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Preface
Drakkon’s Tales, Chapter 12:
“I did it. I finally did the thing everyone knew was coming.
I used 4D chess to have the pitiful Omega Rangers locate the Yellow Emissary, the last Emissary in the universe. It’ll be only a matter of time until it becomes the last Empyreal. That’s not my problem.
Due to a deal made with them in the very beginning, in exchange for giving the Empyreals the location of the Yellow Emissary, they have returned to me my Morpher. My full potential. And, now I will laugh as the Omega Rangers are destroyed and-
Wait, what is this red stain on my costume?”
The Cover
Taken straight from the Mighty Morphin #12 review:
“Mighty Morphin’s cover has a good use of colors, but honestly, it’s too basic. That, and I can tell some of the art is reused makes it so it’s not that special. Power Rangers’s cover on the other hand is supposed to call back to Lord Drakkon’s first debut and uses red highlighting to convey the evil nature of the scene. And, I do like some of the detailing and shading on Drakkon. It works.“
Mighty Morphin – 5
Power Rangers – 7
The Story
The Spectrum II crashes down to the planet and the Omega Rangers flee to the crash site while evading the Empyreals attacking them. However, they find the broken robot body of Xi and one morphed Drakkon. He then monologues his motivations for betraying the Rangers (other than the fact that he’s a douchebag.) Basically, the day that the Red Emissary was destroyed, the Empyreal immediately found him and offered him a deal for his freedom and powers in exchange for the Yellow Emissary.
As Drakkon takes off in the Spectrum II, Jason attempts to challenge him, thinking that Drakkon’s offer from before might’ve been from him secretly not wanting to betray the Rangers. However, all 3 Empyreals get the call from Zartus to come back. Before they leave, they use their collective power and set fire to the entire planet.
The Omega Rangers manage to avoid the initial blast by hiding underground. However, they now have no Xi, no Zords, no food, no water, and no way to get home. Days pass and they do anything they can to escape the dying planet but to no effect. Each of them spend time reflecting on their time as Omega Rangers, the mistakes they made, and what they should do next. They only have two options: hold out hope that they escape until they die from starvation or accept their fate and breathe in the toxic atmosphere. Before any of them can answer that conundrum, their last hope arrives.
Ending Thoughts
The final issue of “Unlimited Power”, the name for this arc that I don’t know if I have ever mentioned before.
There are, of course, a lot of similarities that can be made to Mighty Morphin #12. Both issues don’t feature any big action sequences, but instead, have the characters interact with each other and address the drama and problems they’ve been having throughout this arc.
What separates the two issues are the environments and situations each cast of characters is in. Both casts have the same feel to their dialogue that is both realistic and personal, but each cast has an entirely different situation to deal with. Mighty Morphin had the characters do this to focus on a larger threat. Power Rangers had the characters talk about their issues because they feared it was their last chance to do so. It’s clear how different both series are.
Anyway, as for Power Rangers #12 itself, there are a lot of emotional moments here for each character. Although Drakkon ditches them on the planet as expected, what’s surprising is that there are some sparks of doubt on whether he’s a full villain or not. Whether his time with the Omega Rangers actually did affect him in some ways. Also, Zack’s confession and how it was addressed are appreciated. Rather than trying to make Zack regret his decision, his friends just accept it due to both the situation they’re in and the friendship they have. In addition, I liked the subtle hints that the Empyreals want to do more than serve Zartus. As I said, their storyline feels better when they’re not being controlled so it’s nice to know that more can happen with them.
Art-wise, for a barren, dying planet, there are a lot of details and linework in the environment. There are two main environments in this story, actually. The volcanic surface and the underground caverns. Both of them provide their own mood and atmosphere for the story. In the scenes on the planet’s surface, like the raging magma, everyone is on edge with their emotions heightened. Look at Zack freaking out and hallucinating or Jason screaming out for a dead Emissary to help. Contrast that with every scene in the underground caverns. Scenes like Trini’s transmissions. They’re meant to be calm, a break from the disaster, but instead, the silence and whispers of them set in the reality of the situation. Both environments contribute overall to the story and the characters in a subtle but meaningful way.
Power Rangers #12 is a memorable finale to “Unlimited Power”, showing us a potential end of our heroes’ journey avoided by the arrival of a brand new hero.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- I didn’t talk about Xi’s death above here. That’s because as I was reading it, I was in denial. I was like, “Oh, he’s gonna get fixed, right?” and then the story continued. So, I hope he does come back and if not, then I will wear shoes in his honor.
- Trini (to Jason): “Remember when you used to be all about headbands?” We didn’t see this before. I want to see more! Show me Jason’s true identity before becoming a Ranger: Headband Man!
- Yale’s Ranger design. It’s amazing! I want a toy of it immediately!
- So, which finale do I like more? Mighty Morphin #12 or Power Rangers #12? Mighty Morphin’ has the better cliffhanger. That “Oh shi-“ moment when Zordon’s tube is destroyed is more compelling for readers to continue on. Power Rangers #12, however, has the more unique situation of our heroes, stranded on an alien planet, thinking about what could be their final moments. And, before I said in the Mighty Morphin #12 review that a lot of the drama can be summed up in one or two lines, there are no easy answers for the problems our Rangers go through in this issue.