Tales From The Morphin Grid: A Power Rangers Comics Retrospective (Part 4)

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Hello, my friends! Our Morphinominal celebrations are nearing their end, but there’s still enough power left for us to delve into a few more books before we properly close things out. As such, I welcome you to the final entry of my special series called… After we’ve spent the entire first half delving into the franchise’s vintage adventures under the publishing hands of Hamilton and Marvel Comics, our prior entry saw us move past those early years and delve into further conflicts that had our heroic lineup change quite a bit while they gained new suits, weapons & Zords in order to properly combat the ever-changing faces of evil.  For our final look at the franchise’s comics history prior to the license finding a long-standing residence within Boom Studios, we have one last era to explore before it leads us into its most long-lasting venture. Throughout the majority of the 2000s, the franchise was under the control of the Walt Disney Company.  Following the conclusion of its final series known as “Power Rangers RPM” a few months later, co-creator Haim Saban would reacquire his signature intellectual property on May 12, 2010.  With the overall series back under his control, it also led to the creation of his new television production company called Saban Brands.  With the Neo-Saban era ready to get going with new shows, a new comic book publisher would eventually come along to bring these newfound heroes onto the inked & colored page.  That particular business would be Papercutz, a New York City-based company that was founded in 2005 by Terry Nantier & Jim Salicrup and has mainly published family-friendly comics & graphic novels.  Over the years, they’ve released numerous books under various licenses such as Nancy Drew, Barbie, Gumby, Tales From The Crypt, The Three Stooges and Zorro just to name a few. First up, we have “Power Rangers Samurai” which began its broadcast run on October 15, 2011.  Following its initial conclusion on December 11, it would then launch into its second season which would begin a regular multi-season tradition for the franchise moving forward.  Specifically for this era, the team’s sophomore season saw their show slightly renamed as “Power Rangers Super Samurai” and would run from February 18 to December 15, 2012.  Throughout those two years, the show weaved its original footage with that of the Super Sentai season called “Samurai Sentai Shinkenger” in order to tell its tale of six heroes who must prevent their main antagonist from flooding the planet and wiping out all of civilization. As for how Papercutz began its comics run with the property, we begin with their two graphic novels based upon Super Samurai and were released in May & October 2012.  With both books written by Stefan Petrucha, drawn by Paulo Henrique and colored by Laurie E. Smith, what sort of harrowing situations will this particular heroic group find themselves in?  Let’s unsheathe our critical swords and find out.
First up, we have a looming threat of amnesia for one of our familiar heroes with “Memory Short”.  We open with a concert taking place at Deep Gorge Park as the featured band called Ruben Jet is dedicating their set to the city’s main protectors a.k.a. the Power Rangers.  Amongst the massive crowd that’s taking in the performance is our heroes themselves as Mia finds it “wild” that the music group is dedicating songs to them despite not knowing their secret identities.  As the rest of her teammates mentioned how Jayden is very dedicated to his Ranger duties, Emily then asks him if he would forget about being a Power Ranger for one night.  Meanwhile within a purgatory-like landscape called the Netherworld, the main villain named Master Xandred is trying to get humanity to cry enough tears so that the Sanzu River can rise high enough for him and his demonic ship to finally escape this limbo-esque dimension.  However, the concert is preventing the crowd from becoming sorrowful, to which his advisor named Octoroo confirms to him.  Despite Xandred’s situation, his half-human, half-Nighlok musician lady named Dayu tells him that this would actually be a perfect time for the Samurai Rangers to get attacked since they’re relaxing at an event.  Because she overheard our heroes mention the notion of forgetting, she then suggests that an amnesia-inducing monster called Oblivitor can help them out by making the populace forget their memories of the Rangers.  From there, it would cause some overwhelming misery and thus ultimately lead to their freedom from the Netherworld.
As such, the scheme gets set in motion as Oblivitor emerges from a portal that forms in front of the park’s snack bar.  While he has an army of Moogers to help him out, he also notices that a Fuzzywort has stowed away on him and proceeds to annoy him by repeating what he’s just said.  Over at the Samurai Rangers’ headquarters called the Shiba House, Mentor Ji (accidentally referred as Master Ji here) hears the sensors going off as he notices a Nighlok invasion over at the park where his Rangers are enjoying a concert.  From there, he begins to contact this team.
Just as Jayden receives his call and is about to answer it, Oblivitor proceeds to interrupt the performance as our heroes notice this and respond by morphing into their Samurai Ranger outfits before using the Black Box to upgrade into Super Samurai Mode.  From there, Jayden tells his team to protect the crowd while his uses his Lion Disc to power up his Spin Sword into a Fire Smasher and goes after the monster.  However, Oblivitor uses his trident to catch the incoming strike and throw him onto the ground.
He then tells the Red Samurai Ranger that he might as well forgo his original plan of making the townsfolk forget about their heroes and just smite him instead.  Fortunately, the Fuzzywort annoys him with its constant repeating of his last spoken phrases, giving Jayden enough time to strike his foe off of him.  With the intense heat from the hit, Oblivitor realizes that he has to return to the Netherworld in order to replenish himself within the Sanzu River.  As such, he fires a beam from his trident that hits the Red Samurai Ranger with enough force to de-morph him while he retreats.
Afterwards, Jayden feels the full effect of the attack’s amnesia side effect as he wonders what he’s doing here before he sees the fracas between his fellow Samurai Rangers and the Mooger armada.  Just then, the Blue Samurai Ranger named Kevin tells him to help his teammates out.  However, Jayden says that he doesn’t know him as this distraction allows a Mooger to strike the Blue Samurai Ranger.  Kevin then tells his comrades that their foe has caused their friend to suffer some amnesia, to which Emily comes in as the Yellow Samurai Ranger and tries to help him by fully explaining the history of the overall conflict against the Nighloks.  Several centuries ago, the planet was being invaded by the Nighloks until they were forced back by the original Samurai Rangers during a Japan-based conflict.  From there, those heroic figures would constantly pass their powers down to their future children.
Before she can fully elaborate on all of this, Emily gets hassled by a group of Moogers.  Thankfully, the Green Samurai Ranger named Mike manages to defeat those creatures before he then tells his amnesia-affected leader that this conflict has been a part of his whole life.  He mentions how despite the fact that they were previously defeated, the Nighloks are threatening to rise again since Master Xandred is looking to escape from the Netherworld by flooding their world with the tears of the Sanzu River and ultimately conquer the planet.
Just as he gets done with his explanation, he soon discovers that Jayden is being dragged away by a pair of Moogers.  Fortunately, the Gold Ranger named Antonio comes in and helps Mike save their teammate.  He then tells Jayden that they’ve been friends since childhood and that he’s been raised his whole life as a samurai.  As for his own life, Antonio says that he moved away yet ultimately managed to return and that he’s honored to fight alongside him.  Suddenly, a pair of Moogers take some guitars from the band and charge right at our heroes.  Fortunately, Jayden ducks in time and causes the goons to hit each other instead.
With him then being unsure of what to do, Mia comes in as the Pink Samurai Ranger and uses her Sky Fan to blow some Moogers away.  Afterwards, she then reminds him about how his dad was the previous Red Samurai Ranger and that he was the one who defeated Master Xandred before sealing him away within the Netherworld.  Despite his friends’ combined attempt to help their comrade, Jayden is unable to break out of his amnesia.  Mia then tries to tell him that when a Nighlok dries out, it’s forced to retreat back to the Netherworld in order to moisturize itself before returning.
Just then, Oblivitor returns and discovers that he now has two Fuzzyworts on his head.  As it charges towards our heroes, Kevin uses his Hydro Bow to turn the dirt-covered ground that the monster is on into mud before Emily uses her Earth Slicer to make the creature fall over.  After Oblivitor uses his trident to cover the group in mud, Jayden asks the Gold Samurai Ranger what they can do.  Antonio says that they could use the Black Box in order to unite their power symbols and power up a spin sword.  Unfortunately, they can’t do so as long as their comrade is still stuck in his amnesia.  Just as a Fuzzywort repeats Oblivitor’s comment about how his own plan is working, Jayden is able to recall an earlier moment with said monster before he finally snaps out of his amnesia and becomes the Red Samurai Ranger again.
From there, Antonio gives him the Black Box in order to reach Super Samurai Mode and deliver a fierce slash upon the creature.  However, the victory is short-lived since a Nighlok’s initial defeat allows them to come back as a giant monster.
With Oblivitor picking up the entire stage and threatening to crush them with it, our heroes proceed to reach Super Samurai status, summon their Foldingzords in order to create the Samurai Megazord and then combine it with the Gold Ranger’s Clawzord in order for it to become the Claw Armor Megazord.
Oblivitor then tries to throw the stage at them, but they’re able to catch it and place it down onto the remaining Moogers.
