Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 Review

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 Review

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 Review

The time has come for the biggest Power Rangers event ever to take place in the form of Shattered Grid. This is a storyline that Kyle Higgins has been building towards since the first issue of Power Rangers he wrote. With Shattered Grid the threat of Drakkon will now reach across every era of the Power Rangers and, by extension, providing fans with the most important crossover event in Rangers history. This is an event that is sure to blow many fanboys and fangirls minds with all the different Power Ranger crossovers we are going to be getting.

Before going into this review I will say that I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 while attending WonderCon 2018 this past weekend. While receiving an advance copy does not affect my thoughts on part one of Shattered Grid I wanted to make I was being fully transparent with everyone about this review. Now with that out of the way let’s get to checking out Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25.

Writer: Kyle Higgins

Artists: Daniele Di Nicuolo and Simona Di Gianfelice

Colorist: Walter Baiamonte

Story Rating: 10 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Sometime in the future the Time Force Rangers use their Megazord to fly towards a giant rift in space near one of the team’s outposts. The Green Time Force Ranger notices that the Power Rangers from other eras are seeing the same dimensional rift in space that they are.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25
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When the Rangers get close to the dimensional rift the energy from it severely damages to the Megazord, forcing the Green, Black and Yellow Time Force Rangers out of the Megazord and into the rift.

The Red Time Force Ranger (Wes Collins) says he will stabilize the dimensional rift to give the Pink Time Force Ranger (Jen Scotts) time to escape. While the Pink Ranger is hesitant to leave the Red Ranger behind she does as he says.

The Red Ranger is able to use the Megazord to hold the dimensional rift long enough for the Pink Ranger to escape its energy. Suddenly out of the rift a large Drakkon figure appears and tries to capture the Pink Ranger. The Pink Ranger activates the Chronal Transition to escape capture.

In the present, after viewing the recording of Drakkon’s escape, Jason asks for the footage from Grace for them to review. Jason then asks Tommy what he thinks. Tommy says he still is trying to understand why Saba went to kill Drakkon.

Grace offers Promethea’s resources to help the Rangers out. Jason declines since Grace kept Drakkon’s imprisonment from them so they (the Power Rangers) weren’t prepared for the consequences. Grace reminds Jason that with the Finster conflict it would have been worse if Saba decided to take action against Drakkon at the same time.

Jason thanks Grace for the information and that Rangers will take it from there. Grace then reveals that Drakkon also took something else before teleporting away.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25
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Somewhere at at the Temple of Power Drakkon finishes taking the trails with Ninjor impressed at how quickle he did so. Drakkon talks to Ninjor how they know each other in the future and how he was instrumental in giving Drakkon his powers from Saba. Drakkon then requests Ninjor to help restore his broken Power Ranger morpher.

At the Command Center the Rangers still try to process why Saba went after Drakkon alone. Zordon hypothesizes that because Saba knows the destruction Drakkon can cause he wanted to take care of the villain before anything happened. Tommy voices his sadness over how Drakkon desecrated Saba like he was nothing.

The Rangers then wonder what Drakkon will do next since with Saba’s saber he can teleport anywhere he wants. Zordon mentions that Drakkon is probably looking for a way to restore his powers since he has years of experience under Rita to guide him.

Jason tells Trini to see if she can figure out a way to use the Green Chaos Crystal to contact the Coinless and warn them. He then tells Billy to see if he can strengthen their defenses. Billy asks Zordon if they can set up a defense against Drakkon’s unique signature. Zordon says they can. Jason then tells Apha to continue reviewing the footage they got from Grace to figure out what Drakkon said before teleporting away.

After Jason tells everyone to watch their backs the Rangers decide to split up. Before splitting off Kimberly asks Tommy how he is doing after what they learned about Drakkon. Tommy says he actually feels disconnected from Drakkon because he is nothing like his evil self and he has all his friends to thank.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25
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When Tommy goes to leave Kimberly stops him to talk about how she has letting her parents divorce and her bad relationship with Matt scare her from pursuing another relationship. Tommy says he wasn’t trying to pressure Kimberly to do anything. Kimberly apologizes if she made Tommy feel uncomfortable lately and asks him if he has any plans tonight.

