Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24 Review

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24 Review

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24 Review

With the “Shattered Grid” mega-event right around the corner we still have one issue left before things kick off for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This has been a series that I’ve been extremely impressed with thus far. Kyle Higgins has taken what so many people, myself included, love about the Power Rangers to another level. From finding out what would’ve happened if Tommy Oliver never left Rita Repulsa’s side to learning about the history of the Power Rangers that preceded the Mighty Morphin team, Higgins given the franchise a lot of added depth. Now with “Shattered Grid” about to start what final surprises does Higgins has for the Power Rangers before their universe is forever changed? Let’s find out with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24.

Writer: Kyle Higgins

Artist: Jonas Scharf

Colorist: Joana Lafuente

Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: At the Moon Base, Finster reveals that he has developed a way to use the human form as a outer shell for his new monster creations. Rita asks how many there are and Finster says there are a total of fourteen. Rita tells Finster to activate them all. Finster reluctantly does as his queen demands.

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Over at the secret holding cell the Blue Ranger (Billy Cranston) is shocked to find Drakkon being held as a prisoner by Grace. Drakkon mocks the Billy and gets in his head. Before Billy can find out more information his teammates call him for help and he teleports away.

Around the world the Power Rangers battle all the monster Finster activated with their Zords. Seeing the Rangers outnumbered Grace uses her own Zord to help Jason so he can teleport to another monster attack location.

While the Rangers hold their own against the various monsters Rita, from her Moon Base, wonders why the monsters are so weak. Finster reveals that the monsters were not structurally ready to “Grow” and he only activated them because he believed Rita knew best.

Noticing that the monsters are weakening Jason has all the Rangers come together to form the Megazord. Along with their teleporting tech the Rangers are able to use their Megazord to quickly defeat all the monsters around the world.

A little later the Rangers confront Grace about her holding Drakkon as a prisoner.

The Rangers meet Drakkon. Drakkon continues to mock the Rangers, Tommy in particular. Grace reveals to the Rangers that during the Black Dragon incident her team monitored spikes from a different energy source which is where they found Drakkon. Jason tells Grace he wants to talk to her alone.

In a meeting room Jason is pissed off that Grace kept Drakkon being in the present from him. Grace says that with all the threats the Power Rangers and her team are dealing with she saw keeping Drakkon locked up as a way to lighten the weight on Jason’s helmet. Jason talks about how when they get older the more you try to forecast ahead. He then says that their partnership is over as he will not let Grace’s secrets endanger his team.

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The other Rangers show up and tell Jason that they should go discuss their current situation. Jason agrees and all the Rangers teleport away.

At the Command Center Tommy voices his opinion that they can’t leave Drakkon locked up by Grace and Promethea with how dangerous he is. Billy mentions he is trying to figure out a way to contain Drakkon.

Jason then asks Saba to show them what Rita and Drakkon accomplished in their alternate world. Zordon interrupts and tells the Rangers that they need to rest while he, Alpha and Saba figure out what they should all do next. The Rangers agree but before he leaves, Zordon requests that Jason stays to talk about something.

After the other Rangers leave Zordon says he knows what Grace is doing is troubling Jason. Jason admits that he feels that because he trusted Grace that he let his judgement be clouded and that he is turning into her. Zordon knows that leading the Rangers is an incredibly undertaking. He admits that Grace didn’t fail the 1969 Power Rangers, he did, and it is something that Grace has unfortunately had to deal with the reprucussions of. Zordon then promises help Jason through even experiences that may seem that he made the wrong decisions on and that they both have to accept they can’t control everything.

Overhearing all of this Saba secretly teleports to where Drakkon is being held. Drakkon is surprised to see Saba is in the present. Saba says he has seen what Drakkon’s evil can do and he won’t stand by while Drakkon plans his next move.

Saba unleashes a laser blast but Drakkon is able to narrowly dodge it. The blast ends up freeing Drakkon from his confinement. Taking another direct blast head on Drakkon powers through and breaks of Saba’s head from the blade.

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Drakkon then takes the Saba blade and starts an enchantment. He then uses the blade to open a portal in front of him. End of issue.

The Good: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24 is the calm before the storm chapter as we head into the “Shattered Grid” event. Unfortunately for the present day Power Rangers that calm proves to further drive their lives into a chaotic period. That chaos may mean bad times ahead for the Power Rangers but it also sets up a lot of fascinating storylines for Kyle Higgins to follow up on in “Shattered Grid” and beyond. And for fans of the series that only adds to the excitement for what comes next.

One of the great things that Kyle Higgins does with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24 is get across the idea that “Shattered Grid” won’t be a glorified team-up story of Power Rangers past, present and future. Everything that Higgins sets up for “Shattered Grid” will clearly have serious ramifications for the Power Rangers and will be the true turning point for where the comic book series is going compared to the TV show. That sensation comes across in every scene of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24 as we see how the team is being pushed to their breaking point.

