Well, time to review Issue #4 of Godzilla vs. the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers II. Will things pick up now that the comic has finally gotten around to introducing the Kaiju Rangers? Let's find out! It certainly can't get any wor--Anyway...
Fully morphed with their brand new kaiju powers, the Rangers defend the Command Center from Rita and Astronema's army, tearing through the Putties and Quantrons with ease. When faced with the monsters leading the attack, the Rangers use their new kaiju abilities to effortlessly overwhelm them. In the meanwhile, the White Ranger and Jet Jaguar have snuck aboard Astronema's Dark Fortress in order to rescue the other Power Rangers that Rita has captured from throughout the multiverse. Just as they discover the captured Rangers' Power Coins, Goldar makes his presence known, quickly overpowering the two heroes. In the nick of time, Tommy arrives, now the Green Godzilla Ranger, and defeats Goldar with an atomic blast.
Back on Earth, the Kaiju Rangers decide to finish their foes and combine their weapons into the Power Blaster, but Rita makes four of the monsters grow before they can be blasted. The Rangers board their new Kaiju Zords and make short work of the monsters. On the Dark Fortress, Tommy, the White Ranger, and Jet Jaguar are detected, setting off an alarm. Realizing they need a distraction, Tommy summons the Godzillazord. As the Kaiju Zords finish off the monsters, the Kaiju Psycho Rangers arrive. With the Psychos threatening the Command Center, the Rangers bring their new Zords together and form the Kaiju Megazord.
...No, really, that's it, that's the entire issue.
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| The Kaiju Zords spring into action. |
It is insane to me how lackluster this issue is when by all accounts it should've been the coolest one yet. It gives the Power Rangers powers and Zords based on Toho kaiju - a concept that has lived in fans' minds for decades, a concept that should be awesome - and somehow the whole thing just comes off as unbelievably "meh." I can't quite place my finger on exactly why the idea fails, or what could've been done differently to make it work, but the fact that Cullen Bunn and Baldemar Rivas have made "Godzilla-powered Power Rangers" boring... It's actually kind of impressive.
Now, before I get too far into things, I feel like we need to delve into the issue's biggest problem, something you yourself may have even noticed while reading my summary of this issue... GODZILLA ISN'T IN IT. He isn't even mentioned. Yes, after three whole issues of Godzilla just being there without contributing much plot-wise, Bunn fixes that problem by simply not having him in this issue AT ALL. Boy, I sure do love it when one half of a crossover is completely absent for an entire issue of said crossover! What Bunn was thinking with this move, I have no idea. I understand wanting to let the new Kaiju Zords have their moment to shine without Godzilla poking his nose in, but to remove him entirely is insane. For the life of me, I can't understand the logic behind this decision. The only way this would be acceptable is if there was also an issue that focused on Godzilla and completely lacked the Rangers, but with only the final issue left, I think it's safe to say that's not what's going to be happening. Or perhaps have Godzilla be captured by Rita and Astronema and the Rangers need their new kaiju powers in order to rescue him before the two villains use his powers for evil. Something to make his absence reasonable and story-driven, as opposed to just... He isn't here.
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| Tommy Oliver as the Godzilla Ranger. The dorsal plate replacing the diamond on his golden Dragonshield (Godzillashield?) is a nice touch. The clawed boots are a bit goofy and unnecessary, though. |
Speaking of characters missing from this issue: The Kaiju Psycho Rangers. After being the main threat for the entire series thus far, they are for some reason completely absent from Rita and Astronema's grand final attack on the Command Center, only remembering to show up at the very end of the book. As such, this leaves the job of fighting the Kaiju Rangers and being the first foes they use their new powers against to... random old monsters from the TV show. And what lackluster foes they are. Goo Fish from Season 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Admiral Abominator from Power Rangers Zeo, and Horror Bull and Batarax from Power Rangers In Space aren't even among the toughest of monsters from the franchise, the huge threats usually reserved for season premieres, sixth Ranger debuts, team ups, and season finales. They are ordinary, filler episode monsters, ones that are just tough enough to give their respective Rangers a decent fight before being taken out. As such, in order to show off the Rangers' new kaiju powers and Zords, they are put up against ordinary monsters of the week that they were already capable of beating with their original powers. Now, in his head, Bunn may have been imagining this scene as a big action sequence with lots of cool fight choreography and flashy special effects. And, if this were an actual Super Sentai/Power Rangers episode, that kind of sequence could theoretically make up for the monsters being laughable threats to the Rangers. There have been plenty of fight scenes where the Rangers come in as a team and wipe the floor with a big group of monsters, but it works because the scene is fun and exciting to watch. But this is not an actual live action Super Sentai/Power Rangers episode with stunt men, cool fight choreography, and flashy special effects. It's a few still images on a page. And the artwork is being done by Baldemar Rivas. Whatever fight scene Bunn was picturing in his head does not come across at all in the final product. And this being the big debut of the Kaiju Rangers makes this blasé execution even worse.
