Preface
It’s October, the month of Halloween! You know what that means?
Time to be scared by Dark Specter!
(Not really…)
The Cover
On top, we got some of the teenagers morphed, trying to look good for the camera. (And, again, highlighting the fact that the suits are actually good.) On the bottom, we see a corrupted Mathis with a dark presence behind them.
Do these images look good? Sure.
But, the bottom picture? The pure fact the image above was so generic that you had to literally spoil your own cliffhanger ending because you had nothing else to show for this story is downright disappointing and I hate it so much.
The Story
So, everyone, even Rhianth, boards the shuttle back to Ranger Academy, intending to use Zilan’s device to purge Dark Specter out. But, as it turns out, Dark Specter has infected the Headmaster and the entire building itself, along with a handful of Ranger cadets.
How did this happen?
Hey, shut up.
The group find Nika in the kitchens while the rest of the main cast are hiding out in the underground caverns where they explain that Dark Specter is evolving somehow after possessing the Headmaster and has been trying to goad people into morphing in order to corrupt them as well. So, everyone then runs to the Headmaster’s office, planning on using Zilan’s device there. But, on the way, Mathis ends up morphing in order to save Tula’s life from an attacker. Even for a second, it allows Dark Specter to corrupt Mathis as they take a part of the machine away, disabling it completely…
Ending Thoughts
I hate this issue.
It’s more than the fact that they actively spoiled the cliffhanger on the cover. It’s the fact that this is the penultimate issue, the point in the story where the tension should be escalating to its highest point, but yet, I feel nothing.
So much of this issue involves the characters running around from place to place and telling each other plans that we already know about. Almost nothing here gave anyone from this cast any real depth or character moment. Nothing we didn’t know. Nothing that truly stands out.
This is even worse for the ‘villain’ of this story, Dark Specter. I say villain in quotes because despite all of the buildup, this is his first real speaking role in the story and he comes out as downright pathetic. No great majesty in his dialogue, nothing really sinister. It all boils down to playground taunts, telling the same thing to the characters over and over. “Have you come to die? You’re too late. I’m going to kill you.” It doesn’t help that he’s only represented by the Headmaster, who now looks goofy rather than menacing.
I’m done. The last issue better nail the landing, but I’m not going to spend more time on this.
Ranger Academy #11 sends our heroes back to school, where like any student who missed out on a day, it’s overwhelming and rushed while being easily predictable.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- Who wants to take a bet that the cameo Rangers that were shown off throughout this series aren’t even going to make an appearance again?
- Not even a comment where some of them come out of the corruption and are just like, “Not again!”
