BOOM! Studios Power Rangers has entered a new era as there are now two sets of teams active in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers timeline. The first are the Omega Rangers who have been given their own series with Power Rangers. Meanwhile the classic team are going to be having their adventures featured in the Mighty Morphin series. Ryan Parrott has already done several key developments for both series’. For Mighty Morphin the series opened up with a brand-new Green Ranger making his debut. Who this new Green Ranger is still a mystery but we know that he is not to be messed with as they were able to take down Lord Zedd in their debut. How will the new Green Ranger impact the rest of this series? Let’s find out with Mighty Morphin #2.
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Marco Renna
Colorist: Walter Baiamonte and Katia Ranalli
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Over ten thousand years ago in Zophram of Eltar is given the title of Supreme Guardian by the Elders of Eltar. As his first act Zophram suggest that the Elders allow him to extend Eltar’s reach as protectors of the galaxy by going to other planets in order to combat Dark Specter. The Elders are hesitant to take Eltar’s peaceful ways and possibly enter a war but they trust Zophram enough to let him go through with his new mission.
In the present Billy Cranston fixes Alpha-5 after he was almost destroyed by Drakkon when the Omega Rangers broke him out (see Power Rangers #1 for details on this event). Kimberly Hart thinks that Jason, Trini, and Zack had to have a good reason for what they did. Zordon does not share that sentiment and orders Billy to send out an emergency beacon to every planet and their allies that the Omega Rangers must be considered an enemy to be arrested on sight. Zordon goes on to declare that not only will they lock up Drakkon but he will personally take Jason, Trini, and Zack’s Omega Ranger powers away when they are found.
At Angle Grove High, while Tommy, Rocky, and Adam are playing basketball Billy talks to everyone about Zordon’s declaration branding the Omega Rangers bad guys. They go back-and-forth on what they think of what Jason, Trini, and Zack’s actions. Tommy tells them that if they hear anything from the Omega Rangers they have to tell Zordon. Aisha and Adam agree but Billy and Kimberly mention that the Omega Rangers will not contact them given what their mission is.
Over at the Youth Center Bulk finds Skull training. Skull says he is training so he can be ready to fight whoever Candice (his girlfriend who is secretly from Eltar) is seeing on the side. After hearing why Skull thinks this is happening Bulk promise to help his best friend.
Over on the Moon Finster shows Lord Zedd his upgraded Putty soldiers that are separated in three groups: Putty Chompers, Putty Pilots, and Putty Piercers. Lord Zedd is left unimpressed because of how Finster’s creations in the past have all failed. Lord Zedd decides to power up these new Putties by giving them some of his powers.
Later Kimberly, Tommy, Rocky, Adam, Billy, and Aisha attend a festival that looks to be themed after the Power Rangers. As they walk through the festival Kimberly convinces Tommy to relax for a short time so they can have fun as a regular couple.
In the middle of the crowd Candice suddenly freaks out sensing something is wrong and runs into Rocky. Skull sees this so he and Bulk immediately question if Rocky is who Candice is seeing on the side. Candice then tells everyone to look at something that is happening.
Suddenly the Super Putty that Lord Zedd and Finster created appears.
Kimberly, Tommy, Rocky, Adam, Billy, and Aisha immediately morph into their Power Ranger forms. The Super Putty turns out to quickly overwhelm all of the Power Rangers.
As the White Ranger gets everyone to regroup the Green Ranger appears and immediately charges at the Super Putty. The Super Putty is able to overpower the Green Ranger to the point of knocking him out with an energy attack straight to the Green Ranger’s head.
The Blue Ranger quickly goes to check on the Green Ranger while the other Power Rangers provide him with cover fire.
Seeing all of this from the Moon, Lord Zedd begins the next phase of his plan by channeling his powers into all the people at the festival.
All of the people at the festival suddenly turn into Super Putties and immediately surround the Power Rangers, while the Green Ranger is still knocked out. End of issue.
The Good: Given the events of the debut issues for both Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers there was no way for the events of the latter to not be addressed by the former. That is exactly what we see happen as Ryan Parrott immediately addresses the fallout of Power Rangers #1 in Mighty Morphin #2. In the process Parrott is able to put some distance between the two as both series will be busy with their own storylines.
