Let's Talk About MIGHTY MORPHIN #16
Mighty Morphin #16 ends a chapter in Power Rangers comics. It is the finale of the Eltarian War (I believe Power Rangers #16 is going to be more of an epilogue) and it is the last issue of Mighty Morphin that Ryan Parrott will write. He went out with a spectacular bang! BOOM! Studios was kind enough to provide me with a copy to read and it did not disappoint. You can read my thoughts/breakdown below, but make sure that you go grab your copy from your favorite comic retailer first. Parrott’s team included artist Marco Renna, colorist Walter Baiamonte with color assistance by Sara Antonellini and Sharon Marino, and letterer Ed Dukeshire for this incredible issue.
In the aftermath of the battle, the ideologies of Lord Zedd and Zordon clash, despite a moment of mercy. As the Eltarian War approaches its end, long-awaited emotional resolutions will launch both Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers into the future, but the relationship between two Rangers takes a turn that neither may recover from.
Picking up where the preview leaves off, Zartus definitely proves to be more than a match for Zordon and Zedd. Zartus is able to manipulate the energy of the Zeo Crystal and just about kills Zedd. He explains that Zedd was too perfect of a monster to use in his plans to obtain unlimited power. It also helped that he had the motivation. Zartus has always been a little hungry for power and when Zophram (Zedd in a past life) chose Zordon over him to be the Chief Guardian, it hurt him and he decided to seek his revenge. Zordon distracts Zartus for a moment and ends up getting stabbed and things don’t look good at all, but just as Zartus is about to finish Zedd, we get some narration about the fight of Vitara and Zeon and Zordon plunges the Zeo Crystal into Zartus that seemingly causes him to explode or disintegrate or something.
There’s a very important moment that I think will play a very large role in the future. When Zartus goes to stab/kill Zordon after he stops Zartus from killing Zedd, there’s a panel when it flashes to Zedd’s face and although his mask is emotionless, there’s still a sense of emotion that I got from it. A moment of recognition when Zedd possibly reverted back to Zophram as he saw his once close friend being killed. Let’s keep this in mind for later.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Rangers are fighting the Empyreal when the Horrid arrive. The Omega Rangers are concerned, but they need to focus on the bigger fight because as Kimberly points out, if they don’t stop the old threat then there won’t be a reason to worry about the new threat. The Empyreal handily fends the three Megazords and this is when Drakkon shows up and reveals himself to be the new leader of the Horrid. This is going to go over well in the future, right? Drakkon sicks the Horrid on the Empyreal and weaken it before they get blown back. The Megazords then make a move since the Empyreal should be weakened, but it still defeats them. This includes blowing the Thunder Megazord in half and decapitating the Omega Megazord. Right when things are almost over, the Blue Emissary arrives and tears the Empyreal in half. This saves the day and Drakkon leaves to go torment the universe. Yay?
The Rangers are left wondering where Zordon is and the Blue Emissary explains that he doesn’t know what’s happening with Zordon. We’re shown Zartus’ helmet and staff, then Zordon’s destroyed robot hand and the Zeo Crystal, and then a lifeless Zordon with smoke coming out of his cracked helmet. And we close with an ominous shot of Zedd standing over the unconscious Zordon with some perfect words from the Blue Emissary that you’ll have to read the issue yourself. This is a perfect final panel for the end of the arc.
Let’s go back to the moment when the Blue Emissary rips the Empyreal in half. At this moment, the Blue Emissary is transitioning from Mighty Morphin Blue to Zeo Blue and I do not think that this was an accident. I think we’re going to see the Rangers gain the Zeo powers very soon (probably not the next arc, but possibly the one after?) and this panel perfectly foreshadows this change of powers. I think what will happen is that Billy will step down as a Ranger like in the show, but that it will be to basically serve as a Grace Sterling but more in line with Zordon and Alpha or to serve as a bridge between Zordon and Promethea. This would bring the team back down to 5 for the Zeo Crystal.