Let's Talk About MIGHTY MORPHIN #14
Mighty Morphin #14 recently launched and it certainly is setting up some incredible moments in the Eltarian War. It does feel like it’s a little slow still, but this is all very necessary. You can read my full thoughts below. Mighty Morphin #14 is available now from wherever you buy comics and is written by Ryan Parrott with art by Marco Renna, colors by Walter Baiamonte with color assistance by Katia Ranalli, and letters by Ed Dukeshire.
With the destruction of Zordon’s tube, the Mighty Morphin team seeks new allies to help them in the Eltarian War. But with Lord Zedd at their back and the Eltarian Supreme Leader gathering his forces to launch a massive attack on the Earth, can the Rangers survive being surrounded on all sides?
I’m going to be jumping around a bit because there are so many things happening, but everything below comes after the preview. First, we’ll touch on Zartus’ first address to the press via Bulk and Skull and Ranger Station. The pair were very close to the action and ended up with an exclusive interview where Zartus explains that Eltar is going to take over and turn Earth into a Utopia. His little speech doesn’t sound evil or scary at all. He only says that Eltar will take control of the nations in order to create peace. He’s not a benevolent dictator or anything (note sarcasm). The Sentry Force Four is out patrolling for the Rangers, but can’t sense any Morphing Energy. It’s because the small group of Rangers still on Earth (Aisha, Matt, Tommy, Zack) demorphed and plan to lay low. Of course, Matt isn’t too keen which means he and Tommy have a little argument. Zack talks to Tommy briefly to be like, “you don’t have to worry about or hate Matt because you’re scared Kim’s going to leave you for him. She’s stayed with you.” I think it’s mildly comforting. I am surprised that these four didn’t go to Safehaven with everyone else, but there’s gotta be some plan for that.
Next, we’ll talk about the villains hanging with the Rangers. Goldar and Rocky are together on Safehaven and Rocky tries talking to him about things like why Goldar never finished him and stuff. This irks Goldar. Then, we cut over to Baboo, Finster, and Squatt who are on the beach with Adam serving as babysitter. They’re conversing and Baboo brings up the point that for the first time they can choose what their next step is. Zedd’s gone (probably not really), Rita’s gone, they don’t have to obey a higher power. They can choose whatever they want. This leads to later when all four villains say that they want to join the Rangers in fighting Zartus and the Eltarians. They then all start planning their move looking for a way to get some kind of edge when Billy’s project walks into the room.
While all of this other stuff is happening, Billy has been trying to bring Zordon back. Yale has Billy follow them (thank you to Arkon for serving as interpreter) to the remains of the Blue Emissary. Billy then uses his morpher to connect with the Blue Emissary and they go to find Zordon which connects us back to the preview. It turns out the Blue Emissary is still kind of around as an echo, but his power is fading. He’s able to help Billy find Zordon though and they convince Zordon to come back with them. Zordon was trying to hide from the problem that was Zartus. He blamed himself for it and had to question a lot about his beliefs. This is a really humanizing for the Eltarian and a great character moment. Billy is then able to help Zordon pick himself back up and at the very end we see the Eltarian in the suit from the cover and it’s awesome. Zordon enters the planning room and asks if he counts as a secret weapon. I think he just might.
This was an awesome issue, but there’s one thing I am still dying to know. What was the mission Zedd gave Finster? Finster knows something and I need to know what it is! I do think that he and the other villains are being very genuine, but I think he still has that special mission to complete. What could it be!?