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Preface
Xi’s Log, The Spectrum II, Stardate 2021.1:
“The Spectrum II barely has enough power for this, but you know what? This is my ship and dang it, I want my private thoughts to be saved.
The Spectrum II is now without power, drifting infinitely more into the cold vastness of space. I am unable to contact any of the Rangers as I fear all of them are on their own fighting against these creatures known as the Horrid. Inter-dimensional parasitic lifeforms that seem to be after the Rangers’ lifeforce energy and that have just recruited our newest “guest” to their cause, Drakkon.
There is one piece of fortunate news. I am not in any danger.”
The Cover
Taken straight from the Mighty Morphin #3 review:
“This is the first cover set where they’re both equally matched.
They’re both on the opposite sides of the spectrum. The Mighty Morphin’ cover is full of energy and action while the Power Rangers cover is filled with a dark atmosphere and mood. But both of them are great.
The Mighty Morphin’ cover has a great framing on the Rangers fighting, the Chaos Putties look detailed and menacing in this art style, and I love how the white and green colors fade together in the background. The Power Rangers cover has an excellent color contrast between the fire and Drakkon and how Drakkon is positioned is reminiscent of his attack on the Command Center.
If I had to pick which one is better, I would have to say the Power Rangers cover, but only barely. While the Chaos Putties look fantastic here, there’s a little more intrigue into knowing what exactly Drakkon is standing on.”
Mighty Morphin – 1
Power Rangers – 2
The Story
The Horrid King tells Drakkon of his people’s past. How they were just a peaceful race until they decided they wanted to explore the universe. The twist is that instead of making spaceships or whatever, they attempted to distort reality which destroyed their planet and a vast majority of their people. Whoops. The survivors of the experiment essentially became ghosts. Neither living nor dead. Centuries passed until they learned that they could become physical beings by feeding off someone’s lifeforce.
Meanwhile, all of the Rangers manage to regroup and think of what to do. As the Rangers start to argue with each other, Xi interrupts them and tells the Rangers that he has a plan but they need to trust him.
Following Xi’s plan, the Rangers escape out the airlock and battle all of the Horrid outside the ship. While Jason summons his Zord to draw out all of the Horrid, Xi and Yale confront the Horrid King. As his back is turned, Drakkon stabs the Horrid King in the back, revealing he’s been feeding Xi intel this whole time. With the Horrid all in pain from the Horrid King’s death, the Rangers jumpstart the ship’s engine and take off.
As Trini locks Drakkon back in his cell, the Spectrum II finally reaches its destination, the shattered remains of Drakkon’s fantasy land.
Ending Thoughts
So, this seems to be the new structure for this series. One short arc about two issues long of the Power Rangers traveling the galaxy. Sounds like a good premise for now.
Character moments were strong with this arc. It was cool that Xi got a chance to lead the team so that he and Jason could relate to each other. Zack’s dog backstory felt a bit irrelevant, but it was still sweet to see him bond with Yale and it makes Yale more of an important character to the cast now. In retrospect, it was obvious that Drakkon wouldn’t be going full evil now with someone who is not the main villain of the series. But, the dialogue between Trini and Drakkon is interesting in itself.
Both conversations are touching on certain cliches this type of premise has brought for other stories. It does indicate that perhaps it won’t go down those paths and it will do something unique for Drakkon’s character. Which, at this point, when a lot of PR fans are sick of Drakkon being back, it’s imperative to make sure that anything being done with him has to be good.
I haven’t gotten to mention the Horrid yet. That’s because my opinion of them has severely dropped. Yeah, their outfits and designs are still unique, their overall concept is reminiscent of horror movie villains. However, now that I have been given their backstory, I realize that they’re not as cool as I thought they were. Until I’m given more about them, all the questions I have to ask for them are basically like “Why did you do that?” I’m sure we will see the Horrid again, but for now, I’m not looking forward to it.
Art-wise, Francesco Mortarino does some great work with this issue. In contrast to the previous issue, where a majority of the environments were dark corridors fitting with the horror theme, the space battle allows a lot of bright and colorful lighting to complement the unique visuals. What compliments them, even more, is how the comic panels are in such different angles, different positions, different shapes. During that battle, it felt like the comic itself is floating in space.
Power Rangers #3 finishes off the short but sweet arc of the horror of space vampires as we enter something possibly even more horrific, Lord Drakkon’s nightmare.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- So, about the Horrid’s flashback. Here are some scattered thoughts on it.
- For starters, since we’re working on just the information that’s in the flashback which is not much, we don’t know much about what exactly they did to find other planets. As far as we know, they jumped straight into their experiment without trying to radio or contact other lifeforms or building spaceships and looking for them that way. If they did do that, great. If not, it makes the race seem lazy to not even try other methods before going for the big experiment.
- We don’t know what exactly their experiment was, other than they “attempted to bend reality”. Now, what in the world does that mean? Did they try to create a portal to other worlds? Did they try to create the planet version of Pangaea so other planets would be within walking distance? It had to be something big to destroy the entire planet. Whatever it is, again, it seems like they were making a mountain out of a molehill.
- And, again, they had the materials for something so destructive that it wiped out their planet. Could they really not just use those materials to fly into space or do anything else I said?
- Ultimately, why I’m not a fan of this is because, in the horror genre, monsters like these are created from something tragic that’s out of their control. For now, the Horrid seem to have been created by basically the cartoon equivalent of a single drop creating an atomic-sized explosion.
- I really wonder how many people got the “Free your mind” reference.
- Again, I know there’s a good chance we’re going to see the Horrid again, but how the Horrid King was defeated is a bit lame. I don’t even know what it is that Drakkon used to stab him. It looks like a pipe. Is one good pipe all that it takes to defeat a space ghost vampire?
- Also, no real explanation as to why hurting the Horrid King hurts his entire race. I know that they are supposed to be basically vampires and that’s how you defeat vampires, but these are two totally different concepts.
- As for the ending, insert your “I don’t feel so good” jokes.