May The Power Protect You — Reviewing ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return’ #1

The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers split, changed, and gave way to new Rangers. At least in the world, we know. In another world, their fight against evil came to a terrible bitter conclusion and spelled the end for the Rangers.

With a mysterious new evil rising, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #1 brings the long-disbanded team together for one last mission as one of their own goes missing. A big anniversary-style celebration written by the Pink Ranger herself Amy Jo Johnson and co-writer Matt Hotson, with art from Nico Leon, colors by Francesco Segala and Gloria Martinelli, and lettering from Power Rangers mainstay Ed Dukeshire.

August 28, 1993, was a day that changed my life. At the tender age of seven (I was less than a month away from 8), I had my bowl of cereal ready for this new show I had heard about. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers came on, and from the moment it aired I was hooked. From the first battle, to the Green Ranger’s arrival, to the shifting cast, I watched the show consistently through to the Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy era. Popping back in here or there for some Time Force or Dino Thunder or the very cop like S.P.D. and a few others.

No doubt I was not the only one who often pondered what the show might have been like if all the behind-the-scenes stuff hadn’t happened. If the original six had been able to stay together and do more seasons as a unit. Having pondered that herself, Johnson helps provide a glimpse of what could have been if that was the case.

Right off the bat, Johnson and Hotson are a very solid writing duo. This of course is not Johnson’s first rodeo, as she is a screenwriter and director alongside her time as an actor. In a way, I think that shows through the pacing of this issue, where the scenes are very deliberate and sort of smoothly segue from one to the next.

On that note though, if you read the synopsis of the issue in solicits or preview articles online, you know this first issue basically beat for beat. That’s not the fault of the creative team. Marketing wise, it feels a bit odd to give away some of the beats they did there, but at least a few of the more major reveals are kept closer to the chest.

This brings me to those aforementioned reveals. We learn at the very start that Trini has passed away recently, and her funeral brings (most) of the gang together again. While the ‘how’ is still unknown, we also learn that Tommy died back in 2001 and it seems to be highly likely he was the ‘terrible cost’ that came with the defeat of Rita and Zedd. Unfortunately, both Thuy Trang (Trini) and Jason David Frank (Tommy) passed away, in 2001 and 2022 respectively. In the big 30^th anniversary special Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once And Always, Trini dies at the very beginning while Tommy is taken off the board and never seen.

For that show, the moves made sense, because of Trang’s passing and Frank’s non-involvement of the special before his passing. Neither Johnson nor Austin St. John were involved either, leaving David Yost and Walter Jones as the only of the original six to appear. In the regular MMPR comics from BOOM! Studios, all six appear are still alive and thriving as characters because of the medium. While I partially questioned the need to kill both characters in this special, I imagine that writing about something so personal was already a big thing for Johnson to begin with. Let alone trying to write the characters that were played by friends that have been lost.

Power Rangers has big-time energy, no matter how cheesy or what form it has taken over the decades. That is not lost here as Leon is a perfect artist for this series.

I don’t like using terms like ‘cinematic’ for comics. These are very different mediums and shouldn’t be compared. Yet, some equivalent of that word would be useful for talking about this artwork. It’s big, deep, detailed, captures moments with such grounded realistic energy, and feels epic in scale.

Even with the heavier cloud that weighs over things, there is always a bit of sexiness in Leon’s work. It’s just so slick and makes one want to believe and be right in the middle. Which is also captured by the choices for paneling. Just those opening pages of Jason in the darkness of the Command Center ruins. Tense, heavy, terrifying, and badass all at the same time.

I mean, there is a sequence of three slanted panels where he’s pulling his blade blaster out, and I wanted to shout in joy. Every bit is soaked in shadows, save for the bit of grey of the blaster we can see, but it’s so familiar. Tickles a feeling deep within the hearts of MMPR fans.

Speaking of the light and colors, I’m so glad to see Segala and Martinelli here. I’ve gotten to gush about them numerous times over in the various recent Firefly books that BOOM! Studios also publishes.

While those books have a rougher texture to them, the same mix of bright and dark finds its place here. Things are slicker and smoother in the color realm, creating a perfect blend between the color palate tones. The Power Rangers are naturally big shiny colorful individuals, both with their powers and without. Finding a space where that still is shown and felt at all times but where things feel a lot more dire and darker than we remember is a delicate balancing act.

Everyone involved pulls it off so much, nowhere more apparent than in the coloring.

One of the co-writers isn’t the only one with some Power Ranger ties to be found in the book. Dukeshire is not only the regular letterer for the ongoing Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series, but he’s also just one of BOOM! Studios go to letterers for so many of their books.

It’s not hard to see why. There is just so much energy to what he does. It feels seamless, as the words bounce and flow around the page. Gathering up energy and steam as they go, letting every bit of emotion or personality hit us again and again. The volume or tonal changes are so beyond clear, ratcheting up the feelings around the book with every moment.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #1 is now available from BOOM! Studios.