It’s been three years since the last crossover event between the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This sequel series is once again written by Ryan Parrott, but this time drawn by Dan Mora. It takes place six months after the events of the previous crossover. If you haven’t read the previous series, the story still makes sense for the most part, though you might be wondering why the Ninja Turtles are visiting the Power Rangers in Angel Grove, California.
One of the nice things about this comic is you don’t need to be super well versed in the Ninja Turtle or Power Ranger ongoing comic books to understand the story. If you grew up a fan of the Power Rangers show from the ’90s or almost any incarnation of the Ninja Turtles, you’ll recognize and be able to follow along with most of the characters and plot points. It’s a testament to the strength of both of these franchises that fans from decades ago can still pick up this book and enjoy the story for what it is.
BOOM! Studios/IDW Publishing
There are a lot of fun one-on-one moments between the Turtles and Rangers. Billy and Donnie geeking out over technology, Leo and Jason training together and commiserating about their more difficult teammates (Raphael and Jason) or even just Mikey and Zach ordering strange food at the juice bar. This first issue does a great job of establishing the setting and characters while also including some fun action sequences. My favorite page has an interesting layout where you actually read from the bottom up. You’re given a hint on how to read the page with red arrows pointing you in the right direction, and you end up following Rocksteady and Goldar fighting their way out of a winding Rikers Island staircase to the rooftop. The very next page is the pièce de résistance of the comic: a double splash page of all six rangers and all four turtles ready for battle.
In the first crossover, it was Tommy the Power Ranger who was seemingly betraying his friends to join the Foot Clan, but in this series it looks like Casey Jones has been coopted by the enemy and is “embracing chaos”. Seeing Casey morph into a Power Ranger was definitely a fun moment and has me anticipating next month’s issue where I hope we learn if this is just a trick play or if Casey has actually been traded to the other team.
With great art, fun one-on-one moments with the Turtles and Rangers and a plot that’s easy to jump in to for casual fans, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II is a shell of a good time and not just a nostalgia cash grab.
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