We’re back with dream team crossover of the 1990s: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Issue #5 is the final in the miniseries, so does it stick the landing? Let’s take a look. Cowabunga!
I’ll focus on the art by Simone di Meo with help from Alessio Zonno, as this dynamic duo delivered on the action sequences. The issue opens with Megazord taking on a giant-sized Bebop and Rocksteady only to be ambushed by Dragonzord as well — the hope is this would make it two on two, but this Dragonzord is controlled by Green Ranger Shredder. The way Megazord is taking a beating puts you on the edge of your seat as you feel this is the final moment, but luckily we get another character from the TMNT side of things to come help out: a freaking huge Metalhead! It was such a nice surprise to see him join in on the action, and boy does he bring it. Simone and Alessio create amazing battle scenes for these giants to interact with.
I enjoyed the switching up as the “Ninja Rangers” are piloting the giant Metalhead and the “Power Turtles” are using Megazord. Of course, it can’t be that easy a fight for the good guys, and that leads us to another mashup as the bad guys put the good guys to the ropes: we see Metalhead combine with the Dinozords to make a Turtle Megazord!
I have to say I am digging the design of this giant and I hope Hasbro or NECA get to work on making some action figures from this crossover. Shoutout to the coloring team of Walter Baiamonte and Igor Monti for awesome color placement and also for keeping the correct colors with the correct characters. Not once in this miniseries did I see a mistake on that.
Ryan Parrott’s story was perfect, and I am so happy with this conclusion as it really delivered. We got to see the sharing of powers, bad guys teaming up, and a giant-sized battle. This was just perfect, and I love that when the chips were down for the bad guys they fled, and like all bad guys do, they of course betrayed each other. We get to see Shredder and Rita Repulsa trash talk each other, yet it looks like the seeds for a second crossover are planted here. Sign me up for round two, please!
Luckily, everything is restored to how it was, and the last couple of pages of dialogues between characters were perfect — I especially enjoyed the banter between Jason with Leo and Mikey making pizza recipes with Zack. I also have to say that Ryan did a fantastic job with the supporting characters as they had major moments to shine. Casey Jones and April O’Neil really stepped up in their roles and it was great to see the guidance that Zordon and Splinter shared with the teenagers — with attitude or mutant style.
This was a fantastic conclusion to an amazing crossover miniseries that delivered on the wildest dreams of every ’90s kid. Heroic deeds triumph in the face of evil, brilliant mash ups with powers and zords…and of course, pizza!
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