After a brief scuffle, the fight ends with the Claw Armor Megazord picking the monster up and throwing it over Deep Gorge Park’s cliff.
As a result of the creature’s defeat, the crowd is able to regain their memories.  However, they’re unable to remember the name of the band.  Thankfully, the music group is able to win the audience back with their performance, which includes a song all about the Power Rangers.  And so, the book ends with Emily asking Jayden if he would like to be something else.  He says that while his Ranger duties are massive, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
For the team’s final illustrated tale, they’ll now find themselves within a perilous playtime against some “Terrible Toys”.  We begin with a young boy opening his present in front of his parents as he discovers that it’s the hottest new toy on the market, which turns out to be some kind of mutant-looking action figure within an upside-down head.  Just as Bill mentions how “it even moves”, the action figure comes to life and tries to throw the kid’s teddy bear into the fireplace due to it not wanting any “competition”.  Thankfully, the Gold Samurai Ranger prevents the innocent stuffed animal from an incinerated demise before the action figure charges at him.  Thankfully, he’s able to easily pick it up and throw it into the fireplace for an easy victory.
Later, Antonio is back at the Shiba House as he tells Jayden how easy his fight against a sentient action figure went.  Jayden then tells his teammate that he was fortunate to have been nearby when their sensors went off, since the rogue action figure managed to have somehow slipped into its box while at the toy store that its portal was formed at.  It’s especially so since the breach was so small, it was barely able to get picked up on their sensors and that their master is now forced to make a necessary adjustment to it.  They then proceed to play a Jenga-esque game where the objective isn’t to prevent the unstable tower of blocks from falling over, but they’re each trying to make it fall over within the fewest possible number of pieces.  Ultimately, Jayden is the one to make the tower topple over as he mentions that one must focus in order to find the weak link.  Suddenly, the sensors go off as they and their teammates meet up with Mentor Ji as his team tells them that shortly after he made the necessary adjustments to their scanners, it’s picked up lots of tiny breaches as several of the sentient action figures are causing mischievous mayhem across their city.  From there, the sensors aren’t able to pick them up until they finally exert themselves into an attack.  Despite Mike’s assumption that they should be easily defeated due to their small size, Ji doesn’t share his confidence especially if it becomes a large-enough assault.  Not only that, but even a single small Nighlok can create a lot of havoc.  Jayden then says that they’ll find a weak link amongst those creatures before he and his teammates proceed to morph and head out.
Over in the Netherworld, the waters of the Sanzu River have begun to rapidly rise as a result of the sentient action figures (which are individually known as Shador) attacks.  Just as Master Xandred and Octoroo begin to look towards escaping from their devious dimension, the river begins to suddenly descend.
It turns out that the Samurai Rangers are going around town to defeat the sentient actions figures, starting with Mike smacking two of them at a park while Mia blows away four of them at a coffee cafe with her Sky Fan.  Over at a toy store, Antonio comes across eight Shadors, but he’s able to use his Octozord to smite them.
Meanwhile, Kevin comes across sixteen Shadors at a water park, yet he’s able to smite them with his Hydro Bow.  Deep within the city, Emily spots thirty-two Shadors causing a major traffic jam.  Fortunately, she uses a Bull-Zooka to deal with these critters.  Over at an airport, Jayden sees sixty-four of those miniature beings causing havoc upon a grounded airplane while also hassling its pilot.  Fortunately, he’s able to use his Spin Sword to slash up every last one of them.
Back in the Netherworld, Master Xandred is irritated towards the Rangers’ massive interference of his escape.  However, Dayu reminds him of what Shador mentioned about his ultimate plan in that he’ll “test them” before he’ll “wreck them”.  Back with Mia, she spots a toy warehouse for a business called “Toys 4 U” that’s right in the middle of their city and it just so happens to be located within these rampant attacks.  Jayden then mentions how because it’s also the sight of the remaining batch of small breaches, he wants the entire team to assemble there before they ultimately go in.  Meanwhile, the building is being approached by Bulk who’s alongside Skull’s son named Spike.  It turns out that Spike wants his own Shador action figure and that they were unable to find one in any toy store within town, to which they proceed to head inside.  They manage to find one as Spike says that he’ll try to preserve it in his own way, but Shador comes to life and spooks them out as they run towards the men’s restroom in order to hide.  However, it’s able to get in via a small hole on the floor.  With Bulk and Spike unable to flee due to locking themselves in, Bulk nervously takes it upon himself to fight it.
Meanwhile, our heroes arrive at the warehouse as they head inside to search.  Suddenly, Jayden hears an ominous noise as they head over to investigate.  To their surprise, a large army of Shadors are pouring into the building.  The Samurai Rangers try to use their weapons on them, but there’s too many for them to deal with.  Then then decide to stuff the Shadors into some empty crates, but they’re able to break free from these wooden boxes.
From there, the Shadors regroup and link up with each other in order to form one giant Shador.  Despite the towering figure that looms above them, Jayden sees them as a massive puzzle and that the individual pieces must be disorganized enough for him and his comrades to take advantage of.  However, the giant Shador proves itself to be a functioning unit as it disorients our heroes with its attacks.  Back inside the men’s restroom, the lone Shador figure tries to flee in order to join its fellow selves.  Despite their nervousness, Bulk manages to have Spike block the figure’s escape with a broom as it covers the exposed hole.
Meanwhile, Jayden notices that his comrades are disoriented.  As such, he takes it upon himself to continue the fight as he shifts into Super Samurai Mode and tries to strike with his Super Spin Sword.  However, his slashes aren’t able to land due to the individual units reacting in time in order to avoid his attacks.  After his comrades recover, the team decides that they’re similar to Shador in that they’re stronger when they’re together.  As such, Jayden removes the Black Box from his Spin Sword and inserts his Lion Disc, as well as his fellow teammates’ discs, in order for them to use the Cannon Blast as it fires and hits the monster.
However, the individual Shadors are able to reform as Mike, Mia and Kevin each try to use their individual weapon on them in order to halt their progress, but to no avail.  From there, the multiple Shadors manage to form a singular being that grows larger than the warehouse as it proceeds to terrorize the city.
As such, the original five Samurai Rangers summon their Foldingzords and bring them together to create the Samurai Megazord.  Antonio then calls upon his Clawzord and has it shift into Claw Battlezord Mode as the two giant robots proceed to engage their main monster.
However, none of their attacks are able to leave any sustaining damage as Shador manages to deliver some devastating hits.  Just when all hope seems lost, Antonio notices a single spot upon the unified Shador’s shoulder where another small figure should belong.  Realizing that it’s the overall unit’s weak point, they decide to bring their robots together and form the Claw Armor Megazord.
From there, they manage to ram themselves into the specific spot as the entire Shador unit collapses as a result and becomes destroyed.  Back in the men’s restroom, the lone Shador figure is about to harm Bulk & Spike.  Suddenly, the result of his fellow figures’ defeat causes him to become destroyed as well.  Afterwards, Bulk and Spike cry with joy on the fact that they survived the whole ordeal before they emerge and see the ruined remains of the warehouse. And so, the book ends back at the Shiba House as Antonio spots a present that’s for him.  Believing that another Shador figure is inside waiting for him, he manages to karate chop it.  Just then, Mike and Emily come in and say that it only contained another puzzle for him to enjoy, yet she’s glad that they refrained from getting their friend a puppy. Next up, we have the second team to come from the Neo-Saban/Saban Brands era.  “Power Rangers Megaforce” initially ran from February 2 to December 7, 2013, before becoming “Power Rangers Super Megaforce” for its second season, which ran from February 15 to November 24, 2014.  Combing its own footage with the Super Sentai seasons known as “Tensou Sentai Goseiger” and “Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger”, it tells the tale of five teenagers who’ve been chosen by a supernatural guardian named Gosei in order to defend Earth from an invading force called the Warstar Empire. Just like its preceding team, the show would get its own pair of graphic novels, though mainly focusing on its overall first half.  Published in July and December 2013, Stefan Petrucha would return to write both books.  This time around, P.H. Marcondes took over artistic duties.  While Mindy Indy would initially assume her role as colorist for the first book’s inaugural tale, Laurie E. Smith came back to take that mantle for the rest of these overall graphic novels.  So, what kind of unique perils will this group find themselves in?  Let’s get back into the Grid in order to find out.
