Hello, my friends. We’ve reached that wonderful part of the year where I delve into the four-paneled histories that our favorite characters have carved out for themselves upon the illustrated page. For 2023, we’re focusing on a franchise that’s blended a long-running Japanese series with its own original superheroic touch to create a cultural phenomenon whose flames still burn brightly three decades later. On that note, I welcome you to the first entry of…
For the purpose of this retrospective, I’m only going to cover every single comic book that came out of this series prior to Boom Studios acquiring the license. As for how the franchise as a whole was originally created in the first place, its seeds were planted around 1984 when the Egyptian-born businessman known as Haim Saban went on a business trip to Japan. While he was relaxing in his hotel room, he managed to catch the Super Sentai series known as “Choudenshi Bioman” on TV. As he became fascinated with the notion of five spandex-clad figures battling it out against evil monsters, he decided to create a Bio-Man pilot in 1985. However, not a single TV station was interested in picking up his pitch. Thankfully, his idea finally came to fruition in 1992 when Fox Kids came along to bring his idea to the small screen. From there, the wheels were set in motion for a defining touchstone of the 1990s to come about.
Debuting on August 28, 1993, it initially combined some footage from the Super Sentai series known as “Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger” with its own hired cast of young people whose backgrounds ranged from gymnastics to martial arts to portray its cental characters. For its second and third seasons, other Super Sentai shows such as “Gosei Sentai Dairanger” and “Ninja Sentai Kakuranger” would have its elements implemented into the mainline show. With the program gaining a large amount of notice and popularity, it wouldn’t be long before the merchandizing bonanza would kick into high gear.
As far as the franchise’s comic book license goes, the inaugural owner to that claim would be the Prescott, Arizona-based company known as Hamilton Comics. As for how they would initially bring these “Teenagers With Attitude” onto the illustrated page, it would come in a particular form that was completely unexpected.
Published in 1994, this comic was a promotional tie-in between Hamilton Comics and the clothing company called Fruit of the Loom. Jack C. Harris got to write the story, Al Bigley handles the artwork and Steve Stiles takes care of inking duties. As for what kind of tale this particular periodical decides to weave within its eight pages, let’s begin our powerful journey and find out.
We open with Rita Repulsa (who’s somehow given an extra “S” on her last name) and her cohorts having established their devious base of operations on the moon, despite omitting the moment where two regular astronauts accidentally freed them from their imprisoning dumpster. She mentions that she’s been engaged in an eons-long battle against Zordon (whom for some reason is named Zoltar in this book) and that their struggle has brought them to Earth. Although she still intends to conquer the galaxy, she knows that Zordon will still attempt to stop her. As such, she orders Finster to take them to Earth in order to learn what strategies her enemy has in store. Over in the Command Center, Zordon’s robotic assistant named Alpha 5 informs him that their headquarters is undetectable from the human race. Zordon then mentions that the planet should have the necessary power that they’ll need to combat Rita, despite the fact that the prehistoric dinosaurs are no more. However, he does mention that there’s “another way”. We then shift over to Angel Grove High School where our five main teenagers, as well as Bulk & Skull, are on a class field trip to a nature-filled area in order to collect some fossils for their class. After they arrive, Jason Lee Scott mentions how this spacious area is the perfect place to practice their martial arts, yet Kimberly Hart reminds him to stick with their assignment. From there, the group makes their way towards a nearby cave before they’re met upon by Alpha 5. Because Zordon informs him that they contain “the right kind of positive mental energy and physical skills” to help them, Alpha 5 proceeds to give Jason (who’s given the last name of Jones) the necessary information about Zordon’s enemy, as well as the power of the Tyrannosaurus along with his signature weapon called the Power Sword. From there, the rest of his friends receive their newfound powers as Kimberly (given the last name of Smith) gets the power of the Pterodactyl while also wielding the Power Bow (called the Battle Bow instead). For Zack Taylor (or Zack Davis here), he gets the power of the Mastodon while also getting access to the Power Axe (weirdly named the Cosmic Cannon). With Billy Cranston (who’s named Billy Blake), he gets the power of the Triceratops as well as the Power Lance (or Mighty Mace) as his main weapon. Finally, there’s Trini Kwan (or Trini Chang as the comic calls her) who gets the power of the Saber-Toothed Tiger along with the Power Daggers (or Dino Dagger as it’s called here). Meanwhile in another part of the cave, Bulk and Skull soon notice a Putty Patroller that’s standing still, assuming that they’ll be able to get rich with this “Cave Man Clay Statue”. Suddenly, it springs to life and throws them off before more Putty Patrollers show up in order to scare them off. From there, Finster has them fuse together in order to create one gigantic Putty Patroller.
With this turn of events, Zordon contacts his new Rangers and tells them to summon their Dinozords, which he’s just created out of “the elements” of their home planet. Once they do so, Alpha 5 then tells them to bring their Zords together in order to form the Megazord. Shortly after Bulk and Skull flee from the immediate area, a brief fight breaks out before the Megazord is able to punch the massive Putty Patroller enough times in order to separate it into the smaller beings, ultimately coming out on top. After the Rangers power down, the comic ends with them coming across a petrified Bulk & Skull who worriedly runs past them. Afterwards, Zordon tells them that Rita is relentless and will eventually strike back.
We’ve now reached the content that was actually released in comic book shops. Starting things off, we have a six-issue mini-series that was published from December 1994 to May 1995. For this major venture, writing duties fell onto Donald Markstein (Issues 1, 2, 4 & 5), Jack C. Harris (Issues 3 & 6) and Nicola Cuti (Issues 5 & 6). For the artwork, those responsibilities fell onto Gray Morrow (Issues 1 & 6), John Heebink (Issues 2 & 5), Aaron McClellan (Issue 2), Al Bigley (Issue 3) and Sparky Moore (Issues 4 & 5). As for the kind of ventures that our colorfully youthful team went through within this set, let’s teleport in and find out.
We open upon “The Menace Of Dracula” as Billy sets up his bug display for the science fair while Ms. Appleby completes him on his exhibit. Afterwards, Billy begins to talk about a particular insect within his gathered group of critters called the Sinestra Draculi a.k.a. the Dracula Moth. Through Trini’s translation of his technobabble, he mentions that its wings resemble that of a regular bat. After he shares a few more tidbits about the creature, the group is suddenly met upon by Bulk & Skull (who’re in their unsuccessful bully phase from Season 1) as Bulk says that his exhibit on “How Yeast Rises” will top Cranston’s presentation. When Billy says that it’s unlikely that his bug exhibit will get overshadowed by the yeast display, Bulk decides to act like a bull and charge right at him. Thankfully, Cranston simply steps aside and allows Bulk to crash into a Primary Color exhibit, covering him in paint. Afterwards, Billy mentions how the Dracula Moth is also able to hypnotize its prey, though it’s only effective upon “extremely primitive organisms”. However, Skull’s simple act of staring at the bug causes him to become entranced by it. Afterwards, Bulk tells him that they have to get more yeast before the supermarket closes as he’s forced to snap his comrade out of his spellbound state.
Over at his lunar fortress, Lord Zedd had just observed all of this and has come up with a way to take down the Power Rangers. As such, he tells Finster that he wants the science fair cleared out before he receives the certain bug in order to transform it into a large monster. Not only that, but he orders Squatt and Baboo to go to the fair in order to retrieve said creature. Back at the science fair, Lord Zedd’s plan gets set in motion as a group of Putty Patrollers get unleashed onto the area. While the civilians flee for their lives, our heroes manage to beat their foes up. However, this gave Squatt & Baboo their opportunity to retrieve a caterpillar from Cranston’s display and bring it back to base. From there, the bug gets turned into a decent-sized creature before it goes on a tree-eating rampage.
Back over at Angel Grove High, our heroes have finally defeated the Putty Patrollers before Billy discovers that his Sinestra Draculi exhibit was stolen. Just as he wonders why Lord Zedd would want it in the first place, they get contacted by Zordon who tells them to head to the park since a giant caterpillar is devouring the nearby vegetation. Once the group morphs, they confront the large caterpillar as Cranston recognizes it as “an enlarged version of Sinestra Draculi’s larval stage”. He then tells his teammates that they must defeat it while it’s in its herbivorous phase before it evolves. As such, the Power Rangers attempt to attack, yet are unsuccessful at it. Not only that, but Zack, Trini and Jason get encased by its webbing. In addition, their weapons are unable to cut through and save their imprisoned teammates. After Billy informs Zordon of his team’s situation, they get teleported back to the Command Center. From there, he tells his two remaining Rangers that they can head to the Zarathustra Dimension in order to reach a giant spider and obtain its venom within a provided container so that their teammates can be freed.
From there, Cranston and Hart get teleported to their targeted dimension. Even though Kimberly initially feels uneasy about their surroundings, Billy says that their teammates are counting on them, especially since he feels responsible for their current situation. Just then, they notice some small tentacle-esque lifeforms grasping their legs, but Cranston realizes that they’re harmless due to their light strength and that they’re also attracted to body heat. Suddenly, they’re approached by a giant spider as it proceeds to attack them. It then shoots some venom at Billy who gets hit, yet only suffers some minor pain due to his uniform withstanding the acidic shot. Despite their harrowing situation and the fact that the sixth Ranger isn’t with them right now, Cranston has come up with a way for them to retrieve the giant spider’s venom. He grabs some of the squiggly tentacles in order to tie the canister to one of Hart’s arrows. Afterwards, the spider shoots out some venom at just the right time as Kimberly fires her arrow in order for the canister to collect some of its acid. From there, they manage to retrieve it before they teleport back home.
Afterwards, Alpha 5 proceeds to apply the venom upon the tough webbing, freeing the other three Rangers. Just then, Zordon tells them that the opposing larva has just emerged from its cocoon in order to become a Dracula Moth. He then warns his Rangers that the creature is now able “to mesmerize higher lifeforms”, which includes humans. From there, the team heads out to confront the dangerous creature, only to continually struggle against it. Not only that, but it manages to briefly hypnotize Billy before Trini is able to snap him out of his daze. Meanwhile, Lord Zedd and his cohorts observe the situation from their moon base. He then decides to operate like Rita Repulsa and throw his staff down towards Earth in order to make his Dracula Moth grow. With the bug now at an unbearable size, the Rangers proceed to summon their Thunderzords.
From there, they hop into their respective Zords before coming together to form the Thunder Megazord. Despite their initial struggle, they finally manage to slay the giant Dracula Moth with the Thunder Saber (or the Mega Power Sword as it’s called here), leaving a frustrated Lord Zedd with a Rita-sized headache.
Later, our main group arrive back at Angel Grove High. Even though Trini mentions that Lord Zedd had destroyed his original exhibit, Billy says that it’s only a minor setback since he’s capable of recreating it. In addition to his “explanatory material” being already saved on his Word Processor, he also brought a special heat lamp that can help some bugs grow from eggs into their adult forms in a short amount of time. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull notice the heat lamp from afar. Because they’re struggling to make their yeast rise, Bulk says that the heat lamp can finally help them with their situation. Later, Billy has completely restored his original display before Bulk and Skull swipe the heat lamp for themselves, where it proceeds to grow their yeast at an exponential rate. We then shift ahead to a short time later as Ms. Appleby looks over Billy’s exhibit on the Dracula Moth’s life cycle before she ultimately announces that he’s won first place. From there, Issue 1 ends with her presenting Bulk and Skull with a special award for the “Messiest Science Project”, due to the yeast growing so much to completely cover them.
Issue 2 (“Switcheroo”) begins at the Angel Grove Youth Center & Juice Bar as Tommy Oliver meets up with his comrades just as Ernie is about to show something in his collection. He calls it an actual Power Rangers souvenir before he elaborates by mentioning that it’s actually a piece of the cocoon from the same Dracula Moth that the Rangers fought a month ago. Not only that, but he’s hoping to get it signed by the Rangers themselves and that he has a plan to accomplish it. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull are sitting nearby as Bulk is drowning his sorrows within an excessive amount of banana milkshakes. Because they’ve been overhearing our main group’s conversation, Bulk is bummed that he’s not on a t-shirt, to which Skull tells him that the Rangers are actual heroes. Just then, they overhear Ernie’s plan to get his souvenir signed where he’ll dress up as a monster and that once the Rangers arrive, he’ll discard his costume before he gets them to sign away. From there, Bulk heads out to plan his own petty scheme, but he ends up keeling over due to all of those milkshakes that he’s consumed. Meanwhile, our main group discreetly discuss amongst themselves as they decide to help Ernie out. However, Tommy isn’t sure that he’ll be able to participate due to his ever-dwindling Green Ranger powers. Ernie then asks the teens if they can look over the Youth Center while he carries out his autograph plan, but the majority of them says that they have other plans. However, Tommy accepts his request. Meanwhile upon his lunar base, Lord Zedd has overheard Ernie’s plan before he tells Finster to create a Putty Patroller that looks like Ernie and that he should also know what kind of monster he’ll be making.
