News broke today that the Power Rangers comic book license is apparently up for grabs. Originally held by PaperCutZ, the publisher released books from Power Rangers Super Samurai and Power Rangers Megaforce, along with a hotly debated couple issues of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (hotly debated because many fans found them to be poorly written and riddled with errors – most notably the Free Comic Book Day issue). This news was broken by one of the artists on the book, Jolyon Yates, who shared on his personal website unpublished pages from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, stating that everything is in publishing limbo as the rights to publish the books are now up in the air.
With a movie coming out in 2017 and some concept images that leaked from said movie creating quite a stir, our thoughts are that Saban Brands would want to get Power Rangers back in to the comic world where comic book and comic book movies are now all the rage. Linked to this story is a poll where we ask you who should get the license to publish Power Rangers comic books/graphic novels, as well as our own thoughts on the likelihood of each company.
Our honest opinion? We’d like to see IDW Publishing take the helm. With their success record with Transformers, Godzilla, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters, Star Trek, My Little Pony (the list goes on) they could easily turn it in to a big hit. Imagine two comics – one starring Power Rangers Dino Charge for the kids and one for the more adult fan simply titled Power Rangers expanding the universe and bringing back fan-favorites. What are the Silver Guardians up to? What’s happening on Aquatar and Triforia? What about the Phantom Ranger and the Blue Senturion? The possibilities are endless – just like our imaginations.
If anything breaks on what happens with the license (whether PaperCutZ is able to renew or another company takes it) we will let you know. Join in our discussion and our poll!
So PaperCutZ recently revealed that they no longer hold the rights to the Power Rangers comic book license. While they only published ... what ... three issues? Maybe? Not a lot of fans are upset about it. The books were full of errors (calling "Skull" as "Spike", etc.). Now that the comic is up for grabs - who should take it?
Marvel Comics -
Unlikely. Seeing as Marvel is now owned by Disney, giving back any part of the property to Marvel just seems silly. Plus, with Marvel's inclination to allow their own titles to die (X-Men, Fantastic Four) just to spite Fox (who holds the movie rights to those titles), it would be like taking the license money and calling it good for however many years the deal would be worth.
Likelihood: Less than 10%
DC Comics -
While not as a bad of a choice as Marvel, DC still isn't what I would say is a stellar choice for the property to go. They haven't had much success in their licensed comics and DC's fanbase seems to come and go. Still, more likely than Marvel but still not likely.
Likelihood: 25%
Image Comics
This one comes down to how much Saban Brands would charge on the licensing front. Image has the money thanks in part to the massive success of The Walking Dead franchise, but does Power Rangers really fit with what they do and what direction they want to go in? More likely than the big two (DC and Marvel), but still not very likely.
Likelihood: 30%
Darkhorse Comics
It depends on how sour they are after losing Star Wars to Marvel Comics. As one of their big books, it's uncertain what their future has in store for them now that it's gone. They may not even have the money now.
Likelhood: Uncertain, but probably less than 10%
IDW Publishing
This one makes the most sense to me. IDW Publishing is pretty much THE licensed property of comic books - from Star Trek, to Transformers, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to Godzilla, to G.I. Joe, to Jem, to My Little Pony ... everything they do is based around licenses. And more importantly - they are all successful. The only stuff that doesn't work is their own stuff. Some valid questions is - does Hasbro have any control in what IDW Publishing is allowed to do, as all of Hasbro's properties are with IDW Publishing? And does IDW Publishing want to do a Power Rangers comic? With a movie coming out in 2017 and the franchise having a rich history, they might.
Likelihood: 50%
Things to remember:
PaperCutZ had mentioned that pretty much everything they did was under the control of Saban Brands. It dictated the type of story they wanted and gave them strict limits on what they could write or show in the book. That kind of over-reaching control is a turn-off to a lot of companies, but IDW Publishing is known for being able to work with big name companies. How else would they have been allowed to create a romantic relationship between two characters traditionally seen as male characters in a Transformers comic?
Secondly, does Power Rangers even work as a comic? A live-action show is hard to translate to a graphic novel type of medium. And could IDW Publishing get a crew together to create a GOOD comic - a well-written, universe-expanding/creating story with art that works?
Cast your vote!
Sadly, it doesn't matter unless the people working on the comic are given the freedom to make a good comic. Most Power Rangers comics are forgettable extra adventures that have no real substance to them. I feel that Saban is not going to allow such freedom, so this is most likely doomed from the start.
That said, I would love to see IDW do what they do to Power Rangers.
I was skeptical that the MLPFIM comics would be G3 with G4 characters.
Then IDW showed me wrong.
IDW could do beautiful things with a PR comic if they're not under constant surveillance by Saban.
This is only good news if IDW or DC Comics gets it.
Seeing as Power Rangers is strictly controlled by Saban I doubt any comic company could do a PR comic series, which is a crying shame.
Also that sucks that Dark Horse might go under because of the Disney/Star Wars deal. My dad loved DHCs when I was growing up and it's a bummer they might be in the red because of the loss of Star Wars; which I feel has lost so much of its luster it's not even funny but a fact.
Oh thank God. I really hope IDW gets the rights, so we can get another TMNT/Power Rangers crossover.
IDW getting the license would be great. Their current Transformers comics (MTMTE in particular) are fantastic, and I've only heard good things about TMNT and Ghostbusters. I'd definitely be interested in an IDW PR comic.
I gotta go with IDW because of how they made a lot of TV show based comics. But a close second is dark horse.
IDW. I need, outright need, to see a Transformers/Power Rangers crossover.
Keep reading: Power Rangers Comic License Up for Grabs - Who Should Take it? - Page 2
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