In the post-Shattered Grid world we saw the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers go through a time jump. In the last issue we caught up with the legendary Power Rangers team not long after Tommy Oliver became the White Ranger and Rocky DeSantos, Aisha Campbell and Adam Park replaced Jason Scott, Trini Kwan and Zack Taylor as the Red, Yellow and Black Rangers. That wasn’t all that we saw take place when we finally caught up with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. In addition to these changes Ryan Parrott introduced the Omega Rangers into the Power Rangers mythos. To make the Omega Rangers introduction even bigger was the fact that Jason, Trini and Zack are part of this new Power Rangers team. What exactly are the Omega Rangers purpose? Let’s find out with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41.
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Daniele Di Nicuolo
Colorists: Walter Baiamonte and Katia Ranalli
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: On the moon Dayne is looking over footage of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers recent exploits. Dayne is upset in how Zedd has had a tough time defeating the Power Rangers as they look like amateurs to him. Dayne tells Squatt and Baboo to get him all the footage Zedd has on the Power Rangers as he wants to know everything about them.
Meanwhile Jason, Trini and Zack try to avoid telling Billy and Kimberly about where they are while talking over Facetime. Kimberly makes fun of them for being embarrassed about having to wear wooden shoes.
Billy then mentions that they could have Alpha teleport them to Switzerland so they can have a day to catch up. Trini and Zack that they can’t do that right now since they are still busy with a packed schedule for the next few weeks. Noticing that they don’t want to hang out Kimberly fakes a call from Alpha.
On another planet Trini thinks that Kimberly and Billy bought their story. Jason tells Trini and Zack that they need to do a better job making sure their stories when talking to the others are tight. Zack then says he is still trying to get used to where they are.
The trio eventually reach a place called Safehaven where they meet up with their new teammate, Kiya, who calls them out for training without her. Kiya says the three can make it up to her by going to get their hands dirty.
A little later Jason, Trini and Zack help build new homes in Safehaven for the latest refugees without the use of their powers. They eventually finish building one of the homes. As they are about to take a break Trini gets a call over her communicator for the team to go to their base of operation.
Over at a building called Eternity Point Jason, Kiya, Trini and Zack meet up with Xi (their robot ally looking for trouble across the universe). Xi tells the team that he has found a level four threat in the Zernox System. The Blue Emissary shows up to also get the details on the threat, though he does so while talking in a way the team find confusing.
Trini speaks up saying that she is not sure if they are ready for a level four threat since they’ve only dealt with level one and two threats so far. Kiya says that is why she joined the team. Jason is also confident they can tackle this level four threat. Blue Emissary then reminds them that they are hunters and guardians so they must be careful.
Jason, Kiya, Trini and Zack then morph into the Omega Fire Ranger, Omega Water Ranger, Omega Earth Ranger and Omega Air Ranger, respectively.
Sometime later the Omega Rangers are fighting a bunch of thugs on Zernox-2 while Xi watches over them from their Spectrum spaceship command center that’s flying near the planet. The Omega Rangers eventually make it to a town where they find people desperately trying to survive from whatever is attacking them. One of the locals tells the Omega Water Ranger that someone named Vox led the attack on their planet and are kidnapping people.
Suddenly a giant named Garrison Vox violently teleports into the town. The Omega Rangers immediately start fighting Garrison Vox. They gain the upperhand on Garrison Vox thanks to their teamwork, sending the villain flying through a building.
During a break in the fighting the Omega Fire Ranger reveals that they know that Garrison Vox has become connected to the Morphin Grid. Omega Fire Ranger goes on to reveal that the Omega Rangers mission is to bring those connected to the Morphin Grid to Safehaven where they can learn to control their new abilities.
Garrison Vox powers up and decides to continue fighting the Omega Rangers. Omega Water Ranger charges at Garrison Vox and is able to quickly knock him out with a powerful punch.
The Omega Rangers then use a canister similar to the one Rita Repulsa was trapped in to seal Garrison Vox in.
Sometime later at Safehaven Jason and Zack are relaxing after the fight. A Safehaven local then approaches Zack to give him a gift. Jason asks Zack if he misses their home. Zack says he does but also knows they are where they are supposed to be.
The next day Kiya meets with the Blue Emissary at Eternity Point. Kiya thinks they should try to convince Garrison Vox to fight with the Omega Rangers rather than locking him up. Blue Emissary says that Garrison Vox was already evil and his new connection to the Morphin Grid made him worse. The Blue Emissary goes on to say that the universe almost died because of their hubris and must ensure that they do everything possible to ensure the universe doesn’t shatter again.
Xi is then shown walking into a secret room inside Eternity Point. Xi place the container holding Garrison Vox on a shelf along with a large collection of other similar containment jars. End of issue.
The Good: Much like the previous issue, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41 is a world-building issue. We are still in the process of catching up with where the Power Rangers are after the time jump that put us in the era after the Power Transfer took place. Given the massive event that Shattered Grid was this approach for “Necessary Evil” is a smart way to take things for the franchise right now.
Focusing this issue on the Omega Rangers, who were introduced in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #40 and teased in Go Go Power Rangers #21, was a smart play. This immediate focus on Jason, Trini and Zack quickly explains why when we catch up with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that they aren’t on the team before. The Power Transfer that took place on the TV Show, due to contract disputes behind the scenes, always came across as an awkward event. It was made even more awkward because Jason, Trini and Zack only appeared in their morphed forms in the lead up to the Power Transfer.
