Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Revenge #1 Review

 

Writer: Zoe Tunnell

Artist: Tango

Colorist: Adam Guzowski

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Cover Artists: Tango, Steve Gregson & Jack Lawrence

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $7.99

Release Date: August 6, 2025

 

When Billy Cranston accidentally revives Rita Repulsa, she ranges far and wide, defeating Power Rangers in different places and eras. Billy and his team chase her down in 2023, but Rita escapes to 1993 to battle the teenagers with attitude before they can become a permanent menace. Can the Power Rangers pursue her through the time portal? And might meeting their younger selves create a paradox that disrupts space and time? Let's grab our morphers, leap into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Revenge #1, and see!

 

Story

In Zoe Tunnell's story, the Rangers decide the rewards outweigh the risks. Despite Minh Kwan's desire to avenge her mother's death, Billy and Zach convince her and the team that they must play backup to the team in 1993. So, the 2023 team intercepts threats and menaces before they reach the teenage Power Rangers and uses their fists and feet rather than their Power Ranger suits and weapons.

 

While Billy's team battles familiar foes, older Rita tries to command her younger self. But even though Robo Rita has more experience, her younger self is a ten-thousand-year-old space witch. The fact that Robo Rita has become a cyborg doesn’t help Rita Repulsa trust Robo Rita in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Revenge #1. Likewise, the original members, Billy and Zach, replacements Katherine and Rocky, and their recent addition, Minh, are still finding their places in the newly shaped team.

 

Minh Kwan suffers in Zoe Tunnell's story. Billy's accident led to her mother's death. So, the newest Ranger tests the boundaries of her role among the original Blue and Black Rangers. While Billy leads with his head, Zach backs him up with his heart. Zach wants to ensure that Minh can handle her new role and that she's prepared, should Minh meet her mom at this earlier point in Trini's life.

 

Art

Tango energizes action scenes while revealing the characters’ emotions in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Revenge #1. A blast from Robo Rita's wand sends the Rangers flying. When they remove their masks, Billy's maturity shows, while Minh evokes happy memories of Zordon's original crew. The Rangers strut down streets in '90s fashions and battle Finster's creations in back alleys. Robo Rita makes an indelible impression, appearing more powerful than Rita Repulsa, yet thinner and more reliant on her magic wand than her 1993 counterpart.

 

Adam Guzowski often paints the brightly colored Rangers against pink and purple backgrounds. The rainbow-like portal welcomes them back to the yellow, orange, and brown shore where the Rangers often fought Rita's monsters. Bandora Palace glows yellow while Robo Rita, Rita Repulsa, and Goldar share a gold bond. This forces white-furred Finster, clad in his blue-green work clothes, to withdraw to his laboratory. Still, even as he digs his hands into his gray clay, golden shirt sleeve cuffs and gold-rimmed spectacles shout his loyalty.

 

Ed Dukeshire places black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons. Robo Rita's words frequently grow bold, her font lacks curves, and she speaks into rectangular balloons with lightning bolt arrows. Colorful dialogue and frequent sound effects emphasize the danger Robo Rita poses and foretell the 2023 team's pain after battling monsters without their powers. Thanks to Boom! Studios for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

When Robo Rita leaps through a time portal, she unleashes an unintended battle of one-upmanship on the moon, while the 2023 Rangers discover that the '90s were a very different age. Interpersonal drama, unexpected meetings with their counterparts, sparkling dialogue, and explosive action will help Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Revenge #1 grow on you.

 

Rating 9.5/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Butterfly TP Review

 

Story & Creator: Arash Amel

Writer: Marguerite Bennett

Artists: Antonio Fuso & Stefano Simeone

Colorist: Adam Guzowski

Letterer: Steve Wands

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $17.99

Release Date: August 12, 2025 

 

As Rebecca Faulkner peruses the skyline of Oslo, Norway, her thoughts drift back to a simpler time. When she belonged, and every day was a joy. Rebecca has changed so much that she wonders if she can even trust her memories. How much of what she remembers happened, and how much is a creation of her mind? And how might her next mission reconnect her with her past? Let's grab our Walther PPKs, leap into Butterfly TP, and see!

 

Story

After her father died, Rebecca's life fell apart. Her mother became devastated and embittered. Eventually, she found another life partner. But young Becky had no one to help her deal with her loss. So, she followed her father's career path. Eventually, she landed at The Project. The company trains operatives to discard their identities. She no longer goes by Becky or Rebecca. All Rebecca recognizes now is her codename of Butterfly.

 

In Butterfly TP, a retrieval mission goes horribly wrong. When the dust settles, the world believes Rebecca has killed a Russian oligarch. Suddenly, her employer no longer takes her calls. What little direction she receives leads her on a journey into her past and the father she barely remembers. While Arash Amel and Marguerite Bennett's story follows Rebecca, it also shows us events from her father's eyes. Much to Rebecca's surprise, David Faulkner didn’t die in Somalia. He has spent the past twenty years in hiding. Her father is married to a woman younger than her. Rebecca's half-brother likes dinosaurs.

 

As in her Witchblade stories for Top Cow, Marguerite Bennett discusses how institutions can strip us of our individuality. Her story of intrigue, pain, and loss reminds us what it does to our souls when others value us for our skills over who we are. Butterfly TP shows how governments and companies attract idealists before corrupting their grand plans to appease commercial and political concerns. Still, Rebecca and David have found each other. If they can survive everything the world throws at them, perhaps they can start over as father and daughter. 

