ComicsOnline Exclusive: MMPR: The Return #4 – Review and Interview with Co-Writer Matt Hotson
by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor
We’ve finally made it. New Comic Book Day has arrived, and with it, Olivia Hart makes her full debut as the new Mighty Morphin Green Ranger! This new teenager with attitude arrives on the moon to save the day in the big finale of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return from BOOM! Studios. We needed a hero, and now we get to see what dreams are made of… (IYKYK).
For those of you who are just joining us, Power Rangers takes the WHAT IF… approach for a unique exploration of the original team in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return, a special 4-issue series from BOOM! Studios. The original Pink Ranger herself, Amy Jo Johnson, teamed up with co-writer Matt Hotson (Titans), Artist Nico Leon (Ms. Marvel), Colorist Dono Sanchez-Almara (Captain America), and Letterer Ed Dukeshire (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) to form a new creative team with attitude.
The mini-series comes to an end with a bang as Olivia launches her last ditch effort to save her mom (and her high school friends) from the evil Selena Repulsa. What will it take to stop the return of Rita? Olivia might not have the skills that her parents had, but she still manages to save the day and stop Selena’s machinations from coming to fruition. Knocking Selena out of Finster’s machine, Olivia inadvertently puts in motion a chain of events that leads to the return of… TOMMY! (Insert “Go Green Ranger” music here). The issue’s “Family Reunion” title was extremely accurate, as the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers get back to action for the final battle. With our heroes suited up in spandex for the first time in decades, evil doesn’t stand a chance… unless the bad guy also has a morpher…
It’s easy to say that expectations were high when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return was first announced. Amy Jo’s return to the franchise in this new medium was exciting to say the least, and her unique perspective and voice really resonates throughout the entirety of the story. The creative team ABSOLUTELY stuck the superhero landing for this special mini-series, and that last page will surely leave fans clamoring for more. This talented group of creators successfully managed to capture the magic of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and ensure that this truly was a SPECIAL event experience. Thankfully, the final chapter doesn’t feel so “final” as our favorite heroes are back together. It feels like the perfect new beginning, and we definitely need to know what happens next in this brave new world.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline is pleased to give Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #4 – 5 out of 5 times that no one will ever take them down (for the power lies on their siiiiide)! Hopefully we will get a special sequel announcement from our friends at BOOM! Studios during SDCC (or sooner), but until then…
ComicsOnline is pleased to announce another exclusive deep dive with Co-Writer Matt Hotson for the final(…?) issue of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return!
SPOILER ALERT! We really get into specifics of the issue, so make sure you are ready to dig deep. May the power protect you.
MS: Matt, thanks again for joining us again for Round 4. Let’s start off with Olivia making her grand entrance. It’s Kimberly & Tommy’s daughter to the rescue! Can you talk through breaking the story beats for her arrival on the Moon?
MH: Olivia Hart the new Green Ranger is here! BUT we didn’t want her to be a deus ex machina who comes out of nowhere to magically save the day. She has no training, no experience, and really no chance against someone like Selena Repulsa – however, her arrival is enough to spur on the original team. We loved juxtaposing Olivia’s heroic splash page finale entrance from issue 3 with the beginning of this issue; the kid just teleported to the moon, so she’s much more likely to vomit inside of her helmet than to actually be ready to kick some butt!
MS: We talked about Finster’s survival method last time, but now we get to talk about his “glow-up” to MEGA Finster! It was a lot of fun to see this primarily sidelined character get in on the fun. Who gets the credit for his evolution?
MH: Mega Finster was a pretty late addition to this issue (see my answer below about changing around this issue after a suggestion from Nico); we wanted a substantial threat for the guys to face in order to give Kimberly some alone time with Selena. Nico got to design this freaky Finster himself, which was a pleasure to see since many of the character designs were done well in advance of Nico jumping on to the book.
Good for Finster, stepping up and trying his hand at direct combat… even though he was so easily defeated by Olivia. Maybe next time, Finster!
