Since beginning the “Necessary Evil” storyline the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series has been on a roll. Ryan Parrott and Daniele Di Nicuolo have picked up right where Kyle Higgins left off with “Shattered Grid” to take the Power Rangers down an exciting new direction. The introduction of the Omega Rangers in particular have allowed Parrott and Nicuolo to keep Jason, Trini and Zack as part of the cast in an intrical fashion. Now that the direction for “Necessary Evil” has led us to a showdown between the Omega Rangers and Lord Zedd there is no telling where things will go from here. Let’s find that out now with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45.
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Daniele Di Nicuoli
Colorist: Walter Baiamonte, Katia Ranalli and Igor Monti
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: On the Moon the Blue Omega Ranger (Kiya) takes out several Putties while Baboo and Squatt can’t do anything but watch.
Elsewhere the Yellow Omega Ranger (Trini Kwan) fights off a monster while the Black Omega Ranger (Zack Taylor) goes one-on-one with Goldar. Black Omega Ranger is able to use his chain scythe to disarm Goldar. Rather than continue fighting Goldar decides to run away when this happens.
Finster tells his creations to defend him so he can escape. The Yellow Omega Ranger goes after Finster but is caught in an explosion.
On Earth, Alpha Five detects a massive energy signal coming from the Moon. Zordon immediately realizes someone is attacking Lord Zedd. He believes the attackers are the Omega Rangers.
Back on the Moon, Lord Zedd and the Red Omega Ranger (Jason Scott Lee) clash. Lord Zedd overpowers the Red Omega Ranger and sends him into his throne. As the Red Omega Ranger calls the other Omega Rangers for back-up Lord Zedd transforms his throne into a monster to attack the Red Omega Ranger.
The Blue Omega Ranger shows up and destroys Lord Zedd’s throne monster. Seeing all the Omega Rangers together Lord Zedd powers up and reminds them all about who he is.
The Red Omega Ranger summons his Zord and has it punch Lord Zedd, knocking him out. The Omega Rangers then go to work on containing Lord Zedd while he is knocked out.
While the Omega Rangers search for Goldar and the others to capture them as well the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team shows up. The White Ranger asks the Red Omega Ranger about Lord Zedd’s whereabouts. The Yellow and Black Omega Rangers reveal they have captured Lord Zedd and put him in a special container.
The Blue Omega Ranger appears after searching for Goldar and immediately freaks out when she thinks the White Ranger is Lord Drakkon. The Black and Yellow Omega Rangers restrain the Blue Omega Ranger. They then explain to her that who she thought was Lord Drakkon is actually the White Power Ranger.
The Red Omega Ranger calms things down between the teams and tells his teammates to take Lord Zedd back to their ship. Though the White Power Ranger says he can’t let them do that the Omega Rangers without the Red Omega Ranger teleport away with Lord Zedd. The Red Omega Ranger then requests to talk to the Power Rangers leader.
Sometime later the Red Omega Ranger meets privately with Zordon in the Command Center. When the Red Omega Ranger states that Lord Zedd won’t be a concern for them anymore Zordon states that is the least of his concerns. Zordon goes on to say that he was confident his Power Rangers could defeat Lord Zedd but now they must be concerned with a bigger threat replacing Lord Zedd.
Zordon then wonders if the Omega Rangers are going to be departing after defeating Lord Zedd. The Red Omega Ranger says that they are because they have other responsibilities. Zordon says that while he is grateful for the Omega Rangers help they may have accelerated an attack on Earth far greater than his Power Rangers are prepared to combat. He then says “Goodbye, Omega Ranger and may the power protect them all.”
Outside the Command Center as the Red Omega Ranger prepares to teleport back to his ship the White Power Ranger shows up. The White Power Ranger reveals he overheard some of the conversation the Red Omega Ranger had with Zordon. The White Power Ranger thanks the Red Omega Ranger for helping take down Lord Zedd while he was out of commission.
Though the Red Omega Ranger attempts to leave the White Power Ranger gets personal and talks about how he feels he does not know what he is doing as the leader of the Power Rangers. The Red Omega Ranger says being the leader never gets easier. The White Power Ranger says he was afraid of that. The Red Omega Ranger states that the White Power Ranger was given leadership of the team because his friend thought he could handle it. The White Power Ranger would like to believe that but feels he just proved the contrary.
Outside Angel Grove in an abandoned shack Finster, Baboo and Squatt are hiding out. They all wonder what they should do since none of them have the resources to fight the Power Rangers. Baboo and Squatt mention that they could possibly become the Power Rangers allies instead.
