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MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS #41 – Omega Now, Omega Forever
It’s Morphin Time.
It’s been a few months since the events of and the lives of some of the original Power Rangers are starting to get back to normal. Kimberly, Billy and Tommy are leading what’s left of the original team with new members Aisha, Rocky and Adam. Jason, Trini and Zack left the team and have told the others that they’re “vacationing in Switzerland.” This issue focuses on what they’re actually doing on a whole new world with a whole new mission.
We begin the book with Jason, Zack and Trini in the middle of a video call with Kimberly and Billy. Their outfits and backgrounds are whited out so that neither see what they’re really up to. After the call, Jason tells the others that they need to get their stories straight as Kimberly is starting to suspect that they’re hiding something and we’re shown the gorgeous planet that they’re now protecting.
Safehaven seems to be some sort of planet for refugees that have been affected by the Morphin Grid breaking as the Rangers are seen helping to put up houses and playing with children. It also seems to be a place where those that now have Morphin powers can learn and get better in the use of their abilities. One of the new characters introduced is a purple skinned woman by the name of Kiya.
Soon after all of this is established, the Rangers are beeped by Xi, a robotic ally very reminiscent of Alpha V, but with more sass. He tells them of a disturbance in another planetary system to which Jason asks if it’s friendly or hostile. We are then met with Emissary, a fourth dimensional “Ranger” that has been showing up in both on-going books recently. He speaks of the whole point of free will being the lack of knowledge of things.
Emissary is a very strange character, not only because of the strange tenses he speaks in, but also because of his appearance. As a Fourth Dimensional being, he is constantly shifting. All of his forms, however are those of Blue Rangers. I don’t know if this is to signify their usual wisdom or to indicate that there is another Ranger above him. While he doesn’t appear malicious initially, his entire mission is to prevent another shattering and by the end, things seem dire.
The Rangers Morph into their new forms, The Omega Rangers and I absolutely love their design. Looking very much like Sentai ninjas with small shoulder pads, diamond chest emblems and horizontal eye shields, they look really cool. Their powers also take the names of the four traditional elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
On the planet of Zernox-2, the rangers encounter the Followers of Vox, worshippers of one of the Empowered, a being with Morphin energy. The Rangers give the followers a beating and soon after, their leader, Garrison Vox shows up to fight them. Vox is a man of strength and isn’t interested in reigning himself or his power in. He goes after the Rangers in full force, thinking that he can overpower them all.
The fight is beautiful affair of dynamic shots and bright colors. Daniele di Nicuolo understands the almost weightless, but still hard hitting power of the Power Rangers. They fly through the air to make their stikes and cause heavy impacts in the environment. Vox is pretty strong, but he’s also green, still getting used to his power. He chooses to square up against Kiya, dashing at her with rage in his eyes, resulting in the best panel of the book.
Walter Baiamonte and Katia Ranalli use an amazing combination of color in coordination with Nicuolo’s art to show Kiya giving Vox the hardest Superman Punch in history. The sky is a bright pinkish red to show the utter intensity of the impact. There’s also a bright teal highlight of the impact wave off of the hit, almost like a thundercrack as Vox’s face hits the ground. It’s absolutely poster worthy.
The Rangers stand tall over Vox, telling him that he brought all of this upon himself before he or his power is presumably put into a pod of some sort. It’s supposed to be a nice feel good moment as Zack and Jason reflect on their good deeds. Things take a dark turn as Xi takes Vox’s pod and places it among a vast hall of many others.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers continues to stun with amazing visuals and greater storytelling than even the originals shows. It’s easy to become invested in the grand nature of the book, however, some of the characterization leaves much to be desired. In Go Go Power Rangers, everyone has distinct personalities that are easy to follow if you read that series. Here, dialogue is pretty interchangeable, aside from maybe Jason’s leaderly speeches and Kiya’s a blank slate.
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