That breaking point is best shown within the continued development of the Red Ranger, Jason Scott Lee. Since beginning his run Higgins has portrayed Jason as the big brother figure since he is the leader of the Power Rangers. Since portraying him in that way early on Higgins has taken that even deeper by making him the focus of the last few arcs. During that focus we are finally seeing what the weight of leading a team that saves the world on a daily basis is.

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With Jason still being a teenager Higgins has driven home how tough of a position Jason is in. Because like all teenagers, Jason is still developing his personal and professional skills. Being a Power Ranger has just accelerated who Jason is as he commands great respect from those around him. At the same time, that is clearly Jason is still not fully confident in as he tries to look to adults in his life, in this case Grace and Zordon, to figure out how to be the best leader he can. Jason looking up to both Grace and Zordon has created an even bigger evolution in the young Power Rangers leadership ability.

As was shown in this issue, while Jason is still trying to figure out how to be the best leader possible he will step up when necessary as an authority figure. Jason telling Grace that he will not let his teammates be endangered by secrets others have made was a strong decision. Higgins did a great job writing this scene in a way that you forgot that Jason is a teenager. Instead the focus was just on Jason as leader rather than the age difference between he and Grace. Jason throwing what Grace previously said to him about decision making made this scene even better before the Rangers ended up leaving the Prometheus base.

Jason’s decision making and Zordon blaming himself for failing the 1969 Power Rangers made Grace an even more interesting character. Even though she isn’t written as the typical government hardass, Grace has been clearly affected by her previous Power Rangers life. As Zordon said, Grace is someone whose decisions are based on what she sees as her greatest failure: the Moon mission with her Power Rangers team. That failure gave greater weight to how Grace mentioned she held the information of Drakkon’s capture due to not wanting to put added pressure on Jason as the Red Ranger. She knows how much pressure being a Power Rangers leader is and that history made it more understandable that she would keep secrets when she sees it is necessary.

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While Jason was the focus among the Power Rangers it was good to see Billy and Tommy also get some time to voice their opinions on Drakkon. As the two members of the Power Rangers who dealt with Drakkon and his alternate timeline directly their voices hold the most weight. With Billy we saw how Drakkon’s mere presence is still terrifying as he still remembers what the villain does. As for Tommy, he clearly does not like the fact that his older evil self is still around. It is just a reminder of all Tommy’s greatest fears as the Green Ranger. This all further sets Billy and Tommy to have greater personal arcs during “Shattered Grid.”

Complimenting all of this development from the Power Rangers side is the big decision Saba made by confronting Drakkon on his own. This was by far the greatest character development Saba has ever received. Higgins did a great job using all the horrible things Saba saw Drakkon do to give him greater motivation to confront the villain. The way Saba spoke during the ending was clearly one filled with rage as he attempted to kill Drakkon. That decision made the fact that Saba ended up being the cause of the upcoming “Shattered Grid” event an even bigger development.

As that is going on Higgins still found the time to continue to spotlight Rita Repulsa as one of the main villains of the series. During his run Higgins has done an excellent job making this version of Rita much more sinister. At the same time, Higgins does continue to show that Rita’s own overconfidence and narrow mindedness is her greatest weakness. That was on full display when she did not take the time to fully comprehend what Finster’s endgame was for creating his new monsters for her. And with this latest failure you are left wondering if Rita will even factor into Drakkon’s plans or we will see her take time off before showing up again.

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Jonas Scharf does a good job stepping in and keeping the same style that Henry Prasetya created for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book. That consistency makes it easy to get into the story because unless you read the credits before hand you wouldn’t know that there was a different artist. While the action was solid Scharf’s art was at its best during the Moon Base scenes. Scharf got across how overconfident Rita Repulsa is as she demanded Finster activate all his monsters. The disappointment in Finster’s face added to how Rita was setting herself up for yet another failure.

The Bad: The only minor gripe that can be had with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24 is how Kimberly, Trini and Zack get the short end of things. Outside of a few lines the three characters are treated as background characters. This is mostly because they don’t have a direct link to Drakkon like Tommy and Billy do or are involved in Jason’s continued development. Hopefully we see more of an equal distribution of character development as the original Power Rangers are able to have more weight when they interact with the other Rangers teams across time.

Overall: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #24 does a phenomenal job setting the stage for what will should be a fascinating mega-event in “Shattered Grid.” The way Kyle Higgins continued to develop the Red Ranger’s leadership abilities were key in setting up a lot of what will be happening in the future. That development made what Lord Drakkon does to kick off “Shattered Grid” even more exciting as we are left wondering how the Power Rangers Universe will ever be the same again. If you ever watched a Power Rangers TV show I highly recommend jumping on now because Higgins is on fire with his work on MMPR and that should continue with the upcoming mega-event.