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Preface
Power Month is here and apparently, it’s Retro Week! So, I guess that Mighty Morphin’ #10 is perfect for this! TIME FOR BACKSTORY!
The Cover
Both images are decent. Good dramatic battle shot for the Guardians of Eltar on Mighty Morphin’ #10 and a cool shot of Yale and the Blue Emissary posing on Power Rangers #10.
Feel a little indifferent to both so I’ll just give it to Power Rangers #10 because I just like Yale. I think he’s neat.
The Story
(I think I can sum this up fairly fast so here we go. FLASHBACK LAND!)
An assassin sneaks into the Moon Palace and attempts to get the Zeo Crystal. Zordon and Zophram manage to capture him, but Zordon is poisoned in the battle. Following Zordon’s wishes of wanting to use the Zeo Crystal, Zophram pleads with the council to finally take action. Although the council is willing to move the Zeo Crystal, they don’t want to take it to Eltar but move it to another location to guard it.
After arguing about it until they’re both blue in the face, Zophram finally says screw it and tries to get the Zeo Crystal himself. However, because of the Fire of Truth spell Zartus did the last issue, Zophram is deemed unworthy and the explosion from it burns his entire skin away. The issue ends with Zophram being dragged to god knows where by Zartus as he narrates that a new force in the galaxy was born…
That’s right… This is how Ed was born.
Ending Thoughts
For a villain origin story, this story is a little predictable. On paper, the story concept has been done before: a friend of the character gets hurt, the character wants to do something about it, is told no, and the character takes matters into their own hands with disastrous results. I’ve felt like I’ve seen the concept so many times before.
With that said, the story does do something clever by creating a character that is similar to what the villain looks like in the future and misdirecting readers as they figure out who this story is actually about. And, unlike some of the more modern villain stories, it did have the build-up from the previous 9 issues of this series, showing who our villain is, his relationship to others, and the problems he had to deal with. Even though I wasn’t that attached to Zophram before this, I am more invested in the story than I would’ve been.
Art-wise, let’s talk about the action first since the first half of the issue is basically one long fight sequence. Surprisingly, this fight sequence seems a lot more violent compared to previous PR issues. The art executes all of the brutal action perfectly, using the environment for combat and giving attention to the moments when blood is drawn. All the while, you see how deranged Zophram’s expressions get in the fight, holding nothing back. This might be one of my favorite fight scenes in all of MMPR.
Now, for the environments, because this is a space-focused issue, we get to see a lot of the cool details about Eltar, the creatures, the architecture. It’s amazing to see more of the universe of PR come alive. The coloring and the lighting make a huge impact on the story, especially during the scenes in the Moon Palace. There are so many panels where the dark shading really sets the tone of despair.
Mighty Morphin #10 finally gives us an origin story for our main villain and starts to connect all of the pieces this series has been setting up.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- I’ve been waiting to use that ‘blue in the face’ joke for months, man. Months.
- It was Zartus all along. Now put that to the tune of “Agatha All Along”. I dare you.
- I don’t know what it is, but yeah, I like Rita’s origin better.
- Honestly surprised that the council’s decision wasn’t instantly to put the Zeo Crystal on Earth. I mean, after all, nothing bad ever happens there…
- So, for PR fans, we all remember Countdown to Destruction and when the Z-wave hit Lord Zedd, he obviously doesn’t look like Zophram. Now, I asked this question on Twitter and many people were quick to hit me with the “Multiverse” card. And, as we saw with Zelya / Candice, it’s not entirely possible that Eltarians can make themselves look like humans. Those reasons are perfectly valid. But, can I just pull out a theory real quick? What if, when the Z-wave hit, Zophram felt guilty for betraying his people so he didn’t want to turn back to an Eltarian? What if he just wanted to be a memory for Eltar and not a reminder? And, so, he wanted to become, ironically, one of the people from a race he tried so hard to conquer to start all over again. (And, the fact that he finally was able to grow a full head of hair was a bonus.)