Growing up watching Power Rangers was a truly interesting experience that's hard to explain to somebody that did not grow up inside of the phenomenon. There was nothing else like it.

Young kids became superheroes using martial arts prowess to battle evil cheap costume monsters that always ended in a Kaiju Battle between a Super Mecha and of course a Kaiju monster. With just a dash of elements from action movies, Kaiju films, Saved by the Bell, and even a little bit of He-Man thrown into the mix, the lovable evil, but often incompetent villain Rita was created. It was almost impossible not to be taken by its charm.

Today Power Rangers is a huge franchise that spans over 20 years and most fans have come to accept the common knowledge, or what has become common knowledge, that the show was originally something called Super Sentai. This knowledge has of course sparked countless debates over the years as to which was superior and which one fans should like the most.

Aside from all this argument though, which is commonplace within a fandom, there seems to be one thing that reins consistent amongst fans. That would be the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Often times this series is looked at as the best one in the franchise. You could say that this happens often within fandoms in general, such as people liking the first Back to the Future or original series of Robotech or so on and so forth. I myself have often theorized that it was not necessarily the greatness of that era, but rather how much time we got to spend with those kids and those costumes as opposed to the others in the series.

Of course you can always hear my opinions on the Sentai review but it's not what we're here to talk about.

Boom Studios also realized the potential of the original kids and have been producing a comic book by the name of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

The book starts exactly where the green with Evil series left off. Tommy's having trouble accepting the idea of joining the team as he was just trying to kill them a week ago, and has a feeling they're not over that. At the same time he continually has flashes of his past and glimpses of a future that never happened. Rita repulsa follows him around on his daily routine giving him crap for every decision that he makes, trying to keep him away from the teens. Is she a figment of his imagination? Is it just the beginning to a bigger problem?

Well the answer to that is a long process, but one worth looking into. One of the most interesting things about this book has been that it managed to not break the continuity that we understood, while at the same time updating Power Rangers to the modern day. Every single thing you think happened up until the end of green with evil can easily be accepted as full cannon in this comic book, while at the same time the kids now live in the present.

This means they were able to roll out devices like cell phones and YouTube and other concepts that exist in the modern-day, allowing certain characters to expand. This is uniquely interesting with the characters of bulk and skull, where they now actually have a YouTube show gaining popularity where they talk about the Power Rangers. Their show is definitely different from ours, but we won't critique them for it.

As time went on and one issue fed into the other, we were introduced to a Multiverse of Rangers. Hundreds of concepts came flooding in and finally allowed us to see that the biggest difference between this universe and the one that we grew up with watching TV was probably nothing more than the time that it took place. However, as the introduction of the Multiverse allowed us to suspend our disbelief and detach yourself from current continuity that we understood from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it allowed the writer, Kyle Higgins, to finally let loose.

He began to take the story in a new curve and allow the characters to develop along a path that was not determined by the original show. At the same time he utilize the idea of multiple universes to allow our characters to do crazy things, like team up with the Justice League and two members were sent to an alternate dimension where Tommy, as the Green Ranger, had actually won against the Power Rangers.

This character has come to be known as Lord drakkon. It has struck a chord so hard in the fandom that even Jason David Frank has John in a small stent inside of the roll for a commercial introducing shattered grid.

This finally brings us to why we're here in the first place. Is Shattered Grid any good?

I'm here to tell you that against the odds, Shattered Grid might very well be not just a good book as far as Power Rangers are concerned. Shattered Grid is a good comic book where comic books are concerned.

The Power Rangers of America have always been built and ready for superhero comics. Most of what they were here in America was super heroes to begin with. Taking that into account, they fell directly into comic books as soon as a serious writer took control. Once again, I'm going on and on, but I'm not giving you any real information. So with that aside, and my rambling finally subsiding, let's move on.

Shattered grid manages, in a single book, to deliver nods to continuity with characters like Ninjor being introduced. It creates powerful tension throughout the Multiverse by affecting multiple Ranger teams. The beginning of the book shows us the effects of Lord Drakkon on the Multiverse in both time and dimensions by introducing the time force rangers. It also manages to pull no punches, giving us what looks like the death of two characters right off the bat. It creates real feelings for Power Ranger fans that have been following the last 25 books and annuals by playing with the characters that we both know and that have been expanded upon in this comic line. It raises the stakes and shows us the Power Rangers were always meant for bigger things.

This book might very well be one of the most important events in Power Rangers history. For years we have use the Super Sentai footage to create a show that is captured the imagination of children and some adults around the world. It's single strength has also been its biggest single weakness. It is held back by the material that it uses to create its own show. This comic book is allowing the possibility for Power Rangers to step outside of forced footage continuity and tell stories of a superhero nature that expand this team and Power Rangers in general to heights they can never experience under the current format.

Let's also not forget Daniele Di Nicuolo and Walter Baiamonte for providing artwork that lends itself terrifically to the story. In fact it is through these two men that the question approaches us. Why not do Power Rangers as an animated series? Not just Mighty Morphin but the entire concept of Power Rangers at large.

I'm not going to go on and on about how great the book is, because honestly the biggest and highest praise I could possibly give it is simply this; Power Rangers Shattered Grid is the Final Crisis of the Power Rangers universe.

Fans hope that through this book some Executives can open their eyes and start pulling Power Rangers away from the Super Sentai footage. Inspiration from the footage is fine, but it's about time that we started doing our own show from start to finish. Animation could be a solid way to bring in every Ranger team that has ever existed. It could provide voice acting work to so many of the original cast members and allow a system of mentoring to take place for newer teams. In fact, the entire concept of a new Power Rangers animated series could be that while the team has its own problems to deal with, there are hundreds of Rangers out there. Allowing a new team to interact and meet up with elder characters such as are Mighty Morphin Power Rangers gives us infinite possibility. The Nostalgia of the show would garner in this fashion would be unprecedented. However, at the same time the power of a show like this because of its freedom for not being tied down to the original source material is also equally great. Old villains, new villains, old Heroes, new Heroes, and new stories all composing a series which can take us in any direction it chooses could help bring Power Rangers not just back into the mainstream, but to a spot of creative superhero storytelling that could very well change the standing of Power Rangers all together.

That however is just one fan's super nerd rant. As I have gotten back into Power Rangers over the years, in part due to the show, I have found myself both in love and disgusted by the material. If you have yet to try the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers boom Studio comic book, I advise that you get the graphic novels as soon as you possibly can and do not miss out on shattered grid as the first book has already promised a truly great comic book event. Both for comic books and the Power Rangers at Large. Congratulations to your creative team. you have taken a property to the next level with this project and I wish you all the benefits that come from this accomplishment.