Snow and The South just don't mix. Drop 8-18 inches of snow and ice across the NC foothills and you get a mess. My teenager has been out of school for an entire week....and I've been cooped up inside. A bit stir crazy today....and desperately wanting something entertaining to read. *Bing* Email alert. A lovely email from Boom! Studios with a link to look at this new release graphic novel.

Power Rangers!

Oh yeah! The day got brighter! Got my hot tea.....a nice fluffy blanket to be comfy at my desk...and got ready to get my nerd on. :) I am not the comic book/graphic novel fan that my husband is....he knows every character, every artist, every writer.....I bow to his knowledge. I can't compete. But....I love graphic novels and comic books! The art is amazing. The story lines interesting. And the characters, plots, histories are always creative and fascinating. So I'm not reading this from an uber expert point of view....but just from the simple joy that the art and action hold for me.

The basics: Tommy Oliver has retired from the Power Rangers. He's feeling his age, but sometimes really misses The Old Days. Plus, he's having a bit of a mid-life crisis after getting downsized from his teaching job. Then his son JJ disappears. Tommy comes out of retirement to find his son and bring him home.

I absolutely loved this story! I will admit I have not followed much of the MMPR stuff since the 90s television show in the US, but even I know the origins of the Green Ranger. I read the RangerWiki to catch up on Tommy's story. Green....white....red.....he's quite the legendary character. I love how this story brings him back for a last adventure. I was glad to see that they consulted Jason David Frank to get the continuity for this legendary character right. But even for someone that never watched the MMPR show or read any of the graphic novels/comic books, this story can be a great stand alone story.

The artwork is fantastic. The story is exciting and action-packed (but it wouldn't really be the Power Rangers without lots of action). It really made me feel nostalgic for the days when I watched the television show with my son.

Great story for those who have loved the Power Rangers for decades and new fans alike! ( )

Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon, written by Kyle Higgins, illustrated by Giuseppe Cafaro, colored by Marcelo Costa, and with Jason David Frank as a special consultant, tells the story of Tommy Oliver over twenty years since the events of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Recently losing his teaching job due to budget cuts, Tommy deals with aging and the loneliness that comes with it as his wife Katherine Hillard heads off-world on a trip to Triforia. A Space Patrol Delta (S.P.D.) cadet named Anara seeks Tommy out to let him know that his son, J.J., another S.P.D. cadet, has disappeared. Together, they must find him with Tommy using the Master Morpher to access his old powers one last time.

Like Marvel’s “Old Man Logan” storyline, much of the story focuses on the sense of nostalgia and things left unfinished that accompanies aging. Early in the story, Tommy asks Kat, “Do you ever… I mean… does it ever bother you? How… little we actually did? …It doesn’t really feel any safer, does it?” In their choice to portray the Rangers as aging, rather than simply waiting unchanged for the next “Legendary” episode, Higgins and Cafaro make a bold decision, much like Higgins’ work on Boom! Studios’ Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series. The story still features space aliens, monsters, and magic, but also a great sense of loss and sacrifice. It takes what fans loved from the franchise as children and supplements it with mature themes for them to enjoy now that they’re adults.

Soul of the Dragon builds on the Power Rangers Ninja Steel episode “Dimensions in Danger,” both in portraying Tommy and Kat as married and in the use of the Master Morpher. Anara speculates that either Billy Cranston from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers or Angela Fairweather from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue may have constructed the Master Morpher. The story also serves to help explain the disappearance of Scorpina from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and her absence from the Zordon wave scene at the end of Power Rangers: In Space as well as resolving the fate of Lokar. In a nice touch, the final battle involving the S.P.D. Rangers also includes the Blue Senturion from Power Rangers Turbo, who had previously appeared in a videogame in the Power Rangers S.P.D. episode, “Stakeout.” Like Brenden Fletcher, Kelly Thompson, and Tini Howard's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink, this story gives resolution to a fan-favorite character. ( )