MS: Olivia certainly got to experience her share of the action (while both morphed and unmorphed), and I loved how her attempt to stop the machine inadvertently brought about the return of…Tommy! The family reunion was a big highlight, so I’d love to dig into how this played out during development. Also, was Tommy always planned to remain the same age as when he entered the grid?
MH: Funnily enough, “Family Reunion” was the working title for this mini series for the longest time (and is the title for this specific issue). The fun thing about a title like “The Return” is that it can be interpreted to be about many different things, but it has always been (primarily) about the return of Tommy Oliver, and the return of the original Power Rangers to this world.
Tommy coming back the same age as when he left was always the plan. Remember his gravestone from issue 1? “His spirit lives on.” That was very intentional wording and foreshadowing! His spirit / soul / essence (but not his body) is what has been trapped in the Morphin Grid, so when he returns, it is the same 22-year-old Tommy, physically unaffected by time, who comes back. We always thought that if we ever got the chance to tell more stories, having Tommy and Olivia be the same age would give this alternate universe another fun quirk to set it apart from normal continuity.
MS: Selena had a few more tricks up her sleeve, and morphing into a warped version of the Yellow Ranger (complete with evil grin) was not on my Bingo Card. Was this a Dan Mora design as well?
MH: Dan Mora did indeed come up with the cool design for the Yellow Repulsa Ranger – which hasn’t been shown off yet because we wanted to keep this twist a secret! (It will be in the trade paperback, and the script book). Selena’s regular look is clearly very Rita-esque, so it is fun seeing the Zedd elements that come to the surface in her morphed form. There are the metal edges and accents, the red visor, the grille over the mouthpiece, and if you look closely, just the slightest hint of Zedd orange to her lower body and shading.
Congrats to Dan on the Eisner nomination for (amongst other things) the MMPR 30th Anniversary Special cover!
MS: You guys “got the band back together” for a big moment at the end, and it felt like a wonderful homecoming for our heroes. It was so great to see the gang reunited, and it felt like it came together pretty organically. They’ve obviously gone through a lot of “life stuff” since they last suited up, so I was wondering how that changed the way you approached crafting the final morphed battle?
MH: The final morphed battle is something Nico Leon inspired. When we all first chatted last year, Amy Jo and I already had drafts of all of the scripts (all of which were years-old at that point). At the end of our first meeting, Nico said he had one note, which was not coming from the artist in him, but the fan: he really wanted to see (more of) the original team morphed and fighting together in the finale. Back then, the final battle was much different, and Tommy didn’t return until the very last pages.
To Amy Jo’s credit, as soon as the meeting was over, she said “we have to re-work the whole issue.” She recognized that Nico was a true fan, and if he wanted to see more of the team fighting side-by-side (with Tommy), then everyone would! So we dove back into the script and brought Tommy’s return about 10 pages earlier, giving the team a chance to fight side-by-side for the first time in decades!
That said, there is a very cool alternate version of issue 4 sitting around on our hard drives which has some really fun elements to it, which we didn’t use at all. Wonder if we can ever take some of those ideas and use them elsewhere…
MS: During each of our previous conversations, you’ve shared some impressive art Easter Eggs from Nico. Are there any standouts from issue 4?
MH: The biggest Nico Leon Easter Egg is the cameo of the original Japanese team – but the BEST Nico Leon Easter Egg is on the same page, and something I’ll let him reveal to the world!
MS: While I won’t ask about the mysterious cameo, I do have to ask about something pretty important. There are three critical words that were included at the end of this issue that readers weren’t expecting: TO BE CONTINUED…?
MH: That is definitely a question mark and not an exclamation point after “To Be Continued.” As in, we don’t know if there will be a sequel, and we’re asking the audience if they want to know what happens next! We’ve had a blast telling this story, and in case it wasn’t clear by that very last panel, we may have an idea or two about where we would want to go if there is a next time!
MS: Were you always planning to end it with this cliffhanger, or do we get to thank the multiple sold out editions of the earlier chapters for this new development? If this wasn’t the original plan, is there anything you can share about what you had in mind?
