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Preface
So… Drakkon’s back. Yay?
I know some people didn’t like Drakkon’s ending back in Shattered Grid because it was a “lame” way to end his character. I personally like the ending Drakkon received, giving us the best look into his character’s psyche while being destroyed by his own ambition.
But here’s the thing.
Regardless of whether you like Drakkon’s ending in Shattered Grid or not, it was an ending for his character. A way for the character to be discarded so that you won’t have to involve him in any future stories. However, bringing him back like this feels like, no offense, a comic book trope. A way of keeping a popular character in your series for as long as possible and not giving them any sense of finality and, in turn, making them stale.
So, I guess we’ll see now what was so important that Lord Drakkon just had to come back.
The Cover
This cover’s pretty good. It captures the reader’s attention with this bright fire and the mysterious figure standing in the visor’s reflection. It’s good.
The Story
Drakkon immediately attacks the Rangers, acting a little bit insane and ranting and raving all over the place and scared of something. Tommy manages to knock him out and the Rangers hold him captive in the Command Center. While Zedd brings Goldar and the squad back to the Moon Palace, the Rangers debate on what they should do about Drakkon. But, Zordon points out the obvious thing about all of this. If Drakkon, one of the most powerful individuals in the multiverse, is running away from something, it can’t be good.
At school, everyone goes about their usual business. Kim learns that Rocky is childhood friends with her ex-boyfriend, Matthew Cook. Tommy is at the Juice Bar, avoiding talking to Drakkon. Billy is running tests on Drakkon to figure out where he came from. Candace is showing Bulk and Skull around the city.
When, all of a sudden, a MOTW called Psychoslug, the Terror Snail, arrives downtown and the Rangers morph to fight him. They make quick work of it, using the Power Blaster on him. However, this was all part of Lord Zedd’s plan. Psychoslug’s shell teleports back to the Moon Palace, holding the weapon that was just fully charged with the Power Blaster’s energy: the Green Chaos Crystal.
Zedd unleashes the energy of the crystal on Goldar and the gang, turning them all into Zedd’s newest Dark Rangers. Now, all they need is a fifth member. And Finster offers up a perfect suggestion: Rita Repulsa.
Ending Thoughts
If you haven’t heard the recent news, MMPR is ending soon, with the final issue being MMPR #55 in October. This new arc will help set the status quo as the series relaunches into two different series debuting in November. And, so, as an ending to this series, this issue is… alright.
I like the little stuff here. It’s good that the Stone Canyon trio is showing more personality than just being the newbies. It’s fun to see Drakkon, who used to be this composed figure, suddenly become a raving maniac. Not only is it an evolution of his character and shows how far he has fallen in his mad quest for power, but it breathes new life into a character that’s already becoming repetitive. Also, Psychoslug and his fight with the Rangers was entertaining. I appreciate how he used his entire body in the fight. It differentiates itself from previous monster fights. (Also, that bit with the Rangers being slimed was funny to me.)
It’s just… I don’t know what it is, but I’m not a fan of what they’re trying to set up. With the Dark Rangers and whatever Drakkon’s so scared of and why they’re bringing back Matt now. I’m not interested in it right now. I don’t know. Even though it’s great that Zedd is trusting Goldar and his gang with this new power and showing some character development, I personally wasn’t that thrilled of the idea of bringing the Dark Rangers back. The story is going to have to win me over for these ideas and so far, it’s not doing a lot so far.
We have a new artist for this arc: Moises Hidalgo. And… it’s alright. While this coloring remains consistent with Necessary Evil’s coloring, a lot of the detailing from previous arcs is gone and there are some odd body proportions in places. Though, I will give credit and say that my favorite aspect of this style is the human faces. They’re more expressive and give off plenty of emotion for the characters. You can really tell with Drakkon where every close-up on him shows how paranoid and deeply disturbed he is now. There’s also a good showing of motion through the action setpieces. This art style’s not my favorite, but I’ll accept it.
This was MMPR #51: “Aftermath”. Four more issues to go…
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- “Is the bad guy Tommy’s dad?” Time travel BS can certainly make this possible. (Especially since we haven’t actually seen his father in either the show or the comics.)
- Drakkon’s appearance here reminds me of a mix between Zuko from Avatar and Kratos of God of War. (Both of those characters are still better than Drakkon here.) Although maybe, I just keep seeing Trek here.
- “What evil jobs could we possibly get?” Two words: Galaxy. Warriors!
- An explosion happens and Squatt says that it wasn’t him. That was almost a fart joke. Almost.
- Tommy has the wrong hair color shade. Now, it wouldn’t bother me that much except that you have his doppelganger here and his hair’s totally fine!
- Tommy mentions Shattered Grid, though he has no real memory of it. My guess is that the Omega Rangers gave them a vague idea of what happened. Also, Kiya was ranting all over the place about how awful Tommy was, especially when she tried to attack him in MMPR #45. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put two and two together.
- Of course, there’s that one kid in karate class that brings a Naruto headband.
- “Before you break a face, break your board!” But, what if someone’s face is standing in front of a board…?
- Ok, so the Salt Lake City joke is about slugs dying if they’re exposed to salt. It flew over my head and I thought was about a previous battle they had… Though, good job, Billy. Only you would be the one to make a joke that makes sense but is totally confusing.
- During quarantine, I’ve been watching some old episodes of Malcolm in the Middle. And, with Psychoslug’s dialogue, I’ve basically been imagining Stevie saying all of it.
- Also, don’t miss Bulk piggybacking Skull.
- The new Dark Ranger designs? I… it reminds me too much of Carnage from Marvel. I know they’re different, but yeah… (Making Finster as Pink is freaking wild, tho)
- That final page is framed in a way where it seems like Rita showed up randomly right as Finster was talking about her, which is weird. Or Finster just called her up? Which means he probably could’ve done that while Zedd was locked up and chose not to…
- We all have our theories on why Matt’s back and… if it’s what I’m thinking, I’m not a fan of it…