After two stellar crossover adventures, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are teaming up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles once more, and the two beloved franchises look to be just as magical a team the third time around. This combination has developed into its own universe at this point, and it leads to a more organic story that actually manages to deliver unexpected twists along the way because you’re already so invested. The crossover’s third entry is off to an excellent start, but after that ending, the next few issues could easily be even better.
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As opposed to just one-off team-ups, writer Ryan Parrott has crafted a series of crossover adventures that build atop one another and continue to add new layers to both franchises along the way. The latest series picks things up with the story already in play, as the Power Rangers and Turtles work as a team to combat the newly formed alliance of Lord Zedd and Shredder, which is proving to be a formidable combination.
It’s a joy watching these characters interact with each other and discover similar souls throughout their journey. Pairings like Donatello and Billy and Leonardo and Tommy make all the sense in the world, but it’s also fun to see less expected combinations like Tommy and Raphael take the spotlight. The same goes for Lord Zedd and Shredder, who make quite the villainous pair and yet also seem primed to turn on each other at any moment. It’s a betrayal you know is coming, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling.
Illustrator Vincenzo Federici, colorist Raul Angulo, and letterer Ed Dukeshire bring the best out of both teams, and while there is an intensity and stakes to this adventure, the team knows when to have some fun and make something absurd pop off the page to keep things balanced. Case in point, every single scene involving Warbunny, who, despite his bunny-themed looks, still manages to pose a threat.
Equally as impressive are the action sequences in the latter half of the issue, and the lettering work is especially phenomenal throughout these throwdowns. It’s a treat to see different combinations of Rangers and Turtles working in tandem against an army of foot soldiers and Putties, though the book saves one of its most shocking moments for last.
We’re not going to get into that here for spoiler reasons, but suffice it to say that this will leave a considerable lasting impact on both teams, just in different ways, and shifts the tone from the first two quite a bit. If the scene isn’t a red herring of some kind, it could really shake up the dynamic of the series moving forward, but it wouldn’t be anything but pure shock value if the last two entries hadn’t done such a fantastic job of fleshing out the world and the two beloved teams at the center of it.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is off to a wonderful start, but with how things are going, the potential for the series to get even better is through the roof.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
What did you think of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
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