Comic Book Review - Mighty Morphin #19

Rob reviews Mighty Morphin #19...

Rocky, Matt, Zordon, the Promethea scientists, and Rocky's family have managed to avoid King Aradon's bombardment via the sanctuary provided by the Zords shield dome. Meanwhile, the rest of the team finds themselves undercover on the planet of the Lion Empire. So, just another ordinary day. Right? 

This one is a slightly shorter review than my normal Power Rangers coverage. The reason is that there's A LOT to digest in this issue, and it's one that I feel is best read first hand. 

Before I get into the bulk of this review, Mat Groom's interpretation of King Aradon is brilliant. Aside from a few mentions during Power Rangers Zeo, King Aradon is an entirely new character - although he's closely connected to Zeo's King Mordo. Groom continues to build Aradon's character throughout this issue as we start to see his motivations in attacking earth. Since before the onset of the Eltarian War there have been sly references to the Dark Spectre. While this name had mainly remained within the Omega Rangers continuity, the omnipotent bad guy is now crossing over into Mighty Morphin.

Anyway, as Aradon explains to his henchman, Count Karnakus, the Dark Spectre is putting together a cabal of big bands and King Mordo is the favourite to represent the Machine Kingdom. As Mordo's sworn rival, Aradon aims to usurp Mordo by conquering Earth and capturing Zordon. While he's dangerously close to achieving this objective, Matt and Rocky aim to stop - or at least stall him until the rest of the Rangers get back to Earth. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the Rangers are continuing their search for a replacement Command Center. This time out the team finds themselves deep within the Lion Empire, whose King has hidden the location of the Command Center. What follows is an undercover mission as Tommy and Aisha infiltrate a ball that King Vieron is holding. Alpha-5 also gets a lot of scene time within this subplot, and there's one particular moment which had me laugh out loud. 

Away from the plot and Groom continues to add more depth to these already established characters. Basing the Earth-based plot around Rocky and Matt is a great choice. Not only do we get reintroduced to Matt, who for a long time was Kimberly's boyfriend - and a supporting character. We also get a vast amount of depth given to Rocky - who's become a bit of a blank slate. Zordon is also getting a lot more exposure within this new era. The Eltarian has become somewhat of a shadow of his former self. The past events have had a massive effect on Zordon as he's now questioning his motives and past decisions. 

We're three issues into this new era for Mighty Morphin and Mat Groom has been steadily finding his feet whilst simultaneously moving away from Ryan Parrott's tenure. Moisés Hidalgo's art style has also grown on me over the last two issues, and now the artist has settled in everything is starting to take shape. Throw in the excellent character-driven narrative, and Mighty Morphin is an absolute joy to get lost in! 

Rating: 9/10 

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