 

Art

Antonio Fuso introduces Rebecca with glimpses of her past. A river winds through an evergreen forest as her father helps Becky aim her rifle and shoot bottles off a wooden fence. Adam Guzowski links father and daughter with a maroon flannel shirt and a pink jacket. The lenses of David’s glasses are the same blue as Becky’s eyes. 

 

Rebecca stands on a balcony in modern Oslo. Her blonde hair sways in the breeze as she frowns at the historic buildings surrounding her. Like the bottles on the fence post, a glass of red wine perches atop the hotel's wrought iron balcony railing. A beauty kit mingles with armaments in her room. A quick change transforms Rebecca into a woman with short brown hair. Wearing a sweater, scarf, and glasses with narrow, rectangular lenses, she pulls on a backpack. After leaving the hotel, Rebecca merges with the crowd before finding a baby carriage and adding that to her disguise. 

 

Stefano Simeone relays the second half of Butterfly TP. Rebecca's world grows less angular after she reunites with her father. Camera angles shift as Adam Guzowski anchors us in her new reality. David Faulkner's hair has gone gray. He pulls on a checked maroon coat, while Rebecca wears a pink jacket. Once again, evergreens surround father and daughter as they seek safety from their pursuers. As backgrounds turned scarlet when young Becky shot a bird, white snow now drifts through a red sky as a streak of yellow impacts and travels through a soldier’s throat.

 

Steve Wands fills dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes with black uppercase text. David Faulkner's thoughts and memories of why he faked his death appear as white letters in black boxes. Sound effects help us hear alarms, gunfire, and explosions, while crashes accompany shattered dreams. Thanks to Boom! Studios for providing a review copy. 

 

Final Thoughts

Butterfly TP follows two surveillance agents living in Europe. Both Americans have seen their dreams become nightmares. They are also related. As they reconnect, they must flee the people hunting them. The reissued trade paperback contains extensive commentary from the story's creators, the original Hollywood pitch, production photos, and interviews with the cast, producers, and showrunners of the new, reimagined Amazon Prime TV series.

 

Rating 9.6/10

The review originally published at Comic Book Dispatch.

Check out Butterfly Season 1 at Amazon.com.

Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #1 Review

 

Writer: Jim Zub

Artist: Jose Jaro

Colorist: Adam Guzowski

Letterer: Amauri Osorio

Cover Artists: Max Dunbar & Sebastian Cheng; Jose Jaro & Adam Guzowski; Carlos López

Publisher: IDW

Price: $3.99

Release Date: 11/15/23

 

An elf wakes up by a shelf. The cook in the Hooded Lantern Tavern doesn't take kindly to people emerging from her closet, so her patrons decide a little questioning is in order. Who is the elf, and what kind of trouble has he fallen into? Let’s roll the dice, open Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #1, and find out!

 

Story

Jim Zub’s story follows an amnesiac lost in Sigil. It’s a fun city to visit--filled with magical beings and portals to other realms--as our amnesiac elf will discover. If he can evade the drinkers menacing him with their weapons, that is! Jim’s elf may have lost his memory, but he remembers his ironic name. Finder may have a slow mind, but the elf has fast reflexes and nimble feet. Jim mines the inherent humor in Finder's situation as the elf makes a friend, discovers the wonders of Sigil, and stumbles into danger. Is Finder a musician, an adventurer, or a fool? If only the elf could remember!

 

Jim’s story draws inspiration from the new sourcebook Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. But even if you’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons, you’ll enjoy Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #1. It’s an easygoing story that explains the city in simple terms and introduces a colorful cast. Two memorable characters include Notitia Never-Lost--who agrees to help Finder for a price--and Protitch, who claims to be his partner. As Jim's tale begins with danger, it ends with a threat to Finder's life. But in those final panels, Jim plants the seed of an intriguing mystery while uprooting a potential clue to Finder’s identity and how he arrived in Sigil.

 

 

Art

Tavern patrons come in all shapes and sizes, including one who looks like a lizard or a dinosaur. Once Finder leaves the Hooded Lantern, he encounters a medieval town. Buildings showcase different architectural styles, and streets suggest Sigil perches on a hillside. Jose Jaro populates this interdimensional city with warriors, demons, gods, dwarves, and an angelic deva who sips coffee from a china cup.

 

Adam Guzowski loads his palette with a spectrum of soft and appealing colors in Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #1. Foreground characters are colored lavender, buildings in beiges and tans, while pink tinges the air and birds-eye views. Characters stand out with vivid clarity in this magical realm, and nothing that happens in the dusty streets gets lost in gray. 

 

 

 

Amauri Osorio places uppercase black letters in white dialogue balloons. Although the letters are thin, they’re large and rarely shrink. They frequently get italicized and grow bold for inflection. Amauri occasionally throws in a sound effect or gives a character white dialogue in a black balloon in Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #1. Amauri also reveals the elf's thoughts on strips of tan parchment.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Not for the faint of funny bone, Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #1 follows a mindwiped elf and a short girl with a big staff (and even bigger personality) through Sigil, a transit hub bursting with beings from any world readers might care to visit, and perhaps a few they wouldn’t!

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.