It’s fair to say that BOOM! Studios have had a major impact in keeping the Power Rangers franchise fresh. The ongoing Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series has added new dimensions to everyone’s favorite teenagers with attitude, and now it’s about to reach its 100th issue. To celebrate, BOOM! held the ‘Power Rangers: Charge To 100’ panel to discuss the issue, as well as future projects and Ryan Parrott’s six-year run on the title. Continuing my trend of seeking out everything Power Rangers-related at cons, I showed up.
Parrott was the star of the ‘Charge To 100’ panel, followed by fellow comic writer Mat Groom (Mighty Morphin). Also in attendance were BOOM! Senior Editor Dafna Pleban, former Director of Power Rangers Development and Production for Saban Brands/Hasbro Melissa Flores, and editor Allyson Gronowitz. Moderating the panel was Alyson Kiperman Sullivan, who played Taylor Earhardt/Wild Force Yellow in Power Rangers Wild Force – which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year! Sullivan is hands down one of the best moderators I’ve seen on a panel; she kept everything flowing and on time and thanked the fans for showing up.
Parrott said that leaving MMPR was “bittersweet” but that he was proud of his work. He likened his work on the title to different stages of life: Go Go Power Rangers, the series he originally started with, was obviously ‘high school’ as it focused on the Rangers’ early years. Jason, Zack, and Trini becoming the Omega Rangers was the ‘college’ era, as they embarked on an intergalactic journey without Zordon’s guidance. The Eltarian War storyline was meant to represent hitting ‘mid 20’s to early 30’s’, with the Rangers forced to step up and battle Zordon’s people. And finally, MMPR #100 is a story about ‘life and death.’
Flores and Pleban had nothing but kind words for Parrott, as well as each other – though they did mention that they ‘fight like sisters.’ Flores also said that the key to making the Ranger books work was something former MMPR writer Kyle Higgins told her: you can’t write the book the same way as the TV show, but you should write it the way you remember it. Pleban also said Flores was an invaluable part of the Rangers team at BOOM!, thanks to her encyclopedic knowledge of the Rangers universe.
This led to further discussion of MMPR #100, which will feature nearly every artist who’s worked on the MMPR comic, including Dan Mora and original series artist Hendry Prasetya. Following that is Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers #101, which begins the ‘Recharged’ era. And Flores will be stepping in as the lead writer! This marks her second comic following the launch of her Image series, The Dead Lucky, and she has more than a few plans in store for the Rangers – including the return of an old foe. But that wasn’t all: Parrott announced that he’d be writing a sequel to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover, with Dan Mora on art!
A brief Q&A session occurred during the ‘Charge To 100’ panel, and I had the chance to ask Groom about his work on Mighty Morphin‘ – especially how he fleshed out Rocky into a more appealing character. Groom said that his mission statement when taking over the book was to focus on the lesser-known characters and challenge himself by writing them as well as fan favorites. This led to Parrott joking that he should have done it in his book if he had more time.
Much like the Power Rangers themselves, the BOOM! Studios creatives work together as a team to deliver some great stories. And with what’s to come on the horizon, I hope that Flores and Gronowitz (who’s now taking over as the Rangers editor) have a similar team in place for the ‘Recharged’ era.
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers #100 will be available wherever comics are sold on September 28, 2022.
