Wednesday, July 29, 2009

SMA Sketchbook Profile Week 1: The Green Ranger




Ahh...where do I begin?

Back in 1993 a little show named Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers debuted on the Fox network. Before seeing a single episode, I knew I was probably going to be hooked. It had just what I needed at that age. A colorful team, kung-fu theatrics, and GIANT robots that combine into an EVEN GIANT-er robot.

The breakdown of the original team was pretty archetypal (and kinda racist looking back.)

Red Ranger Jason: Jock-y, but not douchey leader who was a rad martial artist powered by the T-Rex

Blue Ranger Billy: Typical glasses-wearing nerd, who the team relied on to solve their problems, powered by the Triceratops.

Black Ranger Zack: Yes, the Black Ranger was African-American (thanks a lot, Fox Kids!= sarcasm). He was a hip hopper, who had his own martial art style called, ugh, "Hip Hop-kido" Powered by the Mastodon.

Pink Ranger Kimberly: The Valley-girl Cheerleader/gymnast...and pretty much nothing else, powered by the Pterodactyl.

Yellow Ranger Trini: An Asian woman (really progressive, Fox Kids = sarcasm). She really didn't have much of a character other than bring more diversity and another woman onto the cast, powered by the Saber-Toothed Tiger Sadly, the actress who played her died in a tragic accident a few years ago.

These five high-schoolers battled an evil witch who made monsters appear on Earth in an attempt to take it over.

Now for the awesome part.

Beginning with the first season, each generation of Power Rangers had an extra Ranger later join the team. This began with...Green Ranger Tommy.

I don't care who you are or where you are from, if you are any fashion a Power Ranger fan, you know this guy and he is arguably the Greatest Ranger Ever.

As a kid, green was my favorite color. It helped draw me to TMNT, made me taste Pistachio ice cream, and cemented the Green Ranger as my favorite. I did like Jason's character from the show, but he just didn't impress me as much as Tommy.

Tommy kicked ass, beat Jason in a fight and has that crazy awesome, Dragonzord and Dragon Dagger.

Back at Wizard World Chicago '08, I knew I was going to get this sketch and I knew I had to get DC artist, Shane Davis to draw it. Thanks to an assist from my pal Kevin. Shane drew the hell out of this sketch, and literally every time I open my book and see it, I smile.

2 comments:

  1. Yay Matt! Welcome to the interwebs!

    I remember watching the original Power Rangers, and then 'playing' PR in the playground with my friends (I always wanted to be the pink one even though I was not very girly at all). And then when the green one showed up, I had the biggest crush on him. I thought he was super cute. And then he got that snazzy new white outfit and it was the bomb diggity.

    But yeah, that's definitely a rad sketch. I'm super jealous of your book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hooray! I made it.

    I totally wanted to be the Green and White Ranger by the way. I have too way too much brain space dedicated to this show, but, hey, that's why I started this blog.

    All of us combined have the a really rad collection of sketches. I'm still jealous of your Steve Dillon one!

    ReplyDelete