We’re Not In Angel Grove Anymore
Writer: Tom
Taylor
Art Team:
Stephen Byrne
DC
Comics/Boom Studio
Price: $3.99
Release
Date: 1/11/17
We start off with the classic comic book story cold opening and
discover some hints about where the future of this comic is headed, primarily that
the Rangers have failed their city. As
the group of young Rangers look down on a destroyed town we hear Superman
encourage a distraught Zack “This isn’t on you. We know who did this.” This book is already a whole lot darker than I’d
ever imagined it would be in just the first few pages, which sets the tone for
the story to come in the pages that follow.
From our cold opening we flashback to 36 hours ago and
unwrap the backstory to this event. Things
start off hot as Zordon summons the Rangers, to the Command Center, because
Alpha Five is missing after not returning from a routine patrol. The Rangers
are quickly sent out, separately around the base perimeter, by their talking
hologram boss to discover the whereabouts of their trusty robot friend. Zack quickly discovers a damaged Alpha Five in
a nearby crevice and helps the sidekick back into the Command Center with
Zordon before anyone else can return.
All fine and dandy right? Next mission please. Well, well, well not so fast my friends,
because by the time Zordon and Zack sense something is off with this Alpha Five,
mainly that it’s a planted imposter, he explodes destroying a large chunk of
the Command Center and providing the distraction Lord Zedd needed to slide on
inside with a few Putty’s to attack. Zack uses some quick thinking and morphs
into his suit. Then using his teleporter he zips the bad guys off and away from
the team base, but due to the explosion and a damaged teleporter, he’s sent with
the crew of baddies to “parts unknown”.
At this point in our story a simple turn of the page reveals
what everyone knows they came here to see, BATMAN! Batman’s appearance starts as he approaches a
shadowy figure, who upon being shined with the Batmobile lights, reveals itself
to be a universe displaced Black Ranger fighting Putty’s in Gotham. Obviously Batman asks the Black Ranger, with a
Power Ax in hand, to stand down which goes down about as well as a trip to a
gas station bathroom. Just as it looks
like Batman has controlled the situation, Zordon teleports in the other Rangers
to the scene, forcing Batman to have to issue a call for back up, which Flash
mockingly accepts. (I think Mr. Taylor also pulled this little trick in the
Batman/Superman Lobo story from last year before Rebirth as well and I love it
every damn time!)
For the remainder of the issue we have the Power Rangers and
a small part of the Justice League (Batman, Flash, and eventually Cyborg)
mixing it up over this misunderstanding in typical crossover fashion. The final straw for the Pink Ranger though is
at the point in time when Batman jumps in his ride and starts firing missiles
all willy nilly. As a counter measure Kimberly calls in her Pterodactyl
Dinozord to battle, and in a boss move, decides to one up Batman and kidnapping
the Batmobile with Batman himself inside. As she flies off our issue ends, and
yes you can breathe again now.
Tom Taylor does a great job of grabbing the reader’s
attention right of the bat in a great cold opening sequence and doesn’t really
let up. While you’re still digesting what’s going on in the title Taylor also
catches you off guard by establishing stakes to the story you may not be
expecting in a crossover title at all, especially so early in the opening
pages. From there on out the Justice
League/Power Rangers continues to read at a break neck pace but with the surprises
placed perfectly throughout the book.
It’s also a nice touch to have Lord Zedd here in the title
instead of the standard Ranger villain of Rita Rupulsa. I always found Lord
Zedd more frightening anyway and Rita to be a bit bogus even back to when I was
a kid. The highlights in issue one seemed
to focus mostly on Zack, the Black Ranger, and Batman so being a fan of both
characters I got a little extra bonus out of that spotlight attention here as
well only enhancing my enjoyment personally. The only knock I would have
against the book so far is that we never get past the heroes fighting heroes’
trope this issue despite seeing the group’s eventually team up in the opening pages
… but that’s a nitpick it will come.
The art done by Stephen Byrne is also very well done, and colored
brightly, with a few standout splash pages especially the one where the Rangers
teleport into Gotham. The artist has a
good handle on both the Boom Studio and DC Comics characters. Nobody looks out
of place even when the shit starts to hit the fan, which is nice because I wasn’t
sure if the Rangers fighting the Justice League would actually look believable
drawn out, but Byrne makes it work here without pulling you out of the story in
any way.
Bits and Pieces:
Overall, when going into this crossover, you have to ask
yourself a few questions. Do you enjoy the characters in this comic book? Are you in the mood for a little bit of over the
top, crazy, crossover fun? If your answers are “yes” to these questions then
this title is for you even if you may think you’re too old for the likes of the
Power Rangers. Tom Taylor, a Weird
Science favorite, and Steven Byrne have established a shocking tone, to go with
an interesting premise in the first issue, and all the characters together early
to make it a crossover I want to read going forward.
8.2/10
I LOVED it! I can't even contain my excitement for issue #2!
ReplyDeleteDamn this was actually great the art is a little odd and everything is a little cheesy but i was dmiling thew the whole thing need issue 2 like now
ReplyDeleteGood story but the Rangers had the wrong Zords. After Lord Zedd replaced Rita they upgraded to the Thunderzords but here they were still using the Dinozords.
ReplyDelete