Review: Mighty Morphin #9
Ryan Parrott continues the strongest Power Rangers story of all time. The combined Power Rangers and Mighty Morphin books balance each other with two epic tales revealing nuances of character, history and weaving the various Ranger mythologies.
While Power Rangers continues to be the stronger book, Mighty Morphin #9 showcases this story’s incredible potential and equally interesting world-building. The story here stretches back to the infancy of Ranger lore, ten thousand years ago the Guardians of Eltar seek help from the Bandorians in protecting the Zeo Crystal.
Flash forward to the present where Matt is getting special treatment at school because he has revealed to the world that he is the newest Power Ranger. The rest of the Rangers are getting less merciful treatment as the school recovers from the energy shield that surrounded Angel Grove. Skull does everything in his power to find his girlfriend Candice/Zelya, not realizing she is an Eltarian similar to Zordon and is currently captured by Lord Zedd.
The Rangers track down a cybernetic dog putty even as Tommy and Matt bicker. When Zordon summons the Rangers back, he leaves Billy behind and reveals Billy was behind the theft of the Dragon Coin and worked with Grace Sterling to bring back a Green Ranger. The Rangers want to give Billy the benefit of the doubt but Zordon demands unquestioning loyalty as he claims he showed his superiors as a Guardian of Eltar.
Just as Zordon finishes his speech, Zartus the Supreme Guardian of Eltar arrives. Zartus laughs at Zordon’s tube, reveals to the Rangers that Zordon was once a reckless braggart and invites the Rangers to join the Eltarian battle. Zedd reveals to Zelya that the Eltarians are conquerors and promises a simple story which will prove it.
While this book is consistently one tiny step down from its insanely great sister book Power Rangers, both in the art as well as the depth of characterization it is slowly gaining ground. The art is simple but well crafted with strong depictions of the Rangers, Monsters and Eltarians. The human sequences don’t hold up quite as well, especially with the repeated bright, monochromatic backgrounds, but the art team remain solid story-tellers throughout.
This book continues to highlight some strong characterizations, especially in Skull, Billy, Zedd, Zelya and Zordon. It still continues to be a lost opportunity to make Aisha, Rocky and Adam stronger individual characters. These are characters we had too little time with on the show, and it feels like such a disappointment to not spend some dedicated time with them here. Overall this is a strong arc in an incredibly strong run expanding on the larger Ranger mythology.
Writing: 4.4 of 5 stars
Art: 4.2 of 5 stars
Colors: 3.8 of 5 stars
Overall: 4.1 of 5 stars
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Art: Marco Renna
Colors: Walter Baiamonte, Katia Ranalli, Sara Antonellini
Publisher: IDW comics
Author Profile
- M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.
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