We then shift ahead to the next morning as our main group hears a radio newscast mentioning “a malevolent Goat Man” that’s causing some mischief over at a condemned building. As they arrive at the Youth Center, Zack asks why they’re not immediately heading out to sign Ernie’s souvenir, to which Jason says that he wants to try and ask Tommy one last time to join them. Once they arrive however, Oliver tells them that Ernie has called it off, especially since he’s standing nearby. However, the group still hear the radio newscast mention the rampaging Goat Man, realizing that something’s up as they head out and morph. Unbeknownst to them and Tommy, there was a Putty Patroller pretending to be Ernie before teleporting out. We then shift over to downtown as a few minutes earlier, the real Ernie is dressed up as a Goat Man and causing some minor mischief over at a condemned building. He then becomes exhausted before he sits down, unintentionally causing some bricks and debris to fall towards him. Thankfully, Bulk and Skull arrive in time as Ernie leaps towards them to safety. Because they think that he’s an actual monster, Bulk and Skull present themselves as the Mauve & Puce Rangers. Ernie tells them to knock it off since he’s actually Ernie, but he’s unable to make them believe him because he’s not able to get out of his costume, especially because of a key zipper that’s stuck. Bulk and Skull try to chase after him before they notice a nearby photographer, causing them to leap into a heroic pose. However, they crash into a ladder that had some open paint cans on them, dousing them in paint just as the actual Power Rangers arrive. Ernie emerges to properly confront them, but they mistake him for an actual monster before they fire their Blade Blasters at him, forcing him to go on the run. Meanwhile, Lord Zedd is observing this from his lunar base before he tells Finster to create his version of Goat Man that’s also armed with its own weapons.
Meanwhile, the Power Rangers proceed to chase after Goat Man, unaware that it’s actually Ernie underneath the costume. He soon spots a stick as he grabs it, ties his souvenir onto it and waves it around in an admission of defeat. The group is initially confused that a monster has actually surrendered to them, but Ernie tells them that he’s a regular man. While he’s still unable to remove his costume, he still asks them to sign his cocoon piece. However, Jason doesn’t believe him to be Ernie and tries to slay him, all while Lord Zedd oversees this. Thankfully, Trini stops him and says that there’s a better way to help Ernie out of his costume. As such, she tries to use her Power Dagger, but ends up having trouble. Zack & Billy then try to help with their Power Axe and Power Lance respectively, yet also struggle to help out. With Lord Zedd furious that the Rangers have prevented themselves from accidentally murdering their friend, he learns from Finster that his own Goat Man is now ready to be deployed. Meanwhile, Ernie finally has his mask off and begins to ask them for their autographs. However, the Rangers are distracted by Zordon who orders them to return to the Command Center before they teleport away.
Once our heroes arrive, Zordon tells them that downtown Angel Grove is under attack by a new monster called Goat Man. The Rangers are confused by this revelation since they just came across Ernie who was dressed at Goat Man, to which Zordon says that he oversaw their recent venture. However, he tells them that this Goat Man is an actual monster that showed up shortly after their recent encounter with Ernie. As such, the Rangers head out to deal with this foe. After they arrive, Jason tells the monster to surrender, but Goat Man tells him that he’s actually Ernie before asking him to come closer to give him an autograph. With our heroes unsure whether or not he’s trying to trick them, Jason decides to use his Blade Blaster on the monster. However, Kimberly stops him before Trini asks the Goat Man what they want him to sign. Goat Man says that he wants them to sign a Power Rangers t-shirt, to which our heroes realize that he’s not Ernie. With his monster’s identity fully discovered, Lord Zedd proceeds to make his monster grow.
From there, the Rangers summon their Thunderzords before they bring them together in order to form the Thunder Megazord. After a fierce struggle, Zack asks if they need to use to the Thunder Saber to properly defeat their foe. However, Jason says that they can bring the monster down with “one good kick”. As such, they deliver a timely kick that finally destroys Goat Man.
Later at the Angel Grove Youth Center, Ernie shares his recent experience with Tommy. After they notice that Bulk and Skull got featured in the local newspaper for the wrong reason, Ernie mentions that he’s still bummed that he didn’t get the Power Rangers’ autograph. Suddenly, our heroes arrive to the delight of the citizens. While the rest of his team get swept up by the patrons’ attention, Jason discreetly tells Tommy to join them since he’s still a team member and that they don’t want to leave Ernie disappointed. While Oliver slips away to help out, the rest of the Rangers proceed to sign his souvenir while Ernie expresses his admiration towards them. Just then, Tommy returns as the Green Ranger and signs the souvenir while Ernie tells him that he’s his favorite Ranger and that he’s made a cake for them before he gets his picture taken with the team. Suddenly, Bulk and Skull return while dressed up as the Mauve & Puce Rangers, even ignoring the fact that Ernie can tell who they are through their thin disguises. Billy then tells Bulk that his Brontosaurus title also goes by Apatosaurus, to which Skull thinks that he said, “Pat The Saurus” and delivers a hard pat upon Bulk’s back, resulting in him landing into the cake. From there, Issue 2 ends with our main group having fully returned to their civilian guises before Ernie asks them where the Power Rangers went, to which they pretend not to know.
As we move into Issue 3, we finally reach the first notable lineup change as one of our familiar Rangers must learn that despite their personal predicament, “It’s Not The End Of The World”. We open with Kimberly being told by her mother that her room is a mess, yet she shrugs it off since she doesn’t want to be late for school and that she’s going on a field trip today. She then promises to take care of it after school and that despite the current condition of her room, she says that it’s not the end of the world. However, her mother warns her that it will be if she doesn’t learn to be better organized. As she walks to school, Kimberly thinks that her mother is simply “being unreasonable”, especially due to her Power Ranger duties and that she doesn’t have time to worry about the messiness of her room. Meanwhile within his moon-based base, Lord Zedd is dealing with some falling debris that’s being caused by Squatt & Baboo moving a broken atomizing displacer around. After Lord Zedd fires an energy blast towards them for their incompetence, it suddenly gives Finster an idea on how they can defeat the Power Rangers. He then presents his master with an item called the Garbagantrous, which is a monster that doesn’t need to feed off of their own power reserves. When Lord Zedd asks him how it can be a threat to their foes, Finster says that it can feed off of Earth’s own garbage. With Lord Zedd liking this idea, he then sends it towards the Angel Grove Landfill & Recycling Center.
Later, our classmates are arriving by school bus to the landfill and recycling center. While Skull calls the center a dump, Rocky DeSantos calls him out for his short-sightedness since recycling allows certain materials to get reused while a dump only lets garbage “just sit and rot”. Afterwards, Skull gets unintentionally spooked by Aisha Campbell and loses his gum to the wind before it gets blown onto Bulk’s face. Once they arrive, a tour guide proceeds to educate them about the importance of recycling, while the garbage within their landfill is in the process of being made environmentally safe. Suddenly, the Garbagantrous crash lands into the landfill as Rocky notices some commotion occurring out there. While the group continues with their tour, the Garbagantrous manages to gather the nearby vast amount of garbage in order to form itself into a fierce monster. Once the creature makes itself known, the Rangers manage to slip away from their fleeing classmates in order to morph. However, Kimberly discovers that she doesn’t have her Power Coin, especially since she accidentally left it home due to being in a rush to get out the door. While the rest of the team heads out to confront their newly formed foe, Rocky quickly teleports her back to her house. Back at the Command Center, Alpha 5 says that their sensors are unable to locate where Hart’s Power Coin is located. As such, Zordon decides to teleport him to her home in order to help her.
Back with the rest of the Power Rangers, they proceed to engage the Garbagantrous with their signature weapons. However, they’re unable to cause any significant damage. Back on his lunar base, Lord Zedd is thrilled to see his monster easily withstand their enemies’ strikes before he decides to have it grow in size, much to Finster’s dismay. Back with Kimberly and Alpha 5, she’s unable to locate her missing Power Coin. Despite Alpha 5 zooming around and cleaning up her room, they’re still baffled on where her Power Coin is located.
Meanwhile, the Garbagantrous has been grown as the Rangers realize that they can’t use the Thunder Megazord due to the absence of their teammate. Even still, they decide to summon their regular Thunderzords in order to go up against the massive monster. However, they’re unable to make much progress as it easily tosses and smacks them around.
While Bulk, Skull and their classmates oversee the confrontation, Kimberly is bummed that she can’t find her Power Coin. Just as Alpha 5 mentions how all of this clean-up is thirsty work, Hart finally realizes that she’s been using her Power Coin as a coaster and that it was underneath a soda can, to which Alpha 5 says that the can was somehow preventing the Command Center’s scanners from locating her coin. Once she morphs, she summons her Firebird Thunderzord and flies off to rejoin her teammates. Back at the Recycling Center, the rest of the Rangers lie defeated while the Garbagantrous is about to bury them and their Thunderzords within a massive pile of garbage. Thankfully, Kimberly flies in at just the right time and reaches her teammates, allowing their Zords to come together and create the Thunder Megazord. From there, they easily beat up and destroy the monster while Lord Zedd complains about their creature’s failure, to which Finster says that it didn’t have enough stored energy to maintain its gigantic size.
Afterwards, the Rangers send their Zords away before they’re met with thunderous applause by the nearby citizens. From there, they slip away in order to properly de-morph and rejoin their classmates. Not to mention, they find Bulk and Skull hiding like cowards within some trash cans. And so, Issue 3 ends with Kimberly arriving home as her mother summons her to her room. Despite her initial sense of fear, Kimberly is instead met with motherly praise for her newly cleaned room. Her mom then proceeds to apologize for being cross with her earlier and says that a messy room isn’t the end of the world, to which Kimberly tells her that it could’ve been before they share a hug.
Issue 4 (“Swamp Man”) begins at Angel Grove High School where our main group is met upon by their principal named Mr. Caplan as he expresses his delighted feeling over their upcoming use of the school’s video equipment in order to contribute to Ecology Awareness Week. Shortly after Bulk and Skull get permission from Caplan to use some costumes from the “Drama Department”, our main teens are met upon by Tommy who was just studying for an upcoming science exam. His friends then ask him if he’ll help them out with the creation of their ecology video, especially since it’ll be judged if it will be nationally broadcasted. However, Oliver turns them down before he heads out. The rest of his friends wonder if maybe he thinks that they don’t entirely need him, but they easily brush it off and decide to let him deal with his personal business while they work on their ecology video, particularly on the Heliophontic Phenomena.
Just then, Bulk and Skull return with the latter dressed up as a tree while the former says that their video will entirely be about said tree. They even decide to show off the costume’s key feature as Skull pulls on a cord and causes its branches to extend outward. However, one of them accidentally knocks off Mr. Caplan’s toupee as he furiously responds by giving them detention. Meanwhile within the lunar base, Lord Zedd had overseen all of this and tells Finster that he wants a monster that fits with Ecology Awareness Week. After rejecting a bunch of other monsters, they ultimately settle on Swamp Man, since it’s capable of “turning healthy, dry land into a repulsive, polluted swamp”. While Finster proceeds to bring the monster to life, Lord Zedd decides to distract our heroes with some Putty Patrollers.
We then transition back to Angel Grove High School as our main group decide to film their nature video over at Angel Grove City Park. Suddenly, they’re met upon by a group of Putty Patrollers as they proceed to engage them. This time however, the Putties actually manage to put up a fierce fight as they give our main teens some trouble. Thankfully, they’re able to rebound and defeat their otherworldly foes. While Lord Zedd, Goldar, Squatt and Baboo are bummed that their foot soldiers were once again defeated, they learn that Finster has just teleported their newest monster to Earth. Shortly afterwards, our main group has just come off of their triumph over the Putty Patrollers and are about to head out to the park. However, a bystander tells them that they can’t go there since he’s just heard a news report on the radio about it. From there, the newscast mentions that the surrounding area has been getting transformed into “a smelly, gray-green morass” and that some picnickers had managed to escape there in time. Shortly after the guy takes his leave, our main group wonders if this is another scheme from Lord Zedd. Just then, they get contacted by Zordon who confirms their suspicion before telling them to teleport to the Command Center for a debriefing.
Once they arrive, Zordon has them look at the Viewing Globe while informing them that Swamp Man’s destruction has created toxic wetlands and that prolonged exposure will gravely harm every single being on Earth. While he also mentions that the materials that make up their uniforms will protect them for a while, they must defeat this monster before it transforms the entire globe into “poisonous ooze”. Once they morph, they proceed to engage Swamp Man and even try to blast him (with what’s supposed to be their Blade Blasters), but they’re unable to affect it while they’re force to dodge its toxic-filled shots.
From there, Swamp Man grows in size and tells our heroes to run away in order to await their doom. Fortunately, they refuse to comply as they summon their Thunderzords before Rocky tells his teammates that he and Kimberly will use their firepower to solidify the moist ground while the rest of the team attacks their foe. While they carry out their plan, Lord Zedd laughs at their attempt to defeat his monster before he has Swamp Man grow even more. As such, the Rangers bring their Zords together in order to form the Thunder Megazord. However, Swamp Man blasts the ground around it in order to prevent our heroes from having proper leverage to move around. With the main group finding themselves in their darkest hour, Rocky says that he has a plan, but they’ll need Tommy’s help in order to pull it off.
