Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Volume 1 Review

Hi, I'm writer Kyle Higgins, and you're listening

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So without any further ado, it's time to talk

about the comics we are reading right now here

inside the pull bag. Hey, I'm Kyle Higgins, writer

of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and you're listening

to Mighty Morphin March here inside the pull

bag. Thank you so much, Mr. Kyle Higgins, writer

on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I can't believe

that Tom is the Green Ranger. There's gotta be

a mistake. Hello and welcome to The Pull Bag.

This is episode 341. I am, of course, TFG1 Mike.

Joining me once again, Steve Megatron. Hello,

sir. Hello, sir. How are you? Doing well. And

we are continuing on here inside the Command

Center, our Power Rangers coverage from the Boom

Studios comic book series. Just to let everyone

know who's listening to this on the From the

Command Center podcast feed, I did ask Scotty

Cash and I did ask BaltMatrix. I never got an

answer from BaltMatrix because... Oh, whatever.

Scotty's in the middle of a whole bunch of life

stuff right now. I'm hoping he can come back

at some point, but Steve and I are here. We started

with Soul of the Dragon in episode 335 of The

Pull Bag, and now it's time for Mighty Morphin

March. That's right. Five episodes of the podcast.

The first five volumes of the Boom Studios Mighty

Morphin Power Rangers series. Now, as far as

I can remember, you were sort of a Power Rangers

fan as a kid, right? Well, funny you should mention

that. I grew up on MMPR through Zio up until

the Turbo Power Rangers movie. And then that

was my farewell to Power Rangers until Forever

Red and the one where Tommy came back as the

Black Dino Ranger. Was Dino Thunder. Yeah Dino

Thunder. I thought that's what it was, but I

didn't want to stick my foot in my mouth I did

that on a recording a couple weeks ago and yeah,

so yeah, I That one and then I watched Megaforce

mostly because I knew there was an upcoming penultimate

and they they were using various Power Rangers

powers, which So so and then I saw that recent

reprisal of classic Rangers. Yeah I forget what

it's called. It's in the one where they have

the giant ranger. Dimensions in Danger is what

the episode was called. I think it was Super

Dino Charge? I don't know. Power Rangers Beast

Morphers just started. I'm kind of the same way

with you. I've watched a few more than you have.

Obviously, I was 13 when... Mighty Morphin started

so I watched through that through turbo through

Zeo I've watched time force SPD Jungle Fury Dino

Thunder RPM I've watched various ones over the

years more the more recent ones the more Like

samurai and like the ones they've been doing

over the last four or five years not so much

a fan of it unless, like you said, it's one of

those anniversary, you know, legacy episode kind

of things, but yeah, Power Rangers kind of grew

up on it, and for so long we have wanted something

in comics for Power Rangers, and there have been

several Power Rangers comics over the years.

