Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Lost Chronicles, Vol. 1

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Lost Chronicles

by Kyle Higgins, Tom Taylor, Terry Moore

Collects for the first time all the short stories including in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Annuals from 2016 and 2017. 

Morph into action with this collection of short stories from every corner of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers universe, from a trip to the carnival with Scorpina and Goldar, to the origins of Finster’s maniacal clay monsters, and a Black Ranger teamup like never before. These stories provide a depth and insight into the Power Rangers that is sure to excite every fan.

With stories written by Kyle Higgins (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Nightwing), Tom Taylor (Injustice), Marguerite Bennett (Batgirl), and more. Illustrated by superstar talents including Terry Moore (Rachel Rising), Rob Guillory (Chew), and Frazer Irving (Batman & Robin).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Science Fiction, Anthologies

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 8, 2018

Reviews

[Corban Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. I love myself some Mighty Morphins, and I've watched a lot more iterations of Power Rangers than I'd care to share, but I'd never read a graphic novel on them. It was pretty good! I liked the anthology for the mix of stories, some fragile, some deep; some tragic, some heroic. There wasn't exactly a common theme or anything and some of the short stories had a rather abrupt end to me, but it was still a pretty enjoyable reading experience.

*singing go-go power rangers to myself*

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is collection of short stories that mostly popped up in annuals from the main series. So inconsequential little stories. Some of them were fun especially the origin story of Rita's various minions but otherwise this can completely be skipped.

[Nico D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any anthology, this collection of shorts has work of varied quality, with the only unifying theme being that they are Power Rangers related stories. Tone is a major shift here, as some of the stories follow the wacky, kid-centric style of the show while others are darker, with a more mature bent. It can be a little jarring to go from a Mad TV styled Bulk and Skull romp to a moody character piece about one of the antagonists and their dark duty, but each story should probably be graded independently. In order:

A Week in the Life… is an excellent Jason-centric story written by master Power Rangers plotter Kyle Higgins and features gorgeous art. This brief character study was one of the highlights and a great start to the collection.

Unlockly Heroes is Bulk and Skull-centric and features a garish art style and plot ripped straight out of the 90s series. If Bulk and Skull are still your favorite characters, you’ll probably like this. I did not personally care for it—in tone, writing or art.

A Spot of Trouble focuses on my personal favorite ranger—Trini—with an appearance from second best ranger, Kimberly. (Though, I’ll admit, Jason is probably tied for second. Moving on…) Written by perennial favorite Marguerite Bennett, this has my absolute favorite art in the entire collection. Beautiful pastels and soft coloring gives the story a dreamlike quality, made even better with the almost Wonderland-esque presentation of the antagonist. The voices for Trini and Kimberly are excellently done, and this was another of my favorites.

Only The Strong gives us some backstory of Goldar, who like the source material oscillates from legitimate threat to bumbling buffoon. This leans more towards the former interpretation, and this story alone gives more personality and development to Goldar than 80% of the original series.

It’s Putty Time is a crudely drawn, almost webcomic gag-style story about a putty who is in love with Kimberly for Reasons™. It’s totally serviceable.

What Makes a Ranger is a little hard on the eyes but has decent enough—if not somewhat heavy-handed—writing and is a nice little filler story. Not among the best in the collection, but nowhere near the worst.

Search Party is a gorgeously animated and written origin to the alternate universe of Tommy Oliver’s corruption into the series Big Bad, Lord Drakkon. Written by Higgins (which is pretty much an assurance of quality) this short story gives us a brief glimpse into the ghosts which haunt Tommy after his manipulation by Rita, and puts a much more realistic spin on the idea of mind control and corruption than the original series ever did. Higgins take on Rita is always one of my favorites, casting her as sinister and dangerous—much more dark witch than villain of the week-sending goofball.

Trini’s Vacation is another Trini-centric tale (written by the always wonderful Tom Taylor), which makes me biased towards it, but it also has great art and a excellent narration. Trini gets to kick ass, take names, and be awesome while she does it. Even if Trini wasn’t the unequivocal Best, this is still one of the best stories in the collection.

Forever Mighty Morphin Black gives Zack some much needed focus. The biggest issue here is that it’s too damned short! This would make an excellent original graphic novel all on its own, and I’d love to see Zach (and Zach and Zach and…) interact with the different versions of Adam.

Perfect is the reason the collection first pinged my radar. An origin for oft-overlooked demon forger (‘artist’) Finster, this is easily the darkest and most R-rated story in the book. Hauntingly creepy art and excellent writing (with another terrifying incarnation of Rita acting as a voice of corruption) and a bitter, uncomfortable ending make this probably the best (and most talked about) story of the entire collection.

Sabrina’s Day Out puts the focus back on Scorpina and Goldar, and lets them go through a quick wacky adventure. The tone fits the original series more than, say, Perfect does, and the art and writing make it superior to Unlockly Heroes in almost every way. Goldar is drawn weirdly cute here, and I can’t get over it.

