Legends Comic and Games has released two exclusive variants for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers issue 40 from BOOM! Studios. The artist on both covers is Matt Frank, who pays homage to Amazing Spider-Man #300 by Todd McFarlene and Superman #233 by Neal Adams. Frank may be paying homage to two famous artists, but he may have taken an idea from a lesser known artist.
Although Frank is paying homage to two prominent comic book covers, it’s hard not to think of how similar it resembles Ryan Lindberg’s fan art of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ripping off their costumes to reveal their new Zeo powers underneath. Tommy’s pose is like Superman’s, but instead of breaking out of chains, he’s breaking out of the Green Ranger costume. The breaking mask, shield, and ripping costume are especially noticeable.
Lindberg has made waves amongst the Power Rangers community with his many fan art drawings of the Power Rangers. He first drew the Red Ranger ripping off his costume to reveal the Blue Zeo Ranger underneath in June 2017, and after receiving an overwhelming response, he continued to complete the Ranger set.
The Rangers Ripping series hit over 3k likes on Lindberg’s Instagram and was shared by many Power Rangers fan accounts, and the actors from the drawings are based on like, Jason David Frank, and Catherine Sunderland. JDF’s repost managed 11,521 likes. For that reason, it is easy to believe Matt Frank saw Ryan’s art.
Matt Frank may be paying homage to McFarlene and Adams, but it seems like he may also be taking inspiration from Ryan Lindberg’s art without credit. To see the full set of Lindberg’s Power Ranger’s Ripping their costumes, you can go to his Instagram @RLindberg_Art. You can read more about BOOM! Studios Power Rangers’ comic from THS here.
Oh man, this is HYSTERICAL – I’m sharing this all over the place. Top notch, guys!