Welp... Here We Go Again...

You know... I whipped this banner up a year or so back when an issue of the now-cancelled Go Go Power Rangers comic book teased this image of Lord Drakkon - Boom Studios' woefully uninspired and hackneyed take on the whole "Evil Tommy" idea that had been the subject matter of most of the wankiest of wankfest fanfiction. My disdain for this worthless character was such that when his presence was teased as such, I ceased giving these people my money and stop reading the comics altogether.

Now, in fairness, Drakkon's appearance in that issue of Go Go Power Rangers was nothing more than a flashback scene to the comics' bloated Shattered Grid wankfest and he appeared to play a minute role for the most part. Did this change my tune? Nope, I continued to step away from the comics, figuring that sooner or later, they were going to bring this sorry sap back in an attempt to rehabilitate him or whatever the case may be.

Well, it's been a while, but that banner is just as relevant today as it was when I made it.

Boom Studios' Mighty Morphin comic book just put out its fiftieth issue and it featured - to the surprise of absolutely no one - the return of that ever "popular" and "thought-provoking" fanwank character, Lord Bad Tommy Boy Drakkon. I thought that Kyle Higgins stopped writing this book, but somehow, it turns out the new writer, Ryan What's His Face, is just as much a member of the JDF Wank Club as the other guy was.

As I review the storylines that have played out, other concerns come to mind. Another tired idea that seems played out is that when a Ranger gets written out of the main run, they don't just ride off into the sunset and move on with their lives. No, they just get new Ranger powers and continue like nothing happened. It's a trend that started with that MMPR: Pink miniseries and apparently continued here when they needed to explain the abrupt departure of half your Ranger team. According to TV lore, they went to a peace conference. But according to the comics, that was just a front so that they can go to space and become Omega Rangers or something.

Then there's the relationship between Kim and old boyfriend Matt, which got, what I felt, was a fine enough closure in the Go Go series, but apparently, he's still a thing for some reason despite the fact that she and Tommy are now a couple. The really sad thing is that in introducing all these new characters, the comics do not give me ample reason for me to care about any of them. Why should I care about Grace Sterling and her super science base? Why should I care about these Solar aliens beyond their sexual preferences?

It seems that, despite being touted as the most developed and structured incarnation of the Power Rangers comic book, it ends up being the most shallow... which is a shame because there are some bits that I do like. The character development has been something of a high point with these comics, with the friendship among the Rangers being one of the things that get strengthened quite a bit. And from what I read, the transition between old Rangers and new Rangers isn't quite as smooth as the show makes it out to be, with there being some tension between the newbies and the veterans that results in a team that doesn't quite gel yet.

Honestly, a focus on that piece of the puzzle - as well as Tommy coming to grips with his new leadership role - are probably the best things this comic could have done. If you dig deep enough, there are enough little plot threads that the show just gloss over due to time constraints that you could easily expand into compelling stories without having the need to introducing boring new shit or alternate dimensions or that kind of bullshit. When this started back in 2016, I didn't come into it expecting to hate it; I came into it hoping that this would provide some deeper character development and storytelling that the old show never could.

Instead, what I got was a comic series that was so concerned with its own bloated sense of worth that the few high points of the series became muddled with the overwhelming amounts of garbage that got tossed in. Suddenly, I'm longing for the days when Hamilton Comics were publishing these books and the most development they got was getting Lord Zedd to act like Lord Zedd and not some swap-in for Rita Repulsa.

Enjoy your MMPR comics, folks. I'm not sure that I can.