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Preface
Just a reminder, it’s better if you don’t try to keep any of these comics in line with the TV series. There’s just a lot of differences from the show and it’s better for yourself if you just throw everything you know about the show into the garbage for now.
The Cover
I honestly think this cover would’ve been better for the first issue. The Rangers looking at a sunset, just pondering all of the adventures that they all are going to have together.
The Story
We begin with a flashback to Kim and Matthew’s first date that starts out with thoughts about a shoe obsession and end with Kim spewing out food like a garden hose. But, relationships have continued over worse encounters and so they decided to keep dating. Back in the present, the Rangers are fighting Rita, but are not doing that great. Trini contacts Alpha, letting the Rangers teleport to the Command Center and the two astronauts to NASADA (where they are now science experiments for the government. Those guys just can’t get a break)
At the Command Center, the Rangers ask Zordon if they can tell their parents about being Rangers and all of that, but Zordon, being a little bit of a jerk, is just like “Too bad, so sad”.
The next morning, things kind of calm down for a bit. Kind of. Kim talks to Matthew, but he blows her off. Billy misses a test from Ms. Appleby (yeah, she’s here now) after working on the Communicators for hours. Trini and Jason train after school, talking about their experience as Rangers and training their strength and powers.
Also, Trini has a crush on Jason. Yeah, this is a thing now
Then, we have a flashback to when Matthew introduces the gang to Kim for the first time as his girlfriend. Zack and Trini just go full on “jerk mode” on her, calling her “Salad Girl”. And, Kim storms off, presumably never seeing those guys again…
At night, Rita sends down a monster to Earth, except this one looks a bit different from your usual monster of the week:
First MOTW I’ve seen in a while that’s kinda hot
Ending Thoughts
This series is already shaping up to be what I thought it was. Showing the Rangers, mainly going through their normal lives while dealing with the stress of being a Ranger. It establishes character motivations and personalities while building the world the Rangers live in (which, despite there being over a hundred episodes of MMPR, is something we don’t get that often). Like how Jason and Trini just describe what it’s like to morph. It gives us details about a process that we haven’t really explained in over 20 years.
Not much else I can say, really. I really did enjoy this issue. Kim and Matthew’s relationship is given a little more light and is displayed as cute and genuine. Trini having a crush on Jason is a bit random, similar to the “Zack and Trini” relationship in the Pink miniseries. But, it’s at least better executed here so we’ll see how this all goes down. Art style is the same, but it’s slowly growing on me.
I think the only problem this series is having is the flow and transitions between scenes. It just jumps between characters and scenes without any flow or real reason. Like in this issue, we start off with a flashback, then go back to the present, then bounce between multiple characters with only one or two pages, then a random flashback, then only two panels showing Kim, and all of this with panels with Rita in the Moon Palace between them. Something like this is understandable when you’re dealing multiple characters you want to address, but it’s possible to have all of these scenes and have a more coherent and fluid story.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- Appleby is here now. It’s a little amazing that this is somewhat newsworthy.
- It is interesting that the ending of this issue “kind of” ties in with what’s going on in the main series. I’m fine with this, as long as it doesn’t seem repetitive with the two series.
- Don’t know why, but I thought “Salad Girl” had some weird connotation with it. So, I searched Google for it. Yeah, don’t do that. If you do, it’s going to give the flashback here a weird meaning to it. So, don’t.