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Preface
Here we go. The finale of Shattered Grid.
The writer, Kyle Higgins, has stated on multiple occasions that he’s been planning and leading up to Shattered Grid ever since he started writing the first issue of this series. So, not only is this final issue important for finishing this story for the 25th anniversary, but the last 30-ish issues, the last two years worth of comics have all been leading up to this one issue. How does this all end?
The Cover
A part of me wants to say that this cover is a bit bland with just a shattered image with the Mighty Morphin’ Rangers in the center of it, but it works for simplicity and giving away no spoilers as to what happens in this gigantic finale. Also, Drakkon’s helmet being thrown out is symbolic of him being rejected from the Morphin’ Grid.
The Story
Continuing the battle from MMPR #30, the Rangers are losing hard. More and more Rangers are falling and no one can get even close to the tower without Serpentera blasting them into dust. Jen instructs the Ranger army to combine the remaining Ninja Storm and Titan Megazords, the Plesio Zord, the Wolf Animal Spirit, the Super Zeozord I, the main 5 Hyperforce Zords, and the growing technology of the Black Dragon to form a new Megazord, the Mega Megazord (Seriously. That’s the name). While that holds Serpentera in place, Jason tries to use the Super Megaforce Q-Rex Drill to destroy the tower. He succeeds but is presumably destroyed by Serpentera. Before anyone can react, Lord Drakkon appears in his ultimate form and everyone is engulfed in a bright white light…
Turns out, Drakkon, with all of his new power, managed to get a physical manifestation of the Morphin’ Grid itself, a heart of a Morphin’ Master. He used that heart to essentially destroy the multiverse and created only one reality, one where he was all-powerful and essentially had a perfect life. In this new reality, he’s essentially Superman with the coolness of Batman, being a “hero” and saving lives, with all of the other Power Rangers living regular lives and being subservient to him. However, in reflections, Drakkon can see and hear our Tommy Oliver, telling him that despite being all-powerful, he’s still the one that’s weak. Eventually, our Tommy is able to escape those reflections and restores the memories of the 5 Mighty Morphin’ Rangers and Jen and Lauren.
So, how exactly is Tommy here now?
Short answer: Tommy is literally Jesus. Can’t believe it took you this long to figure that out.
Long answer: Back in “Go Go Power Rangers #12”, the Ranger Slayer shot Tommy with an arrow that contained a shard of the Green Chaos Crystal, the same crystal Drakkon stabbed him with. Rather than it actually killing him, Tommy’s soul was placed into a nether dimension, allowing him to watch the events of “Shattered Grid” as they happened. He was soon joined by the Emissaries from the Free Comic Book Day tie-in issue who were forced out of the Morphin’ Grid when Drakkon showed up. Eventually, they all realized that Drakkon’s “perfect” reality is only being held together by his ego. By Tommy basically haunting him, Drakkon’s own doubt and insecurities basically weakened the barrier between dimensions, freeing Tommy in the process.
Lord Drakkon finds out about our Tommy being here and arrives to destroy them all. A battle erupts and Tommy, by beating his evil self on a level playing field, manages to get the heart. Because of this, reality starts to break down and the Emissaries arrive to take the Rangers into the Morphin’ Grid for safety. Tommy offers Anti-Drakkon a chance for him not to be alone and to join them, but he refuses, staying in the rapidly disintegrating reality.
Now that Drakkon’s defeated, the Rangers can now use the Master’s heart to fix the damage done to the multiverse. But, what exactly does that mean? Well…
Short answer: Read DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Long Answer: The Morphin‘ Grid can put the universe back together, but like fixing a broken mirror, it won’t be the same as it was before. There will be some changes made to the universe and its history. None of the Rangers will know about these changes because by rebuilding the multiverse, no one will remember the events of “Shattered Grid”. The events of “Shattered Grid” still occurred, just no one will remember how exactly places and events happened.
As the Rangers place their hands on the Master’s heart, they all say their final goodbyes to each other, with Kim and Tommy finally kissing each other. The final moments of “Shattered Grid” end with Kim saying they’re saving all the worlds as a bright white light engulfs them.
Ending Thoughts
Comic book events are a common thing nowadays. Back in March, DC finished their yearly event about the Justice League going against evil Batmen. A couple of months before that, Marvel finished their special event about the entire universe against evil Nazi Captain America. Now, it’s time to wonder, what does with this event bring to the table? What makes this so special?
Well, for one thing, the pure idea and concept of it alone is what makes this so appealing to PR fans. A story about all of the Power Rangers we have been growing up with for the last 25 years fighting a single threat together. An experience that the show nor its Japanese counterpart has not been able to truly capture yet. It’s not just seeing these heroes fight. Like any team up, it’s about all of the interactions between each character, which in this event, was either heartfelt and emotional or just plain fun. So many different combinations of characters and tiny details that every panel they were seen together you could actually feel the love and passion that was put into this story.