MH: The last page, and last panel of this final issue, have been planned out for literally years. That said, we didn’t actually tell our editor Dafna about that surprise character until late last year, just before we were going to hand in the script for issue 4. Dafna loved the idea without hesitation, and we had fun riffing on who and what that new character’s story could be in this alternate world.
So, while that cliffhanger may not have been inspired by the astounding reader response and Kickstarter support, it is ultimately those same fans who could be the deciding factor that turns “To Be Continued…? into “To Be Continued!”
MS: Lastly, I wanted to talk about your Kevin Eastman custom cover for #4. I know that you are a big fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so I was hoping you could share up a bit more about how this unique opportunity came about. Please feel free to share how people can get their own copy of this one as well.
MH: From David Mack doing the Kickstarter exclusive collection cover, to Kevin Eastman doing a finale cover, it’s been pretty nuts seeing the talent that has come out to support this series. We are so grateful to everyone who has contributed to this book! Obviously for me, being a die-hard TMNT fan since the ‘80s, that Kevin Eastman cover is super special… and it very nearly didn’t happen!
For lots of reasons, primarily the timing of our release and Kevin’s crazy busy schedule, it looked like having Kevin do a cover was an impossibility. Amy Jo and I had actually given up hope ages ago. But late in the game (after the issue 4 release date was known, but all of the covers were already locked in), Amy Jo asked Boom Studios about doing her own exclusive variant cover at her own expense (like some comic shops do). Once she got the green light, she reached out to Kevin’s wife Courtney, who helped make sure this thing became a reality! To make it even more special, it’s the only cover with Selena Repulsa in her Yellow Repulsa Ranger form!
The ONLY place fans can currently find this gorgeous cover is on Amy Jo’s website until June 1st! After that she will sell the rest at her various convention appearances, and when they’re gone, they’re gone!
MS: Congrats on “sticking the superhero landing”. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return has been a morphinomenal experience for readers, and we can’t wait to see what you all do next. Hopefully we will get more adventures from this new corner of the Power Rangers universe.
MH: Thanks for sticking with us over the last few months! ComicsOnline has been one of our champion supporters and we’re always excited to see your (and everyone else’s responses) with each new issue release. Cool projects like this one don’t succeed without the exposure and support from people like you and we are grateful! Goodbye for now. Oh, and:
To be continued…?
…
Our ComicsOnline coverage of the Power Rangers 30th Anniversary continues below!
Check out our Exclusive Interviews with Amy Jo Johnson and Matt Hotson for
MMPR: The Return Issues 1-3:
It’s Morphin Time!
We’re getting back to action as new installments in our Power Rangers 30th Anniversary Interview Series are now online!
Join host Matt Sernaker as he catches up with the Ranger family for a unique series of conversation. This series currently features Walter Emanuel Jones (Zack), Catherine Sutherland (Kat), Steve Cardenas (Rocky), Nakia Burrise (Tanya), David Fielding (Zordon), Ron Wasserman (Composer), Richard Horvitz (Alpha 5), Tony Oliver (Supervising Producer), Melissa Flores (BOOM! Studios’ MMPR & Power Rangers Hyperforce), and Meghan Camarena (Power Rangers Hyperforce & BOOM! Studios’ Power Rangers Unlimited: Hyperforce).
More installments will be released throughout the year, so make sure you check out our social media links below.
Part 9 of our interview series featuring Tony Oliver:
Part 8 of our interview series featuring Nakia Burrise (with special appearance by Catherine Sutherland):
Part 7 of our interview series featuring Richard Horvitz:
Part 6 of our interview series featuring Melissa Flores & Meghan Camarena:
Part 5 of our interview series featuring David Fielding:
Part 4 of our interview series featuring Steve Cardenas:
Part 3 of our interview series featuring Ron Wasserman:
Part 2 of our interview series featuring Catherine Sutherland:
Part 1 of our interview series featuring Walter Emanuel Jones:
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