I am back for another week of reviews for comics hitting your local shop this Wednesday. There's a bunch of fun stuff out this week so let's not waste any more time. Read on to find out what I thought about some of this week's new books with pictures.
Disclaimer: I received advance copies of all comics featured this week courtesy of their individual publishers.
Opinions are my own.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45 (BOOM! Studios)
Ryan Parrott, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Walter Baiamonte
The big event that was hyped with this issue was the Omega Rangers vs. Lord Zedd... which lasts for three pages and ends in a joke. I guess parents complained that he was too scary? After that is a lot of character driven stuff, some of the best of the arc.
Now that the two teams have a moment talk, things do not go well. Kiya gets one look at Tommy and has a Drakkon flashback. Trini and Zack calm her down and return to the ship while Jason goes to speak with Zordon. The big Z is mad that the Omega's beat Lord Zedd which is like... a good thing? He doesn't quite say that it creates a power vacuum, which I would understand, instead a bit more focused on the main team being cheated out of experience points.
And then Tommy asks Jason for advice on how to lead because he just got stuck with the job when the last guy - Jason - left on short notice. Most of this issue utilizes some pretty decent dramatic irony, pulling our strings because we know who the Omega Rangers are and the Mighty Morphiners don't.
I wasn't sure where this arc was going, but with these two teams finally getting some screen time together - plus another quick scene with the conscious Steel Canyon trio - things are getting back to what Parrott did best on the original Go Go run: smaller, personal character moments. Although it is super weird how much time is spent in helmets. I get why the Omega's can't go helmetless but the others have no excuse. It's not like they can't breath. They're on the moon.
I've been critical - mostly confused - during Necessary Evil, but I dug this issue more than most. And I didn't get confused between this book or Go Go, so that's a plus!
Rugrats: The Last Token (BOOM! Studios)
Pranas T. Naujokaitis, Maurizia Rubino
Stu and Drew have taken the babies to the local arcade for a relaxing day of pizza and games. But when the arcade’s token stock goes down to one, a frenzy breaks loose. Every kid is out for the golden coin and the final game. It’ll be up to Tommy and the gang to march the one token across the floor to the fabled volcano arcade machine, told to yield a stream of tokens if you win.
I haven't been reading the Rugrats comics, but I was excited to check this one out. Katrina and I recently finished rewatching the entire original run of Rugrats so my interest in the series was rejuvenated. Plus I love games.
Based on the cover I thought this was going to have a dungeon crawling RPG vibe where the kids imagine the arcade as a fantasy world and go to different fantasy locations. It sort of is, but it's mostly a Lord of the Rings parody.
This felt out of place to me. Most people associate Lord of the Rings with books and movies. I guess the tropes of wizards and warriors go hand in hand with gaming in general, but they don't particularly lend themselves to a specific story to be parodied? Although it didn't have to be a parody, it could've just been an original adventure through different worlds inspired by different games.
While the story does play out like Fellowship of the Ring and ends with a Mount Doom battle, the middle actually takes a different turn with a pirate battle and then a sci-fi laser shootout. There's also a brief interlude that parodies the Hobbit instead? That came out of nowhere.
And as always, the best parts of any Rugrats story is the parents subplot. Here, Stu is depressed that the Chuck E. Cheese clone isn't how he remembers it and tries to change that by fixing up the animatronic mouse band.
Focus on Lord of the Rings aside, this was a great standalone story. I love all the little gaming references to arcades that put the focus on tickets and prizes instead of the games. It was an extra dose of nostalgia in a comic based on a show that premiered when I was 2 months old.
Rugrats: The Last Token will hit your local comic shop this Wednesday. Click here to pre-order a paperback copy and click here to get the Kindle edition.
Let me know what comics you're picking up in the comments below. Happy reading!
Rugrats: The Last Token (BOOM! Studios)
Pranas T. Naujokaitis, Maurizia Rubino
Stu and Drew have taken the babies to the local arcade for a relaxing day of pizza and games. But when the arcade’s token stock goes down to one, a frenzy breaks loose. Every kid is out for the golden coin and the final game. It’ll be up to Tommy and the gang to march the one token across the floor to the fabled volcano arcade machine, told to yield a stream of tokens if you win.
I haven't been reading the Rugrats comics, but I was excited to check this one out. Katrina and I recently finished rewatching the entire original run of Rugrats so my interest in the series was rejuvenated. Plus I love games.
Based on the cover I thought this was going to have a dungeon crawling RPG vibe where the kids imagine the arcade as a fantasy world and go to different fantasy locations. It sort of is, but it's mostly a Lord of the Rings parody.
This felt out of place to me. Most people associate Lord of the Rings with books and movies. I guess the tropes of wizards and warriors go hand in hand with gaming in general, but they don't particularly lend themselves to a specific story to be parodied? Although it didn't have to be a parody, it could've just been an original adventure through different worlds inspired by different games.
While the story does play out like Fellowship of the Ring and ends with a Mount Doom battle, the middle actually takes a different turn with a pirate battle and then a sci-fi laser shootout. There's also a brief interlude that parodies the Hobbit instead? That came out of nowhere.
And as always, the best parts of any Rugrats story is the parents subplot. Here, Stu is depressed that the Chuck E. Cheese clone isn't how he remembers it and tries to change that by fixing up the animatronic mouse band.
Focus on Lord of the Rings aside, this was a great standalone story. I love all the little gaming references to arcades that put the focus on tickets and prizes instead of the games. It was an extra dose of nostalgia in a comic based on a show that premiered when I was 2 months old.
Rugrats: The Last Token will hit your local comic shop this Wednesday. Click here to pre-order a paperback copy and click here to get the Kindle edition.
Let me know what comics you're picking up in the comments below. Happy reading!
