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Preface
It’s the final issue of Drakkon New Dawn and we’re finally getting to learn the identity of the Unknown Ranger and-!
Wait, this is only the second issue? Then, why are we learning this now?
The Cover
I should just say, ‘Yay! Female cover!’, but to be honest, I’m looking more at the statues in the background and how inaccurate they are to the actual people. Drakkon must’ve been a lenient dictator to let those statues stand.
The Story
Finster-5 immediately opens up the Unknown Ranger’s helmet, revealing a bearded Jason underneath. However, the reunion between all of the original Rangers is interrupted by Adam returning from scouting outside of the city and telling them about Eclipta, the female Ecliptor that was revealed last issue. Scorpina tells the group that Eclipta will test the city’s defenses and if she manages to beat them, she’ll summon Dark Specter to Earth, where he’ll enslave the entire planet.
Adam has an idea to increase their ranks by having Anti-Kim put her Power Coin in the Diffuser, the device Drakkon used to give the Rangers’ powers to the Sentries. However, Jason refuses to let the Diffuser be used again, explaining what it meant to Drakkon. Back in his prison, Jason saw that creating the Sentries was Drakkon’s way of making sure there was no one who was powerful enough to stop him. Every chance he got, Jason tried to escape the prison but failed. Eventually, he was forced to put on the Prison Ranger armor as Drakkon’s way of making sure he never escaped his prison. Jason only stopped trying to escape when Drakkon ordered the Ranger Slayer to kill herself if Jason ever managed to escape. And so, Jason stayed in his cell until now to save Kim’s life.
While Jason leaves after Anti-Kim makes up her choice to keep the Sentries, both Coinless and Sentries arrive at the scene to fight Eclipta and stop her transmission to Dark Specter. However, the attack goes pretty bad for Team Earth with the Sentry Powers disappearing mid-fight and Adam being killed by Eclipta. Everyone makes a hasty retreat back into the city as riots break out between the Coinless and Sentries. But, everything comes to a halt when they see Jason above them…
Ending Thoughts
This is an… interesting approach.
Instead of the story going through the perceived mystery of the first issue with readers wondering who the Unknown Ranger is, we have revealed exactly who it is, along with his entire backstory and more lore of the world itself. And, his backstory is fairly compelling on why he hates the Sentries so much and solid on why he was resistant to leaving the prison in the last issue. But, like I said before, this is a different approach to using Jason. I’ll have to wait until next issue to see how this is handled. Because right now, I don’t know what’s going to happen next with him.
As for Adam, although he’s a fine character, I personally didn’t feel much for his death. That said, I appreciate how Scorpina was handling his death. The pure denial she had in the beginning and then her talking to Adam, ignoring all of the destruction and chaos around her. It really shows how much Adam’s death rattled her. As for Eclipta, great character design, but still, there’s nothing noteworthy about her. There are a ton of fan theories about who she is and I’m forming my own, but as of right now, there’s nothing to show she’s a memorable character or villain. We’ll just have to wait until the next issue to see if we get anything for her.
Drakkon New Dawn #2 rushes through the mystery of the first issue, but at the same time, builds up momentum for a suspenseful cliffhanger for the finale.
Random Thoughts From the Morphin’ Grid
- Noticing that Jason had an issue with a Ranger Sentry and Scorpina, but not Finster. I see Jason’s on the right side.
- Now that I know it’s Jason… yeah, his dialogue last issue still feels super off.
- I understand Scorpina knowing about Dark Specter, but how the heck does she know about Eclipta? Remember, Scorpina’s from a different universe. She should know about Ecliptor, which is a totally different story.
- Also, Scorpina was thinking of leaving the planet with the Sentries (Actually, Adam just inferred that out of nowhere.) and so the question is… does she even have a way of doing that?
- It’s weird that the story gives us much more backstory and lore on the Sentries, but at the same time, creates a confusing timeline as to how the Ranger Slayer is concerned. Like how often did Anti-Kim switch off between using her morpher and giving it to the Diffuser?
- When you think about it, in this issue, Drakkon is shown to be even more of a sadistic jerk. The Ranger suit he puts Jason in, not only hurts Jason with every punch he throws but think of the Sentries for a second. They got beat by Jason unmorphed. It probably sucked for them to get even more hurt by that same unmorphed person in a metal suit.
- So, before the final issue next month, what is my stance on all of this? Whether or not this world needs the Power Rangers again? Well, it’s complicated. On the one hand, having the Sentries creates this class struggle and effectively splits up the power so one full army equals the strength of one Power Ranger. On the other hand, more soldiers are a good thing if we’re dealing with an entire army and you would have to deal with the fallout of removing an entire system the world has adapted to.