REVIEW: ‘Mighty Morphin,’ Issue #6

Mighty Morphin #6 is published by BOOM! Studios, 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. The Power Rangers struggle to find a way into the dome surrounding Angel Grove, and matters aren’t helped by the seemingly endless horde of Putties and the military contemplating a nuclear strike. They also deal with the emotional torment of being separated from their families and the revelation of the Green Ranger’s identity in the previous issue.

The best superhero comics test their protagonists mentally as well as physically, and Parrott definitely puts the Rangers through the wringer. They have no idea what Zedd is up to in the dome, and the constant stress of battling Putties nonstop is getting to them. The best scenes in the issue aren’t the Ranger fights; they’re when Rocky confesses he misses his sister and wants to see her again or when Tommy and Kimberly have unresolved tension over the fact that Matt is the Green Ranger (and used to date Kimberly). For all of their amazing abilities, the Rangers are still teenagers and deal with teenage problems, and this issue brings that to the forefront.

When it comes to the action sequences, Renna delivers on every level. Time and time again, he manages to capture the acrobatics and pyrotechnics that accompany every Ranger fight and adds a new wrinkle in the form of the military engaging the Putties. Despite all the training, I’m fairly sure that there’s no protocol for dealing with shapeshifting clay monsters, and that’s made perfectly clear here. Renna also continues to make the Putties utterly frightening, especially the new variant with wings.

Baiamonte, Ranalli, and Antonellini bring the book to life with their colors. The area around Angel Grove features a hellish red sky, with the dome surrounding the city pulsating with sickly green energy. And that same energy continues to pulse through the Putties’ veins. The Rangers’ brightly colored suits provide a sharp contrast to the olive green fatigues that the military soldiers wear.

Even Dukeshire’s lettering gets a jolt of color, with each Ranger having caption boxes that correspond to their respective color. Zordon’s speech bubbles continue to have an eerie blue tinge that matches the energy coursing within his life support tube.

The ending of the issue is also a shocking surprise. I never saw it coming, but it sets up an entirely new wrinkle for the Rangers to face. And it hints that while they’ve been struggling to reach their family and friends, Lord Zedd may have found a way to use that to his advantage, once again proving that he’s not the average Ranger villain.

Mighty Morphin #6 tests the Power Rangers emotionally and physically and ends on a whopper of a cliffhanger. This book continues to deliver the Ranger action fans know and love while pushing the mythos in surprising new directions, and I can’t wait to see what the creative team does with the next issue.

Mighty Morphin #6 is available wherever comics are sold.