At Temple of Power Ninjor finds it interesting that Drakkon’s morpher has been corrupted to such a degree, almost as if two powers have been forced together. Drakkon says that they had to do that in the future in order to stop the war. Ninjor asks if they were successful in winning the war. Drakkon says they have been so far.

Drakkon then stops because Ninjor learning of the future would be dangerous to the present. When Drakkon asks about the books in Ninjor’s library Ninjor responds that they contain the knowledge about the morphin grid. Ninjor then says that it is information Drakkon can’t know about right now.

When Drakkon gets his restored morpher from Ninjor he instantly morphs into his Black Dragon Ranger form. Drakkon says he feels weaker. Ninjor says that is normal and that Drakkon will need to rest to restore his full power. Drakkon says that is unnecessary and calls Ninjor a fool though his story isn’t done yet.

At the Command Center Trini and Billy are unable to make any progress in their work to isolate Drakkon’s unique energy signature. They decide to take a coffee break. When they leave the Command Center Drakkon appears from the shadows and steals the Green Chaos Crystal.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25
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Outside a movie theater Kimberly and Tommy talk about how the movie was cliche but felt oddly topical for them. As they walk down the street Kimberly tells Tommy that they will beat Drakkon. Tommy feels the same way.

Before they go home Tommy tries to kiss Kimberly but she backs off in the last minute. Kimberly apologizes and says she wants to take things slow. Tommy says he is totally cool with that and they wish each other a goodnight.

While walking home Kimberly thinks of how she wanted to kiss Tommy. She decides to go after Tommy to give him a kiss.

While Tommy is walking home he hears someone call his name. As soon as he turns around Drakkon stabs Tommy through the back with Saba. Drakkon taunts Tommy for helping him power the Green Chaos Crystal and how Tommy’s friends weren’t there to stop him.

Kimberly suddenly appears and sees Tommy on the ground. She immediately morphs into the Pink Ranger and tries fighting Drakkon. Before Kimberly and Drakkon clash Jen teleports in from a time portal. Before Kimberly can find out who the new Pink Ranger is Jen tells them that they can’t waste time. With Kimberly and Jen bombarding him with laser blasts Drakkon uses Saba to escape.

As Jen rests Kimberly demorphs and runs to Tommy, who is bleeding out from his stab wound. Kimberly pleads with Tommy to stay with her and tries to call for help. Before anyone can come help her Tommy passes away breaks down in tears, asking Tommy not to leave her. End of issue.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25
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The Good: When you are looking to kick off a major crossover event in a big way Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 is the perfect example of how to pull that off correctly. Using all the work he has done on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic to provide context to everything that happens in this issue made the start of Shattered Grid even more special. The ending that Kyle Higgins delivers for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 only further emphasizes how wild of a ride fans are going to go on during the events of Shattered Grid.

Kicking off Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 with the Time Force Power Rangers trying to stop the dimensional rift from collapsing set the stage for what all the Rangers will be dealing with. Higgins did a great job using the timeline so that the Time Force Rangers acted as our eyes into how the dimensional rift that Drakkon caused reaches every era of the Power Rangers. The race to stop the dimensional rift added immediate tension to Shattered Grid’s plot as we saw the deaths of three Time Force Power Rangers off the bat. The fact that Wes Collins and Jen Scotts had no time to mourn there fallen teammates made you realize how there really is no time to waste in an effort to stop Drakkon.

