Originally published on Set The Tape
Certain stories sound great on paper, the concept seems absolutely perfect; but sometimes the idea fails to make the transition to being entertaining enough to actually stand up on its own. Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has, sadly, become one of these stories for me.
The first three issues of the story started strong, with a decent set-up to the story seeing the evil moon witch Rita Repulsa discovering an ancient magical artefact that allows her to travel from one parallel dimension to another. Hoping to find a world where there are no Power Rangers to stand against her, she instead discovered a world where giant monsters, Kaiju, rule supreme, and a race of aliens have invaded the earth to claim it as their own.
With the Rangers having followed Rita, a fight has ensued between them and the Kaiju, and it’s not stopped in four entire issues. And this might be the main issue I’ve been having with this series. If I were to sum up the events of this issue it would be the Rangers and Godzilla fight some giant monsters, then another giant monster arrives, then five more turn up. It’s simply escalation after escalation, and after a while it begins to feel pretty dull.
This series doesn’t give you time to breathe, it doesn’t have any moments where the characters get to feel like people. Frankly, I’ve come to the point where I’m finding little within the book to care about anymore. And this is coming from someone who loves both of these franchises. Yes, a big draw to both franchises is big monsters fighting, but that tends to be very little of both. Episodes of Power Rangers do have the Rangers fight big monsters in their Zords, but that’s two to three minutes of the episode. The franchise hasn’t lasted for thirty years because of those fights, but because of the stories, the characters, and the ridiculous antics. The Godzilla films also tend to come with some pretty good stories that surround the monster fights, and my favourites of the franchise are the ones with good stories and fun moments. These are the parts of those franchises that keep them fresh and entertaining after decades, and these are the things that are missing from this comic series.
Perhaps I’m judging this too harshly, and I suspect that if you read the series in one sitting once its done, and available in graphic novel form, it might read well. It might even be the perfect way to read this story. But waiting month to month for a book where it’s slight variations of the same thing, just with different monsters is starting to wear thin, and starting to lessen my enjoyment. There’s only so many times a new monster can turn up before it starts to feel too much.
As with previous issues, the art, provided by Freddie E. Williams II and Andrew Dalhouse, is decent enough. All of the characters stand out in some busy looking panels, and the monsters are all instantly recognisable, even when it’s some obscure Kaiju that only appeared in one film, or a monster of the week from some 900 episodes ago in Power Rangers history. The fighting looks good, and is filled with dynamic shots and good energy, and that’s about all you can ask for in a book where the fighting is taking centre stage.
Overall, the series is continuing on in about the same manner, with very little story and a lot of repetitive action. I’m hoping that perhaps something happens soon to change this slightly in the last few issues just to keep my interest going.
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