Also, and I freely admit that this might potentially be nitpicking, but it bothered me: Why do the Kaiju Rangers have the exact same Power Weapons as the MMPR? They're not even redesigned to be more monstrous-looking or anything. Actually, upon taking a second look, they are redesigned to be more monstrous-looking... Well, the Power Sword and seemingly the Power Bow are, at least. The Power Axe, Power Lance, Power Daggers, and Dragon Dagger all look the same as before. Honestly, this might even be worse. Either redesign them all or leave them all the same. Don't half-ass it and only change some of them.
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| The Kaiju Rangers form and prepare to fire the Kaiju Power Blaster. |
The other main sequence going on in this issue - Tommy, the White Ranger, and Jet Jaguar breaking into the Dark Fortress - fares a little better than the fight at the Command Center, but not by a lot. We're just thrown into the scene with no build up - Why this had to be kept a secret instead of just "Tommy, White Ranger, Jet Jaguar, you three go to the Dark Fortress and rescue the captured Rangers" is beyond me. By the end of this issue, they still haven't located the Rangers captured from throughout the multiverse (so it's either going to take up way too much space in the next issue, or it'll be dealt with so quickly you'll wonder why they even bothered with it in the first place), but they do locate their power sources... which are all Power Coins. To clarify for the uninitiated, not all Ranger teams use Power Coins as the source of their powers. Some use crystals, others use swords stuck in a magic stone a la Excalibur, and others still use small devices powered by special fuel created by the government. The fact that all the Rangers captured by Rita use Power Coins is just lazy and reeks of "Mighty Morphin worship" (similar to the phenomenon of G-1 fans for Transformers, or those who only acknowledge the first 150/151 Pokémon) which, as a fan of Power Rangers and even Mighty Morphin Power Rangers specifically, gets rather tiring.
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| The Power Coins of all the captured Rangers, not a Zeo Crystal or Energem in sight. And don't even get me started on those bodies... |
We finally get an answer as to the whereabouts of Goldar, Scorpina, and Finster... Well, the whereabouts of Goldar, at least. He's apparently been here the whole time, because "you didn't think Rita would launch a new scheme without [him] at her side, did you?" Despite the fact that he hasn't once fought the Rangers this entire series (and he is definitely not known as a great thinker, so fighting is literally all he's good for), wasn't leading the assault on the Command Center, and hasn't even been standing around in the background while Rita and Astronema argue with each other. Still no hint as to where Finster and Scorpina are. And now, with the train of thought "you didn't think [villain] would launch a new scheme without [their second-in-command] at [their] side, did you?" having been brought up by the comic, we have an entirely new question to ask: Where is Ecliptor in all this? Astronema's fiercely loyal and protective general and essentially her adoptive father, Ecliptor wouldn't dare let Astronema mess around with Rita and giant monsters and the multiverse without being there to watch over her. And sure, it's the multiverse, maybe this Astronema doesn't have an Ecliptor, but that's just lazy and dumb and I don't like it.
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| Ecliptor: Astronema's second-in-command, field marshal, bodyguard, advisor, confidant, and adoptive father. Where is he? |
Speaking of Astronema, the tension between her and Rita reaches its peak in this issue, but unlike Rita betraying the Controller of Planet X in the previous series, here it's just Astronema becoming exasperated with the witch's behavior. The reason for the split is equally unimpressive; whereas in the first series Rita was portrayed as power mad and careless, discarding the Controller when he couldn't keep up with her ambition, here she's portrayed as an incompetent child who can't do anything right, with Astronema simply frustrated that she has to take care of everything on her own, like an annoyed babysitter. Astronema was shown to be a ruthless and unforgiving villainess in Power Rangers In Space, more than willing to discard and torture minions who failed her, so why is she constantly putting up with Rita's failures? The comic even went out of its way in an earlier issue to point out that this Rita isn't the same Rita from Astronema's universe, so there's literally nothing keeping her from kicking Rita out or killing her or whatever. Unlike before, this schism between villains feels forced and neither of them come off looking all that great. The fact that Rivas insists on consistently drawing Rita like a horrifying reimagination of Eric Cartman certainly doesn't help one take their scenes very seriously.
