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Preface
This series has been….. interesting. It is an interesting concept to modernize the original season, giving the walking stereotypes more personality and more motivation and creating more action-packed fight scenes that were limited because of the Sentai footage.
But now, we’re on issue 8 and it seems like it’s part 2/3 of a typical tokusatsu finale. I don’t know how many more issues are planned for this series, but unless Rita is going to go bye-bye soon and Zedd is going to come in the picture, it’s going to be interesting to see what else this series has to offer.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
The Cover
OK, you have to admit, this is an excellent cover. Even though this is not an actual scene of the comic, the image of Tommy morphed and Jason as a civilian fighting a bunch of putties on top of the Dragonzord is awesome. The characters are doing more than actual posing, it gives an actual glimpse into what the comic is about, and the style and color scheme is visually appealing (Though I would’ve gone with a different color scheme for the sky, but hey. What do I know?)
The Story
We open on a series of opening pages that tackle how the people of Earth are reacting to the 24 hour deadline Rita gave them. Bulk and Skull narrate it all to us via vlogging. Military forces are attempting to get into the zords, but are failing miserably. As for the “Ranger Capital”, the city is being evacuated for fear of an another Dragonzord attack. Bulk and Skull and the rest of the world have no idea where the Power Rangers are, more specifically where the Green Ranger and the Dragonzord are.
This is engaging since it reminds the reader that “Yes, there’s a world outside of Angel Grove in the PR universe.” Though, I do have to say that we only saw two locations responding to this disaster: Japan and Angel Grove. (And all we saw of Japan was the Triceratops DinoZord and a vague background behind it). It’s also interesting that Angel Grove is the “Ranger Capital” of the world. Even though this is a different continuity from the main TV show, I still believe that there are other Ranger teams out there. Perhaps our Mighty Morphin’ team is the first one to go public. Food for thought?
On the moon, the Green Ranger is currently fighting the Black Dragon while Jason is working on the controls of the Dragonzord. The Black Dragon is currently in giant form so Tommy is thrown back by the Black Dragon’s attacks. However, Tommy manages to get to the Black Dragon’s ego and convinces him to shrink down to normal monster height.
Even then, the Black Dragon is too powerful and almost destroys Tommy, but he hesitates for a second. This gives Jason the opportunity to tackle into the Black Dragon using the Dragonzord and teleport Tommy out of the fight. Tommy argues that they need to save Billy, but Jason says they missed their chance and heads back to Earth.
Back on Earth, Trini, Zack, and Kimberly locate Alpha’s signal and contact him. Alpha, at the remains of the Command Center / the building grounds for Rita’s new palace, tells the Rangers that even though he’s immobile, he managed to see what Rita’s planning. Alpha tells the team (along with Jason and Tommy who teleport in) that their powers and zords are accessed through the Black Dragon, who got access to the Morphin’ Grid with Billy’s Power Coin. Unfortunately, the clock’s ticking.
Meanwhile, Rita berates the Black Dragon on how he couldn’t defeat the Green Ranger. He argues that he can’t take away Tommy’s powers because “the Dragon coin accesses the Morphin’ Grid in a different way” and that he wants to destroy the Green Ranger when he’s at full strength. Rita questions his motives but all the Black Dragon says is that he wants to be the one to destroy the Green Ranger.
In the Dark Dimension, Billy is feeling a bit awkward and tries to talk to Goldar but Goldar refuses to talk to him, saying that even though he’s a prisoner too, he knows that he has value to Rita.
On Earth, Tommy and Zack have a touching heart-to-heart about how they’re both great Rangers. Zack agrees that he should’ve been more forgiving towards Tommy and should’ve treated him more like a team member rather than a stranger. It is brief, but it is touching. Outside of the “Oyster Stew” episode, there haven’t been that many memorable moments of Zack and Tommy interacting. This scene definitely brought the two “outsiders” of the team closer together.
Anyway, Tommy has an idea on how the other Rangers can morph. And it’s a doozy.
Using the Black Dragon’s arm, Tommy will use it to create a similar blast to the one that knocked out the main Rangers’ powers to separate the Green Ranger’s powers to the others, accessing an alternate method to the Morphin Grid, and allowing them to morph.
It works, sort of. Tommy is forcibly demorphed and the others….. well……
Ending Thoughts
MMPR #8 is a good issue in this series, showing the world in its most desperate hour and our heroes scrambling to even find an actual plan to save the world. It has tense action, amazing artwork, and sincere moments with our Rangers and villains.
The Black Dragon, however, is the only thing stopping the issue’s potential. He’s supposed to be this giant menace that’s supposed to ultimately destroy the Rangers, but aside from his fearsome appearance, there’s really nothing special about him. His need to destroy Tommy at full power, just so he can have full bragging rights, just comes off as bland and uninteresting. I hope that in future issues, he’ll become more interesting, but until then, I’m not expecting much from him.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- Zack, in the last panel, looks normal and just has some green neon lighting from all of the other eco-Rangers.
- I’ve seen Goldar’s arc before in Power Rangers. Mainly how a general serving the main villain believes in them no matter what happens to them. I’m interested to see how they’ll mix it up here.
- Remember when Zordon was all like “Too much pink energy is dangerous”? Well, now that’s out of the window since 4 rangers now have green energy.
- I want to see those Green Rangers at a con somewhere. And when it happens, someone should send me pictures.