ADVANCED REVIEW: ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ #2

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 is published by BOOM! Studio, written by Ryan Parrott, with art by Simone Di Meo and Alessio Zonno, colors by Walter Baiamonte and Igor Monte, and letters by Ed Dukeshire. With the two teams stepping back from their confrontation in the last issue, the new friends set their sights on finding Tommy. But why has the Green Ranger come to New York? And what is he doing running with the Foot Clan?

The action slows down just a little bit in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 as the pieces all take their places for the story to move forward. With the Turtles and Rangers working together to find the missing Green Ranger, the story branches off in a few different directions. Parrott manages to keep these sequences enjoyable as he peppers this issue with all the fun interactions that are the hallmark of this sort of mashup story. Whether it’s Donatello and Billy talking science or Jason and Leonardo discussing the finer point of sword fighting I found this issue to continue the vibrant sense of fun that permeated the last issue.

Further building out the story this issue took the opportunity to introduce more of the classic line ups into the story. After all, when you are trying to find a single person through all of New York, why wouldn’t you call April O’Neil? Her introduction is particularly strong. She radiates that eternal love/frustration with the Turtles I remember so well. You never felt quite certain if she was gonna hug them, or strangle them. All of that comes through here.

The art here continues to capture the myriad characters with skill. The personality of all the larger than life cast members are given their due. With so many faces to cycle through it would be understandable if a character was consistently in the background. Happily, everyone gets their panels front and center.

The height of the art though in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 comes from some amazingly good character design. I won’t say what exactly, it would be a huge spoiler. But it is probably the coolest look Di Meo could’ve designed for the character.

The tone of the story is further augmented by some quality lettering on the part of Dukeshire. Plenty of extra little touches give the writing a visual flair to match the story.  Words like The Shredder stand out with singular fonts, and color-coded dialogue boxes in some moments both help clarify, as well as enhance the presentation.

All these things come together to make this story a smooth transition from the introduction point of the narrative to the escalation that is sure to come. With the plot’s hook dropped on the last page of this issue I cannot wait to see how things progress from here. Even with both the Turtles and the Rangers working together they may still find their hands full with this situation.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 is available January 5th wherever Comics are sold.