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Preface
Xi’s Log, Safehaven, Stardate 2022.5:
“Hello, my name is Xi. While I am a robotic helper designed to help the Omega Rangers of Safehaven, I am currently avoiding “babysitting” duty. The offspring that humans Trini and Zack has proven to be more troublesome than anticipated. But, I have still provided assistance by researching orphanages in our local sector.
Rangers Jason and Yale have not sent a transmission since explaining their encounter with Andros, another Power Ranger from KO-35. Although, Yale has asked me if I knew whether a human from KO-35 tastes the same as a human from Earth…”
The Cover
Not a big Andros fan, but I do like this image. It recreates the morphing sequence from “In Space” in a cool way, having the same background lighting from the original while staying modern with an electronic grid effect.
The Story
On Safehaven, Zack and Trini start to regret some life choices as they realize that parenting is hard. The child, named as Journey, is being your typical crying toddler.
Meanwhile, Andros leads Jason and Xi to a prison camp where the Xurix are holding a bunch of KO-35 survivors. As they wait for nightfall, Andros explains what happened to his planet. Turns out, Zordon was creating a Ranger team in the hopes of them traveling to neighboring worlds, sharing technology, and creating a united alliance. However, Dark Specter decided to create his own alliance, giving the Xurix the power needed to wage war on KO-35. Andros was even forced to fight his own people as they were turned into Barillian Bugs. Then, a few days ago, his peoples’ camp was attacked, taking them prisoner and forcing them to scavenge the planet for anything that would be useful. And now, Andros is determined to save them all.
But, forget that! Look at Journey!
At night, Andros sneaks in as the Black Ranger and decides to go charging in at the guards, ready for his big movie sacrifice moment. Jason, remembering that this was supposed to be a rescue mission, helps Jason while giving Yale the opportunity to free the prisoners and have all of them fight the guards. Once the fight is over, the freed prisoners start loading up on one of the Xurix ships to flee to safety. Andros is not going with them. He’s going to Safehaven. At the beginning of the war, the Xurix took the Astro Megaship, a spaceship holding several Morpher prototypes, and Andros needs help to find it. Allegedly. Apparently, Andros has a true mission. One that’s dangerous and crazy enough to rescue his friend Zhane and get payback on Dark Specter.
Quick! Distraction!
Suddenly, Zack gets a call from Kim.
And soon, both he and Trini tell Jason the news when he arrives with Andros on Safehaven.
Jason’s mom is dead.
Ending Thoughts
If you aren’t aware, people who keep up with the comic solicitations knew there was a death coming. A coffin is literally on the main cover of the next issue. So, this revelation was personally not a surprise. That said, because of previous storylines, a lot of people assumed the death was Jason’s dad, the one who got terminally diagnosed back in Go Go Power Rangers. So, having it be the mom completely subverts everyone’s expectations. It will be interesting seeing a different story than expected, especially for Jason’s character.
I’d be an absolute monster and so would you if you or me said anything negative about Journey’s scenes. There are zero complaints or problems whenever she’s on screen. Early reviews of this issue talked about how Journey’s scenes capture what it means to be a parent and even though I’m not one yet, I would agree with that. A lot of the segments are short and sweet, delivering the message clearly while keeping the light-hearted tone throughout every scene. It captures the right amount of heart and humor and the tone serves as a great contrast to a lot of the darker elements in the rest of the story, especially the ending. I haven’t even talked about Journey’s character design, how it is adorable in practically every panel, every scene.
Speaking of KO-35, though it’s unquestionably the storyline I cared the least about (Every time we moved back to KO-35, I was like “Go back to the kid!”), the story did the job. It gave new readers a good introduction on Andros, showing him exactly how he is in the TV show, a secretive piece of garbage that is blinded by emotional rage and wants to go down in a hailstorm of laser shots. Plus, for long-term PR fans, it expertly ties a lot of the continuity of In Space to this story like the Barilian Bug storyline and the usage of Zhane technically being a prisoner now with the Megaship. Even though we don’t know where the story is heading next, the revelation that Zordon had an active hand (or head in this case) in creating the Space Rangers takes the concepts of him originally being against the new Green Ranger and other story elements in a whole new direction.
Power Rangers #19 is one of the best Omega Rangers’ issues so far, taking us through the beginning of a childhood, the struggles of survival, and the shock of losing a loved one.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- I keep forgetting that this isn’t our first introduction to Andros. He was in Shattered Grid and Beyond the Grid, but it’s been so long since those things happened, man.
- I don’t know whether Andros’s stealth suit was planned ever since the reveal of the Lightning Collection figure of it, but either way, it’s such a cool thing to tie it in like that.
- First thought when reading that final page? “Man, Jason’s life freakin’ sucks right now. Screw you, Matt!”
- It’s going to be interesting reading this back-to-back with Mighty Morphin. Because there, you have one Red Ranger who’s surrounded by a loving family and here, you have another Red Ranger who is probably listening to “All By Myself” right about now.