And even though this event is all about the Power Rangers coming together, this is still a comic arc about the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. All of these other Rangers are just along for the ride. This event had a lot of important moments for our Mighty Morphin’ team: Tommy’s funeral, Jason and Kim getting the Dragon Shield, Jason and Grace’s relationship, Zordon’s role in this, and Kim and Tommy’s relationship. And, since a lot of this was planned from the beginning, every single arc of this series does have some relevance or impact in this climactic chapter. The Green Chaos Crystal, the Black Dragon’s technology, the Coinless, Promethea, Grace Sterling and her past, and of course, Lord Drakkon. Even Rita had an important role in this story. It truly felt like this world of diverse characters was coming to an end.
Most importantly, in this event of epic proportions, it decides to put their characters first before anything else. Just look at this ending. Rather than going out with a large battle (which was what the last issue was for), it went for a primarily character-driven piece for our main villain. This was actually the best look into who Lord Drakkon is as an actual character and what he truly wanted his perfect world to be. Art-wise, the use of different art styles was brilliant, illustrating the difference between reality and Drakkon’s fantasy. And, that final moment of the Rangers of the past (Lauren), the present (the MMPR team), and the future (Jen) with their hands in the center does beautifully callback to the franchise’s first episode and honors the franchise as a whole. It may not what fans have been expecting for this finale, but it definitely delivers some satisfying character moments.
Like I said earlier, this ending does take some cues from the popular DC Comics event: Crisis on Infinite Earths. Watch Linkara’s video on it if you want to learn more about it. Basically, it was an event that united all of the heroes from across all of the dimensions, had a lot of character moments and deaths, a team needing to destroy a very important tower, and ended with the main world being changed with no one remembering how those changes happened. Sound familiar? Even the part of the bright white light consuming things is from that event. The homages to this event are simple and subtle enough to not take away from the event for any newcomers while still being respectful to the source material. And, I will add that Crisis was an event that did create one of the more popular eras for DC so if this comic is taking notes, we should be expecting a memorable new era for the Power Rangers.
In the end, only one word describes what this huge event has been for long-time PR fans as well as newcomers to the franchise: “morphinominal.”
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- Just realized this is actually my 50th review for Morphin’ Legacy. Funny how that stuff happens.
- By the way, don’t even bother asking me how the heck the Mega Megazord actually works. I’m pretty sure the guy who drew it doesn’t even know how that works.
- Just think that during this whole fight scene with the last issue and this one, the people stuck at the Command Center, Alpha, Summer, and Dr. K, are probably hanging around, eating Mr. Marshmallow and discussing which Ranger is a 10…
- Also, realize that during this whole fight, in the middle of the battlefield, there’s a depowered country singer, alien, and ancient warrior. And out of all of these guys, the ancient warrior would be the first to go. After all, they’re not shown to be teleported out of there… Actually, a lot of Rangers down in the field aren’t shown to be teleported. You’d think someone would do that…
- One of the minor issues for this event is that it does have some pacing problems, which easily could have been fixed with just another issue or two. For example, I would have loved to see more of Drakkon’s perfect world, like see some of the other Rangers’ lives. What if we saw Dr. K in here and she’s happy and having the life she didn’t have in her government “job”? Can you imagine seeing just one page of that?
- Regarding the DC references…
- So, if Zordon and Rita are supposed to be Mama and Papa Kent, then that means at night, they’re in bed and … OH MY GOD! THE MENTAL IMAGE IN MY HEAD! IT BURNS! MAKE IT STOP!
- Cruger here is so adorable. I want plushies of him stat. If he’s supposed to be Krypto, I want to see fanart of him with a black cape with the SPD logo on it.
- Really surprised that Kim’s not the reporter here since that’s usually who the Superman stereotype goes for.
- I think Jen being a serious straight-laced person piloting the White Tigerzord here is supposed to make her the Batman of this universe… which I totally approve of.
- Finster is the Alfred here. Heck yes!
- Rangers that we didn’t see throughout this event (An (*) indicates that due to where the Morphin’ Grid split up each season’s timeline, they weren’t here due to reasons in-show):
- Mighty Morphin’: Aisha*
- Turbo: Literally every single Turbo Ranger and Blue Senturion. And since Phantom Ranger is here, this is the second Turbo team. We did see the Red Turbo and Pink Turbo helmets on the MMPR #30 cover, though.
- In Space: Zhane. He was apparently killed off-screen. We didn’t even know where he was in the 2018 Annual. We only saw his power-set being used by the Sentries. Also, we didn’t see the Red, Black, and Yellow Psycho Rangers. No idea why Drakkon didn’t recruit all of them (same thing with the A-Squad). Although, it is possible that he captured those guys and made the others work for him.