We kick things off with the book’s first tale which will see a Ranger’s faith in others be put to the test while there’s “Panic In The Parade”.  We open with our two female Rangers named Emma Goodall and Gia Moran attending an upcoming parade that will celebrate their city’s 100th anniversary.  Just then, they’re approached by a little boy who tells them that he doesn’t have enough bus money to get back home.  While Emma proceeds to give him some quarters, Gia questions her teammate’s actions since she was being a little too trusting towards the kid.  Goodall says that it’s different from the various creatures that they’ve been fighting, to which Moran points her towards the young boy who’s then asking a guy for some change.  Emma is puzzled by this, since she gave him enough money to get home, yet Gia thinks that the kid is conning people in order to gather enough money and buy an expensive item.  Goodall then feels bummed for what she did, to which Moran tells her not to trust everyone.  Just as Gia says that they have to meet up with their comrades in order to catch the Centennial Parade, Emma decides to go sign up and take part in the post-parade clean-up since she’s also an environmentalist.  However, an evil alien named Vrak had observed them from a nearby alley as it finds it strange that humanity likes to celebrate with “torn paper”.  However, he finds a perfect place to set up a new monster to invade with as he proceeds to throw what looks like a manhole cover onto an open manhole.
He then returns to the Warstar Spaceship, discreetly located above the planet within its atmosphere, and proceeds to ask the villainous head named Admiral Malkor if he can have a device called the Deceptor in order to distract the Rangers.  However, Malkor’s main lieutenant named Creepox isn’t fond of this idea and instead wishes to carry out the same kind of distraction with an army of their foot soldiers called Loogies.  Ultimately, Admiral Malkor approves of both plans as he orders his insect-looking crony named Flage to use the Deceptor on Vrak.  It manages to transform his outer appearance into that of a regular-looking man, but Flage warns him that because the device is experimental, his true image will occasionally slip through the disguise.  He’ll also need to keep the Deceptor on him as Creepox says that he looks “inferior” to which Vrax tells him that while he’s out leading the assault, he should remember that he’s still a member of the royal family and thus, he sees him as truly inferior.
Later, Emma is at the group’s regular hangout called Ernie’s Brain Freeze as she questions whether she’s too trusting of others.  Just then, a familiar guy walks past her before his disguise glitches out for a moment as she realizes that it’s Vrak.  However, she’s in an inopportune moment to morph as he tells her that he’s only here to talk and that he’s aware that she’s a Power Ranger.  He then tells her that the parade is about to be attacked and if he joins the scuffle, then he’ll help unleash an all-out war.  In order for her to avoid that, he’ll give her the opportunity to convince him about the benefits of humanity and why they shouldn’t be decimated.  She says that the Rangers will stop him, but he tells her that if she tries to contact her teammates, then he’ll leave and escalate the conflict.  As such, he’ll give her ten minutes in order to convince him why the human race shouldn’t be wiped out of existence.  Once those ten minutes are up, then he’ll allow her to contact her comrades.  While she agrees to his terms, we then cut over to her teammates taking in the festivities as Gia wonders where she’s at since the parade has just started.  Suddenly, Creepox emerges with his Loogie armada and begins their attack.  Our heroes manage to reach an alley in order to properly morph before they begin to fight off the invading forces.
Meanwhile, Emma states her case for humanity as she says that while the human race isn’t perfect, they can handle a major conflict when they’re united together.  When she asks Vrax if it’s possible for his race to peacefully live alongside the humans, he tells her that his race is already perfect and that she has six minutes to go.  Back with the Megaforce Rangers, they proceed to bring out their signature weapons and use them against the opposing Loogies.  As he oversees the conflict, Creepox decides to take advantage of the distracted Red Megaforce Ranger named Troy Burrows.  Suddenly, he gets distracted by the automated confetti cannons as the Blue Megaforce Ranger named Noah Carver says that they’re timed to go off at the exact moment that their city was formed.  Unbeknownst to our heroes, the device that Vrax previously placed becomes active as a huge rumble occurs before a massive monster named Wastaro appears.
As the Megaforce Rangers attempt to surround and attack the creature, it manages to absorb the nearby confetti & trash in order to become stronger before it punches the ground, causing a massive shockwave that disorients our heroes.  Back with Emma, she continues to state her case to Vrax that even if he and his massive armada do invade, then she and her fellow Power Rangers will stop them.  However, he just laughs while mentioning that her ten minutes are up and that she’s too late to contact them since she and her teammates would’ve been able to stop his monster.  However, those ten minutes allowed his creature to fully power up. Suddenly, Wastaro’s massive shockwave reaches their location as Vrax falls over before getting pinned by a concrete pillar, which also smashes his Deceptor device and disables his disguise.  Just then, the Rangers’ supernatural guardian named Gosei contacts them from their Island Command Center and says that the monster has grown beyond its ability to draw in the surrounding garbage that was caused by the parade.  It’s now able to draw in energy from the planet itself, threatening their world with the collapse of Earth’s core.  While the Megaforce Rangers dodge the being’s attacks, Emma tries to head out and join her comrades.  Just then, Vrax says that his monster must be stopped and that he’ll give her a code that she can use to tap upon its head and bring its rampage to a permanent end.  She asks why she should trust him, to which he says that Earth can’t be conquered if it’s destroyed.  As such, he tells her that the code is three quick taps, followed by three long ones.  She then asks him if this is a ruse and will only make his monster stronger, to which he says that she doesn’t know and that if she doesn’t do this, then Earth will be doomed.
Later, she morphs and meets up with her teammates as the Black Megaforce Ranger named Jake Holling tells her to help them out with their plan.  As she sees her friends in their losing battle, she then spots the disc on top of Wastor’s head and tells Gia to give her a big boost.  She ultimately gets to the top of the monster before she enacts the code upon its disc.  Thankfully, the code worked as it depowers the creature before Emma gets praised by her teammates.  Suddenly, Wastaro grows to a titanic size as Gosei tells his teammates that it’s no longer connected to their planet’s core.  As such, they can battle it and defeat it like normal.  From there, they take out their Gosei Morphers and summon their Mechazords before bringing them together in order to create the Gosei Great Megazord.
Afterwards, they manage to fight and defeat Wastaro before they return to the remains of Ernie’s Brain Freeze, only to discover that Vrax has escaped.  We then cut to the next day as Emma and Gia are amongst the clean-up team as they deal with the massive job.  Goodall tells her friend that she was right in that her trust nearly doomed them, to which Moran says that her trust actually saved the day.  If she wasn’t forced to stay and talk to Vrax, then he wouldn’t have gotten trapped before ultimately telling her how his monster could be beaten.  Gia then says that if they learned anything, it’s that nothing is what it seems.  Just then, they’re approached by the same young boy from earlier as he thanks Emma for helping him get home yesterday before he gives her a quarter.  When she mentions how she saw him talking to other people, the story ends with him explaining that he was trying to get enough money for himself & his sister and that he didn’t want to ask for too much money from one person.  As such, Goodall understands their learned lesson.
We then get to the book’s secondary story where our heroes will find themselves up against an unlikely opponent in “Game On!”.  We begin within the woods as Troy holds a training session for his team.  However, only Emma and Gia were able to show up.  During their practice, they mention that Jake and Noah have skipped this session in order to attend an annual gaming convention.  Though it would serve as their means of taking a break from their regular Ranger duties, Burrows wonders why his comrades would pass up “the real thing for a game”.  We then shift over to the convention center where the massive gaming convention is being held.  Despite the “impressive” programming that goes into the various video games that’re on display, Noah feels like he should be studying instead, especially since his high school science teacher named Mr. Burley is in attendance as well.  Jake then tells him to loosen up, especially since these games require some hand-eye coordination in order to improve their reflexes.  They then spot Mr. Burley playing a video game, to which Jake notices that he’s just pressing random buttons.  He then tries to tell his teacher that he can perform some special attacks if he presses a particular combination of buttons, but Mr. Burley’s incessant button-tapping proves to be a winning formula for him within his playing session.  Meanwhile, Vrax is also in attendance as no one seems to bat a curious eye at him, since the attendants thinks that he’s a guy in a costume.  It turns out that he’s on a surveillance mission and discovers that while the humans aren’t as strong or fast as his own species, their finger coordination is impressive to him as he decides to seek out someone with exceptional playing skills.  Unbeknownst to him, Jake spots him as he slips away to the storage room in order to morph before he properly engages the fiend.  The Black Megaforce Ranger decides to end their confrontation fast in order to prevent any harm to the patrons as he summons his Snake Axe and chops up a decent-sized rock in order to send it at Vrak via his Rock Rush attack.  The fiend gets smashed through a wall as Jake heads over to confront his foe, only to discover that he’s slipped away.
