Review: Justice League/Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1

by Sean Blumenshine
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[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]

Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Stephen Byrne

Summary
After an accident with the teleporter, Zack of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers finds himself in an alternate dimension where he is confronted by Batman.

Positives
The cover by Karl Kerschl is great. I love how the teams are mirroring each other with both sides looking fantastic. Seeing these two teams side by side is a particular thrill for me.

The art by Stephen Byrne is fantastic. I was really impressed by Byrne’s recent work in Green Arrow so I am very happy he is on this book. His style looks very animated to me. It’s bright and colorful but can be dark and somber when it needs to without losing its sense of style. The characters all have very expressive faces with a really nice level of detail on the emotion. There are several standout moments all throughout the issue because of how good this art is.

I like how intelligent both Lord Zedd and Zack are in this issue. One of the best things about Boom’s Power Rangers comics are how well written the characters are and that is carried over into this crossover. These feel like real people making smart decisions that they naturally would. But it still has the fun, creativity and colorfulness of the original show. I’m also impressed that Tom Taylor chose to focus on Zack. My expectation would be that they would choose to focus more on Tommy in this crossover due to his popularity so I give credit for focusing on Zack who I really enjoyed in this issue.

While I have some reservations about the fight, it is damn cool to see the Power Rangers take on Batman and the Flash. The Pterodactyl Zord going head to head with the Batmobile is just the definition of awesome.

Negatives
I never like the structure in which a story starts in a bad place and then flashes back in order to catch up to that point. It’s especially weird in this issue because we never go back to the opening. It’s a strange choice. I understand that Taylor probably wanted to throw in a little more of the League since the issue is mostly focused on the Rangers.

The issue has to do with the dumb clichĂ© that the second that superheroes meet, they have to fight when they could easily just be reasonable and talk it out. Zack just assumes Batman is one of Zedd’s monsters for no reason. At least he has a concussion but the other Rangers assume that even faster. No one is acting like a person suddenly so that a cool fight can happen. Which might be okay except this issue and the Power Rangers book has shown that these characters are smarter than that.

Verdict
This is highly enjoyable. It feels like a natural counterpoint to the Power Rangers comics at Boom with great writing and art. If you’re more interested in the Justice League than the Power Rangers, you might be disappointed because only four of the members show up and it’s rather brief except for Batman. I am okay with that because I love this version of the Power Rangers and those books have been some of my favorite reads recently. I imagine the League will show up more in future issues but this is definitely Ranger-centric. I still don’t think the fight happens naturally but if I can accept it in The Avengers film for the sake of fun, I can accept it here.

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