Over at the Youth Center, Tommy has been studying hard for his science test before a fellow classmate decides to give him a break by providing him with a beverage. Just then, his wrist communicator beeps before he excuses himself. Once he finds a secluded place, Zordon informs him that his fellow Rangers need his help, specifically his White Tigerzord since it will provide a key role within the fight. Later, the White Ranger arrives at the battle within his White Tigerzord as he tells the Red Ranger that Zordon has filled him in on their plan. As such, he has the White Tigerzord grab a downed power line and hand it off to the Thunder Megazord in order for it to pull itself out. From there, they wrap the cable around Swamp Man and tie it up before they blast the monster to bits. While Lord Zedd is once again bummed that he lost another monster and vows to destroy our heroes some day, the Rangers plan to stay put in order to make sure that no bystander gets caught within Swamp Man’s mess. Just then, they get contacted by Zordon who congratulates them for their victory before he assures them that a backup system allowed their city to maintain its electric power despite the recent battle. Afterwards, Tommy tells his teammates that he’s studied enough for his test and would now like to join them for their ecology video, to which they’re ecstatic by his decision.
We then cut to a few days later where our main group has completed their ecology video. In it, they talk about “the ecological benefits of sunlight”, especially after the Power Rangers cleaned up Swamp Man’s mess. Afterwards, the two judges are impressed by their video and consider it as a strong candidate for national broadcast. Afterwards, Bulk and Skull come in as Mr. Caplan asks them why they didn’t turn in their video on time. Despite that, he takes their tape before our main teens notice that they’re incredibly clean, which makes them itch all over before they mention that they’ve been showering multiple times ever since they made their video. From there, their tape gets played as Skull gets shown in his tree costume while he awkwardly delivers some basic tree facts. Suddenly, Swamp Man shoots the surrounding area and causes him to sink into the ground. Afterwards, Bulk says that they’ll erase their embarrassing footage, especially since the Power Rangers managed to recover it. Thankfully, the judges tell them that they would like to use it in a national broadcast as well. However, Issue 4 ends with them finding out that they plan on using it on “America’s Most Embarrassing Home Videos”.
Issue 5 (“Grounded”) opens with our main group looking to attend a wild west show that’s currently in town. Just as Adam Park convinces Billy to ask Tommy if he’s also going, Oliver is actually ahead of him as he manages to ask Kimberly if she’s going as well. Unfortunately, she says that she can’t because she’s grounded. She elaborates by mentioning that she went “a teeny” over budget at the mall and it made her stepfather upset. Just then, Bulk and Skull step in as Bulk says that if he was in her shoes, then he would do whatever he wanted just because the current dad isn’t the original. Aisha & Kimberly rebut by mentioning that he’s still Kimmy’s father and that he still deserves respect. After her friends head off to class, Skull then tries to ask her out to the wild west show, to which Kimberly reminds him that she’s still grounded. During this, Bulk and Skull weren’t paying attention to where they were going as they trip over a janitor’s mobile trash can.
Over on his lunar base, Lord Zedd has overseen all of this and gets mad over how his adversaries are able to live normal lives outside of their Power Ranger duties as if he meant nothing to them. Goldar demands to go after them, but Zedd declines his request before he tells Finster to make a monster that’s in line with the wild west show that’s going on within the city. Because he anticipated this, he presents his master with a cowboy-looking creation called Kid Zippo who’s able to shoot Zip Rays. As such, Lord Zedd gives him the necessary approval. We then shift ahead to after school as Billy mentions how because Kimberly won’t be able to attend the wild west show with them, Tommy has decided to perform karate iterations instead. Just then, the group gets contacted by Zordon who tells them that a monster is on the prowl within Angel Grove City Park. As such, they should head to the Command Center for a debriefing. Shortly after Rocky realizes that their new fiend is in the same area that the wild west show is at, they proceed to teleport away. Shortly after they arrive, Zordon tells them that it’ll take their combined might in order to prevail over their opponent. When Alpha 5 asks them where Kimberly is at, Rocky says that her parents won’t let her leave their house before Billy tells Zordon to contact her himself. As such, he calls up Kimberly and learns why she’s grounded. She offers to teleport to them since her stepdad is closely watching her bedroom door, but Zordon tells her that she can’t go against her parent’s rule. As such, he’ll contact Tommy and have him fight in her place. Afterwards, he presents Kid Zippo upon the Viewing Globe and tells his fellow Power Rangers that the fiend shoots Zip Rays that they must avoid. From there, he tells them that Oliver will be joining them shortly and that he doesn’t know what would happen if they were hit by the Zip Ray. Our heroes then morph into their uniforms before they confront Kid Zippo with their Blade Blasters. They manage to dodge his Zip Rays, but their own shots are unable to affect him. Meanwhile, Lord Zedd, Goldar, Squatt and Baboo oversee the battle as they await to see what happens once their monster manages to strike with its Zip Ray.
Shortly afterwards, Tommy teleports in as the White Ranger. Unfortunately, he, Adam, Billy and Aisha get hit by Kid Zippo’s Zip Rays. Rocky tries to charge at him with his Power Sword, but he also gets hit by a Zip Ray. Shortly after Kid Zippo heads out, it’s then revealed that the Zip Ray had only hit our main group hard enough to de-morph them. They then try to figure out how they’re going to properly go after him again, to which Billy has an idea. He says that because their monster looks like a cowboy, they’ll need to use “a motif reminiscent of America’s aboriginal population”, to which Aisha says that they’ll need to fight in the Native American style. As such, they realize that they need Kimberly and her Power Bow.
Later, they make it back to the Command Center as Tommy explains their situation and that they require Kimberly’s help. However, Zordon denies their request due to it going against basic family order. Also, they can’t reveal their secret identities to Kimmy’s parents (especially since it’s one of the three rules mentioned at the end of “Day Of The Dumpster”). Despite this conundrum, he still believes that the Rangers will figure out a way to solve this problem. Later, they make their way to Kimberly’s house as Tommy tells his teammates that he’s already met her stepdad and that he’s a reasonable guy. As such, he’ll do all of the talking. Once Kimmy’s stepfather answers the door, Oliver tells him that they need her help on a special project this afternoon and that they’re willing to compromise on a deal. After he lets them in, the stepdad says that while he’s calmed down ever since he saw the credit card bills, Kimberly still has to serve her punishment. Tommy then offers to paint their garage alongside his friends this Saturday if Kimberly is allowed to go with them. While the stepfather does admit that it needs to be painted, he can’t allow Oliver to take his daughter’s punishment for her. Just then, Kimberly comes in as Tommy lets her know of the “special project” that they need her help on. Ultimately, her stepdad tells Oliver that she can go with him and their friends today if she takes responsibility for the work. Not to mention, he won’t mind if she’s able to convince “anyone” into helping them. Now that they’ve reached a compromise, our main group find a private place amongst the trees in order to morph. Meanwhile, Lord Zedd has noticed this as he uses his special grenade in order to make Kid Zippo grow.
As such, the Power Rangers summon their Thunderzords and combine them in order to create the Thunder Megazord. From there, they set their plan into motion as Kimberly takes her place on top of their combined Zord and readies her Power Bow while Kid Zippo prepares to fire a Zip Ray. In the end, her arrow is able to go right through the opposing beam and jam her foe’s giant hand-shaped gun, causing it to fall over and explode in defeat. And so, the story ends at the Command Center as Zordon congratulates his team for “working within the system”. From there, Alpha 5 shares what he thinks the word “Ballistic” means (since it was a running gag throughout the issue), only to learn that his assumption was wrong.
We’re not yet done with this issue, since we now have a back-up story that weaves about a “Stranger In A Strange Town”. We kick things off with our main group taking part in a sky-diving venture. After they freefall for a couple of seconds, they then attempt to join hands and form an aerial circle. Just as she’s about to join up with her teammates, Aisha gets suddenly blown away as she then finds herself within some dark clouds. Once she gets flown out of the ominous veil, she then deploys her parachute and lands within the middle of town. After noticing that the civilians didn’t seem to react to her sudden drop-in, she then tries to talk to some of them, only to discover that they can’t seem to hear her. She then decides to head to her house in order to meet up with her family.
She eventually reaches her home and uses the doorbell to see if her family is living there, but she gets stunned by the fact that she sees herself in there and even she’s unable to see her. As our main Aisha walks off, she thinks how her current situation is somehow perpetuated by the dark wind and that she’s possibly been sent through time. Just then, she gets spotted by a group of civilians who did notice that she parachuted into their city yet assume that she intends to replace their Aisha. As such, they chase after her. While she’s being pursued, she then notices that the whole setting is changing around her and looking more antiquated. After she gets pelted by a rock, she soon comes across Lord Zedd himself. However, he claims to actually be Rocky since he was at the library with her a day ago and that she was working on a book report while changing her mind on her featured topic to focus on Jean-Paul Sartae’s “The Stranger”. Aisha confirms it before he tells her that they can talk at a far-more private location. Specifically, they head over to “Zedd’s Own Earthly Headquarters”. Once they head inside courtesy of Alpha 5, Aisha continues to question her supposed teammate’s strange behavior, even saying that they’re not Power Rangers. However, he brings up a particular group of people upon his Viewing Globe and asks her who they are.
She tells him that it’s her friends, which includes Rocky. Despite him telling her that he’s the true Rocky while the guy pretending to be Rocky is actually Lord Zedd, Aisha doesn’t buy it and tells Zedd that he created this fake world in order to shake up what she thought was real and what was fake. Not only that, but she also says that “The Stranger” is actually Rocky’s favorite novel and that it was written by Albert Camus, not Jean-Paul Sartae. With the illusion having now fallen apart and that Goldar was disguised as Alpha 5, Lord Zedd proceeds to magically hold her in place and says that he had intended to confuse her to the point where her trust would be effectively destroyed & that she would attack her teammates. Over in another part of town, the rest of Aisha’s comrades reach the spot where she landed before they notice that the civilians are charging in a certain direction, hoping that it’ll lead them to where Lord Zedd is supposedly holding their teammate. Meanwhile, Aisha is unable to morph and defend herself while Lord Zedd intends to smite her. Suddenly, their whole base begins to rumble before they get met upon by some Thunderzords, forcing them to retreat. With Aisha saved by her fellow Rangers, the comic ends with her explaining how she wound up here in the first place.
Issue 6 (“Attack Of The Gargantutron”) begins with Rocky dreaming about the Thunder Megazord punching a giant Putty Patroller before he wakes up and realizes that his real-life Power Ranger duties are bleeding into his dreams. After he has some breakfast (while his mother and sister, the latter of whom is named Lindsey, notice that he’s a little tired), he hops onto the school bus and meets up with his comrades as he discovers that they’re all having the same kind of dreaming problem that he has. Kimberly then believes that this is all a major warning for them to remain on high alert and be ready to morph again at a moment’s notice. Over at the Command Center, Zordon notices that his robotic assistant is a bit concerned as he asks him about it. Alpha 5 says that he’s not worried about the Power Rangers’ gear & tech, yet his major concern stems from the job potentially impeding upon their personal lives and that Lord Zedd could find a way to take advantage. Over at the lunar base, Finster asks his master why they’re not concentrating their offensive efforts on Zordon himself, to which Lord Zedd says that he can’t find said figure, yet it’s the Power Rangers that’re physically able to stop his world-conquering plans. As such, he wants to continually assault them until he’s learned where Zordon is located in order to finally smite him. He’s also furious that despite being several millennia old, a small group of young adults are able to constantly foil him. As such, he’s through with wasting time and wants to unleash a powerful being called Gargantutron. Even though Finster says that he has lots of Space Putty, he’s concerned about said monster due to it requiring its foes to fall for its deceptive ways. Lord Zedd says that he’s expecting the Rangers to get tricked by “its frightening and foreboding appearance”. As such, they begin to prep it for its launch to Earth.
Over at the Command Center, Zordon and Alpha 5 detect the Gargantutron’s arrival upon the planet before Alpha 5 sends out the call to their Power Rangers. However, Rocky, Billy and Adam are in the middle of their science class when their wrist communicators start beeping. During their lesson, the teacher mentions the Geiger-Muller Counter and its ability to detect radioactivity. Rocky manages to turn his communicator off (which is in his Morpher for some reason) and avoid some serious discipline from his teacher (who calls him Rocky Jones for some reason). Over in Gym Class, Kimberly (who has the last name of Smith again for some reason) and Aisha are receiving Alpha 5’s signal during their in-class volleyball match. Even though their session ends fairly soon afterwards, they’re unable to answer the call due to them having to attend another class in a short amount of time. Back at the Command Center, Alpha 5 says that this is exactly what he feared, to which Zordon says that their current situation should have a solution for them. As if on cue, Ms. Appleby warns Principal Caplan that the Gargantutron is approaching the school. As such, he gives the order for all teachers and students to evacuate the facility. This then allows our main group to find a hiding spot and morph before they summon their Thunderzords in order to confront the mighty monster.
The Gargantutron proceeds to run across a vast distance while causing lots of destruction in its path. Despite their urgency to stop the monster, Rocky tells his team that they must save the people that the creature has put into harm’s way. As such, they get to work as DeSantos uses his Red Dragon’s eye beams to disintegrate a rock-filled avalanche. With Kimberly, she uses her Firebird to save some people at a sports field from falling into a giant hole. Over with Adam, he uses his Lion to pull some downed electric wires away from a school bus filled with children before he carries the vehicle to safety. Finally, Billy is within his Unicorn as he spots an express train that’s heading for a cavern due to the monster destroying the tracks upon a nearby bridge. Thankfully, Aisha uses her Griffin to stop the train from plummeting to its doom.
