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Preface
Previously on Power Rangers… Tommy’s off at his uncle’s cabin now because his mere presence alone couldn’t be contained and so now we have to deal with a floating blue man in Jason’s garage. Yep, that sums it all up.
Wait, didn’t I say that last time? Oh yeah, almost nothing else happened since then. Just the cutest bunny monster in the world that just wants to smash.
The Cover
Initial reaction: “… WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?! WE DON’T NEED YOU ANYMORE! YOUR TIME IS DONE! JUST LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAAVVVEEE!”
Now: “Eh, it’s fine. It’s honestly a good looking cover with a style that works with the spirit animals. It’ll be interesting to see how they affect the story, especially with how they worked back in Shattered Grid’s finale. ”
The Story
Flashback Land is being shattered as we’re showed more of the fight between Lord Drakkon’s forces and the assembled Ranger army from MMPR #30. However, this isn’t a regular trip to Flashback Land as Jason is being shown all of these things courtesy of the Blue Emissary. But, Jason’s mind is having trouble processing all of the memories of Shattered Grid at once. Meanwhile, Warbunny grows giant-size, forcing the rest of the Rangers to summon their Thunderzords.
“Mastodon Lion Thunderzord Power, Pterodactyl Firebird Thunderzord Power, Triceratops Unicorn Thunderzord Power, Sabertooth Tiger Griffin Thunderzord Power!”
The Rangers lead Warbunny away from the Volunteer Center, but their attacks are still ineffective against him.
Jason finally finishes his Shattered Grid vision and answers his Communicator, teleporting to the battle in his Red Dragon Thunderzord. Although Jason’s has a plan using the Thunderzords in their Assault Mode, the Rangers go with Trini’s plan, goading Warbunny into attacking so the Red Dragon Thunderzord in its Warrior Mode can finish him off.
Returning Mr. Loppsy back to the Volunteer Center, Zack tells Trini that he’d like to volunteer there on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, Trini decides to quit volunteering, not having the thought of it being targeted by Zedd on her conscience. Back at the Command Center, the Rangers question what took Jason so long to answer his communicator. Jason lies and says his communicator wasn’t working correctly. Later that night, Kim reconnects with Matt, where she unloads her Ranger problems on him and they both act friendly to each other.
Back in his garage, Jason tells the Blue Emissary that he now understands everything about Shattered Grid. Jason wants to help the Blue Emissary, but doesn’t want to leave his team during this hard time for them. He wants to assemble a new team to deal with what’s coming. You see, Jason’s Shattered Grid vision was jumbled up because he was seeing the past, the present, and the future all at the same time. And he saw a glimpse of all of the enemies that are coming…
“Threats not just to Earth, but…to everything. They’re out there…watching. Waiting. And we have to stop them.”
Ending Thoughts
We have reached the end of this arc for Necessary Evil. It’s been one of the shortest arcs in this entire series.
In all honesty, there’s not much growth or relevant character growth for these characters in this ‘finale’. Like Issue #21, this whole arc was honestly more situational set-up for everyone like with Kim reconnecting with Matt again. Sure, this arc was enjoyable and there are obviously cool character moments here and there like Trini sacrificing her happy place, not wanting it to be targeted by Zedd. But, again, it feels more like set-up for everything else.
Even though we didn’t get the perfect balance between all of the characters in this issue (Billy got practically nothing here besides that “lagomorph” line), this issue does deliver some of the fun and entertaining moments this series is known for. For example, the Warbunny fight. Warbunny, both as a concept and his “warrior” dialogue, is just plain adorable to see it in action. Not to mention that this is our introduction to everyone’s Thunder Zords, giving us some gorgeous and colorful panels of them in action.
Jason’s Shattered Grid vision gave us more screentime for the climactic fight of MMPR #30, which felt welcomed. It was such a large scale event that giving time to some of the other characters (especially our current TV team, the Beast Morphers) is satisfying. And, I’ll be honest, the art team did a great job of having their own style with it, but still recreating the events enough to make it feel like an actual scene of Shattered Grid. Then, the vision transitioned to the Jason vs. Drakkon fight, where despite it not actually happening, it felt like a climactic fight, with some really great visuals of Jason’s shattered helmet, the scattered helmets (like in MMPR #30’s cover) and Drakkon’s “death”.
Go Go Power Rangers #23 shows us the past of Shattered Grid, the present of our heroes, and the future of Necessary Evil with a creative dream sequence and an exciting Zord fight to boot.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- Rest in Peace, Robert Axelrod (May 29, 1949 – September 7, 2019). I hope he had a long and fruitful life and I offer my condolences to his family. His wonderful voice acting as the mighty Lord Zedd and Finster will be one I always remember, especially when reading these comics as their characters continue on in the franchise.
- Some notes on what new things this showed us about Shattered Grid (and some of its errors):
- Nick, the Red Mystic Force Ranger, kicked the bucket during the battle. This was kinda implied when the Titan Megazord was destroyed, but we didn’t get any confirmation.
- The artist redrew Gia, the Super Megaforce Yellow Ranger, from an actual scene in her season. How do I know that? Because the helmet shape and the dual-wielding guns are wrong for her, they’re actually Emma’s, the Pink Ranger.
- Blaze, an evil Ranger from Beast Morphers, is here. Now, of course, he obviously could have been one of the candidates when Drakkon was recruiting evil Rangers, but again, this is the first confirmation that he was there.
- The scattered helmets throughout Jason’s battle and their status in Shattered Grid. (Tori and Unknown SPD Ranger = Present during final battle, Zeo Tommy = Presumably killed initially, Connor and Troy = Both were captured by Drakkon, Lightspeed helmet, colored wrong so I don’t know for sure = Carter was present during final battle, Joel was captured by Drakkon)
- However, it should be noted with this one that with the nature of the vision itself, Jason’s battle with Lord Drakkon was somewhat part of the reconstructed reality that Drakkon made, so technically, no matter what, all of these Rangers would be gone by this point.
- What I liked about that visual of that smoke being inside of Lord Drakkon’s helmet is that it’s the idea that there’s nothing human in there anymore. That Lord Drakkon literally gave up everything to obtain that power and when you take it away, there’s nothing left.
- Zack: “Too bad we don’t have a giant turtle we can call in to teach it a lesson.” Tor should’ve gloriously come out right then.
- I love the Sentinel Statue – the giant fist – being in the background during Kim and Matt’s conversation. First off, it’s world-building, connecting the world of the TV show to the comic, which is always good. Secondly, that statue serves as a subtle reminder that we know what happens next. Tommy is going to come back and whatever happens between Matt and Kim is going to disappear.