Wes being the one that sacrificed himself so that Jen could escape made great use of the emotional connection that has been built between the two in the Time Force season. We already had a strong established relationship between the two that Wes sacrificing himself was not surprising. It also emphasized how Jen will be an extremely important character as she is the only one that really knows how far the threat of Drakkon reaches. It made the fact that she was able to make it back to the present right as Drakkon was starting his plot to takeover the universe even more important. Though it will be interesting to see how much Jen will be able to do in these early issues as she is clearly in a weakened state by the time she teams up with Kimberly.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25
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In developing Drakkon’s story it was smart to have the way the villain got his powers back was by tricking Ninjor. This does a great job using Power Rangers lore as we know that Ninjor is the creator of the Power Coins. Though given that he hasn’t crossed paths with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers yet it made Drakkon’s deception hate the character even more. The way Higgins had Drakkon warp information of the future to gain Ninjor’s trust showed how manipulated he can be. It made Drakkon’s betrayal of Ninjor at the end have an even greater impact when the villain called the Rangers’ ally a fool. Though given that we didn’t see what Drakkon did to Ninjor it does put into question how Ninjor will factor into the rest of Shattered Grid.

Having Drakkon’s story be seperated from the rest of the Power Rangers help build up how much against the wall our heroes are positioned right now. Jason showing his anger over Grace leaving out the crucial information of Drakkon’s capture showed us that the Power Rangers are being forced to fight in the dark right now. As many ways as Jason wants to have the Power Rangers prepared to take out Drakkon once in for all they still have yet to fully establish those defenses. It all further highlights how Drakkon’s strongest power is his knowledge of the future and the Rangers full abilities.

At the same time Higgins makes sure that Grace can’t be fully blamed for leaving Jason and the rest of the Power Rangers in the dark about Drakkon. Higgins gave Grace an understandable reason for leaving out this fact as the threat Finster posed the world was a real one. It was so great that if the Power Rangers were distracted for even an instant then they may have in fact failed to stop Rita’s subordinate since they are still just teenagers.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25
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While the Power Rangers are fighting with their backs against the wall it was still good to see how Higgins continues to develop each of the team members personalities. Higgins has done a great job showing Jason as the guy in charge and further developing how he really is a leader who gives others confidence in what they should do next. At the same time it was good to see that Billy and Trini weren’t instantly able to come up with a solution to track Drakkon’s energy. It made it more realistic since they are still catching up with all of the Black Dragon future tech they are analyzing. It also provided an opening that made sense as to how Drakkon got into the Command Center without anyone noticing.

Kimberly and Tommy finally having their first date happen was also something that was a long time coming. Higgins has taken his time in showing how these two are clearly attracted to each other. At the same time Higgins has shown us that Kimberly and Tommy’s respective pasts has kept the other from making the first move. Kimberly finally being the one to open up about this fact made the first date they go on even more special. It also made Kimberly pulling back from Tommy’s kiss make more sense for readers that are just entering the series with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25.

And of course Kimberly and Tommy just missing out on having their first kiss made Drakkon killing Tommy an even more impactful ending. Tommy is by far the most popular character in Power Rangers history. If you are going to make a statement that absolutely anything can happen in Shattered Grid than the death of Tommy Oliver is how you do it. This was the last thing that you would think would happen in any medium the Power Rangers are in. But now that it has happened there really is no telling where Higgins and company are going to take Shattered Grid. That sense of mystery makes the hype level of Shattered Grid magnify even more.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25
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With all of strong storytelling from Higgins writing Daniele Di Nicuolo and Simona Di Gianfelice did a great job stepping up to continue the style that has been established for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Nicuolo and Gianfelice made the big moments in this issue impactful. From Wes Collins sacrifice to Tommy Oliver’s death this issue was filled with moments that fans will remember and that is thanks to Nicuolo and Gianfelice artwork. They also did a good job with the smaller, emotional moments such as showing Jason’s boiling anger with Grace and Kimberly’s conflicted emotions over what she wants to do with Tommy on their first date.

The Bad: Nothing.

Overall: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 is a phenomenal start to the Shattered Grid crossover event. From the beginning Kyle Higgins grabs your attention with some fantastic use of the Power Rangers history. That emotional attachment you feel from the first page continues throughout Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #25 as each character makes their respective move against Drakkon. The emotional rollercoaster ends with possibly the most shocking event in Power Rangers history. It is an ending that will leave Power Rangers fans talking for a long time and have them highly anticipating what will happen next in Shattered Gird.