“There’s nothing but garbage on TV tonight.”
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #3
Hamilton Comics (February, 1995)
“It’s Not The End Of The World!” WRITER: Jack C. Harris ARTIST: Al Bigley COLORIST: Summer Hilton LETTERER: A Machine (the joke never gets old, does it Hamilton?) EDITOR: John. Clark & Gary Leach CREATIVE CONSULTANT: Cheryl SabanAt this point Jason, Zack, and Trini were replaced by Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. This is never explained why in the comic. You’d have to wait for Saga to come out and even then it never got around to adapting that episode since they lost the license first.
Kimberly joins her friends for a field trip to the Angel Grove landfill & recycling center after her mom complains about Kim’s room being such a mess. Inspired by the trip, Finster breaks out Garbagntrous, a monster that can take surrounding refuge and form its own monster body. The Rangers morph, except for the absent Tommy and Kim, who left her power coin at home. With her room a mess Alpha teleports in to help her clean so they can find it. Which she used as a coaster and the soda can blocked the signal. With the Pink Ranger in play and Zedd pushing the monster too far by making him grown under his power rather than collecting more refuge, the ThunderMegaZord saves the day and Kim learns to keep her room clean.
What they got right: As a story teaching the importance of keeping your room clean it works. The message comes through not with lesson shoved at kids but Kim living her life. There’s no wink to the reader. Garbagntrous is a good monster design and concept.
What they got wrong: The art quality dropped down a bit, looking a bit too cartoony compared to the previous issues and Saga, which actually came later. Tommy’s absence is not explained since he should have been on this trip as well. The rest are fan nitpicks. There was no reason Rocky needed to “use his teleport beam” to send Kim home since the Rangers teleport using their communicators. Kim isn’t so irresponsible as to use her power coin as a coaster, plus the coin is usually inside their morphers. Finally, why does Alpha keep referring to Zordon as “great Zordon”? He never did in the show.
Recommendation: A decent story but Harris really needed to do his homework. Hopefully the other writer returns soon.
BW Media Spotlight 