It’s been some time since I’ve done a proper newsletter. Did you miss my year in review from December, where I shared my top ten comics of 2023?
As is fairly typical, I’ve taken January and the first portion of February pretty easy as far as writing goes. After a two months or so race to read a bunch of comics I missed from throughout the year, I inevitably get a bit burned out and need to catch up on some other things. I’ve been venturing back into prose and enjoying some novels and nonfiction work. Most recently, I finished a semi-fantasy book called The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. It’s a gripping tale of the insidious evil of empire and colonization. I’m looking forward to reading the second and third installments. It’s one of the best newer books I’ve read in some time and I highly recommend it. Right now I’m making my way through the book Stolen Focus, which is about our global social inability to concentrate on anything without distraction.
But life has not been without its comics! I’ve been contributing weekly to the Comics Beat in both the weekly roundup of Marvel and indie releases. There’s been lots of good titles that I’ve discovered. One is Beyond Real, a psychedelic trip through reality. Another is the bizarre but delightful noir from Mad Cave, Deer Editor.
I also wrote about the first volume of the super-fun Image series Arcade Kings. I hope we get more of that book. On UrbaneTurtle, I reviewed the first issue of Ram V’s new dark mystery title, The One Hand. No Context Comics also returned with its first entry of 2024.
I have started making plans for what is to come in the near future and will be sitting down to do more formal brainstorming and planning. I’ve got a few irons in the fire that I hope will expand the breadth of what I’m able to cover.
I spent my morning on Sunday preparing for this preparation with an exhaustive search of stickers to adorn the first official Urbane Turtle notebook. I scrounged up both various stickers I’ve acquired as swag from mailing lists or as an add-on to an order as well as my son’s coloring books. You might be thinking to yourself: what a waste of time! Incorrect. Making the notebook look cool and fun is critical to promoting a comfortable and relaxing safe space to jot down my notes.
The point is, I’m getting jazzed to write about comics again, so there’ll be more to share soon.
There are a few more things I could ramble on about here, like my thoughts on Marvel losing every major talent in comics to DC and independent comics but I’ve gone on long enough. The main feature in the newsletter this week is a review of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return by the original pink ranger, Amy Jo Johnson.
Review: Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Return
Power Rangers was a formative part of my childhood and has had a lasting impact on my life in different ways, some large and some small. I know that it is a hokey, cheaply made show but being a fan of it has led me to a number of fond memories that have defined parts of my adolescence and adulthood. For those who made the series, being attached to a children’s show that became a phenomenon must be complicated. It’s been fascinating to watch the original cast’s attitude toward the series’ legacy change over the last decade. Because of that, I’ve been excited to see what the original Pink Ranger herself, Amy Jo Johnson, along with her writing partner Matt Hotson would do with this take on the original cast 30 years later.
While the late Jason David Frank got a chance to tell an "Old Man Tommy" story about the future of his character, that book came from the perspective of a man who embraced the franchise, its fan, and his place in that legacy. Jason David Frank was more than happy to make himself the face of the franchise, and that comic, Soul of the Dragon, primarily written by Kyle Higgins, was very much about celebrating his Tommy character. Amy Jo Johnson has had a more complicated career trajectory that has often been defined by pulling away from the franchise. Until the last few years, anyway. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return is Johnson’s first return to the series after leaving it in the third season. It is a dramatic and melancholy sequel to that original iteration, 30 years on.
Like the recent live-action 30th anniversary special, the book centers on the real-life loss of that original cast. Johnson's script is a thoughtful and emotional reflection of the place the Power Rangers have in her life and in the lives of those who watched it as a child. It's a stirring story of heroism and sacrifice that speaks to Johnson's well-rounded abilities as an artist. Nico Leon's art does a great job of capturing the likeness of the original cast and selling the complicated sets of emotions. Francesco Segala and Gloria Martinelli's colors are cool and somber, tipping Leon's cartooning and dramatic staging into something genuinely moving. There's a lot of exposition in this first issue, and Ed Dukeshire's letters keep it from ever feeling overwhelming.
Leon stages big action scenes and quiet character conflicts with intensity–the dynamic staging and variety of angles keeping a dialogue heavy premiere issue visually exciting. As Kimberly, Zack, and Billy argue in the rain, Leon steps back, allowing the emotional chasm between them to become literal on the page. Where often flashbacks to the past are signified by a sepia tone, this issue instead flashes back to those happier times in all of its 90s, bright pastel color glory. It is the present that is stripped of color and life.
Kimberly, not surprising, given the writer, is the heart of this issue, and it is her pain and estrangement from her past that offers the issue’s genuine emotion. Kim was the bubbly, occasionally ditzy one. Seeing her now, bitter and closed off, is a jarring transition. With Jason having gone down a dark path of vigilante justice and suddenly missing altogether, Zack and Billy try to coerce her into morphing again, something they had swore as a team to never do again. The thought is too painful for her–though we are not given the full answers yet as to why. The specifics are not totally important. The importance is how they echo Amy Jo Johnson’s emotional journey to reconcile what she is best known for, something that was no doubt a burden as she sought to branch out, with the fond memories of the relationships she forged and the real losses.
I've enjoyed all of Boom's Power Rangers books since they launched, but this one feels special for longtime fans. Johnson and Hotson’s script, combined with the humanist art from Leon and expressive colors of Segala and Martinelli, makes for a comic that is primarily about character above all else. It’s a rare pleasure for a Power Rangers story, even the more mature takes on the series on the comics page. Unburdened by things like location budgets and actor abilities, this story is able to feel both more expansive and more intimate simultaneously than the 30th anniversary special which was fun but flawed by all of those realities. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return is a surprisingly affective first issue, and if continues in its pursuit of foregrounding the melancholy and conflicting emotions of facing ones youth, it has the chance to be something special.
The Great DCAU Rewatch: UNLOCKED!
The other big news to share today is that I’ve begun to unlock FULL entries of the DCAU Rewatch! Now that I’ve gotten nearly a full season of Batman The Animated Series in the can, I will be unlocking an older entry each week, alongside the new episodes. I’ll continue sharing short previews via this newsletter, and will begin adding an addendum to the end of those announcing which episode is unlocked. This will give more people a chance to read the full commentary and analysis without having to become a paid member. But if you’d like to support the Patreon, you’ll get access to the full backlog and new entries six months before the general public. As of today, the first two entries looking back on Batman the Animated Series are available totally free.
Speaking of Power Rangers, I drafted up a fill pitch outline for what would make a great comic book series, based entirely on looking at the toys I have on my shelf. If anybody knows anybody at Boom, can you arrange a call? It’s a very good pitch.