- Lost Galaxy: Kai, Damon, and Kendrix*. We did see the Green Galaxy helmet on the MMPR #30 cover, though.
- Lightspeed Rescue: Joel, Dana, and Ryan.
- Dino Thunder: Connor, Dr. O, and Trent. In the two-page spread in MMPR #27, we saw a figure get blasted with Drakkon’s cannon so it could have been one of them. In one of the panels of Drakkon’s laboratory, we did see Connor’s morpher in the background. So, he was presumably captured off-screen. Also, we did see the White Drago helmet on the MMPR #30 cover. We can also assume that what happened to Dr. O is the same thing that happened to the Zeo Tommy.
- SPD: Sam, the Omega Ranger. The 2018 annual story made it seem like it was the period before he joined the team. However, since Jack has his battlizer, that’s not the case anymore. There’s zero explanation as to why he’s not here. Also, we didn’t see the Blue and Pink A-Squad Rangers. (By the way, can we talk about how the heck Drakkon tracked these guys down if they were literally in another galaxy?)
- Mystic Force: Daggeron, the Solaris Knight. It’s either that this is the period before the Mystic Force Rangers found Jenji and the Laser Lamp, or that when Drakkon picked up Koragg, he captured Daggeron off-screen.
- Operation Overdrive: Every Overdrive Ranger except for Dax. Although, in one of the panels of Drakkon’s laboratory, we did see Tyzonn’s morpher in the background. And, Mack’s helmet is on the MMPR #30 cover.
- Jungle Fury: Theo, Dominic, and the Spirit Rangers. We only saw Theo’s morpher in Drakkon’s laboratory and Dominic’s powers being used by Sentries (and his helmet was on the MMPR #30 cover)
- RPM: Gemma. We saw her zord during the Battle of Corinth and she was referenced in the 2018 annual story. And since Gem is there, we can assume she is there in the background. But, we never actually saw her, either morphed or unmorphed…
- Samurai: Jayden. And, all I have to say is, HA! That’s what you get for overshadowing Lauren during her time on the show, you son of a Shiba!
- Megaforce: Troy, Jake, Emma, Orion, and Robo Knight*. Since this takes place during Super Megaforce, Robo Knight was presumably still captured by Vrak. And while I’m sad one of my favorite Rangers isn’t in this, I’m kinda happy I don’t have to see him die twice. And even though Orion wasn’t in this, we did know he was part of this because we saw his zord.
- Dino Charge: Tyler, Chase, Shelby, Ivan, James, Phillip, and Zenowing. Since Dark Ranger is a thing, this means that for the Dino Charge Rangers, this was all post-season. And that could mean that Keeper gave the Energems back only to the main group at the Dino Zoo, which gives an excuse as to why James and Phillip aren’t there. But, then we also have to wonder why Keeper picked up Koda and Ivan from their time periods and not Zenowing (especially since Zenowing went with Heckyl in the end). In terms of this group showing up, we saw Chase’s helmet in the MMPR #30 cover and saw Ivan’s powers being used by the Sentries.
- Beast Morphers: Gold and Silver. This could be the period before they joined up with the team or they were captured off-screen by Drakkon. (By the way, next year in one of the editions collecting “Shattered Grid”, there’s supposed to be an exclusive Shattered Grid story, which I’m willing to bet is explaining how these guys tie into this.)
- 2017 Movie: Here’s my explanation as to why Drakkon was invading other dimensions and not this one. RPM and Dino Charge have had an impact on the main timeline so that’s why the Morphin’ Grid protected those dimensions. The 2017 dimension has no bearing on any of this, which is why it doesn’t matter in this story.
- All-New Rangers (from MMPR: Pink): They were only temporary Rangers so it wasn’t that necessary to protect their dimension.
- Ryu from Street Fighter: Explanation above. Please don’t talk about this anymore.
- New Powers: The Morphin’ Grid created subdimensions for Ranger teams that were after MMPR. So, we can assume that these teams were active before the events of MMPR.
- Any future un–adapted seasons: A couple of explanations to this: Even though this is supposed to have the show’s timeline, it still is essentially another universe and it’s possible that they aren’t in this universe. Or, that they were busy with their own enemies and couldn’t make it. Or, the funny explanation, Drakkon couldn’t handle the power of Hasbro. Or, the worst explanation, they all sucked at their jobs and were taken out by Drakkon like super easy.
- Favorite Sentry design: …still the MMPR Red sentry. I just love the cape.
- Since Anti-Kim was using the Pink coin, we didn’t have a Pink Sentry in Drakkon’s army this time. Would have loved to see a Megaforce Pink or Lightspeed Pink Sentry.
- Now that this event is over, we can patiently wait for the next event: SUPER SHATTERED GRID!