Two of comics greatest teams team up for the very first time! Something terrible has happened in Angel Grove! When the Command Center is breached and the teleporters are damaged, Zack is flung into another universe, where he’s mistaken for a villain by a mysterious masked vigilante. Can the other Power Rangers get to their friend in time to save him from Batman? Co-published with BOOM! Studios.
Writing
It’s easy to ask, “Why exactly do a crossover like this?” The short answer is that the Justice League movie is coming out and everyone gets to meet the team. They’re also still taking on the Suicide Squad in another series right now. Still, seeing the Power Rangers go against them feels similar to the League facing the Suicide Squad. The superior force is obvious from the start. The Justice League has been known to fight several gigantic monsters at one time, were the readers actually supposed to believe they would have problems against the Megazord?
Writer Tom Tyler utilizes the standard “Jump to conclusions resulting in heroes fighting” story done in many crossovers before. It’s serviceable, and interesting to see how the two teams would fight against one another. Unfortunately, this story oversteps itself a bit in the opening. It clearly shows Superman and the Power Rangers getting along before launching into its flashback. Sure, the reason they are together is interesting but only just enough to pick up the rest of the issues.
Artwork
Stephen Byrne’s art is the saving grace of this issue. The color and drawings mimics the impressive effect work shown in BOOM’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series. The element of the Power Rangers costumes forming around them like force fields is an excellent detail and really helps to present the fine work which went into making this issue so visually pleasing.
Conclusion
It’s a serviceable crossover and is already proving to be enjoyable. Unfortunately, it’s feeling a bit to by the numbers with its set up. A crossover with a more inexperienced team without gods and goddesses on it – like the Titans – would have been a much better idea. It would even make more of an impact. The Titans are mostly made up of heroes who were sidekicks and have spent their adult lives understanding what it’s like to live in their predecessor’s shadow. After the brief misunderstanding fight which would happen and the Titans could have passed on sage like wisdom about what it’s like to grow up after spending their teenage years in battle. Here, sure the older Justice League members can look down on the team and say “Keep up the good work kids,” but it just won’t have the same weight behind it.
