Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a big part of Saturday morning television for a generation of children, flashy colors, campy fight choreography and dialog, and over course massive Godzilla-esque monster fights against the Mighty Megazord. With a legacy spanning decades, Power Rangers have been a staple for children and now adults. When BOOM! Studios announced that they would be publishing an ongoing series concerning this group of “teenagers with attitude” chronicling their battle against Rita Repulsa, I leapt at the idea, and although the comic is only four issues deep, we’re all in here at ComixBrew.

We had the opportunity to ask the series writer, Kyle Higgins, some questions about the series and he was kind enough to take some time to respond. Wonder what he had to say…..

ComixBrew: Where did the opportunity to write a MMPR comic come from?

Kyle Higgins: Well, I heard about the book pretty much the same way everyone else did: when BOOM! announced last July that they’d gotten ahold of the license and were planning to do an ongoing series. I emailed [BOOM! Managing Editor] Bryce Carlson, who I’ve known for years, and asked if there might be an opportunity at some point to do a backup story or a one shot or something. I figured they already had their creative team lined up, but I’d love to do something . As it turned out, BOOM! was just starting to look for pitches on the main series, and my name had come up. So, I put together a little proposal, went through some revisions, turned it in to Saban… and got the green light!

CXB: Have you been a fan of the show for awhile or did you only recently latch onto the series?

KH: I was a fan as a kid, yeah. I was eight years old when the series debuted, and was pretty much all in from the first episode I saw (which was “Food Fight”). I was at the tail end of the age range though, so about a year in, a lot of people at school had kind of turned on it. I had a few friends in the neighborhood who were a couple years younger than me though, so I kept up with it in passing through them. Then, a few years ago, when I started doing comic conventions, I kind of became re-enamored with the property, just through meeting a lot of comics fans who were also big Power Rangers fans. A lot of people my age and slightly younger.

CXB: Is there an end in sight for this series? Will you take on more past this initial Green Ranger run?

KH: There’s no end in sight at this point, but for me… I don’t know. I’ve got three years of stories planned. Which is a lot! ( Laughs ). Especially since, publishing wise, we’re only up to issue #4 right now. So, barring anything drastic happening, I’ll be on the series for a while.

CXB: What is collaboration like with Hendry Prasetya? Do you send in full scripts or is it more abstract?

KH: I write full scripts, yeah. Part of that is because I’m still getting to know Hendry’s art, and the other part is because it makes the approvals process with Saban much easier. Being able to show them, unequivocally, what the issue is—all the dialogue, every panel description, etc.—gives them a better sense of how each issue is going to come together. They’ve never really done comics before—not to this degree, anyway—so they’re learning about the process and becoming more comfortable with it as we go.

CXB: Who is the hardest character to write? Who is the most fun character to write?

KH: I’d probably say that Zordon is the toughest so far. To this point, with six main characters, plus the villains, it’s been hard to do anything beyond expository mentor head with Zordon. His time will come though. I promise.

As for who’s the most fun… I don’t know. I tend to think of characters based on their relationships, and which relationship is the most fun to write. Right now, Trini/Tommy has had some really good moments. I also really like some upcoming stuff we’re doing with Zack and Trini.

CXB: Are you collaborating with the team working on the Pink Ranger miniseries?

KH: I’m not, no. I get to read that one as a fan.

CXB: I was sorry to see C.O.W.L. end over at Image Comics, what is it like working with BOOM!, what’s the difference between the two publishers?

KH: They’re both great, with talented, passionate people behind each company. Image is all creator-owned, so they’re pretty hands off in the process of making the books. BOOM! obviously does creator-owned, too, but Power Rangers is a licensed, work-for-hire gig for me. So there’s a lot of steps to getting an issue going—lots of proposals, outlines, and approvals. But that’s the fundamental difference between creator-owned comics and work-for-hire comics—it’s going to be like that anywhere.

CXB: When you’re not writing comic books, what do you do in your spare time?

KH: I’m doing six books and a screenplay right now. So, I’m not actually sure what “spare time” means. ( Laughs ). I’m a big sports guy—basketball, football, tennis. I play two of those three pretty regularly. I’m also really into movies. My first love is directing.

CXB: You’ve been given full control over a comic book franchise/series with no limitations….what’s the series? Who’s the artist? What would you do?

KH: I’ll go with… me and Olivier Coipel on anything. ( Laughs ).

CXB: Lastly: What’s on the horizon for you for the rest of 2016?

KH: Hadrian’s Wall hits in September, from Image. Power Rangers is going to keep going. I have two other creator-owned projects that you’ll definitely hear about in 2016. And… another work-for-hire gig or two that will be announced pretty soon.

Beyond that, finishing this screenplay and going off to finally make a feature.

And trying to figure out what “spare time” is again…

There you have it, a wonderful dude with a whole lot on his plate. If you got into Power Rangers on a whim and have enjoyed his writing on that series, be sure to check out his Nightwing series for The New 52 or his creator-owned series at Image called COWL. The man is prolific and we can’t wait to see what he does in the future.

Josh

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