What Time Is It? has pretty solid art (though one horrific picture of Rita, as I imagine would be played by famed drag queen Divine, is forever burned into my mind’s eye) and a serviceable story, but lacks the strength of the better stories in the book.

Overall, there is a lot more of the good than bad here. The Jason and Trini tales, Lord Drakkon’s backstory, and Perfect is more than enough reason for me to recommend this book. Mighty Morphin Black and Only The Strong are also pretty enjoyable. I’ll be looking out for Volume 2 soon.

[Owen Townend · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic foray into 90's nostalgia proved very surprising. While I did watch Mighty Morphin Power Rangers religiously as a kid, it's one of the shows that I am very aware hasn't aged particularly well.

Rubber-suited monsters and blocky mech-suits aside, I really appreciated how Higgins and the other writers and artists involved in this comic book collection expanded the mythology, adding new dimension and pathos. Most of the stories are vibrant fun that flesh out the do-gooder teen troop but I really enjoyed the tales that gave the bad guys some humanity.

Unlucky Heroes is a tongue-in-cheek misadventure answering the question of what Bulk and Skull would do if they were Power Rangers. Ross Thibodeaux makes best use of the bumbling bullies with Rob Guillory accentuating the gawky madness with his energetic style.

It's Putty Time is a cute exploration of the wants and needs of the Putty warriors that the Power Rangers so often fought. James Kochalka brings one of the simple-minded creatures to tragic life whilst also exemplifying how gooey Kimberly Hart made viewers of the show.

Perfect by Trey Moore and Frazer Irving gives Finster a monochromatic origin that is much more compelling than it has any right to be. A dark night of the soul indeed.

This really is an eclectic mix of graphic stories about the Japanese-American children's TV series. I recommend it to other 90's kids who have a soft spot for 'Morphin' Time!'

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fell asleep reading this last night, and there were certainly some snoozers in this collection. However, there were also plenty of gems — a dark look at how Finster became a homicidal creator of monsters, a fun and funny haunt with Bulk and Skull as rangers (illustrated by Rob Guillory who I mostly know from Chew), and a really entertaining penultimate entry about that one time Scorpina and Goldar went undercover (kinda) to find out the Rangers’ darkest secret and instead ended up spending the day at a carnival. I love it.

[Simeon Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really solid collection of stories focusing on various characters and aspects of the PRU within the context of MMPR. Most of them were enjoyable but a few felt really out of place, overall though I'd say it's really worth any Power Rangers fans time, especially for stories like "A Week in the Life", "Only the Strong", "Trini's Vacation" and "Perfect".

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

TWO Trini-centered stories!!! About fricking time my girl is featured! The black rangers story was fun, the day in the life of a ranger was cute, and the Finster story was actually surprisingly moving.

[Tomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great little collection of short stories from the Power Rangers universe. A few of them are truly excellent, but most of them are just good. Thankfully there's really only two duds in this book and they're both quite short. If you're enjoying the series this is a fun little addition.

[Grant Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects the 2016 and 2017 Annuals.

Nice little fun one off stories for this series. I did really enjoy the one with them hunting for Tommy to try and save him before Rita got to him - only to have her get to him right before they did. Nice little touch to Lord Drakkon’s origin.

[Iconic Greatness · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a power ranger fan but all the short stories don't give it a chance to develop so its all pointless.
Each Chapter is its own story.
Each chapter is told more like reporting a situation that happened and that's it.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a collection of stand alone stories. Some fill in some back story and some are just goofy. The art is mixed with some stand outs including Dan Mora and the Trini story with the animals. At this point I am really invested in these characters and am having a ton of fun reading these.

[A.J. Garner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the stories were short and decent, but the Finister story was super dark. Decent quick read.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of one-shots from different authors and artists. It’s a cute collection, but not necessary.

[Brylliams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag of stories. Some good, some ok. Same with the art. Some even seem like fan art. Skip if you are not a completionist as most of the stories don't tie into the main series at all.

[♤Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encantaron estas historias cortas !!!!!!!

Me dio mucho sentimiento la historia de Finster!!!!

[Tim]

I read this as individual issues.

[Clare Moseley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the stories are silly and frivolous, but the origin of Finster... WOW. That was dark.

[ISMOTU · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun collection of stories from amazing creators ranging from silly to downright scary.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid little collection of shorts from a diverse lineup of artists and writers, with a few of them being some pretty big surprises. I hope this trend continues in future annuals.

[Taylor Harms · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obviously a collection of random short stories is going to be hit or miss. Unfortunately I found myself just wanted to be done with this one quickly. Is it worth a read as a power rangers fan? Sure. But will most likely never touch it again.

[Connor Parry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goldar’s and finster’s backstories are the only interesting part of this. Also all the black rangers teaming up was cool, wish they expanded on that.