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Preface
Godzilla. King of the Monsters.
Kaiju monster films have always been a classic staple of the Tokusatsu genre and the Godzilla franchise has been the figurehead for the kaiju. Though Godzilla has found itself in a lot of other movies with other classic monsters, it hasn’t found itself against other Tokusatsu figures until recently. There was an announcement a month ago that Shin Godzilla will be part of some project with Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and Evangelion. And there’s this project.
Although Tokusatsu is one of the most popular genres in Japan, there are only two franchises that are well known internationally: Godzilla and Power Rangers. Godzilla stays relevant for the recent cinematic films, like 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong, while Power Rangers is known for its 90s nostalgia and is currently popular on Netflix for its 29th season. So, it makes absolute sense that these two franchises would eventually partner up in some shape or form.
Let’s see how these two worlds collide!
The Cover
It’s a good cover for the start of this series. Love how Godzilla is getting ready to aim at the Rangers at the ground while facing the Dragonzord. Captures the scale of a gigantic battle and the feeling of something epic.
The Story
Rita Repulsa finally says “Screw this. It’s too hard” and invades a temple in order to obtain an ancient artifact called the Multiversal Focus. Using its power, she uses her magic to teleport herself, Goldar, Scorpina, and Finster to a universe without Power Rangers. Tommy finds them and attempts to stop them, but is sucked in the spell with the other villains. Rita and her gang find themselves in an Angel Grove without the Power Rangers, but just as she’s about to celebrate her victory, it’s interrupted by Godzilla fighting a giant bug called Megalon.
As the battle rages on, Rita notices a UFO hovering over the battle. She and her gang teleport inside and take control of the UFO from the humanoid invaders. Turns out, the original pilots of the UFO are aliens from a planet called Planet X. They’ve been sending gigantic monsters down to Earth to take over the planet’s natural resources. However, the beast known as Godzilla has defeated them every time. Rita tries to use her magic to take control of Godzilla and add it to her arsenal, but it’s not effective.
On the ground, Tommy wakes up and sees Godzilla’s “rampage”. He summons the Dragonzord to take care of it, but it turns out even the Dragonzord is no match for it.
And by that, I mean, Godzilla freaking owns the Dragonzord.
Before Godzilla can literally rip the Dragonzord in two, the other Rangers show up, having tracked Tommy’s energy signature. They summon their Megazord and the fight rages on.
Ending Thoughts
The clash between two lizard titans goes as well as you would expect.
There’s not much characterization here, but honestly, it works and gives this issue a classic MMPR vibe to it. It sets up the situation, gets all of our heroes in one place, and shows why our villains are working together. Cullen Bunn, the writer for this series, hasn’t had a hand in writing for Power Rangers before. But, from the brief moments of character we get, Rita is written in a way that’s not too different from how she is in the Boom! comics.
The artwork for this series is done by Freddie Williams II, the artist for other crossover comic series like Batman / TMNT and He-Man / Thundercats. The art here is more stylized than what we’re used to in the multiple PR comic series that is releasing now. Some of the character designs work with this design like Godzilla and some designs don’t work like the Rangers’ designs. However, where the art shines is in the action setpieces of the kaiju battles, specifically the fight between the Dragonzord and Godzilla. Over the years, I have seen a lot of fan art of this confrontation and the comic certainly does the moment the justice it deserves. It’s brutal to the Dragonzord and captures the full scale of a battle this large.
Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1 starts this crossover off in a classic but epic fashion.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- My only knowledge of Godzilla is from the 1998 and the 2014 movies. That’s it. I really don’t remember anything else. (Imagine my surprise when I found Godzilla’s plot involved a UFO and a planet called Planet X.) So, like the other crossovers, I’m going to see, from an outsider’s perspective, whether this comic will get me more interested in the Godzilla franchise.
