Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is going to be making their mark to end the year with another chapter of Darkest Hour. Every chapter of Darkest Hour has made things look like the odds are completely against the Power Rangers. Dark Specter and Mistress Vile have been absolutely dominant throughout this story. They took things up to the next level as Dark Specter used his mastery of the Morphin Grid to bring Power Rangers from all timelines and dimensions to the present. They weren’t simply brought to be prisoners but were made to join Dark Specter’s ranks as all the captured Power Rangers became corrupted soldiers. How will the heroes respond? Let’s find out with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #115.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Melissa Flores
Artist: Simona Di Gianfelice
Colorists: Raul Angulo and Jose Enrique Fernandez
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
SOLICITATION
“In something out of a nightmare, Tommy comes face to face with pure evil and watches in horror as the unthinkable happens to his friends… Dark Specter’s power grows and spreads, pitting Zord-against-Zord as the corrupted Rangers battle their loved ones.
As Mistress Vile begins to regret what she’s unleashed, two other villains may be the key to the Rangers’ only hope, and the last resort for seeking answers within the Morphin Grid!!” – BOOM! Studios
REVIEW
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #115 certainly reads like the midpoint of a big event. With this chapter we see a lot more time taken up for what will happen next. The desperation is certainly felt through the dialogue of characters on each side. It all leads to the action we do get in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #115 having even greater meaning for what the results mean for the future of Darkest Hour.
Throughout the first half of Darkest Hour Melissa Flores has done an excellent job at creating multiple individual character arcs for fans to connect to. There is a feeling that every character participating in Darkest Hour, both on the Power Rangers and Dark Specter side, has their own story. The individual investment creates even greater intrigue for how each chess piece moves with every minute that passes in Darkest Hour.
We see this through what goes down with Matt Cook’s Green Ranger. With Matt we see that while he wants to use his knowledge of Mistress Vile to help but the torture he went through is still seriously impacting him. It’s a trauma that isn’t just effecting him emotionally but also his own connection to the Morphin Grid since Mistress Vile’s corruption still exists. Flores does a great job at using this as a chance to strengthen the bond between Aisha Campbell and Matt working in the lightning rod concept for comic book relationships.
Death Ranger surprisingly gets the worst torture of all as we see what it means to go against Dark Specter’s orders. Even though Death Ranger was only trying to increase the power of Dark Specter’s forces going against the plan has grave consequences. Death Ranger being apparently killed by Mistress Vile does put into question what will happen when Matt meets Mistress Vile again. He could be seen as a traitor and get an even worse fate than Death Ranger.
This Death Ranger scene also provides an important development as we learn that there are limitations to Dark Specter’s current powers. Likely due to Zordon’s physical body being cryogenically frozen before becoming a vessel for Dark Specter it isn’t strong enough to contain all the power. This could mean that any extended usage of power by Dark Specter will make him weaker. If that is true than what the Power Rangers may need to do is have an extended battle that forces Dark Specter to use to much power that it destroys Zordon’s body.
Which does make the alliance Zordon and Lord Zedd strike up in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #115 an intriguing one. Especially considering that later on we see the Hyperforce Rangers force Lord Zedd to retreat with them it does point to Zedd being a difference maker. He is so far the only one that has been established to be as strong as Mistress Vile. And because of that Zordon, Billy, and others could see Zedd as needed for when they do have a direct fight with Dark Specter.
The entire fight on Safehavn is one were hope was very small to begin with. That sense of hope is further decreased when the Power Rangers find out Rocky, Adam, and other future Power Rangers have been corrupted by Dark Specter. No matter how strong the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Omega Rangers, and Drakkon Rangers are the overwhelming odds were too much. It further drove home how right now the path to saving the universe is not clear.
The chaos created by the fight made Lord Drakkon proving himself as the ultimate wild card to this story. He did not hesitate when given the opportunity to leave the other Rangers and execute his own plan. This made the surprising development that the Ranger Slayer, aka Coinless Kimberly Hart, is revealed to be one of the corrupted Power Rangers on Dark Specter’s side.
This development does an intriguing thing of having two different Tommy Oliver and Kimberly Hart dynamics that will be playing out. We know that there is no love lost between Lord Drakkon and Ranger Slayer. The Ranger Slayer’s corruption will add an intriguing wrinkle to this latest clash between them.
Then in our prime universe Tommy and Kimberly, both are still separated and taking on things from their own sides while trying to protect each other. With Tommy, we see he is sort of getting the Superman treatment as the White Light that made him the White Power Ranger is clearly a powerful thing. He is being set-up to play a major role in the second half of this story where he could start to fully tap into the power of the White Light.
Meanwhile we see more Kimberly’s doubt of the future creeping up. Her conversation with Jason in this issue shows that she still has some concerns over her future as a Power Ranger. Though even with that doubt Kimberly is not backing down from protecting the universe. Seeing her step up as a leader continues to be great, even though the numbers where against the team.
This conversation opens the door for Jason to return as a Power Ranger. We know that he will eventually regain his connection to the Morphin Grid if he is still destined to be the Gold Zeo Ranger. How things are going in Darkest Hour could play a role in Jason regaining his connection to the Morphin Grid.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice deliver an excellent fifth chapter to Darkest Hour with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #115. The chaos created by Dark Specter and his forces makes it feel like things are hopeless for the Power Rangers. This sets up the second half of Darkest Hour to have even bigger moments than the first half.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10