Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
Written by: Ryan Parrott
Art by: Simone di Meo
Boom! Studios/IDW
2019
The Power Rangers arrive in New York City to find Tommy Oliver – AKA The Mighty Morphin Green Ranger – but soon discover he’s joined forces with the villainous Shredder and the Foot Clan! As the Rangers are sent reeling by this betrayal, they’re confronted by another (fr)enemy – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Can these heroes find a way to work together to defeat the bad guys and save the world from total destruction?
This was an amazing first issue. I have been enjoying Boom! Studios’ Power Ranger series, so I was heavily looking forward to checking out this epic crossover. While there was a crossover between the “Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation” and “Power Rangers in Space” series in the “Power Rangers in Space” episode, “Shell Shocked”, this comic is the first ever crossover between The Turtles and the original Power Rangers team.
The basic premise of this first issue is that Tommy (The Green Ranger) has been out of communication with the other Rangers for a few weeks and has been working for Shredder and The Foot Clan for some unknown reason. This leads to a conflict between The Green Ranger and the Turtles. Picking up on Tommy morphing, the other Rangers teleport to New York and find Tommy in battle with the Turtles and, believing the Turtles to be monsters created by Rita Repulsa, join the fight in an epic clash between two iconic superhero teams.
The battle between the Rangers and the Turtles was very well done and felt very epic to someone like me who grew up watching these two teams. The fight between Ralph and the Green Ranger was especially cool to see as well as the clashes between the similar Red Ranger/Leo and Blue Ranger/Donnie. The first issue leaves us with the question as to why Tommy is working for Shredder as Tommy leaves the battle while the Rangers and Turtles are still fighting. The characters were all well written and stayed true to who they were. The artwork for this issue by Simone di Meo and Walter Baiamonte was absolutely stunning and beautiful to look at with every page being consistent with its quality. The quality of this artwork should be considered a standard bearer for comic book art today.
I highly recommend this comic, especially if you are a fan of one or both franchises. It was a blast to read from cover to cover. This is the kind of crossover you would dream about as a kid, but thought you would never see. I can’t wait to see where this story goes.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
Fantastic first issue that was a blast to read from cover to cover. I highly recommend it, especially if you are a fan of one or both franchises.
Nicholas Slade
Nicholas grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkien's books, watching Disney and Studio Ghibli films, and reading Marvel comics and Japanese manga. The superb storylines and characters ignited his passion for writing. He graduated from Full Sail University in 2015 with a BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment. During his writing career thus far, Nicholas has had numerous short stories and articles published in an array of literary magazines and websites.
