The Power Rangers Franchise Expands By Leaps & Bounds In MMPR #31

Shattered Grid has ended, but not without consequences. Lord Drakkon’s attacks have devastated the Morphin Grid, leaving a group of Power Rangers from across time and space stranded in the outskirts of space aboard the Promethea. Their powers are fading and supplies are thin. This rag-tag team will have to learn how to work together, including conquering some trust issues to survive, but can they do that when an evil force is lurking nearby?

I love the idea of this new team of Power Rangers, but I’m not completely sold yet. It was awesome to see all these different Rangers join forces to fight Lord Drakkon during Shattered Grid, but that was a special occasion. Now that we have them all together, the novelty is wearing off a little. I think this comes down to the fact that I’m not as invested in the other series as I was in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I don’t know the personalities or history about each of these characters outside of the ones that only appeared in the comics, such as the Ranger Slayer and Grace Sterling.
This may change with time…and a whole lot of binge-watching on Netflix. Writer Marguerite Bennett sets the stage early in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #31. While we don’t get a full rundown or introduction of every single character, there’s more than enough to dig into. We’ve got a sci-fi survival story as the Rangers are going to get desperate real quick. Tensions are running high as they’re learning to live together in this big space station.

Speaking of the spaceship, artist Simone Di Meo draws the heck out of this. There’s an awesome double-page spread where we see a literal blueprint of the Promethea. That sounds boring, but it’s anything but. Di Meo gives you a good idea as to how large the station is and where everyone can fit within it. This is interspersed with smaller panels showing some of the Rangers working in various areas, making repairs and thinking up plans.
So we’ve got the sci-fi aspect of it down tight and this is only amplified by the action sequences. There’s an awesome full-page image of this new Ranger team morphing that highlights each of them. Di Meo uses this cool effect here and again later on in the issue that makes it look like the characters are kind of shimmering.  It’s like we caught them in mid-morph. This adds to the chaotic nature of their lives and just plain looks cool.

There’s a healthy amount of doom and gloom on display in MMPR #31. This is mixed in with some bright, brilliant colors from Walter Baiamonte for some of the space travel scenes. There are few things cooler than a futuristic spaceship rocketing through the stars. This issue strikes this nice balance between gritty, hard sci-fi and bombastic multi-colored action.
Although the Power Rangers just survived their toughest challenge yet, they’re not in the clear yet. A new foe emerges in the creepiest way possible. It’s like something out of Aliens as we see a new ship approach. Letterer Ed Dukeshire gives us an idea of what to expect with an otherworldly font in blue word balloons.

This new arc, Beyond the Grid, is definitely living up to its name. It’s taking the Power Rangers farther than they’ve ever gone, forcing them to use every resource they have and not just their powers to guide them to safety. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers takes a bold step into a wider universe with this issue.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #31 from Boom! Studios is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.