I believe I'm probably talking out of my ass

when I say this, but I'm pretty sure there have

been, but Boom Studios... got the license from

Saban, which at this point, it's Hasbro. Yeah,

so Boom Studios has the license for Power Rangers

comics, and damn, I remember back in six years

ago, essentially, we just passed our six -year

mark here in the pullback. Yay, happy anniversary

to us! Have you people actually been listening

to us all these years? uh... six years ago in

twenty thirteen when the show started with the

podcast started i are very first interview was

kyle higgins at the time he was writer of lightweight

he would be right around that may be on two point

oh he co -wrote uh... batman gates of gotham

with scott's lighter uh... way back when and

Think I asked him in that interview. I think

I'm pretty sure I don't know if it's this exact

same question, but I know I asked him something

along the lines of What would be your? One dream

thing to do in comics and he said easily hands

down Power Rangers That was 2013. I think the

boom studio stuff started in 2015 2016 and we're

now in 2019 Kyle wrote the first 30 issues or

so of the series and Damn This is a Rangers comic

that we've deserved so many years at this point

well, I think part of what makes this one interesting

and Normally, I don't have as much commentary

as I will on this one and it's probably because

There's a lot to like about it and and I'm not

just saying that as someone who's read a lot

of his other stuff I enjoyed not only the art,

but the storyline, a lot of the aesthetics that

are in it. It's got a very almost like Phoenix

Wright anime type style to some of the characters

in certain scenarios or certain views. But I

like the originality that they've taken with

the characters and kind of given them. a similar

likeness to their their nineties persona, but

they've got more of a modern look to them than

what they had back then. I mean, it's still very

90s influence, but it's more modern. And then

when you look at the Megazords and the robots

kind of designs, it kind of gives me that Transformers

look with a lot of the way the steel looks, a

lot of the way the eyes light up and glow and

then. A lot of the effects in it are very reminiscent

of the show, but it gives it more of that extra

dynamic and feel that didn't necessarily get

fleshed out because you were kind of translating

anime and adding in pieces of American television

to it to kind of make it fit. Whereas this is

completely original and they can kind of do what

they need to do with it. Yeah. I mean, what they've

done here is they've taken. all of the original,

like, suit designs and things like that, all

of the original Megazord, Dragonzord, whateverzord

designs so far at this point in Volume 1 here,

and it's basically what we remember. Yes, you're

right, the actual characters of Jason, Billy,

Trini, Zack, Kimberly, and Tommy are not exactly

on model to the live -action actors, but it's

close enough. to where it's close enough to resemble

them without actually being their likeness as

far as that goes and Like you said, it still

has you know nuances of difference and kind of

modern feel but the suits when they're in the

suits and We see the zords. I'm like, oh my god.

It's like the TV show just jumped into the comic

Only it looks more more detailed Absolutely,

it does it kind of gives me the vibe that we

got from the first Power Rangers movie. Yep in

a sense because you get more of that detail that

wasn't there the first time around and I mean

everything down to down to the little details

of them doing like spectral graphic like audio

Analyzation. Yep, like every little detail like

that. It's just it's kind of amazing Yes, it

is and you would think that Maybe they're just,

and I'm not saying they do this, I'm not saying

Kyle does this at all, he doesn't. Anybody who

says to you, oh, there's a new Power Rangers

comic, oh, they're just gonna, you know, comicize

the, you know, basically translate all the old

episodes into the comic, no. All new, all original

story, yes, there are parts from the show, like

specifically, you know, Tommy, you know, being,

you know. Evil and then being good. Yes, that's

from the show, but the whole story so far is

Not what You know the events of the comic only

very vaguely mirror The television show they

obviously put the homages in there and things

like that and whatever. It's just such fun It

really really is Tommy Tommy I know I know you're

the Green Ranger. Well then, Pink Ranger. You

should also know that you and the other Power

Rangers will soon be destroyed. Let us help you.

We can break Rita's spell. Rita is my empress.

She will soon rule the world. Tommy, please let

us help you. You have been warned. Part of the

thing I like about the comics when especially

when Kyle Higgins gets involved is He keeps the

life about the original show without altering

that but he fills in a lot of the gaps that are

missing from the actual continuity Yep And in

this sense like it kind of gives you that continuity

gap During the time that Tommy was showing up

and during you know with all the influence from

from Rita propulsa and you know all of the Nuances

that he had to deal with you know coming back

into that now also I kind of forgot about Scorpina

and You know the fact that she was like this

early on Yeah even though like reading the other

one with you know basically the old man Logan

type of thing with Tommy where she kind of She's

the villain. Yeah, she's the villain. But it's

still like I forget that she was around during

this time. And so it's it's kind of refreshing

to see some of these little details kind of pop

back up and then just the level of how he plays

these characters off each other. You can tell

that he he knows these characters. Absolutely.

He absolutely does. I love the art. in this.

It's so good. Like I said, it's basically the

show, like the show jumped out of the TV screen

and went to the comic page, and it's so cool.

It really, really is. So to get the creative

out of the way, like we've already been gushing

about him, Kyle Higgins on writing, illustrated

by Hendry... Presetai? I'm probably pronouncing

that horribly. Callers done by Matt Herms. Letters

done by Ed Dukeshire. Covered by Goni Montes.

Designers are Jillian Crabb. Assistant editors

are Matthew Levine and Alex Gaylor. And the editor

is Daphna Pleben. Again, sorry if I butchered

any of those names. I love the... the introduction

here from Jud Lin executive producer Power Rangers

from 2016 that's right around when the trade

was was released I just this is just so cool

we start off with obviously Tommy being evil

and I love that cover the cover of the prologue

with him holding the sword Oh man, all the covers

that the artists have done for this series have

been so cool. Yeah, I'm digging the visual details

on this all the way through. Yeah, the visual

detail is off the charts, and I'll tell ya, when

I found out that they were up to volume four

by the time that I bought these, I think it was

March of... 2017 was it or 2018 I forget There

was a time where volume four had just come out

in trade And I is what I first found out about

the comic really like when I first remembered

that hey Isn't there a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

comic that Kyle Higgins is writing? I need to

go to comics ology and check on I bought the

first four volumes and read them within like

a day and a half all four These this comic series

the way that Kyle writes these characters it

reads so fast And I know you've said to me it

off air and in previous episodes that you read

fast Normally, I do but sometimes I don't like

I read this within 35 minutes Maybe we're normally

a full five issue traded collection would take

me maybe an hour Depending on what it was But

this story moves so well. Yeah, it definitely

does and then A lot of the the the details and

in some of the the writing like I like how Different

people have different color ballots as far as

their their fonts when they're speaking. Yep

Like Zordon's got the blue you've got like Rita,

you know kind of complaining and the the green

into Tommy's ear and then So I mean, you have

like the two, you know, big sorcerers of sorts

conversing in that way. And then, you know, the

just just how everything kind of plays out. It's

it's very easy to read, even if you're not fully

like taking in all of the text, like you can

kind of infer based on what you do read. with

the visuals that are placed with it, how the

story portrays itself. Absolutely. You'll have

to excuse me, folks. I should have said this

at the beginning of the show. I am a little under

the weather tonight, so if I sniffle or sneeze,

I'll try to cut it out in the editing, but it

is what it is. The life of a podcaster. I'm too

old for this shit. Oh, God. Oh, wait, wrong genre.

Yeah, I mean that this first little prologue

chapter with Scorpion is showing up With Rita's

plan kind of revealed of she wants to steal Tommy's

powers With the green candle or the green chaos

energy and the crystal and all of that absolutely

love that I Was thinking she had her own zeal

crystal there for a minute. That was I was too

I was like wait a second, but yeah Just like

in the show and we'll get to this close to the

end of the of the episode but just like in the

show I Even with Kyle's writing them. I can't

stand Balkan skull. Oh I'm sorry. I had to skip

that part They were in so annoying well, okay,

so We have a full comic story in each of these

issues folks 22 pages of main story, I think.

And then we have a little backup story, The Adventures

of Balkan Skull, written by Steve Orlando and

others as well. I believe that's illustrated

by Korn Howell, who had done the Batmite miniseries

for DC. I immediately skipped that the first

time I read these because... What it felt like

to me was what Scott Snyder did in his Batman

books when they would throw in backup stories

And I'm like um the main story is over. I don't

need a backup story And I understand here it's

for other creators to get their Feet wet on Power

Rangers. That's cool, but the stories themselves

Vulcan scholar just way too annoying In the scope

of the main story, I'm fine. Like them having,

oh, their podcast and ranger station and whatever.

Sure, fine. They gotta do something in the 21st

century. Now the villain at the end though left

me wanting more, for sure. Oh yeah. This whole

first volume, we basically get introduced to

each of the characters. You know, Zack is the

biggest one that has, you know, objections on

Tommy because they don't know him that way. And

rightfully so, I'm not saying he shouldn't have

those. But, you know, because new guy and new

this and he was evil, now he's not and yadda

yadda yadda. I do absolutely love, though, how

all of the fight scenes with Tommy and with the

other Rangers work. There's a beautiful panel.

not just in guided view for me on Comixology,

but just the regular full page panel. On the

top, Tommy is in this fight for his life, and

on the bottom it's him, Kimberly, and then the

pterodactyl dinosaur, and it's this, I guess,

training montage kind of thing that they're working

on with him. It's such beautiful art. I absolutely

love the art in this series. it's so very cool

and like I said before again the covers at the

end of issue the end of chapter one there's a

alternate cover for issue one which is the variant

Zord cover for Red Ranger and the Tyrannosaurus

oh it's so beautiful absolutely love that art

that art is done by Gani Montez as well. So very,

very, very cool. And I love how each of these

first issues tackles, like I said, each character.

Like Billy and Trini working together inside

the Dragon Zord. That's cool. Try to figure out

how the Dragon Zord works kind of a thing. You

have Jason with his Sensei stuff and, you know,

his teaching classes for martial arts, which

again is something that he did in the show. And

it's something that Tommy would eventually, you

know, join him in doing, which they even broached

that in this as well. What I love is how we see

Rita be in Tommy's head, supposedly. I always

assumed it was Rita, and then obviously as we

go through this it's, you know, more him self

-doubting, self -loathing kind of thing, but...

Absolutely. Lootly dig it. What did you think

after the first two chapters, after the first,

you know, well, technically three, because prologue,

but, I mean, up to the point where we see where

Goldar is in the Dark Dimension, what did you

think? Well, I don't know, I just, I didn't really

pay too much attention to, like, the chapter

markers, to be honest. Okay. I did think it was

kind of weird that Goldar was in the Dark Dimension,

kind of secluded, but I must have forgotten a

detail from the show. Well, no, this is part

of his own, it's part of the story here. It's

not really a part of the show. The Dark Dimension

obviously is Rita's dimension, and this is normally

where Goldar would have fought Jason, in the

show he would have fought Jason, Tommy, any of

the other Rangers. In this story, in Kyle's story

here, he's being punished because he failed to

bring the Green Ranger back to Rita. So that's

what's, that's what's kind of going on there.

I love how, and this is so apropos, I think I

love how Kyle has written Trini in this because

obviously, uh, Thuy Trang. passed away years

ago kind of a thing so she's not here to see

this kind of a thing but I love the way he's

writing her you know kind of being sympathetic

towards Tommy and basically being an ear for

him to talk to kind of a thing when she's doing

the tests on him I absolutely think that's a

wonderful part of Trini's character. And she

even says to Tommy about how her dad used to

be a doctor and how someday she wants to, you

know, help others in some other way other than

being a Power Ranger, obviously alluding to the

point in the show that she, Jason, and Zack will

eventually leave, kind of thing. I know that

Kyle doesn't do it in the way that was done in

the show, but... It still works. It really, really

does. And as we get through most of this, we

see them figuring out, you know, Tommy's connection

to the Dragonzord, and even though the Dragonzord

isn't connected to the Morphin Grid the way that

their swords are, it still is connected, and

it's just more powerful, it seems, and... It

I don't know it's just it's so interesting how

Kyle has worked all of this stuff in and Made

it an original story not that it wouldn't have

been anyway, but it you know Being able to throw

Easter eggs in is always the funnest part of

it But at the same time you still have to create

an original story for something for a new comic

book series It's not exactly the path that the

show took but it's still The path that the she

it's a double -edged sword. It is and it isn't

what the show was. Yep Yep. Yeah, like I said,

absolutely love it. I love the image later on

when the Megazord picks up the sword Like I said,

you know Jason versus Tommy and Tommy versus

everybody kind of thing him trying to fit in

and figure it out and by the time we get to the

end of it it's like oh boy Rita has enough energy

to release whatever she's going to release and

it's this giant monster thing looks nothing like

any Power Rangers monster you've ever seen before

in your life absolutely love it yep yep And like

I said before, at the end of that, which is the

end of the first volume, we have The Adventures

of Balkan Skull, which I did go back beforehand,

this reading, even though I skipped it the first

time, I did go back and I did try to read this

and it's okay, it's cute, it's interesting, it's

kind of funny, but it's still Balkan Skull. Yeah,

I'm not a fan. I love the cover gallery that

they put at the back of this. You have all of

the ranger covers that were exclusive for the

first issue kind of thing. All the colors. You

have the green ranger. You have the red ranger.

