Jamie: Now, watching the teens fight off Putties without their powers is painful.
My friends insist that the series gets its act together with the action later on and eventually focuses on delivering genuinely solid martial arts goodness, but that is beyond my time with the series. Jacob: I'm less impressed by the actual on-the-ground fights, where it's just a bunch of fit actors waving their arms at guys in bad costumes. The special effects leave a lot to be desired in the series as a whole, but this is the one place where everything works because of the films it inherently channels. The main monsters might be more interesting and yeah, the footage is constantly recycled, but who doesn't love a giant monster fight? I also love that anytime the Rangers pull out their sword, the other giant monster is like nope and runs away. While they do look like toys, I also thought of Kaiju films – Big Man Japan also came to mind – and I think this is where anyone, whether a fan of the series or new like I was, will find the most charm.
Jamie: So, I'm with you on the big fights. I also didn't notice the sheer amount of repetition in the footage when I was younger! What about you? Did the fights and special effects hold any charm for you? They bled right on over from the Godzilla and Mothra flicks I was already watching. To kid me, raised on a diet of monster movies, they were just more of the same. To adult me, they're kitschy in a way I find endearing. Since the bulk of the major special effects were created for a separate series in Japan, there's a distinctly un-hollywood style to those giant kaiju vs. If you want Zord action, there’s very little of it here, and the end of the issue sort of slips into some heavy scientific folderol, but the story is moving along and I’m expecting big things from the Lord Zedd/Braniac team-up on the other side come issue No.Jacob: As for the fights, they were awesome and sometimes, they're still awesome.
The context of the team-up works, everyone is getting along in a way that makes sense, and the Justice Leaguers are just fun to watch as they zip around battling great krakens all over the world. If you just want a nice clean adventure, this fits the bill and then some. This feels formulaic, but in a winning way. You’re a fan of Tom Taylor (hey, let’s face it, sometimes that’s enough!).You need something cool to read to your younger siblings/children/attentive and enthusiastic pet.You just enjoy all this colorful costumery!.Having gone through the psychotic explosion of color that was the hallmark of the 90s, I’m sensitive to the use of color willy-nilly as opposed to with purpose and Byrne definitely has purpose, so I want to appreciate that! Recommended If… Particularly because the colors are well-coordinated to the Power Rangers themselves, so you get a sense of thematic coherence rather than dissonant eye-wrecking palettes that make you want to put the book down. And it gives the book a nice kaleidoscope feel overall. But also because I think the colors are done particularly well and are well worth waxing on about.īyrne goes from hot to cool, screaming pink to bright yellow and yet it all makes sense. I really enjoyed the art and colors here (he does both). Last issue I misspelled Stephen Byrne’s name every bloody time I wrote it, and for that I apologize (especially to Byrne himself!). We see some Braniac drones who add to the whizz-bang of it all and help our heroes put together a theory that Lord Zedd is not exactly working alone.Īnd like all good middle of the narrative pieces, this one ends with lots of doom and gloom: with our evil duo having the upper hand and the Power Rangers in particular straits. Not much focus on the bad guys this time around.
For sheer volume of fun characters packed into a single event, this is definitely a bang for your buck adventure. We get lots of Justice League action: many cameos in a nice array. Arguments about the inevitable team-up, which are mercifully kept short and to the point–Taylor really is good at pushing story points along, especially when they are foregone conclusions. So aside from tentacles, what else does this issue serve up?