Later, Vrak has retreated to the Warship before he tells Admiral Malkor and Creepox that he admires “the human ability to coordinate their gangly digits”.  As such, they could control a specific monster called Xombitar which is powerful, but completely mindless.  Admiral Malkor initially chastises him for wanting a regular human to take charge over one of their creatures, but Vrax calls out the humans for their “weak” mental capacity and that they’ll happily attack anyone if they thought that it was in the gaming world.  Meanwhile, Jake gets in contact with his teammates as he mentions that he saw Vrax at the video game convention and believes that their foe is up to something.  Noah even mentions that because the event was loud and busy, he didn’t know that a fight had occurred.  As such, he’ll try to find a private spot in order to morph.  Before he heads out though, he decides to tell Mr. Burley that he’s leaving, to which he does so while his teacher is making some significant progress within a video game tournament.  Meanwhile, Vrax sends out an army of Loogies in order for them to create their own base of operations.  While they do that, he tries to find a worthy subject before he spots Mr. Burley being incredibly successful within the tournament (despite his personal aloofness towards the game that he was successful at).  As such, he decides to convince him to test a new video game for him.  He then guides Mr. Burley towards a discreet room before explaining that he has a new communi-console that he intends to release for the upcoming Holiday season.  After he gives the teacher a controller, Vrax explains that he’ll take control of Xombitar and use its “magnificent robotic weaponry” to smite the Power Rangers within the gaming world.  When Mr. Burley says that it looks just like the gaming convention, Vrax says that he and his developers strive for realism.  From there, he allows the aloof teacher to “play”.
Meanwhile, the Megaforce Rangers have arrived at the convention hall as they begin their investigation.  Suddenly, Xombitar bursts through a wall and begins to cause some destruction, catching our heroes’ attention before they unleash their attacks upon it.  The controlled being stumbles a bit, due to Mr. Burley’s strategy of randomly pressing buttons (which Vrax actually calls him out for), which isn’t helped by the teacher accidentally firing a beam into the creature’s own foot.
This manages to baffle the Rangers before Vrax convinces Mr. Burley to unleash one of Xombitar’s combo strikes, which turns out to be a Ranger-seeking missile barrage.  With our heroes unable to evade the missile that’s specifically locked onto each of them, Troy tells his teammates to help each other out.  As such, Gia and Emma are able to shoot at each other’s missile, while Jake & Noah run together before sliding under the incoming projectiles in order for them to explode onto themselves.  Afterwards, they unite to blast the final missile and save Burrows.  Meanwhile, Mr. Burley begins to notice that the explosions seem to be coming from the convention floor, but Vrax says that it’s just the amazing sound system before he has him concentrate on the game.  Meanwhile, our heroes are easily able to dodge Xombitar’s scattershot firing before they bring their weapons together in order to form the Mega Blaster as they fire at the creature, blasting it out of the building.
Despite the massive hit, Xombitar is still able to get up.  Thankfully, our heroes have gotten free from any nearby bystander as they summon their Mechazords and surround the being.  While Mr. Burley is unsure what to do, Vrax tells him that he can summon for help as he discreetly calls upon an actual monster called Thistle before it attacks our heroes’ Zords.  However, Mr. Burley has the Xombitar retreat as Vrax yells at him that Thistle is only meant to assist him and that it can’t beat the Rangers by itself.  As such, Mr. Burley has Xombitar fire a widespread barrage of missiles that not only hits our heroes’ Zords, but Thistle as well.
Just then, Noah finally realizes that his teacher is the one controlling the main monster.  While he’s unsure how he got tricked into operating it, he decides to use his Shark Mechazord’s eye lasers in order to give his teacher a message upon the convention wall.  Mr. Burley sees that the message is for him and that he should help the Rangers, to which he decides to do so despite Vrax fiercely trying to prevent him.  During the scuffle, Mr. Burley is able to use Xombitar’s firepower to decimate Thistle.
However, the creature is able to grow to a titanic size as our heroes proceed to combine their Mechazords together in order to create the Gosei Great Megazord.  While the two beings charge right at each other, Mr. Burley is able to wrestle control over the controller from Vrax as he uses the Xombitar to trip the giant monster up.  Thankfully, this works as our heroes use their combiner robot’s sword to smite the being with a single mega strike.  Afterwards, Xombitar is also destroyed as the controller explodes within Mr. Burley’s grasp while an annoyed Vrax retreats.  Afterwards, the teacher emerges to see the convention hall completely decimated as he wonders if everything that happened within the “game” was entirely real.  With the Megaforce Rangers having returned to the site, the Blue Megaforce Ranger tells him that everything that happened within the game that he played just seemed to have entirely copied their battle.  He then thinks that he’s somehow psychic, which is a phenomenon that he’s been trying to prove for his whole life.  From there, the book ends with him getting approached by the convention lady who presents him with his championship trophy for being the show’s best player, while Troy thinks about him actually being partially responsible for ultimately helping them save the day.
For the team’s final featured comic outing, they’ll embark on a full-length tale full of toxic twists and turns in “Broken World”.  We kick things off at school as Jake tries to convince Noah to ask out a young girl named Dani, but Carver is nervous that she’ll reject him, despite the fact that he’s constantly faced several monsters as a Megaforce Ranger.  Ultimately, Holling has him talk to Dani as Noah tries to ask her out to the grand opening ceremony of the new particle collider.  However, his nervousness leads to him rambling out loads of technobabble in his attempt to explain how the collision of two beam particles leads to scientists studying the small particles that result from said collision.  As a result, she ends up confused before he nervously takes his leave.
He then reaches the roof where he spots the team’s sixth Ranger called Robo Knight as the narration captions say that he was created by Gosei in order to protect the very planet that powers him.  He was also buried for several centuries before the alien invasion awakened him, but the long sleep ended up erasing portions of his memories and as a result, he now sometimes sees the human race as a major threat to the world.  As Robo Knight stands motionless, Noah talks to him about how he’s able to stand up to vicious monsters and that he’s incredibly smart, yet he’s too nervous to talk to a girl.  Just then, Robo Knight springs to life as he begins to hop across rooftops.  As the same time, Carver and his teammates get contacted by Gosei as he mentions how he’s detected some high energy levels from Robo Knight.  While he’s not picking up any immediate danger himself, Gosei does say that Robo Knight doesn’t act upon a whim.  As such, he tells his Megaforce Rangers that he has a good idea where Robo Knight is heading as he gives them the coordinates and instructs them to head to said location.
Later, our team has morphed into their outfits as they arrive at their destination, which turns out to be the facility that contains the new particle collider.  They then find Robo Knight kneeling with his Robo Blade lodged into the ground as Jayden says that their comrade only does that if there’s a big threat.  As such, they decide to check inside the facility.  They ultimately come across some technicians as the Red Megaforce Ranger asks them if anything could go wrong with their particle collider once it turns on.  While they assure our heroes that it’s completely safe, the Blue Megaforce Ranger say that it can go wrong in two different ways.  First, the rings within the particle collider makes high levels of radiation and that any fault within the shielding would allow it to escape into the air as Skyshine.  The technicians do mention that they look out for the smallest of leaks and that they have a massive water-cooling system that floods the rings in the event of an emergency.
However, Noah mentions about the second dangerous possibility that occurs when colliders smash atoms to examine the smaller particles that come from it.  There’s a chance that the process could create a Negative Strangelet and that anything it touches would form even more Negative Strangelets, leading to the mass destruction of everything that came before.  As he wonders if that was the potential threat that Robo Knight is worried about, the technicians rebuff his theory by explaining how its near-impossible to create one and that Strangelets can only exist for an extremely brief amount of time.  As such, their shielding would prevent anything of the sort from occurring.  Despite their assurance, Troy still decides to examine the facility as they convince the technicians to not activate their accelerator until they complete their examination.  Suddenly, the accelerator becomes active on its own as everyone discovers that the beams are producing some high-radiation collisions at a rapid rate while the shields are down, thus leading to the realization that the system has been sabotaged.
Just then, they feel an external rumble as it turns out that an army of Loogies are invading the facility.  While our main heroes manage to fight them off, Robo Knight just stands over the area and watches in silence.
Up on the Warstar Spaceship, Admiral Malkor oversees Creepox’ plan being carried out, to which Vrax advises against it due to radiation’s unpredictable nature.  However, Creepox simply ignores him as he calls for a monster named Radian to be released.  Shortly after the Megaforce Rangers defeat every last Loogie, they’re met upon by the creature as it absorbs the radiation leaking from the collider before focusing and releasing it towards our heroes.  Back on the Warstar Spaceship, Admiral Malkor praises Creepox for his plan and its attempt to smite both the whole facility, as well as the Rangers.  Vrax then mentions how because they’re insects, they have a naturally high immunity to radiation.  It’s then revealed that Creepox will have his monster irradiate and devastate the planet while they remain unharmed.
Back at the facility, Radian continues to pelt the Rangers with its radiation blast.  Suddenly, Robo Knight springs into action but instead of attacking the monster, he runs right past it and starts to smash his way into the facility.  Once inside, he begins to attack the main console as Noah realizes that their comrade is going after the Collider.  As such, the team heads inside as they help the staff members evacuate the facility while Jayden and Noah try to prevent Robo Knight from destroying the Particle Collider since it’s not the main problem.  As Radian makes its way inside, the Megaforce Rangers manage to summon their weapons and attempt to attack the being, but it withstands their strikes before blasting another shot of radiation at them.  As such, the group combines their weapons and creates the Megaforce Blaster as they successfully shoot the creature out of the facility.
