Going into 2022 one of the comic books that I have been highly anticipating is Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from BOOM! Studios and IDW. As soon as it was announced it felt like we were getting a dream match-up both fans of Godzilla and Power Rangers franchises wanted to always see. Now I will not fake by saying I’m a massive Godzilla fan. I would definitely fall on more of the casual side when it comes to Godzilla having watched some of the movies growing up and enjoyed the Legendary Pictures Godzilla movies. But when it comes to the Power Rangers I’ve always been a big fan of the franchise even if its been more than a decade since I last watched an episode. The BOOM! Studios comics definitely brought me back into the Power Rangers franchise. So with that said let’s get right into the mega crossover event Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1.
Creative Team
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Freddie Williams II
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Synopsis
Tommy Oliver as the Green Ranger finds Rita Repulsa and her minions raiding a tomb and calls Zordon to send the other Power Rangers to help. Before the other Power Rangers can appear Rita begins activating a Multiversal Focus gem. The Green Ranger jumps in to stop Rita but must first face off against Goldar, Scorpina, and the Putty Patrol. This gives Rita enough time to add the Multiversal Focus gem to her staff and activate a portal they all go through.
Rita and her minions land on another world’s version of Angel Grove that’s been destroyed. They look up to see that Angel Grove has been destroyed because Godzilla and Megalon are fighting in the city.
Rita notices an spaceship in the sky and teleports her group inside it. Inside the spaceship Rita finds the Xilien. Rita, Goldar, and Scorpina easily take out Supreme Controller of Planet X and the Xilien.
Back in the Power Rangers Universe, at the Command Center, Jason Lee Scott, Kimberly Hart, Billy Cranston, Zack Taylor, and Trini Kwan tell Zordon they only found remnants of a battle in the tomb Tommy was in. Zordon is able to pick up the dimensional energy to trace where Tommy’s energy signature is at. He then prepares to teleport the Power Rangers to Tommy’s location as he thinks Tommy will need them immediately given the danger he is sensing.
Back in Godzilla’s universe, Rita has taken over the Xilien spaceship and intimidates the Supreme Controller of Planet X to join forces with her.
Elsewhere, Tommy recovers from being teleported to another universe. Seeing Godzilla stomping around Tommy immediately uses his Dragon Dagger to summon the Dragonzord.
Seeing the Dragonzord appear Rita uses her sorcery to take control of Godzilla, much to Supreme Controller of Planet X surprise. Rita then orders Godzilla to destroy the Dragonzord.
Initially Tommy is able to have the Dragonzord’s firepower overwhelm Godzilla. Toughing through the initial barrage of attacks Godzilla lands a powerful tail strike that damages the Dragonzord. Godzilla follows up by blasting the Dragonzord with his Atomic Breath attack.
As Godzilla lifts the severely damaged Dragonzord over its head the other Power Rangers arrive and immediately summon the Dinozords. End of issue.
Review
Cullen Bunn and Freddie Williams very much understood the assignment with a comic book titled Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. There is no need for a big explanation for why these two franchises are having their universes crossing over. Let’s just get right to what fans want to see and that is exactly what Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Keeping the explanation simple for how these two franchises crossover was the best move that Bunn and Williams could’ve made. The more time you spend on explaining how something like the Multiversal Focus gem works the more time you are giving the reader to question what is going on. Simplifying things so that Tommy Oliver’s Green Ranger, Rita Repulsa and her minions teleport to Godzilla’s universe by the fifth page of the story was the right call.
From there Bunn was able to use elements from both universes to put over the threats that the Power Rangers are going to be going up against. I especially appreciated that Bunn used the characterization of Rita Repulsa from BOOM! Studios comic books for this portrayal of the character. She and her minions certainly had their over the top elements thanks to Williams designs. But when it came to there actions Rita, Goldar, and Scorpina as major threats that brought a new level of chaos to Godzilla’s universe.
That said, as someone that is not familiar with everything about the Godzilla franchise the Xilien’s did not match up to how Rita was put over. It didn’t make a whole lot of senses that after thoroughly defeating the Xilien that Rita would offer the Supreme Controller of Planet X a chance to team-up. Given her portrayal up to that moment I expected Rita to demand Supreme Controller of Planet X to just become one of her new minions rather than equal ally.
Though that is not something that interfered with how exciting of a moment it was to see Godzilla vs Dragonzord thanks to this alliance between Rita and Supreme Controller of Planet X being formed. I’m honestly surprised that we got this fight in the first issue of Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Not only do we immediately get this fight but Bunn and Williams answer the question of who would win in a fight by having Godzilla dominate the Dragonzord. It was all one giant spectacle that more than delivered on the promise of what a Godzilla vs Dragonzord fight would look like.
What made this fight even better was how Bunn and Williams had cuts to Tommy’s reaction to how it all went down. Seeing Tommy as the Green Ranger able to order the Dragonzord to use its weapons to get the upper hand early was a good tone setter. From there Williams is able to show us how Tommy went into despair as his helmet cracked due to the force of Godzilla’s overwhelming attacks on the Dragonzord. The little touches of just seeing Tommy’s eyes added to how epically dominate Godzilla was.
This all made the Power Rangers entrance in the final page deliver the dramatic ending that leaves you hyped to see what happens next. With how the Dragonzord so overwhelmingly dominated by Godzilla it’ll be interesting to see how the Power Rangers will handle their fight with the Dino Megazord. That sense of unknown as to how that fight will go and what will happen next is exactly what you want after finishing the final page.
Now all of that said, as much as I enjoyed the giant spectacle that Williams made out of Godzilla, Dragonzord, and Megalon his character designs for other characters didn’t hit the same way. There was a plastic look to the Power Rangers did not work for what’s supposed to be simple designs. It seemed like Williams wanted to add more detail to the Power Rangers designs so he ended up making their helmets look like they had wrinkles in them. It did not get in the way of the story at all but was noticeable at moments.
Final Thoughts
Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #1 delivers exactly what fans of both franchises want to see. Cullen Bunn and Freddie Williams II understood the assignment and gave us the giant spectacle fans want to see. If you are a fan of Godzilla or Power Rangers absolutely pick up this comic book right away.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