The important thing about having Mighty Morphin #2 pick up directly after Power Rangers #1 is how we see everyone react to Jason, Trini, and Zack breaking out Drakkon. That is not an event that should be taken lightly. Parrott properly gives different a range of reactions to how the Omega Rangers actions should be viewed. There is a clear sense of this decision being one that tetters on the grey side of the spectrum between good and evil.
Which all helps to further cement this version of Zordon as someone that is not just a mentor to the Power Rangers. This version of Zordon is much more active in how the universe should be protected by the Power Rangers. Because of that we’ve seen much greater range of emotion from Zordon, which we once again see in Mighty Morphin #2 as he immediately puts out a message to the universe that labels the Omega Rangers as bad guys. That classification may seem extreme but given what Drakkon has done is understandable that this how seriously Zordon takes the actions taken by the Omega Rangers.
It’ll be interesting to see how Zordon’s declaration about the Omega Rangers ties into the opening scene with Zophram of Eltar that took place ten thousand years ago. Given that Mighty Morphin #2 it does seem that there is a direction connection with this flashback to why Zordon is taking this action. Name dropping Dark Specter in this opening immediately gives this scene greater importance. We could see in either Mighty Morphin or Power Rangers events that we did not see happen until Power Rangers In Space actually play out now. Definitely something to watch out for long term as a bigger story is built around the two ongoing series for the franchise.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers reaction to what Jason, Trini, and Zack did was just as understandable. We see both sides of the arguments with Billy and Kimberly standing up for their friends doing what they think is best while Aisha and Adam both agree to tell Zordon anything they learn. Both sides are correct in what they said. What’ll be interesting is how this may impact things long term whenever the Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers stories converge once again.
This varying reaction does put Tommy in an even tougher spot as the leader of the team. Parrott builds that conflict in Tommy as he does want to trust Jason, Trini, and Zack but the past with Drakkon is hard to overlook. Kimberly calling him out on not letting this struggle make him overly tense all the time makes good use of their relationship. Kimberly is that voice of reason Tommy needs to keep his head clear as he is still getting used to leading the team.
With all of that going on the Power Rangers side of things Parrott makes sure we don’t forget that Lord Zedd is out there as a major threat. There is no joking around or lighter tone to the character like we saw the direction of Lord Zedd’s character take at this point in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers show. Nope, this time around suffering such a massive embarrassment has clearly created greater motivation in Lord Zedd to take the Power Rangers even more seriously.
We see that with how Lord Zedd dismisses the new Putties that Finster shows off. The way he dismisses the powered up Putties was written in a way that shows Lord Zedd knew as soon as he saw them that they would not be enough. Creating the new Super Putty that we see the Power Rangers take on later shows that Lord Zedd is no longer looking to have monster-of-the-week style creations around. It’ll be interesting how Lord Zedd’s new motivation plays into all the threats we are seeing teased in this new Power Rangers timeline.
The Green Rangers involvement in all this took a surprising turn as we saw how they were easily defeated by the new Super Putty. As the Power Rangers mention it does seem we can take Drakkon out of the running for who this new Green Ranger is. This showing only furthers how this Green Ranger does seem to be new and does not have as much experience. All of this further grows the mystery of who the Green Ranger is and what their long-term future is when their identity is revealed, likely soon.
While a lot of Mighty Morphin #2 focuses on the Power Rangers side of things it is good that Parrott isn’t forgetting about the personal lives of these characters. Giving greater development for Bulk and Skull is especially welcome addition as Parrott is giving them their own part in this story. Seeing Skull acting as a jealous boyfriend to the mysterious Candice and Bulk backing his best friend up was a good way to further emphasize their friendship.
Marco Renna continues to provide this series with the consistent energetic art style that BOOM! Studios Power Rangers comics have been known for. All of the Power Rangers come across as genuine teenagers with the way they are drawn interacting. At the same time, Renna is able to quickly shift gears to delivering big action sequences that has all the big colorful explosion, thanks to Walter Baiamonte and Katia Ranalli coloring, you expect from the Power Rangers franchise.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: Mighty Morphin #2 does a great job not only picking up from where the first issue of this series left off but also the events of Power Rangers #1. Seeing how all those events impact what takes place in this issue adds greater value to the developments we see the Power Rangers and Lord Zedd go through. There are a lot of intriguing stories to be invested in with the identity of the new Green Ranger being one of the big ones. Given how Mighty Morphin #2 ended there is many reasons to make the next issue of this series highly anticipated.
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