It's morphin time!

For over two decades, Saban's "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" has been thrilling TV fans. And in 2016, Kyle Higgins, Hendry Prasetyo, Mairghread Scott, Steve Orlando and Daniel Bayliss bring the classic team back to comics for all-new adventures.

"Power Rangers" Movie Title & Character Names Revealed

The new series, launching from BOOM! Studios on January 6 with a zero issue, picks up right after Tommy, the Green Ranger, rejects Rita Repulsa's control and joined up with the Power Rangers. As he fills in the gap, revealing how Tommy became a true member of the team, Higgins plans on using the character as the reader's eyes and ears as he weaves a story even the most die hard fans never knew existed.

CBR News: In your mind, what is the key element that keeps people coming back to Power Rangers -- aside from the fact that giant robots are cool, that is.

Kyle Higgins:Well, giant robots are quite cool, but to me, the heart and soul of Power Rangers as a concept is a combination of the ordinary made extraordinary, great power and great responsibility, and teamwork. As kids, we all want to feel special -- especially when we don't fit in. Most of my childhood was spent like that, and it's where a lot of my love and fascination of superheroes comes from. They're both tremendous wish fulfillment, as well as a safety net.

The book will kick off right after Tommy is freed from Rita Repulsa's mind control. What made that the best jumping off point for the series?

The way I tend to build stories begins with a lot of questions -- conceptually and thematically, what interests me? What's it really about? From there, I try to come up with premises that give me the best opportunity to explore the ideas and themes I'm most attracted to. The Rangers have always been about inclusion and teamwork -- I mean, nine times out of ten, the only way to defeat a monster was for the Zords to join together.

Cynics could make the argument that the producers were just working with the footage they had, and it's way easier to film a humanoid Zord (IE the Megazord) than it is to film the separate non-humanoid Zords. But I like to think about those story choices from the perspective of teamwork and inclusion. So, with that in mind -- and with me not really wanting to launch the series with a retelling of everyone's origins -- Tommy's addition to the team was the era I was most interested in leading with. While the show moved straight from the Green Ranger Saga to Tommy's inclusion as a full-fledged Ranger, our story won't make things nearly as smooth for him or the others.

As anyone who's ever been the new person in a group, on a team, or at a high school can attest, it's often incredibly hard to fit in. It takes time to get to know people, earn their trust, and for them to earn yours. You often overcompensate, make mistakes, and rub people the wrong way. And while a group might look great on paper, there are going to be bumps along the road as everyone learns to work together -- just look at any Lebron James basketball team of the last five years. Take that dynamic, add in the clique-drama of high school, the stakes of trying to save the world, and the fact that Tommy spent weeks trying to kill the Power Rangers -- while under mind control -- and it's easy to understand how his addition might take some getting used to.

Will future stories and arcs continue in that era, or will there be some jumping around?

We'll be doing both -- but not quite in the way you might think.

The Power Rangers mythos has such a rich cast of villains to draw from. Can you talk about some of the ones you're most anxious to incorporate or revisit?

Scorpina was always one of my favorites, and she always felt underused. She'll be a bit more up front in this series, plus a new villain I'm bringing in, and, of course, Rita.

We're doing some different things with Rita, actually. I've been spending quite a bit of time building a pretty cool plan for her, which you'll see teased in Issue #0.

Power Rangers is such a unique franchise in that it's been going on for decades, but with a new cast of characters for each generation of fans. Will you be getting into any of those other iterations?

I'm not sure -- maybe? There are other eras that certainly interest me, but right now we're focusing on MMPR. If we don't nail this, future iterations kind of become a moot point.

The "Power Rangers" show had a very specific tone and feel to it. Are you aiming to capture that as exactly as possible, or will you bring a more modern sensibility to it?

That's a great question. The short answer is that, yes, I'm writing the series with a more modern sensibility. I've been kind of equating it to what Mark Waid and Fiona Staples have been doing -- brilliantly -- with "Archie." They're the characters we know and love, but in a more contemporary setting and with the benefit of higher production value (See: the amazing Hendry Prasetya) and a format that really favors a big, serialized story.

What is it about Hendry's art that makes him so amazing for this gig?

This is a very character-driven series, which meant finding an artist whose characters really emote and "perform" on the page. But in addition to that, we've also got giant robots, monsters, and huge-scale battles. That's a tough tightrope to walk. Lucky for us, Hendry can draw anything. Anything. I just got the first batch of layouts in from him, and they're ridiculous. I can't wait for people to see them.

As a fan, has there been a specific moment or scene you were most excited about seeing come back in the penciling stage?

You know, it's funny you say that. On every book I've done, there's been a moment early on where the artist starts sending in their designs, or sketches, and the book turns from a concept to a reality. This was no different. The first character designs Hendry sent were so wonderful, and so nailed the tone of Power Rangers, that I knew we were going to be okay. Seeing Hendry's art makes me excited to write.

"Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" #0 from Kyle Higgins and Hendry Prasetyo arrives January 6 from BOOM! Studios.