All spoilers for Power Rangers S.P.D. & Power Rangers Ninja Steel episode "Dimensions in Danger" are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Power Rangers: Soul of the Dragon is a 2018 original graphic novel described as "Old Man Logan meets Power Rangers", serving as a Grand Finale to the story of Thomas James Oliver.
It's been a long time since Tommy Oliver has served as a Power Ranger. He's defeated space witches, brought down evil armies, protected the galaxy, but now Tommy leaves protecting the world to the Power Rangers at Space Patrol Delta. But when his son goes missing, it's up to Tommy to discover a secret in his past, in order to save his future. Now Tommy will call on all his training, his friends, and maybe even some of his enemies as he sets out on his most important mission: find his son and bring him home.
Soul of the Dragon contains the following tropes:
- Alternate Continuity: Subverted; unlike the rest of the comic line, which has its own continuity, Soul of the Dragon is set within the continuity of the TV series, with "Dimensions in Danger" serving as a stealth prequel.
- Initially averted due to the TV series and comics being not 100% connected via main universe canon due to the rights being managed by Hasbro and Boom! Studios respectively until Hasbro themselves released a Christmas card as mentioned below.
- And the Adventure Continues: Much like in the end of S.P.D., J.J. and Anara receive a call to a problem offworld, with Anara even saying "Back to Action" before they morph.
- All for Nothing: What Tommy believes all the fighting and good that they did as Power Rangers amounts to since there is still conflict in the universe. Kat is more optimistic when she assures him that while things aren't much better, they're also not worse. They saved the world several times and that still matters. The world is pretty much the same with Rangers there to fight evil, this is what they fought for and that the fight continues.
- All There in the Manual: Shortly after the release of Soul Of The Dragon, Hasbro released a Christmas card featuring the S.P.D. team as of the end of the book. As established in "Once a Ranger", Bridge Carson is still the Red Ranger while Z and Syd are still S.P.D. Yellow and Pink respectively, J.J. as of the end of the novel is S.P.D. Green with his dad's Dragon Shield added on, the new S.P.D. Blue Ranger is Lina Song from Power Rangers Hyperforce, and Sky has an all new Ranger form denoting his status as Da Chief, the S.P.D. Deka Ranger.
- Bad Liar: When Tommy goes to S.P.D. headquarters to investigate J.J.'s disappearance, he questions Sky Tate about J.J. quitting and quickly realizes that Sky is hiding something, though not specifically that J.J.'s quitting was a ruse so he could go deep undercover.
- Bait-and-Switch: Evidence initially suggests that "the Witch" is Rita returned to evil, but she's soon identified as Scorpina.
- Big Bad: "The Witch" aka Scorpina
- Career-Ending Injury: Prior to the story Tommy got into a fight with a monster who not only gave him a particularly nasty spinal injury leaving him in need of cybernetic implants but also damaged his Master Morpher making the morphs problematic.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Tommy's Master Morpher was damaged the last time he used it; as a result, while he can still morph, he can only morph in reverse order of his previous powers (Dino Thunder to original Green), he can only hold each morph for a short time, and once it demorphs he cannot use that Ranger form again, forcing him to carefully choose when he morphs (Anara explicitly observes that he's saving the Zeo powers for a truly desperate situation given how powerful they'll be by now).
- Earn Your Happy Ending: In contrast to the "Old Man Hero" stories inspired by the likes of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Old Man Logan, Tommy and Anara rescue J.J., Tommy accepts that his Ranger days are over and he settles into a normal life with Kat, going on a much needed vacation, even sailing off into the sunset, leaving the Ranger duties in the capable hands of J.J., Anara, and S.P.D.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Sky has acquired a scar over his right eye since his last appearance.
- Happily Ever After: After over three decades saving the world, Thomas James Oliver hands the mantle of Power Ranger to his son J.J, and finally rides into the sunset with his beloved Katherine.
- Heel–Face Turn: It is revealed that Finster was reformed by the Z-Wave, and has spent his life since then focused more on his art than creating monsters.
- Heroic Lineage: It is often noted that J.J. had trouble living up to his family's legacy, with both of his parents not only being Rangers but his father's status as Earth's greatest Ranger placing a significant burden on him.
- Papa Wolf: The idea that his son is in danger prompts Tommy back to action.
- Passing the Torch: Part of Tommy's Character Development is realizing that not only does the fight go on but also that it can go on without him and that it is in good hands. He even literally hands his last morph to J.J. in the final fight, allowing his son to use his original Green Ranger Powers to rescue himself and save the day. At the end of the story Tommy and Kat sail off on vacation leaving Anara and J.J. to continue, with J.J. receiving an S.P.D. Green suit with his father's Dragon shield.
- Tragic Villain: At one point Scorpina implies that she regrets not being in the Main dimension when the Zordon Wave hit the Universe, purifying many villains, feeling she missed her chance to be a better person.
- Virtuous Character Copy: While taking after Batman: The Dark Knight Returns's and Old Man Logan's respective eponymous characters in making Tommy more cynical and jaded, as well as a case of Dented Iron, Tommy's depiction here also lacks the Dark Knight Returns Bruce Wayne's sadism and fascism, and the Old Man Logan James Howlett's status as a Broken Hero.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The comic finally answers what happened to Scorpina after she was banished to another dimension for trying to gain more power. Which led to her becoming Lokar's prisoner; he eventually released her into the prime dimension with most of his original allies dead.