Billy then spots the Gargantutron before the Rangers bring their Zords together to form the Thunder Megazord and easily dismantle the being with a single punch. While they’re equally stunned that their foe went down so swiftly, Lord Zedd says that his monster has distracted our heroes with its destruction while it actually managed to set up its “exact strategic position”. In particular, the monster has a hidden nuclear device that’s been activated by the Earth’s rotation, causing it to unleash a massive earthquake that’s devastating to Angel Grove. Back in the desert, Billy tells his teammates that this nuclear-powered behemoth couldn’t have been defeated that quickly. Just then, Rocky realizes that the true danger is within the monster. Cranston also makes that discovery as the two of them teleport to their high school and retrieve the Geiger Counter. Billy detects the nuclear device within the Gargantutron’s right arm before the Power Rangers uses the Thunder Megazord to throw the monster’s arm out into space, where it ultimately lands on the moon much to Lord Zedd’s frustration. We then shift ahead to sometime later where the Power Rangers are being praised at Angel Grove High School before they take their leave. From there, the story ends back at the lunar base where the Gargantutron’s nuclear device caused extensive damage to their headquarters, yet thankfully shut down before it caused any serious tremors. From there, Lord Zedd orders Finster to clean their place up.
We then move into our last back-up story for this mini-series as our main group will be tempted to “Shop ‘Till You Drop…Dead”. We begin with Lord Zedd hearing that Finster has something different in mind in order to take down the Power Rangers. Ultimately, he reveals that he’s created a brand-new mall called Zedd Plaza. While Lord Zedd is initially baffled by this idea, Finster explains that it contains several booby traps that will be sprung upon unsuspecting shoppers. Then once the Rangers show up to save them, that’s when they’ll unleash their “secret weapon”. As such, Lord Zedd approves of this idea and gives the order to set it in motion. Later, Kimberly is at her house while showing off a dress that she recently bought to Aisha. While Campbell is concerned with her friend’s obsessive shopping, Hart brushes it off before she mentions that a new shopping center called the Angel Grove Plaza Mall is about to open. As such, she wants to take her friend and their fellow guys to it.
We then cut to the next day as the mall officially opens. While Kimberly gets deep into her clothes shopping, Aisha gets an uneasy feeling about the whole place before she heads out to investigate. Over at the arcade, Billy is playing a virtual reality-esque arcade game while Rocky and Tommy watch. Back with Aisha, she doesn’t initially find anything out of place about the mall. Suddenly, a fiendish hand emerges from a pile of clothes and grabs a female shopper. Just as Aisha thinks that it’s some kind of publicity stunt, a female clerk approaches her while looking like a vampire. Campbell manages to punch her out before she sees the entire mall going haywire. She then returns to the dressing room, only to discover a bunch of goblins that’re all over Kimberly who tells her friend to regroup with their fellow guys. Once Aisha meets up with her male compatriots, she informs them that the whole mall is a trap, in addition to Kimberly getting caught. Billy tries to tell Rocky about it, but he’s been captured by the rogue virtual reality game. Our remaining heroes manage to morph before Tommy tells his team that they must bring Lord Zedd’s plan to a quiet end. While Adam mentions how there’s “mini monsters” everywhere, Billy says that they have an advantage in the fact that the customers thinks that it’s all “an elaborate promotional campaign”. Just then, Aisha notices Lord Zedd standing on top of a nearby roof who then uses his dark magic to bring a golden statue to life as it proceeds to attack our heroes. Tommy tells his compatriots that they have to lure the behemoth out of the mall, while Aisha wonders where their remaining teammates are being held. Meanwhile, Kimberly and Rocky are being held in a prison cell that’s covered by a false wall. Hart is able to hear the commotion as DeSantos realizes that the outside world is on the other side. Thankfully, they still have their Morphers as they manage to morph into their Ranger uniforms.
One of the captured civilians tells them that their cells doesn’t have any doors, to which Rocky uses his Power Sword to slice the adjacent wall and create their own opening. Back with Tommy and his fellow Power Rangers, he says that they can’t operate at full power with all of these innocent people running around. Just then, they hear Kimberly on the mall’s loudspeaker as she lures the customers towards a “mega mart” that’s across the street. With all of the customers having completely left the mall and all of the Power Rangers reunited, the Giant Golden Statue ends up attacking the mall. Just then, it’s confronted by the Power Rangers within the Thunder Megazord and gets taken down by a single punch. And so, the series end with Kimberly admitting that she won’t go shopping in another mall for a long time.
Next up, Hamilton Comics brings us their second volume of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comics. Published from June to September 1995, this four-issue mini-series came out during the tail end of the company’s ownership of the franchise’s comic license. With the exception of the second issue, each entry within this line has two stories to tell. Donald Markstein (Issue 1), Nat Gertler (Issues 1 & 3), Jack C. Harris (Issue 2 & 4) and Michael T. Gilbert (Issues 3 & 4) serve as our writers for this set, while John Heebink & Aaron McClellan (Issue 1), Sparky Moore (Issues 1-3), Al Bigley (Issue 2) and Gray Morrow (Issue 4) handled the artwork throughout this run. As for what kind of harrowing adventures await our six main characters here, let’s summon our critical Zords and find out.
We open upon our first tale for this issue called “While The Cat’s Away…” as upon the familiar lunar base, Lord Zedd learns from a messenger that his Dark Nebula-based minions have allowed the lava pits that’re used to punish prisoners to get cool. Afterwards, Zedd tells his comrades that he’s taken pride in his absolute ruthlessness, yet his own sycophants have gotten soft. As such, he tells Goldar to come with him in order to help reestablish his order. Squatt & Baboo offer to join them, but Lord Zedd turns them down before he and Goldar take their leave. Over in Angel Grove, Bulk and Skull have started their own machine repair service, yet every device that they carelessly tinker with ends up malfunctioning in comical fashion. Despite that, they seem oblivious to their inept ways and assume that it’s all a job well-done. Ultimately, they arrive at the Juice Bar where they overhear Ernie telling our main group that he can’t make them milkshakes due to his machine being busted and that he’s unable get a repairman over until a day later. As such, Bulk & Skull force their way in as they attempt to fix it themselves. Afterwards, they manage to make some milkshakes, only for their batch to look and smell rancid. Bulk then offers to taste it himself yet attempts to have Skull drink it instead. They then struggle with each other before Skull loses his balancing hold on the tray, causing the foul milkshakes to fall onto them.
Back on the lunar base, Squatt and Babbo approach Finster in order to tell him that they plan on conquering Earth while Lord Zedd is away. Finster warns them that they tried a similar idea when Rita Repulsa was taking a nap and it ended in failure. Squatt says that it only ended badly due to Rita’s presence, while Baboo says that they need to use his workshop. Finster ultimately allows them, but only so that they can learn from their eventual failure. Eventually, Squatt and Baboo put a couple of items together (including a battery and a box of rubber bands) before they ultimately create their own monster and send it to Earth. While it begins to terrorize Angel Grove, our main heroes have just left the Youth Center before they get contacted by Zordon and get ordered to teleport to the Command Center. After they arrive, he shows the monster within the Viewing Globe and mentions how he doesn’t know what’s causing the creature’s deficiency, yet it’s potentially able to cause “considerable damage” if it’s not stopped. As such, our teens proceed to morph and head out to engage their foe.
Meanwhile, Squatt and Baboo have managed to retrieve Rita’s telescope from the storage room so that they can observe their monster’s rampage. They then see the Power Rangers engage their creation by firing their Blade Blasters at it, only for them to not cause any significant damage upon it. Adam, Kimberly, Billy, Aisha and Rocky then combine their signature weapons together in order to form the Power Blaster (accidentally called the Power Cannon here) before they open fire on the monster. Despite its high success rate in the past, the creature is still standing and resumes its own destruction. As our heroes wonder what could possibly beat this being, Kimberly suggests that they summon their Thunderzords, create the Thunder Megazord and step on the being. However, Tommy reminds his team of a rule that Zordon initially instilled on them, specifically it’s to never escalate a fight unless the enemy forces you to. When Rocky takes notice of the monster’s stupid behavior, this gives Billy an idea as he tells his teammates to grab their foe while he’s briefly away. Later, he teleports back to the Juice Bar and returns to his civilian form before he tells Ernie that his personal laboratory may have the necessary equipment that can fix his milkshake machine. Once he heads out with it, he morphs back into his uniform and rejoins his comrades before he turns the machine on and begins dispersing some of the foul milkshake from it. From there, he tells his fellow Rangers to let go of the monster before allowing it to consume the vile concoction. Thankfully, the poor contents manage to short-circuit its internal battery and cause it to blow up. Back on the lunar base, Squatt and Baboo are bummed to see their monster destroyed as Finster tells them that he hopes that they’ve learned their lesson. Just as Lord Zedd & Goldar return, Squatt and Baboo says that they’re not worried at all since Finster will most likely get the blame.
Meanwhile, Billy and his friends return to the Juice Bar with the fully repaired milkshake machine. However, Ernie tells them that he’s accidentally allowed Bulk and Skull to fix his microwave. Shortly after they’ve finished their own slapdash repair and start it up, Ernie is then approached by Principal Caplan who plans on hiring him to properly cater an upcoming PTA luncheon. Suddenly, the busted microwave emits some fire and ruins Caplan’s toupee before the story ends with him preparing to serve Bulk & Skull with another detention sentence.
We now move into a back-up story that shows how our main heroes deal with an “Unstoppable Force”. We begin in the Youth Center as Tommy and Rocky are in the middle of a jujitsu session while Bulk & Skull mocks them for their outfits (known as Gi). As DeSantos demonstrates and explains, Jujitsu is a fighting style that focuses on using an enemy’s own momentum against them. Bulk then tries to charge at him, but Rocky simply sidesteps out of the way and allows him to crash into Skull. Suddenly, they get contacted by Zordon. Once they unite with their teammates in the Command Center, Zordon tells them that a new monster named Mister Fister is causing havoc upon Angel Grove. One morph and teleport later, the Rangers notice the uniquely shaped being before they evade its attempt to slam them with its oversized hand. As such, they decide to summon their Zords.
They ultimately form the Thunder Megazord (with Tommy being present in the cockpit despite having his own separate Zord) and attempt to punch the monster, but Mister Fister easily evades their strike before it hits them back. They then try to attack with the Thunder Saber, but their foe manages to smack the blade from their combiner Zord’s grasp before it unleashes a barrage of attacks that backs them towards Dead Man’s Cliff.
With their internal power supply & systems failing, the Thunder Megazord now stands on the cliff’s edge and with no room to dodge. As Mister Fister prepares to deliver the knockout punch, Tommy gets an idea and tells Alpha 5 to teleport the Thunder Megazord to the repair bay once he gives the word. Just as Mister Fister is delivering its punch, the White Ranger gives Alpha 5 the signal as the Thunder Megazord vanishes while the monster is carried by its own momentum and goes over the cliff, winding up destroyed. We then cut to the next day at school where amongst his friends, Kimberly and Aisha ask Tommy how he was inspired towards his plan. Just as he says that he was inspired from his Jujitsu lesson as well as “what someone showed” him, Bulk and Skull suddenly approach him. From there, the comic ends with Tommy thanking Bulk for his help while he and Skull stand around in confusion.
Issue 2 (“The Yesterday Bomb”) begins on a scene-to-come as the Rangers find themselves in the prehistoric past and going up against a Tyrannosaurus Rex. We then truly start off in the present as Rocky, Aisha, Adam and Kimberly are in the middle of their Industrial Arts class. As their teacher tells them that “extra effort and work” will allow their creations to be “built to last”, Bulk and Skull are doing the exact opposite by hurriedly making their chair. Bulk then tries to test it out by sitting in it, but it easily falls apart. Shortly afterwards, the lunch bell rings as our main group begins to head out to the cafeteria. Just then, they get contacted by Zordon as they find a private area, morph into their uniforms and then teleport to the Command Center. They’re also joined by Tommy and Billy who got the call during Chemistry class before Zordon uses the Viewing Globe to show them Lord Zedd’s newest monster. As they notice that it’s “a giant robot octopus”, Tommy says that they won’t be able to properly engage the creature on foot. As such, they proceed to summon their respective Zords.
Once they approach the monster, they discover that it’s much bigger than they originally assumed. As such, Adam, Kimberly, Billy, Aisha & Rocky bring their Zords together and create the Thunder Megazord. The monster then wraps its tentacles around their combiner Zord, yet our heroes are able to break free before they easily beat it up. As the Rangers move in closer to examine it, their sensors suddenly detect a bomb within the monster’s head.
As it explodes, our heroes and their Zords find themselves falling through a temporal field. After they crash-land on the ground, the Rangers exit their Zords and remove their helmets before they examine the bizarre surroundings. Just as Billy theorizes that they’re still in Angel Grove and yet they’re only displaced, they’re suddenly approached by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Tommy then says that they have to prevent it from crushing the Thunder Megazord as they summon their respective weapons. He then tells Billy, Adam and Aisha to distract the dinosaur, which they proceed to do so by throwing their weapons into its foot. From there, Tommy, Rocky and Kimberly take advantage by getting the Thunder Megazord back onto its feet, spooking the Tyrannosaurus Rex away.