Afterwards, Noah begins to realize why Robo Knight was attacking the Particle Collider.  He explains that the reactor has created some Negative Strangelets and how despite the fact that the cooling system has kicked in, it’s too late to prevent the key reaction that now threatens their whole world.  Back on the Warstar Spaceship, Creepox asks for help with his fallen monster, to which Vrax sends out some Zombats as they merge with Radian and cause it to grow to a titanic size.  As such, the Megaforce Rangers summon their Mechazords and are about to form the Gosei Great Megazord.  However, Noah declines since the ever-expanding Negative Strangelets will continue to do so no matter what their foe does.  As such, he heads out in his Gosei Shark Mechazord in order to deal with it.  Meanwhile, the rest of the team proceeds to fight the monster within their Mechazords.
However, Radian is able to unleash an electromagnetic pulse called an EM-Pulse that manages to cripple their Zords as it easily tosses them around like toys.
Back with Noah, he pilots his Gosei Shark Mechazord into the Particle Collider’s reactor before he comes across the ever-multiplying Negative Strangelets as it creates a “hole in reality”.  He then gets an idea by creating some explosions in order to keep them away from anything long enough for them to collapse.  He then proceeds to fire some weapon pods as he successfully hits them and causes the gap to start sealing.  Unfortunately, it regrows as the Blue Megaforce Ranger realizes that he had the right idea, but he doesn’t have enough firepower to carry it out.  As such, he manages to pull away from its gravitational pull in order to reach Robo Knight.  He soon catches his comrade punching away at the facility as Noah tells him that while his teammates are fighting Radian, he’s the only one who can help him.  He also adds that while the Collider itself isn’t the true enemy, it’s actually the reaction going on within (just like his recent situation with Dani) that they have to deal with.  However, Robo Knight continues to punch away despite Carver’s lengthy explanation about how a Negative Strangelet is exponentially growing and is threatening the whole planet.
While the Blue Megaforce Ranger continues to wonder why he can’t get the proper words out of his mouth (similar to his earlier conversation with Dani), his teammates are unable to fight back within their crippled Mechzords as Radian continues to have its way with them.  Finally, he’s able to give Robo Knight a simple explanation as he describes Earth as a pool and that it’s in danger of being flushed away.  As his comrade heads out to deal with the growing situation, Noah realizes that he forgot to tell Robo Knight that he’ll get destroyed if he’s too close to it.  As such, he hops back into his Gosei Shark Mechazord and follows after him towards the reactor.
Robo Knight ultimately reaches the Negative Strangelets and is about to use his Robo Blade on it, but its gravitational strain begins to pull him towards it as he attempts to swim away.  Back on the battlefield, Jayden manages to get his Gosei Dragon Mechazord’s systems (as well as those of his teammates’ Mechazords) rebooted before they manage to unleash their series of counterattacks upon Radian.  Thanks to a specific hit upon the monster’s chest cavity, it’s no longer able to absorb radiation in order to fire it back at our heroes.  As such, it runs out of energy before it ultimately collapses.
Back within the Collider, Robo Knight is getting pulled into the Negative Stranglets and his ultimate doom.  Thankfully, Noah saves him with his Gosei Shark Mechazord and tells them that they can fire at opposite sides of the Stranglets in order to prevent it from colliding with anything else and thus, cause it to dissipate.  They ultimately manage to carry out their plan and nullify the reaction, but it proceeds to give off one last blast of radiation as they decide to take their leave.  Just then, Robo Knight protects the Gosei Shark Mechazord from the radiation blast as it bounces off of him and launches out of the facility.  Up on the Warstar Spaceship, their monitors have been taken out by the massive radiation burst.  With them unsure of what had truly happened, Creepox assumes that he finally defeated the Power Rangers.  Just then, the massive beam of radiation manages to travel up through the atmosphere and strike the alien warship, causing some damage to their spacecraft’s stabilizers as Admiral Malkor and Creepox end up bouncing around as a result.
Back on Earth, Noah rejoins his teammates as they wonder where Robo Knight is.  Carver says that he helped him deal with the reaction, but he’s unsure if their comrade survived.  Just then, they spot Robo Knight emerging before taking its leave.  Afterwards, the team proceeds to praise Noah for helping their teammate.  While Carver says that it proves that he’s only good at interacting with robots, Emma assures him that he’s found something human within Robo Knight in order to help him understand, while Jake also adds that his fellow Rangers get along with him.  And so, the book ends with the next day at school as Noah finds himself being approached by Dani.  While he initially hopes that she won’t notice him and just walk on by, she walks up to him and says that she’s finally learned everything that he’s told her.  As such, she’ll accept his proposal to see the Particle Collider with him.  Fortunately, he’s easily able to convince her to just watch a movie with him instead as he thinks to himself about how finding something in common with her has become much easier after he managed to talk to Robo Knight. We’ve now entered the home stretch as Papercutz takes the franchise’s comic license and brings it back full circle as they present the Mighty Morphin era within a pair of graphic novels, originally released on both April and November 2014 respectively.  Petrucha & Marcondes would once again handle their respective writing and artistic duties.  As for the role of colorist, Smith would handle it for the first book while Indy took over for the second.  As for the further adventures that our original Teenagers With Attitude would find themselves in, let’s head “Back To Action” in order to find out.
First up, our core group will find themselves dealing with “Rita Repulsa’s Attitude Adjustment” as we open within Ernie’s Juice Bar after it’s done with its regular business hours for the day.  Alpha 5 has joined the group there as he gets asked by Billy about some new upgrades that Zordon will provide them and if they’re new weapons.  Alpha 5 assures him that it’s just a small modification that will allow their communicators to have a better range.  Just then, they spot some activity upon the nearby basketball course as it turns out to be Bulk & Skull playing 2-on-1 basketball against a young boy.  Because they’re still in their unsuccessful bully phase (with Trini even previously mentioning that it’s 1993), the kid is able to weave past them and make the winning basket.  As our main group meets them, Bulk & Skull try to play it cool and mention how they allowed the boy to win since they have to go play an actual game against skilled people as they proceed to take their leave.  Afterwards, our central teens come in as Jason tells the kid named Eli that he’s impressed with his skills, to which the boy says that it’s all about using his head to transform a handicap into an advantage.  By using his small height, he could duck under Bulk & Skull in order to avoid their defensive attempts.  As he watches from inside, Alpha 5 admires the boy and wonders if his father is anything like Zordon.
When he mentions how Eli’s dad isn’t anywhere near as old as Zordon and that nothing could be older than the latter, we then shift over to a nearby desert where Dr. Carver and Dr. Kenyon are leading the charge in an archeological dig.  After they’ve discovered a new civilization, they’ve also found what could be the largest statue ever built within the “ancient Americas” buried under the sands for a lengthy amount of time.  As they discuss why it was buried, Dr. Carver sits on the statue’s head piece as he suddenly activates it and causes the whole being to come to life, while it also speaks in an indescribable language.  Just then, it oversees the entire archeological team and fires a beam at them, which causes them to have their clothes switched with each other.  Not only that, but the operations of certain items have been swapped with each other as well.
Back at the Youth Center, Billy is still excited about the improvements made to the range of their communicators.  Just then, Jason notices Bulk and Skull approaching as he tells Alpha 5 not to move since they can’t explain why they have a robot without blowing their secret identities.  As such, he approaches them and says that the Juice Bar is closed.  However, Skull peaks inside and notices that they have a robot that they’re possibly working on for an upcoming science fair.  Bulk & Skull proceed to make fun of Alpha 5 before he decides to follow Eli’s example and use his size to his advantage.  As such, he takes out some inner tasers and shocks them before Billy escorts him away.  Just then, Zack points everyone towards the TV as a newscast is reporting on the towering being over at the dig site.  Billy then says that he & his friends have to go out and hide due to the potential risk that it might head their way.  After they head out, Bulk and Skull initially call them cowards before they start pondering if they’re actually scared of it.  Meanwhile, our heroes proceed to head into an alley and morph before they and Alpha 5 reach the site.
After telling their robotic friend to go hide in a cave, they dodge a construction vehicle that was thrown at them before they summon their Dinozords.  Zack uses his Mastodon to protect the workers, while the rest of the team engages the opposing being to no avail.
As such, they bring their Zords together and form the Megazord in order to fight it.  However, the being fires its beam at them and causes their combiner robot to fall apart.
