Deadpool Creator Shares Official, Unfinished 'Power Rangers' Comic Art
Like his creations, Rob Liefeld can’t be handled. Recently, the father of Marvel characters like Deadpool, Cable was approached to design a variant cover for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from BOOM! Studios. But apparently talks went south, which led to Liefeld “killing” the cover.
On Tuesday, Liefeld shared an incomplete variant cover he began for an unknown issue of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on Instagram. The art prominently features Lord Drakkon, the evil Green/White Ranger from an alternate timeline, who is waging war against the teenaged superheroes in the epic crossover Power Rangers: Shattered Grid.
“Almost a cover,” Liefeld captioned with the art on Instagram. “I killed it after attempts to ‘handle’ me. No thx. #fanart”
Interestingly, Rob Liefeld and the Power Rangers have a strange, if brief, relationship. Back in 1996, Image Comics published a single issue of Power Rangers Zeo written by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, known for their work on DC books like Legion of Superheroes and later Young Justice.
A teaser at the end of Zeo #1 was a teaser for a big crossover between the Power Rangers Zeo and Liefeld’s own original superhero team Youngblood, but the crossover never happened. (Liefeld was set to do art for the comic as well.)
Since then, Liefeld hasn’t expressed much interest in anything Power Rangers. Back in February, Liefeld was tweeting with fans about Marvel movies and took a jab at Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, comparing the film’s first 40 minutes to a bad episode of Power Rangers.
A crossover never meant to be: Rob Liefeld's Youngblood and the Power Rangers Zeo.
“First Avengers film as actually awful during its first 40 minutes. I thought is this a Saban Power Rangers production?” he tweeted. “Then, once onboard the helicarrier, it stabilizes and excites. But that 1st act is brutal!”
Critical acclaim has followed BOOM!’s Power Rangers series. Under Higgins, who has also written for DC’s Nightwing, the Power Rangers have been reimagined in a serious light that masterfully isn’t alienating to kids. In 2017, off the heels of Power Rangers being a hit, DC published a crossover titled Justice League/Power Rangers from writer Tom Taylor and illustrator Steve Byrne. Last week, an original graphic novel titled Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon featuring Tommy as an old, retired Power Ranger forced back into action, was announced for publication this fall.
The next new Power Rangers comic, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Anniversary Special #1, will be released on June 27.