Goldar shows up and says that is out of the question. While holding Lord Zedd’s broken staff Goldar states Rita and Zedd did not accomplish anything. He gives Lord Zedd’s broken staff to Finster to repair. Goldar then states after Finster repairs the staff they will do the thing neither Rita or Lord Zedd could do: destroy the Power Rangers.
Over on Safehaven, Zack tells Jason that they should trust Tommy and others will be fine. Jason still worries if he made a mistake handing leadership over to Tommy and them stepping in to defeat Lord Zedd. Zack reminds Jason that Dayne almost killed their friends before they stepped in.
Jason changes subjects by asking about Kiya. Trini says she hasn’t heard anything from her since returning to Safehaven.
Elsewhere Kiya meets with the Blue Emissary to talk about how dangerous Tommy Oliver being alive is. Kiya believes after seeing how Lord Drakkon became who he was from Jason’s memories that the stronger Tommy grows as the White Power Ranger he will become like his alternate universe evil self. Blue Emissary reassures Kiya that Tommy is nothing like Lord Drakkon. Kiya does not believe that and begins to freak out.
In an attempt to calm Kiya down the Blue Emissary reveals that he was the one that gave Tommy the power of the White Light. Kiya is stunned by this revelation. Blue Emissary states that he believes that Tommy will be guided by the White Light to do good and that Drakkon was just an anomaly within all the realities he has seen.
As the Blue Emissary says that she should focus on other things Kiya stabs the Blue Emissary with her weapon. The strike proves to be fatal. As the Blue Emissary fades away Kiya states that she will protect the universe from every threat she sees, that includes the Emissaries and the Rangers.
Back on Earth the Power Rangers meet at the Youth Center to talk about where Goldar and the others may be hiding. While Alpha hasn’t been able to track them down Tommy says they should split up and start looking but not engage if they find them.
After the meeting Aisha talks honestly with Rocky and Adam that she is concerned that Zordon could take their powers away from them since there is no threat to fight. Though Rocky thinks being a Power Ranger is cool Aisha says it may be better that there isn’t a villain to fight.
Over in containment vault in Safehaven, Kiya has released Garrison Vox and Cavotus. She apologizes to both of them for making a mistake in choosing the wrong side. Now that she knows which side she should be one she believes they were chosen by the Morphin Grid to defend the universe as the Anointed. End of issue.
The Good: Ryan Parrott does not let go of the gas pedal as he continues to move forward with the escalation that is taking place in “Necessary Evil.” Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45 showed that to be true as we see what happens when a major threat like Lord Zedd is taken out earlier than was expected. It’s that sense of escalation that makes everything going on in “Necessary Evil” a storyline that gets more exciting with each passing issue.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45 marks the biggest difference that exists between the Power Rangers and Omega Rangers. Unlike the Power Rangers who have been taught to meet battles on an even playfield in terms of when they are allowed to use their Megazord the Omega Rangers show to have no restrictions. The Omega Rangers are more about being as efficient as possible when it comes to accomplishing their goals. The way they handed Lord Zedd and his forces their asses showed just that. There was no holding back in the power the Omega Rangers showed.
The exclamation point in that fact is how Jason as the Red Omega Ranger was quick to realize through their clash that Lord Zedd couldn’t be simply be defeated by his team. Lord Zedd is to powerful for the Omega Rangers to take on, even as a team. In order to defeat Lord Zedd they had to catch him by surprise, which is what they did when Jason as the Red Omega Ranger summoned his Zord to crush Lord Zedd. That show of force was all that was needed to show the difference between the Power Rangers and Omega Rangers.
The fallout that Lord Zedd’s defeat was even more interesting. Because now without Lord Zedd around there is this major power vacuum left in the universe. I love that Zordon was the one to call this out. More than anyone else, Zordon understands the order of the universe. Especially when it comes to how things escalate in the war between good and evil.
And one of the underlying sub-plots in the Power Rangers franchise is how the teams get stronger over time. As each member of the Power Rangers grows more used to their powers the stronger they each get individually and as a team. This has even been shown on the show itself when Tommy Oliver faced off against Lord Zedd and was not only able to hold him off but cause the villains staff to revert to a snake in “Changing of the Zords.”
But now that period of growth for the current Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has been taken away because of the Omega Ranger’s actions. Zordon calling Jason, in his Red Omega Ranger form, out on this fact was a great character moment. It showed how well Zordon knows his Power Rangers that he understood that the current team of Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Aisha, Rocky and Adam are still learning to work together. This team isn’t at their best because they are still learning to work together and help Aisha, Rocky and Adam catch up in experience.
