REVIEW: ‘Mighty Morphin,’ Issue #11

Mighty Morphin #11 is written by Ryan Parrott, illustrated by Marco Renna, colored by Walter Baiamonte (with assistance from Katia Ranalli and Sara Antonellini), and lettered by Ed Dukeshire. It is published by BOOM! Studios. Following Zartus’ proposal of an alliance between Earth and Eltar in Mighty Morphin #9, the Rangers join forces with his Sentry Force Four to free the Eltarian warrior Zelya from Lord Zedd’s clutches. Meanwhile, Billy questions his future with the Rangers and Kimberly confronts Matt over his role in Zedd’s occupation of Angel Grove.

It was recently announced that a new story arc titled “The Eltarian War” would take place in the pages of Mighty Morphin and its sister title Power Rangers, building off of events in both books. This issue starts to build up to that storyline, as Zartus is revealed to have less than altruistic plans for the universe. Parrott’s script paints Zartus as a zealot willing to bring order to the galaxy by any means necessary; he’s unleashed the destructive force known as the Empyreals and is willing to conquer Earth in order to protect Eltar. This provides a great conflict for Zordon. In his past life, he was one of Eltar’s guardians and now one of his best friends is attempting to conquer the galaxy. How does he deal with that?

In addition to the conflict between Zartus and Zeyla, the issue also picks up on the running plot thread of Billy empowering the Green Ranger coin and Matt becoming the Green Ranger. Billy thought he was doing the right thing, but in keeping things secret he may have fractured his bonds with the other Rangers and even worse, Zordon. Meanwhile, Kimberly points out how utterly dangerous it was for Matt to trust Zedd, as he’s attempted to kill the Power Rangers on multiple occasions. While fights against giant monsters and summoning robot dinosaurs are always fun, the charm of the Ranger comics is that they manage to inject human drama into the superheroics. That, more than anything else, is what’s kept readers hooked.

With this issue, Renna has the chance to draw new characters in the form of Sentry Force Four. Zag is a warrior who can teleport short distances by opening portals in spacetime; Zero-Zero pilots a massive suit of mechanized armor; Zenith can fly thanks to a pair of golden butterfly-esque wings; Zeta is a skilled swordsman. All four of them are sporting gold and black armor, which under Baiamonte’s colors takes on a slightly shimmering look and is a neat contrast to the various colors of the Power Rangers’ uniforms. Zartus himself is sporting pure white armor, a garment which serves as the complete opposite of his dark intentions.

Mighty Morphin #11 begins the road to the Eltarian War, packing its pages full of drama and action. With revelations flying fast and furious about the secret origins of Zordon and Lord Zedd, the Power Rangers are looking to be in for the fight of their lives. And given how great this title has been, I expect the Eltarian War to be as epic as its title sounds.

Mighty Morphin #11 is available wherever comics are sold.