Comic Book Review - Mighty Morphin #20

Rob reviews Mighty Morphin #20...

It's been a tough few issues for Rocky and Matt as they attempt to counter the plans of King Aradon and his Machine Kingdom. The grueling battle has seen the two Rangers essentially utilise stalling tactics to run down the clock whilst the rest of the team tries to complete their mission in the Lion Galaxy. But what happens when the clock runs out? 

Picking up directly where Mighty Morphin #19 left off and Alpha-5 is still charming the socks off King Vieron. It's quite a comedic moment as Alpha utilises his connected databases to make Vieron putty in his hands. It also gives Kimberly and Adam time to infiltrate the Palace to deactivate the teleport lock that's keeping the new Command Center in place. 

We then switch back to Earth as Rocky and Matt are in the heat of their battle with the villainous King Aradon. Where previous issues have seen Mat Groom explore Aradon's character, it's here where it all comes crashing down. Granted we do see Aradon essentially take down both Matt and Rocky, however, he's relegated to throwing out clichéd phrases - much like Goldar. His character further shifts once the rest of the Rangers turn up as he turns tail and runs. It's a pretty quick juxtaposition as the two sides instantly switch places, to then abandon everything that's happened in the previous issues. 

I'm hoping I'm wrong, and that this is all an interlude whilst we deal with the death of Jason's mother. While BOOM! Studios, Mat Groom and Ryan Parrott have kept the details of Power Rangers #100 tight to their chests. I hope King Aradon is a part of it. But alas, it's one of those things where time will truly tell. 

Away from this and the bulk of this issue continues to build upon Rocky, whose character has come leaps and bounds under Groom's tenure. He finally gets his time to shine as Matt bestows him the Dragon Dagger in a final effort to delay King Aradon. We also see they have a heart-to-heart as Rocky opens up to Matt about his reservations about not being good enough to be a Power Ranger. This then leads to Matt bigging up the Red Ranger by saying that he's the "rock dude". We also get shown small hints that Rocky's sister knows his identity as she slyly says that the family are proud of him. It's a fleeting moment that's essentially a blink and you'll miss it a moment, but it's one I hope is explored more. 

Kimberly and Adam also share some of the spotlights. Much like Rocky, Kimberly starts to hint toward her future as the Pink Ranger as she mentions not being able to move on. Fans of the television show will already know that Kim got replaced by Kat Hillard within the later seasons. With Kat still not within the comic continuity, could this be leading up to her introduction? 

It's also great to see Adam finally use his voice. Much like Rocky before him, Adam is often relegated to a background character who's there with sporadic dialogue to remind us that he's there. His conversation here with Kimberly is quite a poignant one as he reminds her that while they're doing a great thing - it's also nice that they are replaceable if they do choose to step down. We also get a small callback to days gone as Adam refers to Kimberly as "Ranger Slayer" - which did make me laugh. 

While Mighty Morphin #20 is still a great issue, the ending to both concurrent plots does happen a bit too abruptly. King Aradon has fled, and the new Command Center is now in place of the old. Granted that comics work to a schedule, but I would have personally liked another issue to give everything time to settle. After all both sides of the team have a lot of catching up to do - and that's before the inevitable return of the Omega Rangers. 

Even with this abruptness, Mat Groom continues to shine the spotlight on Rocky which adds some much-needed depth to the character. With Groom's tenure on Mighty Morphin being criminally cut short, I'm hoping whoever takes over keeps Rocky (and Adam) in the forefront. 

Rating: 7.5/10

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Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev