Mighty Morphin #3 - BOOM! Studios

MIGHTY MORPHIN No. 3, January 2021

Illustrator Marco Renna must have found his pencilling hand to have been considerably the sorer after working upon the layouts for Issue Three of “Mighty Morphin”. For whilst Ryan Parrott’s script contains several dialogue-led scenes which help flesh out the characters of this comic’s considerably-large cast, it also includes an outrageously dynamic punch-up at Angel Grove, which sees the entire super-team literally up to their colourfully-costumed necks in putties; “Do I have to worry about who I’m punching here?”

Luckily, the “BOOM! Studios” writer doesn’t simply rely upon panel after extremely-well sketched panel depicting Zordon of Eltar’s disarrayed heroes getting their clocks cleaned by Lord Zedd’s “deadliest attack yet” to help fill out his twenty-page periodical’s storyline. But actually uses the high octane action as a backdrop to progress several sub-plots, such as the mysterious Green Ranger’s disconcerting vulnerability to Chaos Energy, and the alarming ease with which Adam’s visual input can be compromised so as to make him think his friends are actually a horde of heavily-fanged monsters.

Moreover, Parrott also bookends this comic’s frantically-paced fight-scene with some enthralling insights into Zordon’s past on the planet Bivix “over ten thousand years ago”, and a wonderfully-tense confrontation between the blue-skinned “galactic wizard” and Grace Sterling. Indeed, the American author even seems to somehow find the space to illustrate just how Bulk, Skull and Candice escaped “the psycho alien concert”, courtesy of a head-long flight down some debris-filled alleyway and a well-stocked dustbin to a putties’ head.

Easily this book’s biggest shock though arguably comes towards its conclusion, when the identity of the person responsible for successfully smuggling the Dragon Power Coin from out of the Power Rangers’ ultra-secret Command Centre is finally revealed. Those bibliophiles who weren’t entirely dazzled by all the flying fists and karate-kicks shown during Zedd’s aforementioned ambush were probably already aware of Billy’s treachery, as the Blue Ranger clearly covers for his green-garbed confederate’s sudden departure mid-way through the assault. However, it isn’t really until Aisha confronts her traitorous team-mate that the full scope of Cranston’s misguided duplicity is made clear, when he begrudgingly admits to both figuring “out a way to recharge the” coin and helping “Promethea create the Green Ranger.”

The regular cover art of "MIGHTY MORPHIN" No. 3 by Inhyuk Lee