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| Goldar vs. Jet Jaguar: What should be a fun match up is ruined by Rivas' rubber hose-esque style. |
And on the subject of drawing Rita like Eric Cartman, we may as well get on with discussing Rivas' art for the issue. Goldar and Jet Jaguar face off briefly, but instead of this being a highlight of the issue (if not the entire sequel series), it's marred by Rivas' messy, stretchy artwork. It's also disappointingly one-sided, with Goldar overpowering the robot pretty much immediately. As for the fight between the Kaiju Rangers and the monsters at the Command Center, due to Rivas attempting to convey frenetic action and speed and motion, everyone is portrayed in the usual stretchy, oddly-proportioned manner, and as such, we never get that good a look at the brand new Kaiju Rangers that the comic has been building up to for three issues, and anyone unfamiliar with the monsters from the TV show isn't going to really understand what they look like, either. The grand debut of the Godzillazord - Which, just by saying that word, should be one of the coolest things in all of fiction - is unfortunately completely bungled. Not necessarily by Rivas' style this time, but by the way the panel is drawn. Instead of some grand, full-page reveal (such as, for example, the final shot of Cybersaur in Godzilla King of the Monsters #1 of the Dark Horse comics), the Zord is in the middle of a huge explosion as it stands atop the Dark Fortress. Due to standing on an object in space, the Godzillazord is drawn at an odd angle. Due to standing behind the thing that is exploding, a good deal of the Godzillazord is obscured by smoke and debris. And due to the explosion surrounding it, what is visible of the Godzillazord is mostly colored orange by the light. So we get this big reveal of a Godzillazord, a concept that has existed in fans' minds for ages, and we can barely even see it. Lastly, there is sadly no attempt at drawing a combination sequence for the Kaiju Megazord, and instead it is done with some swirling colors, making it look like the Kaiju Zords simply teleport together. And sure, a Megazord combination might be tricky to convey in the still art of a comic book, but it's been done in previous Power Rangers comics. It's not impossible.
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| The mighty Godzillazord... Maybe. Possibly. It's kind of hard to tell. |
In the interest of fairness and giving credit where credit is due, however, I will give Rivas this: The close up of Goldar after he makes his entrance in the Dark Fortress looks amazing. It actually looks like Goldar, with no bizarre, cartoony proportions, the detailing is perfect, and the glowing effect in his eyes makes him look suitably sinister. Honestly, with no exaggeration, this one panel might legitimately be the best piece of art in the entire series thus far.
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| Goldar's ugly mug and quite possibly Baldemar Rivas' best piece of art in this entire comic. |
As for covers, this issue we have the main one from Rivas, featuring the Dragon-on-Godzilla's-shoulders-Zord gazing up into the sky and roaring as what seems to be a nuclear explosion is going on behind them. The next cover is by Alex Sanchez and Patricio Delpeche, featuring a profile view of all six Kaiju Rangers' helmets as they stand in a line. While nothing too thrilling, it does bring to mind one of the posters for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995). Lastly, Matt Frank brings us a cover of all six Kaiju Rangers leaping into action, gathered near the Dragon-on-Godzilla's-shoulders-Zord as Godzilla roars a challenge at whatever the seven of them are looking at. While none of the comics are super accurate to the content of the issue - the Dragon-on-Godzilla's-shoulders-Zord does not make an appearance here (since Godzilla isn't in the issue as previously mentioned) and oddly none of the covers feature the Kaiju Zords or the Kaiju Megazord - I guess I'd go with Matt Frank's if I had to choose one. I prefer his style over that of the other two and it's the only one to feature Godzilla and the Rangers, with both of them wearing armor from the other's franchise, which is fun.
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| Left: The teaser poster for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995). Right: Alex Sanchez and Patricio Delpeche's cover for Issue #4. |
So, here we are, the penultimate issue of Godzilla vs. the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers II and, well... It certainly is an issue.
Things are still suddenly happening without much build up and even though this is the grand debut of the Kaiju Rangers, their first fight doesn't really feel all that different from any of the previous fights against groups of old monsters in the first three issues. The Kaiju Psycho Rangers feel like an afterthought in this issue, as if the comic forgot they were there... And it DID actually forget that Godzilla was there. I get the feeling there must be some big reveal planned for the next issue, but honestly, I can't really bring myself to get excited about it.
...I can't believe I'm saying this, but at this point, I'm just looking forward to the final issue so this series can be over and done with already.
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| The Kaiju Megazord, ready to finish off the Kaiju Psycho Rangers (and this sequel). |
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