All of that is something which Ryan Parrott solves through the beginning of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #40. Using the set-up in Go Go Power Rangers #21 as well, now we can surmise that the reason Jason, Trini and Zack only appeared when needed before the Power Transfer was because they were setting the stage for becoming the Omega Rangers. That is not something that they could rush into.
Seeing Jason, Trini and Zack still working on getting their story straight when talk Billy and Kimberly shows that they are figuring things out. It’s a good set-up to have for the three as they are balancing out being Omega Rangers and keeping up the facade of being involved in a peace conference in Switzerland. It’s a sub-plot that creates plenty of opportunity post-Necessary Evil if the Omega Rangers is a long term status quo for Jason, Trini and Zack.
From Kimberly and Billy’s standpoint it’ll be interesting to see how they continue to react to Jason, Trini and Zack’s absence. It was already clear Tommy was hurt by his friends sudden exit as Power Rangers. Now we are seeing that Kimberly and Billy were also holding in similar feelings of abandonment. Where exactly this sub-plot goes could very well lead into an even bigger storyline for the original six Power Rangers. Maybe even a Civil War-type story if the Mighty Morphin and Omega Rangers ever meet.
The set-up for why Jason, Trini and Zack would choose to become Omega Rangers was also well done. They, along with their friends, have seen a lot and how one event can almost break the universe. Understanding that it is not surprising that Jason, Trini and Zack would go into space to help others from the current crisis going on. It also furthers the entire Power Rangers mythos since it has been established that people like Andros and Zane were active as Rangers at some point between Mighty Morphin and Turbo. Maybe this Omega Rangers activity is what sparks the creation of Andros and Zane as the Red and Silver Space Rangers.
Adding in a new Ranger to the mythos with Kiya was a good surprise. This is a brand new character that brought in a new energy to the chemistry Jason, Trini and Zack have. As of now she is the new kid in the group who is still showing her worth. Having Kiya speak with the Blue Emissary at the end of the issue also showed us how she views the potentials of others to be strong allies. It is a sense of hope that a lot of the Rangers have.
Also seeing Kiya in action with the others helped elevate the action going. In particular, Parrott did a good job showing how even though Kiya was still new as an Omega Ranger that there was still clear chemistry on the team. It plays into the experience that Jason, Trini and Zack have that they can work well with Kiya as Omega Rangers. Establishing this chemistry early on gives off a feeling that there is even greater potential for the Omega Rangers as they possibly gain new recruits.
In any case it was interesting to see how the Blue Emissary skated around the fact that the reason the Omega Rangers were formed was because of the Shattered Grid event. He was clear that he doesn’t want the Morphin Grid to shatter like it did before without outright talking about the Shattered Grid event. This creates the question as to what exactly the Blue Emissary is planning. Because as we saw with his secret prison under Eternity Point, the Blue Emissary is seemingly acting on his own. Otherwise he wouldn’t have to keep things a secret from not only the Omega Rangers but possibly also the other Emissaries.
All of this creates a greater sense of danger for the chaotic nature of the current Morphin Grid’s instability. The power that Garrison Vox had during the fight with the Omega Rangers showed that there are a lot of power threats created now in the post-Shattered Grid era. If someone like Garrison Vox can gain some power from the Morphin Grid there is no telling who else wields such power. How Parrott has others use the power from the Morphin Grid will be very interesting to see.
The sketchiness of the Blue Emissary’s portrayal also provides a possible reason why the Omega Rangers aren’t a permanent team. Especially since when we next see Jason is as he returns to being the Gold Zeo Ranger while Trini and Zack are in Africa when Kimberly recruits them for the Power Rangers: Pink comic book. Having this questionable method for the Blue Emissary could end up explaining why the trio of Jason, Trini and Zack are in the spots the other Rangers find them in when looking for help.
The opening of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41 with Dayne watching the footage of the Power Rangers recent action was a good way to keep developing his character. As a new character Dayne needs to be shown as a threat waiting to strike. Building his threat level up by showing him watching footage of the Power Rangers is strong set-up for Dayne’s character. It creates greater anticipation for when Dayne finally makes his presence known to the Power Rangers.
Daniele Di Nicuolo delivered great artwork throughout Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41. Nicuolo did a great job with the designs for the Omega Rangers. He presented them as a whole new level of power who used melee combat as their main fighting style compared to more of the weapon based combat of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The power shown by the Omega Rangers was nicely balanced out by how Nicuolo drew Jason, Trini and Zack still getting used to their new status quo. It was clear through their facial reactions that this was a new, exciting direction for them and Kiya.
The Bad: The only problem that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41 runs into is the presentation of Xi. As the Alpha 5 of the group he is not set-up well to be a very layered character. From the moment that Xi appears on the screen you can tell he has something going on that the Omega Rangers don’t know. There was no hiding that fact which made the ending of him placing Garrison Vox’s containment jar in a prison less surprising. This is exactly what the reader would expect from how Xi was portrayed. Hopefully as Necessary Evil moves forward Xi is given more depth than just being a puppet for Blue Emissary.
Overall: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41 was a strong chapter in Necessary Evil. Ryan Parrott and Daniele Di Nicuolo did a great job presenting the mission of the Omega Rangers. In the process they gave the Power Rangers mythos a fascinating addition that continues to build from where Shattered Grid left the franchise. Where Parrott and Nicuolo go from here with Necessary Evil will be exciting to see develop.
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