Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #46 comes out this week from BOOM! Studios with another bombshell of an issue in this exciting arc.
As the plot thickens, the “Necessary Evil” storyline continues to gain momentum leading to some exciting new takes on some old ideas. One of these points being the idea of other Rangers.
More specifically, this issue starts by showing us how some of our Veteran Rangers respond to the idea that there are other Rangers out there. In Season 3 of the television series for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, we do see other Rangers for the first time with the introduction of the Rangers of Aquitar, a mostly water-based planet filled with thriving marine life. But since the Rangers were transformed into children for the entirety of that story, due to logic from the first Superman movie I kid you not, they spun the earth backward. We never get to see the Rangers respond to the idea that they are not the last line of defense against evil.
First, we see Tommy is becoming somewhat lax on the Rangers training, which would seem pretty crucial as three members of the team haven’t been Rangers for very long, and it shows. Tommy feels since the Omega Rangers exist, it lifts some of the burden off their shoulders, that and the fact that Zedd and Rita are both gone and Goldar seems to be the worst of their concerns, there’s far less incentive for being battle-ready.
Some might argue that this seems out of character for Tommy Oliver, some see him as the pinnacle of doing good at all cost, and given that in Saban’s Go Go Power Rangers #26 Tommy is literally doing everything he can to become a Ranger again, it’s a valid point.
Something worth noting; Tommy clearly shows that the reason he is fighting so hard to become a Ranger is that his friends need him. Keep in mind Tommy lost his powers to Zedd at a vital time. The team was then down a Ranger, and Zedd continued to send wave after wave of monsters their way, and Tommy could do nothing to help. With the Omega Rangers having defeated both Dayne and Zedd, who by far posed the most significant threats since Drakkon’s defeat, it’s not unlikely that Tommy would feel somewhat relieved that all this stress is finally clearing up.
He went from thinking he was the only one who could even the odds for his friends against Zedd to seeing that there are other Rangers out there who were able to clean house on the Moon like it was their day job. Furthermore, this is not the same Tommy Oliver from the television series, not yet anyway. That Tommy had been through years upon years of being a Ranger on and off, confronting his evil past when he went to obtain the Zeo Crystals from Zedd’s palace, and been a team leader for much longer than the current Tommy in the comic series.
The other Ranger we see react to this is Kimberly, who’s response foreshadows her character’s direction in the Pink Ranger solo comic written by Brendon Fletcher, Kelly Thompson, and Tini Howard. Kimberly shows that being a Ranger is not something she can just put the breaks on and feels even if there comes the point where she moves on like she believes Jason, Trini, and Zack did, it will stay with her for the rest of her life.
Kimberly Hart was the second to last of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team of five teenagers with attitude to move on from the show, the last being Billy. Knowing this having Kim be the one who wants to continue the Ranger life despite the lack of a threat looming seems fitting and potentially a reason why she will stay so much longer than the others.
As the team at BOOM! Studios continue to explore this franchise in its own way; it is essential to remember that these comics have not been a retelling of the source material in comic form, or even an adaptation of these stories for the older audience. The highlights of the BOOM! Comics have always been the writers’ clear understanding of the source and what new and creative ideas they’ve put together with it.
On the other side of the narrative, we do see more of what’s going on with the Omega Ranger team after the last issue’s cliffhanger. This issue is building up to what might potentially be the climax of the “Necessary Evil” arc and gives us a lot to look forward to in the next issue.
With what we have seen so far, there are a lot of questions worth asking about the current direction of the series. For one thing, with the Blue Emissary of the Morphin Grid now seemingly dead, will the Omega Rangers continue past this? Is this arc just becoming a send-off for Jason, Zack, and Trini to no longer be mainstays in the comic itself? Maybe they’ll be written out of Mighty Morphin but continue to be in Go Go when all is said in done? There’s also the question of if the creative team will ever decide to move past the Mighty Morphin series into Zeo, Turbo, Space, and so on.
As a whole, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #46 continues to impress as we come closer and closer to what seems like the end of an entire era. Much like how it was in the show when Rocky, Adam, and Aisha, replaced Jason, Zack, and Trini.
While we’re all interested in what happens next, it’s hard not to focus on what has happened so far, especially with Daniele Di Nicuolo’s phenomenal art backed by Walter Biamonte’s colors. There’s a lot to be impressed by this arc, between the brand new original Omega Ranger designs and how these new characters are being written in so well. The lettering even feels just as much a part of the art like everything else as Ed Dukeshire slides these sound effects in that pop out at you.
Overall the BOOM! Studios Power Rangers comics have shown a lot of heart and passion for making a series for the fans who grew up with the show. Mighty Morphin #46 is no exception as it continues to give us the great art and story we’ve come to love this series for. As they continue to play with new ideas that work with the source material in fun and creative ways, we can’t help but keep coming to the same question over and over again. The same question any good story should strive to make its readers ask, so I ask if you can, leave your response in the comments to this same question:
What happens next?
