What Saban’s Next Power Rangers Series Can Learn From BOOM! Studios’ Redefinition

As BOOM! Studios launched its ongoing Mighty Morphin Power Rangers When BOOM! launched its first comic book series over eight years ago, no one had any idea how much it would change the fan-favorite franchise. BOOM! Studios not only introduced concepts and characters that are now indelible parts of the larger Power Rangers lore, but the editor has also helped to redefine existing aspects of the series in exciting new ways.

Unfortunately for readers who fell in love with this version of the franchise, BOOM! Studios’ long-running version of the Power Rangers is fast approaching its end with the upcoming release of Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1. Between the end of BOOM! Studios, Cosmic Rage marks the end of the franchise’s 30-year run on television and the recent cancellation of the planned Netflix Power Rangers projects, it seems like there’s never been a worse time to be a fan of the franchise. Then again, it’s hard to imagine it’ll be very long before someone else takes the reins that Netflix just handed over, and whoever it is could find great success by following in BOOM! Studios’ footsteps in a few key ways.

BOOM! Studios has improved the classic Power Rangers stories

BOOM! Studios’ Power Rangers universe is more clearly defined than the original

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Over thirty years and dozens of iterations of the same basic formula, Power Rangers The franchise has amassed a sprawling continuity and numerous aspects of its overarching lore. For one reason or another, the established lore hasn’t always fit together perfectly. However, in developing and refining a new vision for the world of Power Rangers, writers like Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrott, and Melissa Flores have reshaped these niche characters, concepts, and events into a fabric almost entirely free of particularly glaring or particularly meaningful gaps. The specific mythos that BOOM! Studios has created for its Power Rangers is probably the most well-defined version of the story ever told, and that’s not just in terms of rough ideas or superficial details.

Rather than following in the footsteps of the original series and retiring three of the greatest Power Rangers of all time, BOOM! Studios introduced the concept of the space-faring Omega Rangers, expanding the story of Jason, Trini, and Zack without erasing one of the original series’ most iconic moments. BOOM! Studios also reworked vague notions of Zordon’s past that had been hinted at in the original series, such as his history on Eltar.

Of course, many original ideas went into crafting a proper timeline for this version of the Power Rangers universe. Yet even those almost always tied into concepts or characters that were never truly fleshed out on the small screen. By filling in those gaps and removing obvious inconsistencies, BOOM! Studios answered many of the lingering questions longtime fans had been asking for years, all without any of the answers they provided being derided or perceived as divisive.

BOOM! Studios gave their Power Rangers the room to grow that they always needed

The tightly interwoven comic stories of the Power Rangers left plenty of room to breathe

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Apart from the color-coded costumes, the cast of each Power Rangers season has typically fallen into a handful of archetypes that the franchise cycles through every few years. That’s not to say that the main characters that have appeared over the course of the series’ thirty-year run are one-dimensional, but rather that few individual characters have evolved in any overtly meaningful way. At least that’s the case with the Power Rangers on the small screen.

However, throughout BOOM! Studios’ run, their comic book counterparts have all been given the chance to be completely different from who they were at the start of their story. And while that doesn’t mean they’ve all become absolute inversions of themselves over time, it does mean they’ve all subverted fan expectations at some point during their journey. Just looking at the original lineup of the Mighty Morphin team makes it clear that these aren’t the same Power Rangers longtime fans grew up with, and for the good.

Jason, Trini and Zack all stepped into expanded versions of their old roles as Omega Rangers, and were all tested in ways that pushed them into entirely new roles. For Jason, that meant giving up his connection to the Morphin Grid and accepting that losing his powers doesn’t mean he has to stop being a hero. Even the Rangers’ oldest and worst enemies like Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd were forced to confront their own tragic origins and subsequent life paths, making them realize that they still can’t achieve redemption – if they really want it. If anything, they’re the only characters who have maintained a consistent status quo throughout their journeys in BOOM! Studios’ adventures. Power Rangers Saga were the ones who ultimately served as cannon fodder.

BOOM! Studios’ Power Rangers saga redefined the franchise’s approach to villains

Sprawling stories that revolve around a single central threat are more memorable than the Power Rangers monster-of-the-week scenes

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Perhaps the biggest change that BOOM! Studios has made to the standard is Power Rangers Story was the decision to avoid monster-of-the-week stories almost entirely. While there have been many recognizable, if short-lived, villains throughout history, BOOM! Studios’ Power Rangers have been far more often engrossed in sprawling storylines than dealing with one-off monsters.

Not only did this give more weight to every storyline the heroes were involved in, but it also allowed the threats within those storylines to simmer and the tension to build to a level that the original television series simply could never reach, given its necessary trappings and tropes. Even better, by letting the main villains take center stage for longer periods of time, they were able to make a real impression on readers, especially when it came to people like Lord Drakkon.

Aside from allowing such villains to develop as characters, keeping them in the spotlight longer also makes their presence all the more meaningful for the Power Rangers themselves. Rather than taking on a series of rotating, one-off enemies that rarely cause the heroes to improve or challenge themselves in any meaningful way, seeing the Power Rangers struggle to adapt and defeat villains like Lord Drakkon also means seeing the Power Rangers become better versions of themselves through these fights.

More importantly, it makes fearsome threats like the Empyreals and the Death Ranger a real threat with lasting consequences, something the original series rarely managed to do with the monsters of the small screen. Overall, BOOM! Studio’s greatest achievement is its Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was to ensure that every team member and every character who crossed their path had a purpose beyond simply terrorizing the heroes for 22 minutes at a time.

Power Rangers

Power Rangers is an entertainment and merchandising franchise based on a live-action superhero television series based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise Super Sentai. Over the years, the franchise has created popular comic books, television shows, films, and plays, and produced numerous games and toys.

Created by

Haim Saban, Shotaro Ishinomori, Shuki Levy

First film

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie

First TV show

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

Latest TV Show

Power Rangers Cosmic Rage

Broadcast date of the first episode

28 August 1993

Current episode

23.09.2023

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