“I don’t get it. Radioactivity worked on Godzilla.”
Saban’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers #2
Hamilton Comics (January, 1995)
“Switcheroo!” WRITER: Donald D. Markstein ARTISTS: John Hebbink & Aaron McClellan COLORIST: Summer Hinton LETTERER: A. Machine (ha…ha) CREATIVE CONSULTANT: Cheryl Saban EDITORS: John Clark & Gary Leach
Ernie is hoping to get the Rangers to autograph a piece of the Dracula Moth’s cocoon, but Tommy (his Green Ranger powers weakening at this point in the series) doesn’t feel like he deserves to join in. Ernie’s plan is to dress up as a monster called Goatman to get the Rangers to come to him, which inspires Zedd to have Finster make a duplicate monster of his costume and trick the Rangers into either accidentally attacking their friend or leaving themselves open to the monster. Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull try to set themselves up as the Mauve and Puce Rangers, getting even more in Ernie’s way. The Rangers are able to defeat the monster and get the Green Ranger to join in with the autograph signing while Bulk and Skull get what they usually get.
What they got right: The Goatman was actually created by a 10-year-old boy from Phoenix, AZ, Aaron Bergeron, and it’s not a bad design for the plot we get, where it’s supposed to look like a costume. While we always know which is Ernie and which is Zedd’s monster, watching the Rangers figure it was a good story. The art is also pretty good.
What they got wrong: Tommy doesn’t join the action once the fake Ernie is used at the Juice Bar to convince him the Goatman is a real monster and not Ernie. He just stays there and studies. It’s only a last-minute pep talk from the Red Ranger, which isn’t anything different from what his friends said to him before, that convinces him to “drop by” as the Green Ranger. I didn’t know Ernie was that big of a Ranger fanboy, much less Green being his favorite but it’s a minor issue.
Recommendation: A good story, and it might not have made a bad episode of one of the Zyuranger monsters had matched up, but that’s one of the upsides to the comic, not having to worry about the Japanese story. (Although if there was a Zyuranger manga it might have been funny to see them try to do what the TV show does, but this is better.) It’s one worth getting for fans.
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