Comic Books

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #17 Review

A step down in action from last issue, but a great story all the same.

July 19, 2017

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #17 picks up a few months after the Rangers defeated Lord Drakkon. With Rita out of the picture for the time being, the Power Rangers have been saving citizens around the world with no real global threat at stake. While doing so they’re also in search of an item to bring Zordon back.

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Bulk and Skull open this issue with some great material for their web show. I really hope we keep getting moments like this from the duo. Even though the original show came out in the early 90’s, these comics take place in the modern day and moments like this with Bulk and Skull having an internet show remind you. It makes sense that they would have a web show and I’m glad the choice was made to make Bulk and Skull more likable and less like a couple of bullies. You can definitely tell that these two care more about covering stories about the Power Rangers than they would care to shove some kids in lockers.

Kyle Higgins has already delivered an interesting first issue to something new. This takes place a few months after Lord Drakkon’s defeat so as far as the Power Rangers know, he’s out of the picture. This issue was a bit of a step back from the previous issues when it comes to action and suspense but that doesn’t take away from the story at all. So far this story seems like it’s going to be focused on how the Power Rangers can get Zordon back. Hendry Prasetya has some of the most beautiful art and was the best choice to work on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Every page has more than enough going on to look at and enjoy without ever feeling like it’s too muddy or there’s too much going on.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #17 Review

The team is shown struggling a lot with being regular teenagers and that’s a nice change to their characters instead of taking the obvious route by making it the other way around and have them struggle to be Rangers. These characters still have normal teenage problems. Zack makes another reference about having stuff to deal with at home which I hope they dive into more. Jason seems to never want to leave the command center and constantly searches for people to save or monsters to stop. At one point he even falls asleep in uniform at the command center.

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Billy and Tommy had me most intrigued this issue. They were both stranded together on a New earth/timeline where they almost died and now they’re closer than ever and seem inseparable. They have a really powerful scene together in a gym where after they finished working out they both take a breather and discuss how the other earth’s Billy from the future and Lord Drakkon wouldn’t give up this easily so they get back to working out. This is great writing and I can only imagine where they’re taking these two as far as the storyline goes. Billy has always felt like the brains–even though he could fight and hold his own, he was never leader material, as much as that hurts to say since he’s one of my favorites. Billy shows signs of a leader and a fighter here. He’s afraid he might end up dead like the other Billy.

Saba is a great addition to the team but it’s so odd not seeing him attached to a White Ranger. He hangs back with Alpha at the command center aiding the Power Rangers to find the best way to bring back Zordon. It’ll be interesting to see if they chose to change Tommy from being the Green Ranger to lead the team as a White Ranger. Since the comics have a lot of similarities to the show but also seem to go their own direction by also changing the canon, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just added a seventh new member to the team and made them the White Ranger.