As night falls, Billy shares his theory to his teammates. He says that the nearby mountains look exactly like the ones that’re outside of Angel Grove, yet they’ve been flung into the Mesozoic Age (252-66 million years ago). He says that the explosive that Lord Zedd hid inside his monster was actually a time bomb and that they’ve been flung back millions of years in time. Just as Rocky thinks that there’s no way for them to get back to their time period since their Zords don’t have time-traveling capabilities, Cranston says that their Zords can help them out of their predicament. He explains that the time bomb readings from their sensors had picked up some “Chronal Radiation” from the blast and thus, their Zords should be able to channel its power through “Residual Chronal Radiation” in order to create a time hole that will send them back to their time period. From there, they wrap their Zords around some sturdy vines and use their enhanced strength to drag them into a circle in order to avoid overly consuming their power. Several hours later, their Zords are in position before Billy mentions a drawback to this plan. While the created time hole will be big enough to send them back to the exact moment that they left, their Zords won’t be able to accompany them. Despite Aisha feeling bummed about it, Tommy reminds her that they’re still Power Rangers. As such, they put their helmets on and activate their Zords as a time hole gets created. From there, the Rangers hop in and feel themselves getting flung forward through time before they ultimately land back in the present. At that moment, Lord Zedd and Goldar are stunned to see our heroes back in the current time period. However, Zedd moves on to the second phase of his plan.
Back with the Rangers, they spot the monster’s tentacles become sentient beings as they’re forced to dodge their attacks. Shortly after our heroes take cover, the monster then reforms itself before it marches towards Angel Grove, leaving our heroes completely incapable of stopping it while Lord Zedd laughs in delight.
While the Rangers assume that all they can do is warn the citizens of the approaching danger, they suddenly get contacted by Zordon who tells them that they can use their Thunderzords. Tommy asks him how that’s even possible due to them being forced to leave them behind in the past. Zordon says that he built them “to last” before they realize that their Zords are available but are only buried under “a million years of eroded sand”. With the monster looming over Angel Grove, the Rangers summon their Zords as they manage to emerge from the ground. From there, the Thunder Megazord gets formed before it crushes the monster with its bare hands. With the day saved, the comic ends with our main group heading back to school as Adam finally satiates his lunchtime hunger.
Issue 3 opens upon a story about a sudden change of behaviors called “Bad Attitudes”. Following a teaser image of our fully morphed, yet helmet-less Rangers being uncharacteristically rude and complacent while the city gets attacked, we truly kick things off at Angel Grove High as Bulk and Skull are running towards lunch. During their hunger-fueled dash, they bump into a young woman named Jane and knock her school supplies out of her hands. Fortunately, Billy is nearby as he helps her regather her belongings. Over on the lunar base, Lord Zedd and Squatt are overseeing this as Zedd hates Cranston’s act of kindness. After being reminded that the Rangers have constantly stopped his schemes on a weekly basis by this point, he mentions how he has a new Octozord ready to dish out destruction. However, he doesn’t have a way to keep the Rangers preoccupied. Thankfully for him, Squatt shows him something that can help him out. Specifically, it’s a tiny bug called a ‘Tude Tick and it was built by “the boys in biotech” so that it can make anyone rude with a single bite. Intrigued by this idea, Lord Zedd proceeds to carry out this plan. We then shift to two days later as Billy helps Jane hang up some posters for the upcoming school dance. Just as she’s about to ask him out for a soda, he suddenly notices a trio of Putty Patrollers causing some vandalism right outside. Shortly after he excuses himself, he morphs into his uniform and engages the alien foot soldiers. Meanwhile, Squatt is viewing this from afar before he sends the ‘Tude-Tick after Cranston where it manages to bite him. As the Putties casually retreat, Billy initially wants to go after them. However, the bite takes hold as he starts to become ignorantly complacent. Later, Jane asks him to help her put up some more posters. Suddenly, he smacks them out of her grasp before walking off.
Because his friends were nearby and saw this, they tell her that he doesn’t normally behave like that. As such, they confront him on his recent behavior, but Billy continues to act rude and shoves Tommy to the ground. Just then, they spot a group of Putty Patrollers approaching them as they all proceed to morph into their uniforms. While the rest of his teammates manage to fend the Putties off, Billy continues to be under the effects of the ‘Tude-Tick as he stands aside, removes his helmet and casually drinks a soda. Just then, the otherworldly bug bites the rest of the Rangers as they all see the Putties casually retreat, but don’t bother to pursue them while they remove their helmets and begin to act rudely complacent. Over at the Command Center, Alpha 5 informs Zordon that the Putty Patrollers are terrorizing Angel Grove. When Zordon sees this on the Viewing Globe, he then asks where his Power Rangers are at. However, Alpha 5 informs him that all six Rangers are acting like jerks in different ways.
Zordon then summons the team to the Command Center and demands to know why they’ve suddenly acted this “irresponsibly”, especially with Lord Zedd preparing another attack on Earth. However, the rude-fueled infection continues to take hold as they tell him that they work for themselves and that he has to pay them. With this display of absolute rudeness, Zordon proceeds to relinquish them of their uniforms and powers before he casts them out. From there, he tells Alpha 5 that his didn’t enjoy his recent act, especially since Earth doesn’t have anyone to protect them from Lord Zedd’s wrath. Back on the moon, Squatt informs his master of his successful mission. From there, Lord Zedd sends him out in the Octozord in order to lay waste to the world. Back at Angel Grove High, our main group get sneered at by their pupils for their out-of-character behaviors, yet they continue to feel no remorse about it. Just then, Squatt arrives in the Octozord and begins his rampage, much to our main group’s apathy. Back at the Command Center, Alpha 5 tells Zordon that he made a discovery while washing the Ranger uniforms. He’s discovered the ‘Tude Tick and says that it was behind the uncharacteristically bad behavior from the expelled young folk. Zordon says that they must fix his mistake and tells him to cast some “Victory Vapors” at the teens. Alpha 5 proceeds to do so as our main group snaps back to their good-natured senses. Zordon then contacts them and says that Lord Zedd was behind their otherworldly rude behavior before asking them if they’ll help Earth again, to which they agree as they’re reinstated as Power Rangers.
From there, they summon their Thunderzords and form the Thunder Megazord. Ultimately, they discover that the Octozord’s weak point is its head as the Thunder Megazord leaps up and crushes its foe with its foot, forcing Squatt to retreat. After Lord Zedd punishes Squatt by sending him to the Limburger Mines and Zordon tells Alpha how good it feels having their team back, the story ends with Billy helping Jane to promote the dance. Specifically, the Power Rangers will make a special appearance there.
We then move into our back-up tale as our heroes will find themselves dealing with a different kind of “Gray Skies”. We begin with Lord Zedd complaining how every single monster that he’s sent upon against the Rangers has been destroyed. Goldar then offers up an alternative plan of attack. Instead of using another big monster, they should try a smaller creature like the Aerophant. As such, they set this plan into motion as a massive horde of small, winged elephants fly into Angel Grove and cause lots of havoc. Our main group notices this after a school bus crashes into a building as they respond by morphing into their uniforms before they summon their respective Zords and engage the Aerophants. Despite their onboard weapons and maneuverability, they’re not able to deal with the entire swarm. Adam suggests that they bring their Zords together and form the Thunder Megazord, but Aisha shoots that idea down since it wouldn’t be any effective. As such, Tommy gives the order to bail out of their Zords and send them back to their respective niches while they engage the opposing swarm with their weapons.
Despite taking out a few, there’s still too many for them to deal with. As they wonder how such small creatures are causing this much panic, especially since Aisha mentions how it’s easy to get scared of small things and brings up how regular elephants are afraid of mice, Billy gets an idea. In particular, he explains how there’s some caverns outside of town and they could find some assistance in the form of “motorized conveyance”. Ultimately, they get some help from a truck driver and his big rig as they fill the precious cargo within the trailer before they drive back into town. Once they’re in position, they open the trailer and unleash a massive colony of bats, successfully scaring the Aerophants away for good. And so, the story ends later on in the Command Center as Zordon praises his team for their clever tactic before Billy gets the main credit for coming up with the idea in the first place.
Issue 4 (“The Lost Ranger”) begins with a strange-looking meteor plummeting towards Earth before it crash-lands in a desert. We then shift ahead by several days as our main group is in a cooking class while their teacher prompts them on the many ways that eggs can be prepared. During the lesson, Skull asks Bulk if he managed to place a rotten egg upon Aisha’s stool in order to set up their practical joke, to which he says that he couldn’t due to their teacher keeping a close watch. When Skull then pokes around and asks him where he hid it, he soon discovers that Bulk hid it in his chest pocket and has accidentally shattered it with his elbow, causing them to get in trouble. As our heroes take their leave from their class, Rocky says that he would love to get out and do some exercise before they’re suddenly contacted by Zordon as they head out to answer the call.
After they collectively morph, they teleport to the Command Center before they get instructed to head out to the desert in order to deal with a brewing situation. Once they teleport out to their destination, they’re suddenly met by the Putty Patrollers before they also notice what their enemies were protecting. It turned out to be the otherworldly meteor and that there was also an egg inside it as well, though now only the shells remain. Just then, they’re met upon by the winged beast that’s managed to hatch from the egg as it turns out to be the legendary giant bird known as Roc. The Rangers manage to summon their Zords, but Rocky gets captured by the massive creature just as he was about to get inside his Red Dragon Thunderzord. Thankfully, Billy manages to shoot the giant bird with his Unicorn Thunderzord’s Force Beam and free his teammate. Despite reaching the cockpit, Rocky hits his head on the console. Even though he’s initially wooziness, he’s able to maintain consciousness before the team brings the Thunderzords together in order to create the Thunder Megazord, grab Roc by its legs and throw it back into space. Shortly afterwards, the Putties retreat as well. Back on the moon, Roc’s momentum carries it all the way to the lunar base before Finster lets it in. From there, Lord Zedd says that its true mission wasn’t to go up against the Rangers, but to actually lay several eggs in order to create a “Roc Flock” that will serve as their true offensive. Meanwhile, our unaware group makes it back to school. However, Rocky is still feeling woozy. As such, his teammates tell him to head home and rest up.
One night’s sleep later, we shift to the next day as our group is attending an afternoon pep rally. Even though Rocky manages to arrive, they still notice that he’s not entirely alright. Suddenly, they see a flock of Rocs flying towards them. While the crowd disperses, Tommy tells his group that they have to do something. However, DeSantos is confused and asks him what they can do. The rest of his teammates look puzzled at him before they morph, yet Rocky is stunned by this. His friends try to tell him that they’re Power Rangers and that he’s the Red Ranger, yet DeSantos says that he’s only “an ordinary guy”. Billy then realizes that their friend is suffering from partial amnesia before Adam says that they better be able to solve this situation without their comrade. As such, they proceed to summon their Zords. Meanwhile, Rocky is overwhelmed by everything going on around him as he wonders how he could possibly help out before he then sees the various Zords that’ve popped up.
Meanwhile, the Rangers try to deal with the numerous Rocs. However, the massive birds prove to be too much for them to handle. Tommy then thinks how Lord Zedd has planned this perfectly, since they needed the Thunder Megazord in order to take care of one Roc. However, they’re struggling without their teammate. Meanwhile, Rocky wanders out into the nearby desert as he continues to think how he could possibly help. Just then, he trips over before he discovers that it was a Roc egg that made him lose his balance. Thankfully, it helps him remember as he overcomes his amnesia, morphs into his uniform and summons his Red Dragon Thunderzord. From there, he picks up the lone remaining egg, returns to the battlefield and tosses it at the Roc Flock, saving his comrades in the process. From there, they form the Thunder Megazord and finally defeat the devious birds. From there, the story ends with DeSantos’ teammates praising their friend for restoring his mental state and for his timely save.
We then move into a back-up tale that has our heroes looking to stay one step ahead of the most unlikely of enemies in a tip-toeing yarn called “Footloose”. Following a teaser image, we truly begin on the lunar base as Lord Zedd tells Finster that he has to attend a Conqueror’s Convention over in Dimension X. As such, he gives the order to send several Putty Patrollers down to Earth in order for them to finally smite the Power Rangers and that they better succeed. After his master heads out, Finster checks up on Squatt since he was already creating several more Putties. After learning that Squatt added some cinnamon to the newest batch, they then proceed with a test run. Unfortunately, the newly created Putty Patrollers are stuck to their molds while their feet managed to detach themselves before the regular bodies disintegrated. Finster then tells Squatt to get rid of the sentient feet, or else Lord Zedd will unleash his wrath upon them. Over at Angel Grove High School, our main group (as well as Bulk and Skull) are taking part in a five-mile race that will benefit the local children’s charity. Once the race begins, Aisha finds herself taking a commanding lead. Suddenly, she hears some ominous footsteps before it’s revealed that Squatt had sent the Putties’ sentient feet to Earth. From there, they trip her up and attack her. As the rest of her comrades catch up, they spot her caught within a foot frenzy and try to help her, only to get swarmed themselves. While Finster praises Squatt for his unintentionally brilliant use of their teleporter in order to get rid of his “Terrible Tootsies” while also smiting the Rangers, Bulk and Skull run past our heroes as Bulk is determined to cross the finish line first, even willing to take a shortcut.