Before they completely crumble, Billy mentions how they can use this moment to their advantage.  As such, they use their dismantling Dinozords at the right time to strike the being and knock its head off of its body before blasting it with their respective lasers.  Afterwards, they find out that their Zords weren’t damaged, but they can just reassemble them.  Just then, they notice that the beam has also caused them to swap helmets with each other as Billy says that the beam disables machinery by switching pieces with whatever’s nearby, which includes their own helmets.  Just then, Cranston’s Blade Blaster suddenly goes off as his teammates are forced to duck while Kimberly leaps onto a piece of their Zords (particularly one of her Pterodactyl Zord’s wings) as it suddenly glides around.  Jason then decides to contact Zordon about this, where he proceeds to tell his team that while he’s not entirely sure how the beam works, he does recognize that its power is “extremely ancient”.  While he suspects that it’s more defensive than offensive, he also mentions that he’s not sure how long its effects will last.  As such, he wants his team to return to the Command Center in order for him to run a proper analysis.  Just then, the communication goes out as it gets replaced with radio music.  As a result, the Rangers decide to head into a nearby cave in order to hide their uniforms and weapons.
Meanwhile, Squatt is at the site in order to get a first-hand look at the Rangers’ defeat.  Suddenly, the stone giant’s head falls next to him as he discovers that it’s still active.  As such, he contacts Rita and lets her know that he’s seen “something worth seeing”.  Later, he brings the head up to her moon base as Rita asks Finster what he makes of it.  He tells her that it’s an ancient robot that’s not as sophisticated as his regular monsters yet is still strong while also possessing lots of intelligence and its beam that messes with mechanical items.  Rita then asks Squatt if it’ll destroy the Rangers once Finster gives it a new body within his monster-making machine, to which Squatt essentially says that it should.  As such, Rita gives the order as Finster ultimately assembles a new vessel for the disembodied stone head.
Over within the cave, the Rangers have discarded their entire uniforms before covering them within a tarp.  Suddenly, the beam affects the male Rangers as it causes them to mix up their civilian clothes with each other.  Billy says that it makes sense, since they wore these clothes underneath their uniforms.  Elsewhere within the cave, Bulk and Skull have made their way in there due to their own cowardice.  Just then, they come across our heroes before they’re affected by a loud rumble.  It turns out that Squatt is leading the charge alongside an army of Putty Patrollers and the main monster.  Since they’re not able to initially find the Rangers, he decides to draw them out by going after the archeologists.  Back inside the cave, the teens hear the distant plea as our main group allows Bulk & Skull to head out.  Once the pair gets far-enough away, Jason tells his team that despite the fact that they’re still under the effect of the opposing beam, they still have to help those people.  Even though they also notice that Alpha 5 has gone missing (with Cranston assuming that he’s followed Bulk & Skull), our heroes proceed to morph into their uniforms and mismatched helmets.
From there, they engage the Putties with some successful fisticuffs.  When they try to use their signature weapons however, they ended up malfunctioning.  Despite the overwhelming number of opposing Putty Patrollers as well as the looming monster, they decide to summon their dismantled Dinozords as a few pieces from each Zord comes to their aid.  Zack pilots the sentient Mastodon head, Kimberly manages to surf upon a Pterodactyl wing, Jason swings around the Tyrannosaurus tail as a whip, Trini strikes with a Sabertooth Tiger claw and Billy uses a piece of his Triceratops as a shield.  Together, they’re able to effectively deal with the Putties for a while.
As Squatt tries to observe this scuffle, he wonders why the giant isn’t helping him out.  Despite that, he sends even more Putty Patrollers as they start to overwhelm our heroes, much to Rita’s observing delight.  Back in the cave, Bulk and Skull are making their way through it before they come across Alpha 5 again.  He had intended to reunite with the Rangers but got somehow separated as he shocks them again for calling him stupid.  Bulk & Skull then chase after him, yet Alpha 5 is able to evade them.  From there, he’s able to reach a part of the cave that the archeologists didn’t reach.  He then realizes that he wasn’t hit by the monster’s machine-affecting ray as he contacts Zordon and asks him about it.  He tells his robotic comrade that those walls contain writing from the same builders who made the stone giant that’s called Olk, which was originally built to guard this sacred place.  Not only that, that wall has instructions on how to reprogram said being.  As such, he tells Alpha 5 to share the information on how to do so.
Meanwhile, the Rangers continue to get swarmed by the Putty Patrollers.  With their small bits of Dinozords rendered useless by the vast amount of foot soldiers, our heroes are forced to fight them in hand-to-hand combat.  As it oversees this conflict, Olk decides to finally act as it picks up a massive piece of rock in order to crush some intruders.  Just then, Alpha 5 runs out of the cave and climbs up Olk’s body while he mentions Eli’s earlier notion of turning a handicap into a strength.  Specifically, he’s using his small & light frame to easily scale the massive being.  Once he reaches the top, he reaches Olk’s main program and rewires it.  As the result, the being crushes some Putties while firing its beam at Squatt and the remaining Putty Patrollers, causing them to uncontrollably laugh.  At that exact moment, Bulk & Skull have finally made their way out of the cave, only to come across a laughing Squatt, freak out and run back in.
Meanwhile, Alpha 5 assures the Rangers that he can reverse the effects of Olk’s ray before firing it upon them and their Dinozords.  Not only do they find themselves wearing their regular helmets, their Zords have been reassembled as they proceed to hop into them and have their way against the Putties, causing the remaining squadron and Squatt to retreat.  Afterwards, Dr. Carver & Dr. Kenyon thank our heroes before they express their desire to share Olk with the public.  Alpha 5 tells them to ask the massive being about that since he’s managed to reprogram him to speak English.  While Olk apologizes for attacking them, he says that he was originally built by his people to guard their sacred land.  Even though he’ll allow them to research his people’s culture, he forbids them from removing anything.  After the doctors agree, Olk then proceeds to resume his duties as the Rangers use their Dinozords to bury him under the sands.  From there, the book ends with our heroes back at the Command Center as Zordon says that Olk’s effects have subsided before he praises Alpha 5 for his courageous act out in the field.
Moving on, we have Ryan Buell joining Stefan Petrucha in the writer’s chair in order to deliver a unique tale involving a familiar sixth Ranger called “Going Green”.  We begin with the Power Rangers confronting a fully-grown monster called Krooshar, yet it topples over after being hit with everything by our heroes.  After powering down, our main group climbs into Billy’s special car called the Rad Bug in order to fly back home, due to their teleporters getting damaged in the scuffle.  Shortly after they take to the air, the vehicle starts to sputter as they’re forced to land.  Despite checking the engine, Billy is unable to find anything wrong with it.  As such, they’re forced to take the bus home since Jason wants to get ready for the upcoming martial arts contest.
Up on her moon palace, Rita is upset for her constant failures against the Power Rangers.  As she longs for “the good old days” of her conquering other worlds, we flashback 10,000 years ago when she invaded the Rutabega System and fought Rooten-Toomen.  Even though it’s where she would find the sixth Power Coin, it was located within the Desert of Despair and is rumored to be where all of the Power Coins were created within the Temple of Power.  She couldn’t immediately go there, since Rooten-Toomen would catch on to what she was up to.  As such, she manages to convince him into a peace talk over on Rutabaga 6, yet he warns her that he’ll send his forces out if she backs out of it.  Eventually, she places a cloaking spell on herself in order to look like a harmless old sage before she comes across several more sages meeting up at a statue of the Power Coins’ creator named Ninjor.  However, one of the sages instantly sees through her disguise as she unleashes her forces onto them.
During this scuffle, she tries to look over by Ninjor’s statue in order to find the Power Coin.  Suddenly, Rooten-Toomen comes in and sees that she was playing him as he magically attacks her.  However, the sixth Power Coin emerges from the statue as both of them see it and engage each other in a quick duel for it.  An explosion results from their magical clash, causing the Power Coin to fly into Rita’s grasp before she retreats.  Back in the present (1993 to be exact again), Baboo asks her why she’s never used her coin before, to which she says that she hasn’t found anyone worthy enough to be her Green Ranger and that she also can’t find the Power Coin.  Fortunately for her, Finster says that he’ll send a new monster out to defeat the Rangers.
Back in Angel Grove, they’ve arrived back in town unaware that a new patron named Tommy Oliver has also strolled in as he arrives at the Angel Grove Gym and notices a sign about the upcoming martial arts competition.  After proving his martial arts prowess to the gym owner and thus earning an entry into the contest, he heads out to unpack and prepare for his eventual workout.
As he and our heroes pass each other by, a new monster named Korruptor pops in as it looks forward to using its own acid to melt the Rangers’ weapons and armor.  Just as it’s about to engage our main group, Tommy smacks the creature with a trash can lid and mentions how he overheard its evil intentions.  Ultimately, they proceed to fight each other before Korruptor shoots some acid onto him.  Thankfully, Oliver isn’t affected by it.  Back on her moon palace, Rita is shocked to hear how some random person is besting a being that was built to go after the Power Rangers.  While she’s initially too bummed to make her monster grow, Baboo & Squatt mention how skilled Oliver is as they unintentionally boost her spirits enough to make Korruptor physically flourish.