I think you have the black and the pink ranger

as like action figure covers, which is really

cool. You have squat as a... big face kind of

cover, which is really fun and interesting. Um,

yeah, this was just such a fun, fun read. I knew

when I found out that all four of these were

on. Comicsology. I'm like, I have to buy all

four right now and I have to read all four right

now. I think I spent quite literally, I think

it was less than a day that I read all four of

the volumes of the first. Basically, issues zero

through 20 I read within a day and a half. I

read 20 comics in a day and a half, folks. It's

that good. Even though I hadn't picked it up

until we're doing this right now in March of

2019, I still remember how I felt when I first

read it, and I still feel that way reading it

a second time a year or so later. What were you

after you finished this did you immediately want

to read the next volume? Yes Yes Big scary villain

at the end half destroyed Command Center. Yeah.

Yeah Yeah, it was like hey, I need to keep reading

cuz this is interesting And this is the Power

Rangers comic we have deserved for so long you

know everyone says oh I wish the Power Rangers

TV show would do this or do that or whatever

I'm sorry you're probably never gonna get your

wishes, but you get someone like Kyle Who is

a storyteller at heart who is a writer that writes

what he loves? And you get this comic. You get

this comic, you get stuff like this, you get

Nightwing from New 52, you get the Batman Beyond

stuff he did. The man is amazing. I've gotta

get him on for a new interview. once i and my

zord put down the power rangers forever volume

one boom studios money more from power rangers

zero to five scale what would you give it i would

give it probably i i never give a perfect score

so this will probably be like a 4 .5 for me yeah

but it's pretty close Yeah Some things just need

a perfect score and I think there was nothing

in the art like certain comics and I agree with

you certain comics certain things I can you know

Find little bitty flaws and little bitty things

in it that I didn't really care for Other than

the adventures of bulk and skull which is separate

from the main story other than the backup story.

I loved all of this Love the whole story. I loved

all the character bits. The art is amazing These

artists are so talented and they're doing Power

Rangers so much justice absolutely love it But

to be objective I'll give it a four and a half

as well I'm not saying I'm not gonna end up giving

any of the other trades a five at some point

But for now four and a half absolutely love it

What are you like without reading ahead? I know

you haven't yet because I haven't even started

reading the second the second trade yet With

that cliffhanger with the monster. What are you

expecting? Are you expecting anything? Are you

hoping for anything in the next trade? I'm wondering

if they're gonna somehow turn back time or if

the white Ranger powers will come out To take

on the problem. Yeah Yeah, considering obviously

they're following the whole green can't green

powers are gonna burn out kind of a thing Yeah,

who knows we'll have to wait and see As I said

folks, this is Mighty Morphin March. We've got

episode 341 to 345 the first five Collected editions

first five volumes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

from Boop Studios You can find me on social media

at TFG and Mike on Twitter. What is your Twitter

sir? At SCP -21 You got anything you want to

pimp out before we get the heck out of here?

Nothing aside from recording altered geeks and

having episodes of those coming out and hopefully

soon some more all things transformers in future

imperfect absolutely just Keep it tuned here

to the pullback, folks, for more Power Rangers

coverage here in Mighty Morphin' March. Make

your greatest game into comics and we will catch

you next time! You've just heard the latest episode

of The Pullback, the GCRN's first comic review

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Radio. So until next time, make your great escape

into comics and unleash the geek in you. or lose

the protection of the power. First, never use

your power for personal gain. Second, never escalate

a battle unless Rita forces you. And finally,

keep your identity secret. No one may know you

are a Power Ranger. Count on me, Zordon. 100%.

Here. I made you a communicator. Wow, thanks,

man. You're one of us now. Welcome aboard. A

new chapter has begun, Rangers. Let the power

protect you.