Back with the main group, they’re not able to fend the ferocious feet off as they decide to morph before they finally turn things around. However, there’s a few remaining “Terrible Tootsies” that’re kicking a telephone pole over and that it’s about to crush Bulk & Skull. Thankfully, Adam and Tommy are able to get Bulk out of the way, while Billy & Kimberly manage to save Skull. From there, they place the two bumbling guys into a nearby bush. Afterwards, Tommy uses a tree branch to safely move the electric cable over to the sentient feet in order to finally defeat them. From there, they de-morph and rejoin the race. Back on the lunar base, Finster is bummed by the end result, yet says that he’s glad that at least the “knucklehead” that is Lord Zedd isn’t back yet. However, Squatt warns him a little too late as Lord Zedd has returned and is about to scold them both. And so, the series ends with Aisha winning the charity race before our heroes learn that Bulk and Skull had landed in some thorn bushes, which ripped their shorts and forced them to finish the race in embarrassing fashion.
We then close out this era of the franchise’s history with a particular three-issue mini-series. Released from July to September 1995, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Saga” would be Hamilton Comics’ final piece of tie-in material for the famed show. As for how the company would close out its time with the property, they had Donald Markstein write every entry within this set. In terms of the artwork, those duties would be given to John Heebink (Issues 1-3), Aaron McClellan (Issue 1), Sparky Moore (Issue 1) and Steve Stiles (Issue 2 & 3). As for what they’ve brought to their last series, let’s enter our critical Zords and find out.
We open with the Thunder Megazord fighting and defeating Lord Zedd’s recent monster. After they observe this on the Viewing Globe, Zordon expresses his admiration towards his team before he tells Alpha 5 that the time has come to record the group’s own Saga and preserve their triumphs & tribulations for future generations. As such, Alpha 5 opens his memory banks and begins to record every single word & image spoken. From there, Zordon begins his tale (specifically, the pilot episode “Day Of The Dumpster”) over on the moon where two astronauts have landed on it. After discovering a space dumpster, they curiously open it up and accidentally release Goldar, Squatt, Baboo, Finster and their original devious leader named Rita Repulsa. After being imprisoned for ten millennia, she now has her deadly sights upon the nearest planet: Earth. We then shift over to the Angel Grove Youth Center where our original five figures are engaged in various athletic practices. As Kimberly works on her gymnastics while Trini watches, Jason and Zack are practicing some karate moves before Billy arrives for the upcoming session that Jason is teaching. Back on the moon, Rita had her fortress fully constructed before she begins her invasion by sending down her Putty Patrollers. Not only that, but Goldar will also join them.
Back at the Youth Center, Jason assures Billy that he’s doing good in his karate class despite his early struggles. Just then, Bulk & Skull come in and demand to learn karate in order to beat up people. After Jason tells them that martial arts weren’t made to intentionally hurt people, he then demonstrates an advanced move by performing a spin kick. Bulk tries to imitate it, but he ends up falling flat on his back. Suddenly, a massive earthquake breaks out. As he narrates, Zordon says how the terrifying tremor was signaling Rita’s arrival. Back in the original events, he tells Alpha 5 that Repulsa has returned before he has him teleport “five overbearing and over-emotional humans” to the Command Center. Back at the Youth Center, our original group is suddenly caught in the teleporter beam before they soon find themselves within the Command Center. They’re completely amazed by the high-tech nature of their surroundings before they’re met upon by Alpha 5 himself. From there, Zordon introduces himself and mentions that he’s an interdimensional being who’s stuck in a time warp. Even as he mentions how their planet is under attack, some of the teens are bewildered and unbelieving of this notion. After he shows Rita’s appearance to them on the Viewing Globe, he tells the group that they’ve been selected to form a special team that will gain “extraordinary powers drawn from ancient creatures” in order to properly go up against Repulsa. He then presents them with their Morphers and Power Coins before telling them that they can use them to transform “into a formidable fighting force” called the Power Rangers. Not only that, but they’ll be able to pilot their own Dinozords. Jason will have the Tyrannosaurus, Zack shall drive the Mastodon, Kimberly will control the Pterodactyl, Billy shall operate the Triceratops and Trini will be in charge of the Sabertooth Tiger. He concludes his explanation by mentioning that all five Zords can come together and form the Megazord. Unfortunately, Zack and Kimberly aren’t entirely on board with all of this as they simply take their leave while the rest of the group follows suit.
Over on her lunar base, Rita uses her telescope and sees the teenagers that Zordon had chosen for his team. As such, she orders Finster to create an army of Putty Patrollers that they can send down to attack the central group. Back with the teens, Jason is the only one amongst them who thinks that they should consider Zordon’s offer, but his fellow friends aren’t entirely quick to agree. Suddenly, they’re met upon by the Putties. Despite putting up a good fight, our main group gets overwhelmed before Jason reminds them of their recently acquired Morphers and Power Coins. As such, they proceed with their inaugural morph. Over in the Command Center, Alpha 5 is excited after seeing the chosen group’s first-time morph upon the Viewing Globe. From there, Zordon tells him to teleport their new Power Rangers back to Angel Grove since Goldar has popped up. Back with our heroes, they feel themselves getting teleported as Jason tells his teammates that they’re off “to save the world”. From there, they take on and defeat the nearby Putty Patrollers. Angered by this turn of events, Rita throws her wand (which looks more like a staff or scepter) down in order to make Goldar grow. The Rangers respond by summoning their Dinozords before they’re brought together in order to create the Megazord. After summoning the Power Sword, the Megazord is ultimately able to defeat Goldar and force him to retreat. From there, he gets chastised for his failure by Rita and that it’s given her “a headache”.
Afterwards, Zordon congratulates his team for their first victory before he gives them three rules that they have to follow in order for them to not “lose the protection of the power”. First, don’t use your power for personal gain. Second, don’t escalate a fight unless the enemy forces you to. Finally, you must maintain a secret identity. Even though Zack expresses his doubt over their ability to keep this up, Zordon assures the teens that they’re “as fine a group of superheroes as there has ever been” when they’re united. As such, they all agree to keep their roles as Power Rangers. Shifting back to the present, Alpha 5 feels joyful from the good memories. Zordon then reminds him that they must preserve their team’s numerous victories. He goes to narrate about his Power Rangers prevailing over various monsters and preventing lots of physical harm from reaching Angel Grove’s citizens, yet a major challenge awaited them once Tommy transferred to their school (thus beginning the “Green With Evil” saga). At the annual martial arts expo, he ends up tying with Jason during their match as the rest of the group take notice of this new figure, especially Kimberly who begins to feel some emotional affection for him. However, Rita had also observed this and has decided to have him become her Green Ranger. We then shift to the next day as Tommy helps Kimberly pick up her belongings before she asks him if he would like to hang out with her at the Youth Center after school, to which he accepts.
However, Rita has cast a wicked spell that’s allowed her to create her own Power Coin and has set things in motion for Tommy to become the Green Ranger, provided he defeats her group of Putty Patrollers. Sure enough, he comes out on top before Repulsa uses her spell to put him under her control. She then provides him with his Power Coin before telling him to enter the Command Center, disable all communications from Zordon and then smite the Power Rangers. Over at the Command Center, Zordon & Alpha 5 choose a pivotal time to respectively meditate and recharge. Suddenly, the Green Ranger teleports in and places a virus-filled disc into Alpha 5’s system. Zordon offers to help free him from Rita’s spell, but Tommy refuses to comply as he damages the main console and causes Zordon’s transmission to phase out. Back with our heroes, Kimberly is bummed that Tommy failed to show up. Suddenly, they receive a fuzzy transmission from Alpha 5, but are unable to make out what he’s saying. Billy then discovers that the communication line had become non-functional and that they’re also unable to teleport as well. Thankfully, they have his Rad Bug as they use it to fly to the Command Center. Over on her lunar base, Rita tells Goldar to get ready for his teleportation to Earth. From there, she tells Finster to create a weapon for her Green Ranger called the Sword of Darkness. He then says that as long as it doesn’t get destroyed, it’ll keep Tommy under her control forever. From there, Goldar heads to Earth before Rita uses her wand to make him grow. Meanwhile, our heroes arrive at the Command Center and see the damage that’s been done. As Billy removes the virus-filled disc from Alpha 5, Kimberly notices a fully-grown Goldar on the Viewing Globe and gets the rest of the team to notice. From there, Alpha 5 tells them to go after their foe while he begins repairs. After the group morphs, they summon their Dinozords, bring them together to form the Megazord and begin their fight.
However, Goldar disappears before it’s revealed that it was a distraction as the Green Ranger infiltrates the cockpit and strikes the Power Rangers with enough force to send them out of their combined Zord. From there, Tommy easily beats the group up before he heads out and retrieves the Sword of Darkness from Rita. We then shift to the next day over at Angel Grove High School as Kimberly asks Oliver why he didn’t meet up with her after school, to which he says he doesn’t need her to worry about him and acts rude to her, forcing her to flee in tears. Afterwards, Jason comes along and says that he can’t work out with him later on but promises to make it up. Just as he heads out, Tommy casts a newfound spell that teleports Jason into an otherworldly prison cell. Not only that, but Goldar has also taken his Power Coin. Later, Zack and Kimberly meet up and notice that Jason didn’t show up. From there, they take the Rad Bug over to the Command Center and inform Trini & Billy that Jason has gone missing. Just then, they start to get a weak communication from Zordon as he tries to warn them about the Green Ranger. During this, Billy continues to try and locate Jason. Meanwhile, Goldar tells him to find his Power Coin as he drops it onto the fog-filled floor before the Green Ranger sends him away since Rita gave him the order to smite Scott. He then tries to fend off Tommy while also telling him that he’s aligned himself with an evil being. Just as Oliver is about to finish him off with the Sword of Darkness, Jason spots his Power Coin and grabs it at the exact same time that Billy has fixed their communicators, allowing him to locate his team leader and teleport him to the Command Center. Just then, Alpha 5 has the base’s computer system locked onto the Green Ranger’s “inter-spatial bio-vibrations” from the moment that he first appeared. As such, it’s able to show his identity. And so, Issue 1 ends with the team getting shocked by the fact that Rita’s powerful agent is none other than Tommy Oliver.
Issue 2 begins in the present with Zordon and Alpha 5 recapping what they’ve already recorded for their archival Saga log before they resume at the point where the original five Rangers have just discovered Tommy’s identity as Rita’s Green Ranger. We then shift to the next day as Kimberly confronts him at the Juice Bar and says that she’s aware of his secret identity. However, Oliver simply warns her that she and the rest of her teammates will ultimately fall before heading out. At the same time within her moon-based palace, Rita casts another spell in order to summon a massive beast for her Green Ranger to control. In particular, it turns out to be the Dragonzord. Not long afterwards, Kimberly warns her comrades that Tommy knows their secret identities. From there, a newscast warns the Angel Grove citizens to evacuate since a giant monster is approaching downtown. After our group manage to morph, they spot the Dragonzord marching on their streets before they also notice Tommy controlling it with his Dragon Dagger.
As the Rangers summon their Dinozords in order to create the Megazord and fight the Dragonzord, Alpha 5 is hard at work to restore communication with Zordon. Ultimately, it gets fixed before he tells Alpha 5 to get in contact with their Rangers since he has an important revelation to share. Once a connection is established, he tells his team that the Sword of Darkness is what’s allowing Rita to control the Green Ranger and that destroying it will break her spell. Jason then has Zack take control over the Megazord while he heads out to confront Tommy. They have a brief fight before the Red Ranger manages to disarm Oliver and use his Blade Blaster to eliminate the Sword of Darkness. With the battle finished and our principal figures de-morphed, Jason assures Tommy that all of the evil things that he’s done only happened while he was wrapped around Rita’s fingers. As such, he has control over his power and can even fight alongside the Power Rangers. Oliver ultimately agrees as Zordon and Alpha 5 observe this on the Viewing Globe. Afterwards, all six Rangers get teleported to the Command Center as Tommy gets told of the three main rules to follow. From there, Zordon informs the team that the Dragonzord can even link up with the Mastodon, Triceratops and Sabertooth Tiger Dinozords in order to become the Dragonzord Battle Mode (or Mega Dragonzord). From there, a new era for the team had begun. While the six Rangers fought and defeated several more monsters with the Megazord and the Dragonzord, Rita had a devious plan brewing as she intended to strip her former Green Ranger of his powers, thus leading into the events of “The Green Candle” saga.
Goldar informs Repulsa that the Green Candle has been made with magic wax and that once it burns down, Tommy will lose his power forever and it’ll be permanently infused into her. Over in Angel Grove, Oliver is out on a walk with Kimberly. Just as he’s about to ask her out to the school dance, they’re suddenly met upon by the Putty Patrollers and are forced to fight them. During the skirmish, one of the Putties manages to smack Tommy’s Morpher out of his hand and kick it away from him. Suddenly, Goldar appears in front of him, steals his Morpher and even kidnaps him. Once they arrive at another plane of existence, Goldar tells Oliver to serve Rita again in order to keep his powers. If not, then the Green Candle will entirely melt and strip them from him. Meanwhile, Finster introduces a new monster to Rita called Cyclops and that it can transform into any figure at will. Back at the Command Center, our main group has assembled as Billy assumes that Rita is trying to regain control upon Tommy. After Zordon says that he’s not able to locate their teammate due to him possibly being imprisoned within the Dark Dimension, the Viewing Globe then shows the Dragonzord causing destruction upon Angel Grove.