This sets up an even bigger question as to how the current Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team will be able to handle the coming threats of Kiya and the Anointed. We see that right now Aisha, Rocky and Adam are still getting used to the idea of being Power Rangers. The time they get to be used to their current status quo has been limited. How that ends up affecting their individual development and rocky relationship with Tommy, Kimberly and Billy will be interesting to see play out.
Equally interesting is how Jason reacted to all of this. The short back-and-forth he had with Zordon clearly shook Jason’s confidence in multiple decisions he has made since being recruited by the Blue Emissary to restart the Omega Rangers. Jason telling Tommy that being a leader never gets easier further emphasizes how conflicted he is now. With the And with how things went in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45 things won’t be getting any easier for Jason. Now he has unwittingly positioned himself to make even tougher decisions for himself and the Omega Rangers that could further conflict with his old teammates.
The same goes for Tommy Oliver. Even though he hasn’t been a large presence in these last few issues Parrott clearly wants to fully explore how Tommy goes from being seen as the sixth Power Ranger to full blown leader. That transition has not been easy at all as being in a leadership role is not coming as natural as it did for Jason. Tommy is still learning how to best be a leader that is able to motivate others.
Positioning Tommy in this way also goes to highlight how that may be connected to his current powers being powered by the White Light of Goodness that Zordon and Blue Emissary gave him. Blue Emissary once again mentioned how Tommy is growing stronger the more he uses his White Ranger powers. His power growing stronger seems to have some relation to his confidence.
Which all creates greater anticipation for what happens if or when Jason, Trini and Zack reveal their status as Omega Rangers to their friends. That seems to be something that will eventually happen considering what happens. With how everyone on both teams is developing differently there are a lot of interesting directions Parrott can take things once both the Omega and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers have all their cards on the table.
Which all seems to be coming soon given the big event in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45 with Kiya killing the Blue Emissary. That was not something that was expected to happen, which added to the surprise when Kiya made her turn. To Parrott’s credit he has done enough in developing Kiya’s rage over Lord Drakkon to make this appear to be an move she would do.
Unlike Jason and the others, Kiya has zero connection with Tommy. All she knows is that a version of Tommy Oliver became the worst villain that Power Rangers’ multiverse has ever known. Learning that the current Tommy has been given the White Light power that can make him one of the most powerful being in the present is something that sends danger signals to Kiya.
The Blue Emissary being killed off because of what he revealed added to why this heel turn made sense. Since being brought to the forefront as the one who restarted the Omega Rangers we’ve see how overconfident Blue Emissary has been in his vision for things. The Blue Emissary has had a God-like complex of his own that he was blind to what has been really driving Kiya as an Omega Ranger. Not seeing what revealing the truth about Tommy’s White Lighty powered Ranger form would have on Kiya speaks to Blue Emissary leading to his own destruction.
Now that Kiya is forming the Anointed with Garrison Vox and Cavotus it’ll be interesting what direction Parrott takes the current Morphin Grid crisis. We have only tapped the surface of what other people having access to the Morphin Grid beyond the Power Rangers means to the universe. With the new major villains being powered by the Morphin Grid there is no telling how this element of the Power Rangers will be explored. Which adds a new level of excitement for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic moving forward.
At the same time, Parrott did not forget about Goldar, Finster, Baboo and Squatt. Even with Lord Zedd defeated Parrott made it a point to show us that Goldar and the others are still very much in play. Now without someone to give them orders it seems as though Goldar is the one that will step up to lead the classic Power Rangers villains. It’ll be interesting to see what Goldar will do now that he is not taking orders and can potentially use Lord Zedd’s powers as his own.
Daniele Di Nicuoli once again delivered the same level of consistent artwork that we have come to expect from him in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45. All of his actions scenes in the opening battle on the Moon was nice and crisp. The Omega Rangers were put over as a powerful team. Nicuoli delivered on how rough an impact a Zord would have on someone the size of a regular person when it smashed Lord Zedd. And for the most part he was able to do well on helping to keep the momentum moving forward once Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45 moved to be more dialogue heavy.
The Bad: The only part of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45 that missed the mark was on the designs for Rocky and Adam. Maybe this is the first time I notice this but Nicuoli’s design for both characters is almost identical. The only difference between them is their hair color. On top of that there are shots where Rocky in particular look more like a middle school kid rather than a high school teenager.
Overall: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45 took things to another level as everything in the “Necessary Evil” storyline escalated. Each thing that happens in this issue builds on top of each to give moments to create an intriguing story around the current Morphin Grid crisis due to the events in “Shattered Grid.” With how things went down there is a lot to look forward to in how the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Omega Rangers respond to the actions of the latest major threat to rise up.
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