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Power Rangers Reboot
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
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Power Rangers: Ninja Steel
Saban's Go Go Power Rangers
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/ Teenage Mutant Ninja
Power Rangers: Battle For the Grid
Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid
Power Rangers Necessary Evil Team Talks Big Reveals, Rangers, Villains, and More
By Matthew Aguilar - June 26, 2019 09:00 am EDT
Power Rangers Necessary Evil is finally here, and there's quite a bit to process as the new status quo takes hold. After Shattered Grid and Beyond the Grid the White Ranger takes center stage, but he isn't the only new addition or big change. You probably have a few questions regarding the issue after giving it a read, and we've got you covered, as ComicBook.com had the chance to talk to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers writer Ryan Parrott and BOOM! Studios senior editor Dafna Pleban all about the first issue of Necessary Evil, the big revelations contained within the issue, and what those mean going forward. There are big spoilers coming for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #40, so if you haven't read it yet you've been warned.
One of the things fans knew going in was that the White Ranger would be taking the leadership position on the team. That's indeed what happens, and the White Ranger version of Tommy was the perfect way to get this new arc moving in a fun but classic direction.
"I think we knew we wanted to come back with a bang, coming out of Beyond the Grid, what would be a good sort of iconic moment or just not an iconic moment but sort of a, what would be a way to return in a way that would get everybody excited? And I remember looking back at Mighty Morphin #0, and how it was sort of about the arrival of the Green Ranger to the team, and so when we were looking at it, we were like, 'you know what? We have this great opportunity, we're going to bring back the original Rangers to the series.' We can do the exact same thing, we'll just sort of bring back the White Ranger and show how his arrival on the team changed the personality of the team and how everybody had to deal with it, and so the idea of Tommy jumping from the Green Ranger to the White Ranger and having new powers it seemed like it was an interesting sort of parallel too, so it just felt like the right spot to drop in and announce the return of the Rangers that we want in the series."
(Photo: BOOM! Studios)
Fans also quickly learn that not only is Tommy the leader but he's leading a team with three new Rangers, though fans will instantly recognize them. That's because Aisha, Rocky, and Adam are now official members of the team, and they are definitely bringing some new energy to the book.
"The last page of the issue, we knew that we wanted to play with the destination of Jason and Trini and Zack and therefore doing that meant that we needed to bring in new Rangers to do that," Parrott said. "And so we started bringing in the Stone Canyon Team, which is such a great thing because it brings brand new voices to the team and it brings a new point of view and like I really enjoyed doing in Go Go Power Rangers, I really love getting the flesh out all of the original characters in new ways. I was really excited about doing that with the Stone Canyon Group so for me, it was just part of bringing in some new characters and see if we can expand on them in the same way that we have in the previous books. They just bring a new voice and new aesthetic to the team which is a lot of fun."
Fans also discover that there's a new villain in town, and it's none other than Lord Zedd himself. Visually Zedd is drastically different from Rita, but they will also differ quite a bit in how Parrott approaches their histories and backstories.
"Well it's hard to humanize a guy that doesn't have any skin on him, but I should probably try (laughs). No, Rita was, Rita had her own story with Go Go," Parrott said. "We actually found a lot of...we dug deep into who she was and obviously her relationship with her parents and just sort of her relationship with her minions and so forth."
"But with Lord Zedd he's a different type of villain and we've, Dafna and I have had a lot of conversations about this," Parrott said. "About trying to find a way to make him... to separate him from Rita. I don't want to make him a male version of Rita. I want to find out why he does the things that he does. The way that he treats the people underneath him and the way that he approaches his attacks on the Rangers. So for me, it's been a lot more of a tactical understanding of him. How is he more terrifying, how is he more dangerous, and sort of digging into that and really trying to apply that to everything that he does. He is such an iconic and such a visually compelling villain that, I'm not saying we won't get into who he was down the line, but the current version is more of explaining how he works and how he operates."
Those are far from the only revelations in the issue, but the issue saves one of its biggest for the very last page. That's when we find out that Jason, Trini, and Zack are not at a Peace Summit, but instead are still Rangers and are on a different mission, directly dealing with one of the most notorious changes in the original television series.
"I will tell you this," Parrott said. "From the very, very beginning one of the things that always bothered me, well not bothered me, but one of the things that has always intrigued me was why the original trio left the team in the story and went to do a Peace Conference. I never understood that decision. I never understood that move and so when we started to dig into the ramifications of Shattered Grid and how we could change the status quo but also open up things and explore what happened coming out of it, this was one of those options."
Those suits are also brand new, courtesy of artist Daniele Di Nicuolo. "Yes, those are new designs," Parrott said. "Daniele did a wonderful job, and you will learn a lot about what Jason, Trini, and Zack have been up to in the next issue. That's key."
"I don't want to give up too much, but it will obviously answer a lot of questions for those new ones and it will be one of the major forces going forward in the series so I can not wait for you guys to see what that is. I'm really excited for you specifically to read it because we'll get to talk more about it in the future and it's a big deal and it's a big shift in canon but it's something we've been really excited about from the beginning."
"And we will also kind of explore how those characters reach those decisions and how they came to be where you see them at the end of issue #40 through Go Go as well," Pleban said.
"Yes, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is gonna show you obviously what is going on with the new team and obviously what's going on with the original trio and their Ranger team and also Go Go's going to actually show you how they got there," Parrott said. "What the actual ramifications of what came right out of Shattered Grid, how we changed the team and how it changed who they are and everything that came forth. So it's sort of like how we got there. The how we got there moment will be dug up. They will be very connected. They're very connected issue to issue and it's been a lot of work, but I'm really happy with it, and it's really fun and I hope you like it."
"It's very similar to what we did with Go Go and the main series," Pleban said. "The first round of this idea, the main series started with the Green Ranger joining the team and then Go Go explored what it was like before the Green Ranger and kind of bringing those characters kind of to a point and same thing, we are using Go Go in a very similar kind of capacity because I really believe that the strength of what Ryan was able to do with that book of emotionally what brings these characters to make the decisions that they do and we get to live with that."
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #40 is in comic stores now, and stay tuned for even more from our interview with Ryan Parrott and Dafna Pleban. As always you can also hit me up @MattAguilarCB for all things Power Rangers!
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