As such, our heroes morph into their outfits, summon their Dinozords and bring them together to form the Megazord in order to fight the rogue Zord. Back in the Dark Dimension, Goldar tells Tommy that his comrades are losing. Fortunately, Oliver manages to swipe his foe’s sword and get his Morpher back before using the enemy blade to teleport back to Earth. From there, he morphs and summons the Dragonzord in order to help the Megazord fight off the fake Dragonzord that’s actually Cyclops. Despite prevailing over the monster, Tommy tells Zordon that he’s starting to feel weak. Later, all six Rangers reach the Command Center as Oliver shares his dire situation to his teammates. Zordon confirms it as he explains that the Green Candle is made of wax that came from the Gamma Tri System and that since Tommy touched it while under Rita’s control, he’ll lose his power once it entirely burns out. Fortunately, there is a way to prevent Rita from claiming his powers and that he must give his Power Coin to another Ranger. As such, Oliver hands his coin over to Jason as they cause Rita’s scheme to get foiled. We then shift to the next day in the park as Tommy tells Kimberly that while he enjoyed his time as a Power Ranger, he wants to always have her and their teammates as friends. From there, he asks her out to the school dance, to which she accepts as their relationship begins. Back in the present, Zordon narrates how Jason wielding the Green Ranger’s power in combination to his Red Ranger abilities helped the team fend off more of Rita’s further attempts. However, their biggest challenge awaited them as Repulsa finally took advantage of a certain moment to go after the team’s loved ones, leading into the events of “Return Of An Old Friend”.
A special Parents Day celebration is being held at the Angel Grove Youth Center, but it’s also caught Rita’s attention as she tells Finster that she’s decided to kidnap the attending parents. He then informs her that he has a special monster called Dramole, which can emit an hypnotic gas and tunnel underground without getting detected. As such, they set their plan into motion as a group of Putty Patrollers show up in order to confront Kimberly and Trini, distracting them long enough for Dramole to dig towards its unsuspecting targets. During this, Jason and Zack get informed by Zordon of the outside situation as they rush out to help their female comrades. From there, the Dramole burrows into the Youth Center in order to kidnap the parents. Shortly afterwards, the Putties teleport away before Jason, Trini, Kimberly & Zack head back inside and find out what’s just happened. Afterwards, they reach the Command Center before Billy joins them. Although Zordon’s sensors are able to detect that nothing bad has happened to the kidnapped parents, he’s not able to find out where they’re being held. Not only that, but the Dramole can only be fought if it’s on the surface. Suddenly, the sensors detect Goldar teleporting onto Earth as our heroes morph and head out to confront him. However, he says that he’s not here to fight them. Instead, he wants their Power Coins. Jason asks Zordon what they should do, but he tells them that this is a decision that they have to make on their own. With their parents’ fates hanging in the balance, they make the hard choice of relinquishing their Power Coins. Once they hand their coins over however, Goldar reveals that he had no intention of holding any honorable promises to them before he teleports away.
Once our heroes return to the Command Center, Billy expresses how horrible they feel for trusting Goldar to hold up his end of the devious bargain. Zordon says that he commends them for making a hard choice, while Kimberly reminds him that there wasn’t anything else they could do. However, the group bemoans the fact that their parents are still being held prisoner while Rita is now free to conquer Earth and that our heroes are powerless to stop it. Thankfully, Jason reveals that he didn’t hand over the Green Ranger Power Coin. Zordon then says that it can be re-energized with his own energy in order for Tommy to become a Power Ranger again for a limited amount of time. Oliver then gets teleported to the Command Center and gets informed of their situation. From there, Alpha 5 transfers some of Zordon’s energy into Tommy’s Power Coin as he manages to become the Green Ranger again. Moments later, he confronts Goldar in order to get his comrades’ Power Coins. However, the fiend sends a swarm of Putty Patrollers as they manage to give him a lot of resistance. Fortunately, Oliver is able to retrieve the Power Coins and teleport out. Despite his successful mission, he feels weak as a result. Thankfully, our heroes are now able to fight back.
Once they morph, they proceed to engage the Dramole before Rita grows it and forces the Rangers to summon their Dinozords in order to ultimately fight the creature as the unified Megazord. Back at the Command Center, Zordon can see that the team needs some help as he wearily gives Tommy more of his energy against Alpha 5’s wishes. From there, Oliver morphs again and heads out. However, Zordon is now left in critical condition. Thankfully, the Dragonzord managed to combine itself with the Megazord and a special Carrierzord called Titanus in order to become the Ultrazord as they finally smite the Dramole and free the parents. Afterwards, our heroes return to the Command Center and discover Zordon within his weakened condition. Fortunately, they’re able to restore their mentor by offering some of their combined energies. We then shift to the present as Zordon says that while they were able to keep the Green Ranger’s power, they have to use it sparingly in order to prevent it from running out at the worst possible moment. Despite that lingering notion, Tommy was able to be a big help as the sixth Ranger as several more opposing monsters would be defeated. However, a greater evil would ultimately emerge as Issue 2 ended with the eventual arrival of someone who towered over Rita herself: Lord Zedd.
Issue 3 opens with Zordon and Alpha 5 recapping their most recent entry into their history-recording project concerning the Power Rangers. From there, they resume with their historical recount as we shift into the events of the Season 2 three-part premiere known as “The Mutiny”. With our main group participating in the children’s hospital charity motor marathon, Rita observes this through her telescope before she asks Finster to make a road race-themed monster. Suddenly, her palace gets rocked by a massive tremor as Goldar realizes that Lord Zedd is returning. Not only that, but the evil emperor has placed a message amongst the stars for Repulsa to see, much to her dismay. Back with the race, our main group sees a bright light glowing above the horizon as they wonder if Rita’s involved somehow. Jason tells his friends that they have to continue with the race, but they’ll need to be ready if Zordon contacts them. Back on the lunar base, Lord Zedd has arrived as Goldar admits his faithfulness to him. Even though the evil emperor can easily tell that he’s sucking up to him, he still allows Goldar to work for him and even uses his own power to restore the fiend’s wings. Rita then tries to act humble in front of him, but Lord Zedd calls her out for her constant failures against the Power Rangers. As he presents his new version of the Putty Patrollers, he uses his power to shrink Repulsa down before Goldar places her in a dumpster-like box in order to get thrown out into space. With Squatt and Baboo also allowed to stay, Lord Zedd proceeds to send his Putties out against our heroes.
As such, the new Putty Patrollers appear in front of our main group as a fight breaks out between them. Despite initially having a rough time with these new Putties, our heroes soon learn that these foot soldiers will fall apart if their chest plates get hit. From there, they defeat their foes before they get contacted by Zordon. After reaching the Command Center, they learn about their new adversary and that he’s the lord & master to both Rita and her minions. Zordon explains that Lord Zedd has gone off to “darker places” several eons ago and had left Repulsa to carry out his wishes. Because she’s failed, he’s returned to carry them out by his own hand. From there, their sensors pick up a new monster that’s terrorizing the racers. Zordon then tells Tommy to stay put in order for himself and Alpha 5 to charge up his Green Ranger powers as best as they can, while the original five morph into their uniforms and head out. Over on the lunar base, Lord Zedd is excited for his monster known as Pirantishead, especially since it can “control any mechanical device”. As the monster performs its devious work upon Bulk & Skull’s motorbikes, the Power Rangers teleport in and confront their foe, only for it to tell them to come after him before it heads out. After the Rangers teleport in order to pursue the monster, Bulk and Skull were so stunned by our heroes that they decide to make it their goal to discover their secret identities.
After Pirantishead causes some more mechanical-manipulated terror, the Power Rangers catch up before they summon their Dinozords. However, it manages to take control over their mechanized vehicles. Despite receiving a decent charge, Tommy wants to join the fray. However, Zordon turns his offer down as he says that he and Alpha 5 had a feeling that something like this would occur. As the Rangers return minus control over their Dinozords, Zordon tells them that their original Zords won’t be able to stand up to what Lord Zedd has in store. Thankfully, there’s some new Zords that can go up against the evil emperor’s might. However, Alpha 5 says that they won’t be activated unless they reclaim the Dinozords. As he shows the Rangers on the Viewing Globe, their Zords will be upgraded into Thunderzords. Jason will get the Red Dragon, Trini shall drive the Griffin, Zack will pilot the Lion, Billy shall be in charge of the Unicorn, while Kimberly will fly within the Firebird. When all five are brought together, then they’ll form the Thunder Megazord. Afterwards, Billy says that he’s analyzed Lord Zedd’s signal and that he can create a device that will block it. While he and Trini head off to Cranston’s lab to make the invention, Jason, Kimberly, Zack and Tommy will confront Pirantishead. Once they teleport to the monster, Oliver has summoned the Dragonzord to fend off the compromised Dinozords from causing too much destruction upon Angel Grove. However, Pirantishead uses its ability to begin usurping control over Tommy’s Zord. Ultimately, it manages to have the Dragonzord entirely in its grasp. Thankfully, Billy and Trini return with his new device. Unfortunately, it’s not initially working. As such, Jason says that they’ll need the Power Blaster to deal with this situation. After the original five Rangers combine their weapons to create said Power Blaster, the Red Ranger fires it at Pirantishead and allows enough of a distraction for Billy to finally get his invention working in order to free their Zords. From there, Zordon tells Tommy to return his Dragonzord to the sea and head back to the Command Center. Back on the lunar base, Lord Zedd proceeds to use a special grenade to make his monster grow. Thankfully, our heroes’ Zords were able to get upgraded and come together as the Thunder Megazord proceeds to smite the otherworldly creature. Back in the present, Zordon and Alpha 5 mention how even though Lord Zedd had gotten his first taste of defeat, he could still go after Tommy and his dwindling Green Ranger powers. Over time, more challenges were faced and won by our heroes before the evil emperor decided to make his own evil team, thus leading into the events of “Green No More”.
With five new students being recently added to Angel Grove High who’re also together in a singular group, yet acting very rude to everyone around them, Lord Zedd sees them as the perfect candidates for his own team called the Dark Rangers. Not only that, but there’s also a crystal in his possession that grows stronger at the same time that the Green Ranger’s powers continue to dwindle. From there, Lord Zedd proceeds to abduct the five new delinquents into his personalized armada. With our heroes having seen their disappearance, Tommy decides to teleport to the Command Center in order to inform Zordon, especially since he’s also eager to hear the results of his latest bio-scan. At the Command Center, Oliver learns alongside Alpha 5 and Zordon that Lord Zedd has created his own Dark Rangers. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Zordon informs Tommy that their last-ditch effort of a bio-scan has failed and that his remaining Green Ranger power can only be used in one more fight. Just then, their sensors detect Goldar stomping through Angel Grove. Zordon wants their fellow Rangers to get contacted, but he and Alpha 5 are unable to do so due to an outside energy field that’s blocking all communications and even morphing outside of the Command Center. As such, Tommy decides to take a risk as he morphs into his Green Ranger uniform, summons the Dragonzord and engages his foe. Unfortunately, Goldar is able to overwhelm him and defeats the Zord. Not only that, but Tommy’s Green Ranger powers have finally been completely spent as Goldar takes him to “Lord Zedd’s Otherworld”. Back at the Command Center, Alpha 5 says that both Tommy and Goldar have vanished from their sensors. Thankfully, the opposing energy field has dispersed and they’re able to contact the rest of their Rangers.
Back in the otherworldly plane, Goldar taunts Tommy with images of his past times as the Green Ranger. Before he sends Oliver to oblivion, Goldar demands for him to admit that he’s the superior being. Thankfully, Tommy is able to strike back before he says that those images only reminded him of all of the good that he’s done as both the Green Ranger and as his own self. From there, Billy locates and teleports him back to the Command Center as Cranston mentions how Zedd’s Otherworld is similar to Rita’s Dark Dimension. Zordon then informs his team of a crystal that’s powering his Dark Rangers and that destroying it will bring a permanent end to that team. However, no one who’s “imbued with the Morphin Power” can approach it undetected. As such, Tommy decides to go after the crystal. Ultimately, he managed to get to the devious stone and shatter it, even telling Lord Zedd that his former Green Ranger persona wasn’t what gave him his strength. Back in the present, Zordon goes on to explain that the delinquent group went back to their regular lives without any memories of being the Dark Rangers and that Jason’s friendly jesters allowed them to share their “less antagonistic side”. As the original five Rangers continued to confront and smite even more of Lord Zedd’s monsters, Tommy took some time away from the team in order to contemplate his future. Unbeknownst to their core team, Zordon and Alpha 5 began to work on a secret project which leads into the events of “White Light”.
Zordon mentions that this special design required their full attention and the Command Center’s power. As such, it left things open for Lord Zedd to sense an opportune opening for him to strike. Over at the Juice Bar, Kimberly tells Billy and Trini that she’s just received a letter from Tommy informing her that he’ll return by the end of the week. With this joyous news, they head over to the park and inform Jason & Zack about it. Suddenly, Zack notices that the Sentinel Statue is dripping an odd goop. Shortly after the group decide to throw a surprise party to celebrate their friend’s return, they then take notice of the goop that’s oozing on the Sentinel Statue. Just as Billy tries to contact Zordon about this, Lord Zedd has observed this and mentions how he’s not yet ready to create his Scarlet Sentinel known as Nimrod. As such, he sends his Putties in order to distract them. Meanwhile, Tommy emerges from a swimming pool before he suddenly vanishes in a flash of white light. Back with our main group, they’ve defeated the Putty Patrollers yet are unable to reach Zordon. As such, they teleport to the Command Center, unaware of the evil lurking within the statue. Meanwhile, our main group has noticed that their base is only running on emergency power as they wonder why Zordon and Alpha 5 would depart without informing them. Billy then transfers the most recent commands onto a disc as he looks forward to finding out what’s going on. Later, they head over to Cranston’s lab as his research informs them of a hidden door within the base. Suddenly, they feel a ominous rumble as they morph and head out to see what’s going on.
