by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor

Boom! Studios has kicked off “Shattered Grid”, the Power Rangers 25th Anniversary event, with an epic 25th issue of their hit comic series! ComicsOnline is pleased to share our new interview with writer Kyle Higgins (Nightwing, Batman Beyond 2.0) from WonderCon 2019.

Be warned, if you haven’t read issue #25 of Power Rangers, proceed with caution. SPOILERS!

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ComicsOnline: So Kyle, you just killed off the most beloved character in Power Rangers in history. Are you trying to put a target on your back? What was the thought going in?

Kyle Higgins: It’s all about the story and the narrative and the emotional fall out. There’s still a Tommy running around. He just happens to be old and evil. So there’s a story here and a plan in place. As far as the kick off to a big event like this where no ranger is safe, I really can’t thing of any way to show those stakes than what happens in Issue 25. 

CO: You’ve also said that Jen Scotts (Time Force) is one of your favorite characters as well. How is it bringing her in to interact with the Mighty Morphin era?

KH: It’s great. That’s my favorite part about writing this event, adding different Rangers in from different points in their timeline and letting them all interact with our Rangers, who are at the same point in their careers usually for most of the teams. It’s just a thing you don’t really get to see a lot in the show when they would do team up episodes just because it would take place after a Ranger’s career was over. They would come back, you know. So it’s a little different letting them all interact at the height of their powers. So Jen is now different, and what Jen brings to the story, and I don’t want to spoil anything else, but she’ll lay out what’s going on in Issue 26. And what she’s dealing with as a result of the opening of Issue 25 will color her going forward in the even as well.

CO: What is your personal favorite moment thus far in the series?

KH: The moment in Issue 25 where Tommy and Kim almost have their first kiss and end up reconnecting. The way it all plays out I was really proud of and happy with.

CO: Moving away from the comics, you just did your short (“Dark Prelude”) with Jason David Frank (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) and got to create your own Power Rangers film. Can you talk about your experience and putting that together?

KH: It was a blast. It was something that Jason and I had the idea for a while back and wanted to explore and Saban came on board and they were all about it. I just wanted to do something that was a celebration of Power Rangers and a tease for Shattered Grid and things to come. Actually, the film takes place in between scenes of Issue 26. So I actually wrote it and shot it to be kind of in cannon of the book as well. 

CO: Do you think Shattered Grid would lend itself well to animation?

KH: Yeah, I guess. I don’t think they’ve ever done an animated Power Rangers thing though, so I don’t know that that’s anything that’s on the docket. I think my focus is on telling the story I’ve set out to tell in the medium that I’m working in, which is comics. So anything beyond that is kind of not really on my radar right now. 

CO: Can you talk about the logistics behind going back and forth between Mighty Morphin and GoGo Power Rangers for this arc?

KH: Sure, GoGo introduces a character named the Ranger Slayer, who is Kimberly from Drakkon’s world. She’s under mind control by the “Bow of Darkness”. She shows up in the GoGo era for a very specific reason and because of the events of 25 and the way our world breaks, causality is affected. So Ryan and I get to play with these kind of pocket universes in a very different and interesting way. You’ll start to see how that interaction plays off each other in the next issues. 

CO: So not a spoiler question, but how far scripted are you?

KH: I’m writing issue 29 right now. But I have 29, 30, and the finale one shot fully broken.

CO: Any other projects you are working on right now?

KH: I have a new film called the Shadow Hours debuting on IGN on [March 26, 2018]. After debuts on IGN on Monday, it will be live on it’s own website theshadowhours.com so hopefully people will check it out. 

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Special thanks to Boom! Studios and Kyle Higgins for arranging this interview.

Check out our EXCLUSIVE “Morphin Training” video with Walter Emanuel Jones from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

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