said, which unfortunately damaged his

more for so. Yeah. Yup. Um, I like that they

can tell this story years in the future and Tommy

is still around and all of this. 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 with 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... uh 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 he didn't use it to show um

probably because he didn't keep that power originally

but yeah um but still it served its purpose and

then he had the zeo um and then went to the White

Tiger, and then ultimately passed the Green Ranger

to his son. Yep. Which was epic. Yeah, it was.

It has a very, as the story progresses through

and Tommy meets up with this character, we learn

that JJ, his son, who I believe is either, was

in the current one of the series, whatever the

current, not Beast Morphers, 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, like you said, 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 Inara. who apparently is

a friend of his son, JJ, and I don't know, I

kind of get a Mad Max vibe off 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, you know,

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... Like I said, this is an

original graphic novel. This is 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 disreputable people and criminals and monsters.

Tommy has 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 that ranger also

became a Blue Ranger for what, space or something?

Yeah, TJ became 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 as he's, you know,

losing the red turbo power. He has more back

problems with his cybernetic implants. And...

I just think that this is... It's... a Power

Rangers murder mystery kind of thing, even though

he's not out solving a murder. Like you said

earlier, going back and seeing Finster and learning

all that kind of history thing and all of that

and just trying to figure out the mystery of

what's going on with his kid. 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 this bumbling lackey

of Rita's. 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.

what they set up here with him saying, Oh, after

the Zordon wave and after this and after that

and whatever. Um, 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. Yeah, it was, it was totally, um,

Totally different, like, what 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

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

Scorpina 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 the old standbys

of Lord Zedd 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. In his clay form,

yeah. 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. Um, 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. Uh, no cat,

leave us alone. Um, 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. And they come up with this plan

to stop Scorpina, and I love J .J. where he's

like... Well, 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? Yep, exactly. And like you said, you know,

the white powers fade and... he passes the Green

Ranger power on to JJ, and JJ is the new Green

SPD Ranger coming up in the next story or whatever

kind of thing. And it's much like... It's almost

as if... J .J. using the power is like the old

days when Tommy would take off the shield and

transfer it to Jason. So you'd have the Red Ranger

with the gold shield kind of thing. It's that

kind of deal. By the end of it, the whole family

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. 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 Studios' 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 going to be about, but I wasn't sure how

the story was going to be told. And now that

I've read it and absolutely love it, 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 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 at least

have some kind of a hint that he got to keep

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

must grow old at some point. And 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 uh 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. 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 going to 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 Farrier. 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 wouldn't give it the same. I really

enjoyed this story. It was original and it kind

of fit that, um, fit that role that it kept everybody

pretty much true to form and, uh, kind of told

the next iteration of, uh, 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 um There was a lot

of coverage that we did last year and I've been

trying to basically do the Pull Bag Year 5 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 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. 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. 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 uh jt

mostly does the batman beyond stuff with me and

ryan and i and to a another extent uh the the

fembots lady rec beetle steven hahi prime do

some a lot of the transformer stuff so joe reed

and i do the team and t stuff So the pull bag

has something for everybody and we're constantly

expanding that. Um, so who knows what's going

to happen? Who knows? Oh, where can the people

find you online, sir? Mostly on the Twitters

at SCP 21. I am at TFG and Mike. You can follow

at the pull bag. Also follow at geek cast radio

on Twitter. Look us up on Facebook, go to geek

cast radio .com. I should say, even though we're

not announcing it or saying anything specific

about it, the all -new geekcastradio .com 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, Geekcast

Radio Network.