They soon find themselves going up against Nimrod before Lord Zedd uses a special grenade to make the monster grow. After the Rangers summon their Thunderzords and bring them together to form the Thunder Megazord, Billy decides to head to the Command Center while the rest of the team fights the fully-grown Nimrod. While his teammates are unable to defeat the monster, Cranston manages to find the hidden door as he heads inside and plummets for a bit before he peaks through a grate in order to see Zordon and Alpha 5 working on an experiment. Later, Jason tells his team that they must repair their Zords in order to get back to fighting the monster. Just then, Billy teleports in and informs his comrades that Zordon & Alpha 5 are creating a brand-new Ranger. While Kimberly has her concerns, Jason and Trini share their faith towards the project. Later, Zordon and Alpha 5 have completed their special setup before they summon the Rangers to the Command Center. After his team arrives, Zordon explains that he’s been working to fill the void left when the Green Ranger became completely powerless. He mentions that a new Power Ranger has been energized and that a candidate has been chosen to fill that position. As such, he introduces the White Ranger before it’s revealed to be Tommy. Alpha 5 then says that Oliver will be piloting the White Tigerzord and that his signature weapon will be an enchanted sword called Saba. As Tommy heads out to confront Nimrod, Kimberly says that she and the rest of the team thought that Oliver had lost his powers forever. Alpha 5 says that it’s only true for his former Green Ranger powers, while Zordon says that the White Ranger was created by the incorruptible Light of Goodness. As he tells his team to head to their Zords in order to properly repair them, Tommy uses the White Tigerzord’s Battle Mode to defeat Nimrod. Back in the present, Zordon would mention how this would be the first of many victories. Just then, they decide to pause their project since they’re expecting the Rangers to arrive. Soon enough, they teleport in as Zordon commends them for their strong and valiant might against all of their past foes. Alpha 5 then says that they were recording the history of the team and that they got as far as the White Ranger’s introduction before they came in. From there, it’s revealed that Rocky, Adam and Aisha had recently become Power Rangers before Zordon assures them that their exploits will eventually be documented. And so, the series ends with the team bringing their hands together before leaping up in excitement while saying “Power Rangers”.
Overall, these comics are a somewhat flawed, yet still humbly joyful way to relive the franchise’s initial popularity. First off, it was interesting to come across a promotional mini comic that came before Hamilton’s first mainline series yet wasn’t included in Boom Studios’ archive collection from 2018. It felt like an alternate origin for the team since it gets the basic idea of how our original villain came about, while our original teenagers end up crossing paths with (at least) Alpha 5 before acquiring their Power Rangers status from Zordon and defeating their first foe with the Megazord. However, I feel like a pure adaptation of “Day Of The Dumpster” shouldn’t have been that hard to make as accurate as possible. After all, this was back when episodes of the show were available on VHS tapes. As such, finding a copy of the very first episode shouldn’t have been hard to track down and replicate on the page as best as they could. While that is mainly a minor criticism, the misspelling of certain character names and the misrepresentation of other characters’ names is definitely distracting. You would think that either the comic’s creative team would’ve paid a bit more attention to the primary characters’ names or then-franchise head Haim Saban (or anyone else who helped him run the series back then) would’ve provided a list of character names to help Jack C. Harris and company properly get that aspect right. It just blows my mind that our five heroes had their proper first names, yet they somehow had completely different last names entirely. As for the alternate names of their signature weapons, Jason’s Power Sword is the only one that gets correctly called by its actual name. As for the rest, it feels like Harris only saw the episode “Different Drum” and automatically assumed that those were the correct names for said arsenal. It’s another oversight that fans can laugh at in hindsight, yet it still feels perplexing why these kinds of minute details weren’t checked on. As for the comic’s story itself, it’s perfectly suitable for what it is. It maintains the action-packed silliness that the show is known for while delivering its simple narrative at a reasonable pace. While the overall artwork can be a bit exaggerated, it never gets too sloppy or amateurish for its own good. In the end, it’s a humble little book that will entertain little kids with enough wonder to get them interested in the franchise. As for how I was able to check it out, I didn’t have a copy and acquiring one these days can easily cost you a few hundred dollars (or at least $100). Thankfully, an online copy has been archived and you can read it for yourself by clicking the link in order to check it out. Moving on to Hamilton Comics’ first series, they definitely have a humble feel that longtime fans would have from the franchise’s early days. There is a singular attempt at establishing its own in-house continuity within the regular series when Ernie presents of piece of the Dracula Moth’s cocoon left over from the first issue, but there isn’t any other moment of something significant being allowed to come back in some form as the series progresses. As will be the case for these early batch of comics, they definitely feel like they could’ve been regular episodes since the majority of them do have bookending lessons to teach its young viewership. While there’s not much to learn from the first two issues, Issue 3 does demonstrate the importance of living in an organized space while also explaining how equally vital the recycling process is to our world. Issue 4 can also be somewhat of an environmental tale with the hazard that the featured monster presented there, while Issue 5’s main story can teach children how certain situations can be solved via compromise. As for Issue 6’s primary tale, it does demonstrate the struggle our heroes can go through with juggling their personal lives and their Power Ranger duties. Every single narrative presented within those six issues does have differing artwork and while some of the featured styles can either be exaggerated or average, they still present these tales as professionally competent as possible with a pleasant color palette and a nice attention to detail. While the writing is perfectly suitable for its intended audience, there were some head-scratching moments that befuddled me. In Issue 1, it seems that Donald Markstein has gotten Lord Zedd mixed up with Rita Repulsa. After all, he was acting in a few certain ways that’re normally associated with her. He viewed our main group’s action via a telescope instead of his own enhanced vision, he threw his Z-Staff down to make his monster grown instead of using a special grenade and he even got a headache following his monster’s defeat. Also, Issues 3, 4 & 6 seems to have Rocky as the team’s main leader, automatically assuming that said title carried over from Jason after he, Zack & Trini had stepped down to represent Angel Grove in a Peace Conference. Either way, the creative teams seem to have forgotten that not only had Tommy been with the group longer than him (even having become the White Ranger before he, Adam & Aisha had joined), but he pretty much became the primary field general by that point. Not to mention, there’s another Rocky-related gaffe within Issue 6 as there was a singular moment where instead of his actual last name of DeSantos, he was somehow called Rocky Jones. Not to mention, that same comic also reverted Kimberly Hart back to her promotional comic identity of Kimberly Smith for some reason. Despite my lingering criticisms towards this series, it was still an enjoyable read and is worth tracking down. As for Hamilton’s second series, they too present original stories that could easily have also been shown as regular episodes. There’s not as many lessons that these tales have when compared to the prior comic series, but they’re just as prevalent. Issue 1’s primary narrative has a dual purpose where no matter what project a person works on, all elements must come together in just the right way to create a cohesive whole whose foundational structure can properly carry it throughout. Also, you can’t rush through a complex job (like repairs) since nothing will be accomplished and you end up wasting more time than what you would’ve spent had you properly paced yourself to make sure that everything’s in order. As for its backup story, it simply has a nice setup and payoff where Jujitsu is used to make a monster’s own momentum serve as its ultimate downfall. Issue 2’s full-length story can serve as an advancement to the lessons learned in the prior entry and it’s one that seems to resonate with me when I make my reviews and retrospectives. It’s important to take time and make sure that whatever you create has a solid foundation to make it last, while also presenting itself in a unique way to make it stand out. Issue 3’s lessons are micro by comparison, yet still prevalent. The former story teaches us that constantly being rude to others will get you nowhere in life, even though the Rangers were being forced to act that way outside of their own control. As for its latter tale, it’s a simple fact that knowing certain sciences can be advantageous for certain situations. As for Issue 4, only its first story has a relevant feel to its readers in that while physical ailments can be a big problem to those who have it, it’s also an emotional burden to that person’s friends and loved ones. Even though Rocky was able to solve his amnesia-induced problem by himself, it was still a notion that I discovered. As for the tales themselves, they serve their purpose and definitely felt very engaging throughout. They all have their own meaningful twists and turns, yet Issue 2 was the strongest out of this batch due to its adventure being the only one that was allowed to encompass the entire comic. It kept the silly psuedo-science that the franchise is known for, while also presenting a harrowing situation for our heroes to solve. All of the stories within this run are nicely paced and have different art styles that’re all detailed, colorful and coherent throughout. As for any noticeable element that stuck out to me in the wrong way, then it’s the notion of Tommy and his White Tigerzord. Specifically, Issue 1’s backup story and Issue 3’s first tale seems to forget that he has it since both show him in the Thunder Megazord’s cockpit alongside his teammates. Not to mention, none of these comics (going back to Vol. 1, Issue 4) seem to remember that the White Tigerzord has its own Battle Mode. While the White Ranger operating inside the Thunder Megazord alongside his teammates is absolutely head-tilting, the other notion is more minor and simply comes off as a missed opportunity for this series. Either way, all four issues are still entertaining and worth hunting down. Finally, we have MMPR Saga. It essentially serves as a recap of the first 78 episodes while adapting the major status quo changing events from said era. Sure, watching the filler episodes can reveal some minor traits for our main characters. However, this comic series’ main purpose is to give the benefit of streamlined progression and to lessen the franchise’s feel of its somewhat repetitive & formulaic storytelling nature. It does an effective job at adapting the pilot episode and most of the multi-part stories from this particular point in the franchise’s history. As a result of mainly bringing over adventures that took either two or three episodes to resolve (or five in the case of “Green With Evil”), there’s a fair amount of tense drama that was able to get translated onto the printed page. By this point, it feels like writer Donald Markstein had become far-more familiar with the franchise as the presented events felt very faithful to the originally broadcasted material. Not only that, but he also had more in mind for this series since MMPR Saga was originally supposed to be a six-issue series. Due to “a variety of factors, including several very complex behind-the-scenes re-shufflings within the comic book industry”, his initial ideas for this set were ultimately cut short. In the final issue of said series, Markstein wrote a three-page explanation where he shares what he would’ve delivered had Hamilton been allowed to hang onto the comic license long enough for Issues 4, 5 & 6 to see the light of day. He talks about having some subtle foreground and background details within said series where he would’ve been telling his own story while also recapping the Mighty Morphin era. It turns out that there was a restaurant supplier named Jim whose business kept getting decimated by the various monsters and by the end of Issue 3, he was starting to get more prominent. Had Issue 4 been made, he would’ve finally seen some subplot action where he blames the Power Rangers for constantly drawing unwanted terror and attention towards his food supplying venture, especially since he regularly delivers supplies to Ernie’s Juice Bar. While continuing the series of flashbacks to past events from Seasons 2 & 3, Jim had managed to get Bulk & Skull to start a petition in order to have the Power Rangers removed from Angel Grove. However, they’re only interested in it since they’re on their Season 2 arc of trying to discover the Rangers’ secret identities. During the whole ordeal, our heroes would’ve felt really bad about unintentionally bringing so much woe onto Jim, leaving them emotionally open for Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd to attack with a fan-themed monster called Whirly Willy. After an initial defeat, Zordon would give his Rangers a pep talk and show them the devastation that would’ve been cast upon Angel Grove had they never became a superhero team in the first place. As the monster tears up downtown, Bulk, Skull and some children that were left in their care are in grave danger. Even though the Rangers ultimately manage to defeat Whirly Willy, it begins to fall towards Bulk, Skull and the kids. The Rangers manage to use their remaining strength to deflect their fallen foe, only for it to crush Jim’s restaurant. They then see Jim in an emotional state as he runs towards them, thinking that he’s going to vent his anger at them for unintentionally destroying his business. Instead, he hugs his kids whom he left with Bulk & Skull as he understands what’s truly important. As Bulk & Skull slip away while Rita and Zedd try to blame each other for their monster’s defeat, the overall story would’ve ended with our heroes’ self-doubt and guilt completely melting away. After reading that article, I can honestly say that Donald was being very ambitious. Anyone could’ve just taken the easy way out and just make a simple recap of the entire show, but he was initially shooting for something more. While it is a shame that he never got to bring his full vision to the page, what he was able to present with these three issues is still an experience that’s worth revisiting after watching a good portion of said show. In the end, Hamilton Comics’ run with this property has its own faults of artistic quirks or misremembrance of certain names and details, but it still manages to deliver the initial feel, energy, style and high-octane, kid-friendly fun that this franchise brought when it first hit the TV airwaves back in 1993. Even though the company is no longer around, they still managed to recapture everything that made the original series exciting back in its heyday. As such, it’s worth hunting down and checking out, which has been made much easier due to Boom Studios placing their work within Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Archive, Vol. 1. Either way, give them a read for a Morphinominal good time.
Even though this concludes Hamilton Comics’ run, we’re far from being done. Come back next time as the franchise gets its chance to shine within a major comic book company. How will their adventures from both the cinematic realm and within the regular pages of multiple series fair under the house that Stan Lee built? Check back in for Part 2 of my comic book retrospective and find out. Until then, May The Power Protect You!
Power Rangers (created by Haim Saban & Shuki Levy) is owned by Hasbro.