As done by her predecessors Melissa Flores has continued the modern take of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers era of the franchise. With the Recharged Era, Flores has evolved Rita Repulsa to become the more powerful Mistress Vile. In the process, the team has gone through a new Green With Evil storyline, in an unlikely alliance with Lord Zedd, and dealing with Dark Specter’s forces. All of that has brought us to an event that is following the tradition of Shattered Grid with Darkest Hour starting in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #111. Much like Shattered Grid, Darkest Hour appears to bring in even more elements from future Power Rangers seasons such as Mistress Vile helping Dark Specter spread his power through the universe. Find out how Darkest Hour begins with our review of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #111.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Melissa Flores
Artist: Simona Di Gianfelice
Colorist: Raul Angulo and Jose Enrique Fernandez
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
SOLICITATION
“In the kickoff of this monumental 12-month event, Mistress Vile has won, or so it seems, with control of the Grid and Dark Specter’s infections spreading through the universe! As if an epic battle between Vile and the Vessel wasn’t enough, the separated and stranded Rangers receive help from the last team they’d expect, but it may not be the help they were hoping for…” – BOOM! Studios
REVIEW
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #111 isn’t a normal beginning to a big event. I wouldn’t even call this a part one of a story. Rather this is a direct continuation of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #110. While the transition from Recharged to Darkest Hour could’ve certainly been better there is no doubt that what happens in this issue has a big event feel. Especially the final pages showing how Mistress Vile has won and it was the worst-case scenario.
It’s in showing how dramatic and perilous Mistress Vile, the villain formerly known as Mistress Vile, winning is where Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #111 succeeds most. Every minute that passes is felt as Mistress Vile begins to activate the portal to bring back Dark Specter. That sense of dread makes everything that goes down even more stressful. Not only that, but it shows that unlike before Mistress Vile truly had everything work the way she wanted.
This fact in turn made Mistress Vile’s force with Matt Cook’s evil Green Ranger, Dayne, Death Ranger, the zombie Wild Force Rangers, and Super Putties an even stronger force. Power Rangers, Omega Rangers, or Lord Zedd couldn’t even get through them to get to where Mistress Vile was implementing her final plan. It all helps Mistress Vile hit the level of unstoppable that Lord Drakkon felt during Shattered Grid.
Helping make this all more perilous was the fact that just having Dayne and the Death Ranger was an overwhelming fact. It took everything the Power Rangers and Omega Rangers had to defeat both villains in their respective stories. While Trini and Zack have certainly grown stronger as the Omega Rangers there was way too much for them to simply focus on fighting Dayne and the Death Ranger.
At a different level, the clash between the Power Rangers and Matt’s Green Ranger was a much more emotional one. We once again get hints at how Matt isn’t fully under Mistress Vile’s control and is aware of his actions. But even then because of what Mistress Vile did to him, he is still compelled to fight for her side. The design of Matt’s face to look like Lord Drakkon further shows how he is internally fighting as well. The fact that Matt is still willing to work for Mistress Vile shows that this is a major sub-plot to follow during Darkest Hour.
The Power Rangers’ reaction, particularly Billy, to Grace Sterling appearing to have been killed by Matt and Mistress Vile is something that does bring to question Grace’s status quo. There is a lot of attention paid to Grace’s body that Flores has bigger plans for her in the future.
This all worked into Mistress Vile’s win being realized as she brought back Dark Specter and giving Zordon’s soulless body as the vessel for the Grand Monarch of Evil to take over was well done. For one Mistress Vile further cemented how evil she was by using the still loyal Matt to keep the Power Rangers back by threatening his life. Then there is the fact that Zordon’s body was used to be Dark Specter’s new body. There is added evil given what we learned about what Mistress Vile did to Zordon in their last clash. This development also gives Zordon a way to play a major role beyond being the Power Rangers’ mentor in the story.
The addition of the Drakkon Rangers from the Coinless Universe making a last-second appearance was a great way to begin to show the Multiverse-level scope of Darkest Hour. The threat of Dark Specter goes beyond the prime Power Rangers universe. Dark Specter’s reach has been shown to extend to other places in the Multiverse, including the Coinless Universe. The Drakkon Rangers’ appearance along with the flashes of future Power Rangers teams feeling the disruption in the Morphin Grid sets the stage for Darkest Hour to have a Shattered Grid-level impact.
Simona Di Gianfelice rose to the occasion with fantastic big event-level artwork. Every emotion was felt that helped create a feeling of dread once Dark Specter arrived and was no longer a ghost haunting everyone. The multi-stage battles with the Mighty Morphin, Omega Rangers, and Lord Zedd fighting were handled in a way that created a metaphorical wall that was just too much to overcome.
It all further built the credibility of Mistress Vile as a big-time threat. And now that Dark Specter is physically added to the playing field things feel like they are their worst and will not be getting better anytime soon. Gianfelice drawing the different Power Rangers team when Dark Specter returned further emphasized the Multiverse aspect of Darkest Hour
FINAL THOUGHTS
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #111 is an excellent start to the Darkest Hour event. Mistress Vile is at the height of her power. Adding in Dark Specter and how he impacts the entire Morphin Grid elevated the threat level the Power Rangers are facing to another level. There is no telling where Darkest Hour will go and that makes this an exciting beginning to what is sure to be an epic story.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10