This ultimately gets the main group’s attention as they morph into their outfits before they engage the Putty Patrollers.  Meanwhile with Tommy, he tries to get the creature’s attention to no avail.  Back with the Rangers, they call upon their weapons to engage their foe.  However, Korruptor uses his acid to neutralize their arsenal and even damages their uniforms, allowing the Putties to overwhelm them enough in order to be forced into a retreat.
As Korruptor proceeds to smash up some buildings, Tommy manages to find an abandoned truck as he drives it into the monster’s foot.  Unbeknownst to him, Rita is overseeing this as she decides that he’ll become her own Power Ranger and be used against the other Rangers.  She then tells Baboo and Squatt to search for her Power Coin while she tries to convince him onto her side.  From there, she teleports towards Oliver before she teleports them to the roof in order to introduce herself and also present her offer to him of joining her side in order to smite the Power Rangers.  She even reads his memories in order to find out how he’s learned his impressive fighting moves, to which she discovers that his extensive practices came from his tough childhood and his desire to protect both himself & those that he cared for.  Tommy then thinks to himself about how because he’s heard of the Power Rangers and that he’s now seen them in person, he believes that they’ll beat the monster if he’s able to distract Rita.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are struggling against Korruptor as they decide to summon their Dinozords.  However, the creature’s acid is also able to damage them as well, thus forcing them to unite and create the Megazord.  As Billy quickly thinks about how the Megazord’s formation also makes him ponder about what’s wrong with his Rad Bug, the team proceeds to engage their foe.  However, Korruptor’s acid continues to be a problem as it damages their combiner robot, while Jason tells Cranston that he has to stop thinking about his busted car and instead focus on their current situation.  Meanwhile, Rita gets so wrapped up in her attempt to sway Oliver onto her side that she’s not paying attention to the adjacent battle, thus allowing him to set his scheme into motion.
Back with the Rangers, the Megazord gets severely damaged to the point where Korruptor easily knocks it over.  Just as it’s about to deliver the finishing blow, Tommy finally tells Rita that he’ll never join her as he kicks a water tower with enough force to topple it over and spill its water onto himself, Repulsa, the monster and the Megazord.
While the liquid manages to weaken the creature’s acid, it also washes it off of the combiner robot and allows it to regain its power.  As the Megazord charges right at it, Korruptor tries to spray it with more of its acid.  While it manages to do so, the contents fail to damage the combiner robot due to it becoming diluted.
As such, it only cleanses the Megazord as our heroes proceed to deliver a powerful uppercut before summoning the Power Sword in order to deliver the finishing slash, causing Korruptor to fall over and become destroyed.  Later, the Rangers return to their civilian clothes and take their leave, unaware that Oliver is lying drenched within a nearby alley.
Up on her moon palace, Rita is mad that she lost her chance to sway him onto her side.  Not only that, but Finster, Squatt and Baboo were unable to find her Power Coin.  As Repulsa shoves Baboo into her mirror, she then discovers it being propped under one of the mirror’s legs.  When she asks how it wound up there, Squatt explains that he placed it there due to how important her mirror is to her.  From there, he completely forgot about it.  Despite that annoying moment, she finally has her destructive sights set upon the Power Rangers and that she’ll force Tommy onto her side instead.  We then cut to the next day as our main group is trying to reach Jason’s martial arts competition, yet Billy is still trying to figure out why his Rad Bug isn’t working.  Ultimately, he discovers some corrosion on his car’s contacts and decides to give them a thorough scrubbing.  One problem solving moment later, Cranston is able to drive the group towards the Angel Grove Gym in order for Scott to take part in his contest.  Unbeknownst to them, the book ends with Tommy also arriving to take part in it as well. For our final look at the entire Pre-Boom Studios era of Power Rangers comics, we have one last book that saw its release in between the company’s two MMPR-related graphic novels.  Published on May 3, 2014, this book was given out during Free Comic Book Day and was one of two comics that Papercutz would deliver for said event, with the other one being a Smurfs comic.  With the writing, artistic and coloring trio of Petrucha, Marcondes and Smith back for one last Ranger round-up, let’s once again delve into a different kind of trouble that Cranston’s signature vehicle can deliver to him and his teammates in a tale called “By Bug…Betrayed!”.
Taking place after the events of Season 2’s “White Light”, we kick things off with our six Rangers soaring across the sky within Billy’s Rad Bug.  With Rita shrunken down and placed within her imprisoning Space Dumpster (which our heroes have within the vehicle’s trunk), they’re on their way to a remote area in order for Zordon to teleport their longtime foe back into outer space.  Kimberly then notices that Zack has bought some toys, to which he explains that they’re walkie-talkies molded after a cartoon character called Willie Walkie and it’s something that his potential girlfriend named Angela liked as a kid.  As such, he plans on giving them to her in order to help him further some kind of a relationship with her.  While Trini tells him that there’s nothing wrong with giving someone a collectible of something that they like, Kimberly then mentions that Rita nearly found herself as a collectible for Bulk and Skull (with the comic mistakenly calling the latter Spike).  Over on his moon base, Lord Zedd oversees our heroes’ progress while he’s still frustrated over his prior monster called Nimrod The Scarlet Sentinel getting best by them.  Just as our main group arrive at their precise destination, Zack decides to place Angela’s gift into the Rad Bug’s trunk.  At that moment, Zedd realizes that this would be the perfect time to strike, yet he’s unsure of what monster to send out.  Just then, he gets an idea as he fires a beam from his staff as it ultimately zaps the Rad Bug itself.
At that moment, it starts up and speeds off on its own before circling back to drive right at our heroes.  While it does so, it starts talking to them about how it’s tired of constantly driving them around all the time.  Our main group manage to dive out of its way, except for Trini who’s left leg gets hit by it.  Just then, they get contacted by Zordon who informs them that the Rad Bug has been “animated” by Lord Zedd and that they must approach the sentient car as they would normally face one of Lord Zedd’s regular monsters.  As such, they proceed to morph before they fire their Blade Blasters (though the artwork erroneously has them using their regular individual weapons instead of what’s actually supposed to be in their hands at that moment) at the sentient Rad Bug.  Despite getting a few hits onto one of its tires, their shots are unable to puncture it.  Tommy’s main weapon named Saba then says that maybe Billy would know how to defeat it since he originally built it.  Cranston says that he would be able to get “a decent analysis” if he was able to look underneath its hood.
Once he mentions how having “some kind of ramp” would be helpful to him, the female Rangers proceed to use their individual weapons in order bring down some boulders, while Zack and Jason use their unique weapons in order to properly smooth them out.  Billy then uses his Power Lance to shoot (what’s supposed to be) electricity in order to guide the sentient Rad Bug onto the ramp as it drives off, flips over and lands on its roof.  However, Lord Zedd doesn’t give them time to look it over as he throws a grenade down at the sentient car and makes it grow.  It then begins to speed towards Angel Grove in order to cause some massive damage, to which Billy tells his teammates that they must destroy it at all costs.
While the Rad Bug closes in on the city, Rita is feeling the constant shaking from inside her Space Dumpster.  Because of Zedd’s interference, his grenade also makes the walkie-talkie prominent within the vehicle’s front trunk and somewhat part of its monstrous design in order for her to unintentionally cause her ramblings to be heard by the Rangers.  Meanwhile, they proceed to summon the White Tigerzord and the Thunderzords in order to catch up with the giant Rad Bug.  Despite being fairly early on within his role as the White Ranger, Tommy manages to have his Zord catch up before shifting into the White Tiger Warrior Mode and actually gets into the sentient car’s driver seat.  He then tries to gain control over the malicious vehicle, while it attempts to fight back.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Power Rangers proceed to combine their Zords and form the Thunder Megazord before they tell Oliver to drive towards them once they get in front of the Rad Bug.  Our heroes manage to slow the vehicle down and prevent it from reaching Angel Grove, but it soon gets both giant robots out of its way before turning into a sentient figure itself.  After fending off the Thunder Megazord, it then proceeds to charge right for the city.  Once our heroes overhear Rita mentioning how she’ll “get” them, Billy gets an idea from that as he tells Tommy to transform his giant robot back into the White Tigerzord.  He does so as the Thunder Megazord proceeds to ride on top of it in order to pursue the sentient Rad Bug.  Once our heroes get close enough, the Thunder Megazord then leaps onto it in order to reach its hood and pull out a key tube.
Just as the Rad Bug finally reaches the town, it collapses and turns back into a regular car.  Cranston then says that because they pulled out its fuel line, it ran out of gas before he inspects his vehicle and finds that every last inch of Lord Zedd’s influence has disappeared from it.  Once he fills it up with some spare fuel, they head back into the car and return to their original destination within the desert.  And so, the comic ends with the male Rangers placing the Rita-filled Space Dumpster into an exact spot before the walkie-talkies fall off of it and Kimberly catches it.  She then tells Zack that because his gift helped them out, she’ll “never doubt” a collectible’s value ever again. Overall, these standalone adventures made for some interesting bonus excursions for those who’re into the featured seasons.  As someone who isn’t too familiar with the initial half of the Neo-Saban/Saban Brands era of the franchise, I’m only judging their graphic novels on their own terms.  With Super Samurai, both of its stories present a unique challenge that must be dealt with in order for the team to finally defeat the monster.  Jayden’s amnesia was the bigger ordeal for him and his fellow Samurai Rangers, since it greatly affected their ability to function as a complete unit.  While he was under this mental affliction, it does give those who haven’t seen the specific show a little backstory into the history of the team and their over-arching conflicts with Master Xandred.  Between the two books that feature the Super Samurai version of this team, their first book felt a bit grander and dire with Jayden finding himself striken by amnesia by the featured monster.  As a result, the rest of the team has to perform double duty by fending off the Nighloks while trying to help him recover.  It helps that Oblivitor has been taken out of action during the majority of time that the Samurai Rangers try to help their leader out of his mental funk, thus giving something of a ticking time bomb anxiousness feeling to the situation.  While the whole team taking on a vast armada of sentient actions figures of the same monster did become challenging until they finally found a specific weak point that Bulk & Spike unintentionally created for them, the former had a greater execution of a personal struggle for our main unit and not just for Jayden.  Even though I favor the first book between this pair, both are paced pretty well while also providing some good action and even touches of the franchise’s familiar kiddie humor.  Ultimately, both were good introductions to those who haven’t watched their show yet and makes for a nice invite as well.  With Megaforce, it’s a little surprising that its first book had multiple stories within its pages.  Fortunately, its first story had a message that I absolutely liked within its execution.  As Emma goes through within this tale, she learns that putting your trust into others that you’re not familiar with can be risky.  Obviously, it can feel depressing when that trust gets used in a harmful way and it can be tricky when you’re put in a situation where you have to decide whether or not to give that blind faith towards somebody you hardly know.  As you can tell, it’s an element that stood out very strongly and was handled really well within its story while also getting balanced with its central conflict.  As for its other tale, it mainly highlights a supporting character in Mr. Burley, yet he thankfully complements and never completely overshadows the featured team.  Until the moment when Thistle becomes a giant monster, this was actually a somewhat easy struggle for the Megaforce Rangers to deal with.  Because I’m not familiar with this team outside of the fans’ poor reception towards this iteration (especially with some baffling production decisions that I won’t delve into), I’m assuming that based on this comic, Mr. Burley is a teacher who can be somewhat aloof given that Vrak was able to convince him into piloting a monster despite his own otherworldly appearance that’s out of place with his personal explanation.  While Noah Carver is partially the featured Megaforce Ranger for that story, he goes on to become the central figure for the full-length tale of “Broken World”.  Between his attempt to ask a young lady out and informing an age-old Ranger about a certain nuclear-based situation in addition to how they should deal with it, it deals with his nervousness and that he poorly compensates by rambling too much about things.  While he has to build up some proper personal courage, it’s ultimately channeled towards confidently explaining himself to others.  Noah’s situation does feel relatable to those who suffer from some kind of confidence that they’re lacking, especially when it comes to regular conversations.  While most people are able to engage each other in casual chat with proper ease, there are those out there who struggle with trying to have the same kind of talking skills.  It was also a nice change of pace to see a monster get taken out without the team having to rely on creating a Megazord in order to properly deal with it, even though it does give Carver’s teammates a tough fight.  After all, Noah is dealing with a potentially fatal disaster that seems real enough while also having a speck of the franchise’s unique brand of pseudoscience.  While Emma had the more singular of personal conflicts, Noah has the more globally affecting dilemma for him to deal with.  Both of their situations, along with the one at the gaming convention, are backed by some decent pacing along with some well-handled action.  In the end, this batch of stories were pretty engaging for what they are and can also be a nice introduction for what was ultimately a troubled point within this franchise’s era.  Finally, there’s the batch that’s all about the original team.  Not only that, but they serve as previously unseen adventures that could’ve existed within the mainline show.  With “Rita Repulsa’s Attitude Adjustment”, it’s not as focused on her as the title would suggest.  After all, it’s more concerned with the original five Rangers and how they deal with an unearthed guardian’s magical beam that affects their Zords, weapons & especially their outfits.  Because the beam doesn’t entirely disable the Dinozords despite mostly dismantling them, it does somewhat force the team to either not completely rely on their advanced tech or even use it in an unexpected way.  The story also has both sides of the conflict having someone unexpectedly be out in the field.  While Squatt recovers Olk’s head to get him rebuilt while also leading the final charge for this narrative, Alpha 5 gets to be with our heroes this time around in order to provide a core lesson that he was earlier inspired by.  Specifically, it’s about how even the smallest of individuals can make a huge difference and that they shouldn’t let their size hold them back from doing so.  Either way, it’s still a worthy life lesson delivered from this franchise.  With “Going Green”, we have a singular tale that can serve as a prelude to the famous five-parter known as “Green With Evil”.  While the overall book was entertaining enough, there was a looming critique that somewhat hampers the experience.  Before I get to that, let me get to what was enjoyable about it to begin with.  It provides a good backstory to how Rita acquired the sixth Power Coin and also gives a rational explanation for why she’s never used it before until this moment.  While the brief glimpse into Tommy’s background isn’t too much to go on and only barely infers on his dark past, it’s reasonable enough to assume that it’s where he forged his drive to learn martial arts and also his potential to help others.  However, the elephant in the room comes in the form of Replusa hearing about Oliver to begin with.  A quick watch into the first part of “Green With Evil” would reveal that she and her cronies had never seen him before while this book takes place before the famed five-parter and has her attempting to recruit him onto her side.  This comes off as an oversight during the graphic novel’s creation and should’ve been approached in a different direction.  Yes, it makes sure to have Tommy never cross paths with the original five Rangers until they do so in the five-part saga.  However, a better approach would’ve been for Rita to initially find someone else to be her Green Ranger while also having Tommy discreetly enter Angel Grove for his martial arts competition yet also make some martial arts noise that would’ve built up to him getting their attention in some way.  Despite its own continuity hiccup, it still provides some thoroughly entertaining moments for its readers and makes for a well-paced read throughout.  Finally, we have a singular adventure from Free Comic Book Day.  The idea of turning Billy’s unique vehicle into the featured monster was fascinating, especially since several items that belonged to either our heroes or their friends have all wound up becoming evil creatures in some capacity.  As far as the story’s use of featuring the Rad Bug within this tale, it succeeds in making it an unlikely threat to our heroes.  After all, it only appeared within a small handful of Season 1 episodes and a new version of the vehicle wouldn’t appear until the 30th Anniversary Special known as “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always”.  Because of the situation that Billy’s car had been put in, I liked how it forced him & his comrades to come up with an alternative way to get his vehicle under control and out of Lord Zedd’s grasp.  While the situation was gripping and nicely presented, I did notice some odd mistakes that I mentioned during the recap.  It’s odd that credited editor Michael Petranek didn’t catch the notion that Skull’s son named Spike was mentioned instead of him alongside Bulk or that he didn’t catch the artistic goof where nearly all of the team’s signature weapons were both firing in ways that they shouldn’t be firing and that they were confused for Blade Blasters.  While those overlooked oversights were absolutely bizarre, it didn’t detract from its singular experience and is still worth checking out.  Lastly, I would like to comment on the overall artwork throughout the entirety of Papercutz-published books.  Because P.H. Marcondes handled the artwork for every last entry (minus the color work), he presents something of an anime-esque quality with the central characters and the humans as well.  It has a similar vibe and presentation that the 2003 Teen Titans TV series had yet doesn’t go as extreme with its influence that it does.  Even still, he’s able to combine his pencil work with whomever is working the colors to display effectively presentable artwork.  It packs lots of pop with its bright colors, remains nicely detailed to maintain a good coherent look and maintains the wholesome feel that the franchise is historically known for.  All-in-all, every element successfully comes together to make this modern batch of Power Rangers comics a good time to those who’re continuously curious with venturing outside of the original series and those who feel completely at home with the vintage run of the show.  For the last batch of comics that came out before Boom Studios came along to claim the license and make it a permanent resident within its walls, these series of standalone stories made for an enjoyable good time that’s worth a read for a Morphinominal time. In conclusion, this franchise has given its fans three decades filled with dizzying highs, frustrating lows, tragic real world loops and everything in between.  No matter what direction its current owners plan on taking it within the ever-stretching future, nothing will ever change how much of an impact its left upon popular culture, entertainment on the whole and within our hearts.  While we continue to prep for whatever battle life intends to throw at us, always remember the immortal words that Zordon has imparted upon his initial team: “May The Power Protect You”. Power Rangers (created by Haim Saban & Shuki Levy) is owned by Hasbro.
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