What’s In The Heart: Reviewing ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ #112

Mistress Vile has succeeded. Darkness has fallen. The Rangers have been divided as the overwhelming forces of evil surround them. The Blue Ranger might hold the key to their salvation if he can figure out just what that means.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #112 delves even deeper into the franchise’s year-long event Darkest Hour. It falls to Melissa Flores, Hendry Prasetya, Matt Herms, and Ed Dukeshire to put the Rangers through their paces as Dark Specter approaches.

One of the biggest strengths of this series lies in the juggling act that is pulled off each issue. The juggled balls include deep character work/moments, swift action, genuine threats, and furthering the franchise modernization. Flores nails the characterization of these well-known characters while tossing them into moments that challenge them. This isn’t a half-hour episode built around a lesson or fun monster where things are fine by the end.

I love those old episodes, by the way. I grew up on Power Rangers. Comics though are a different medium, and since BOOM! Studios launched these books they’ve taken great advantage of that fact. Flores took Rita/Mistress Vile and Zedd and other villains and made them genuinely terrifying. There are no headaches and slapstick moments with their henchmen here. These villains have drawn genuine blood and the world has been left rocked by Vile’s choices.

Power Rangers, by nature, are bright, colorful, and full of hopeful light. Their villains, while also vibrantly colored, are inherently darker in various realms. As that darkness is creeping into a position of power within the known universe, the artwork balances those two elements quite splendidly really.

This is a very natural fit for Prasetya and Herms. There is a heavier feeling to the work that Prasetya does, starker in some senses that really works with the settings the characters find themselves. One can see it quite a bit in some of the detail work where things feel somewhat shaded, and scratchy might be the best word for it. I’m not an artist but I’m sure there is a better term to describe it.

As we first find the Rangers in the rocky lava-filled space, the rockfaces and the sky are the chief areas that this effect is seen. It adds to that weight I spoke of and gives things that darker heavier grounded feeling. Gone are the more open wider city spaces or alien worlds that matched their lighter sense of hope. Even the space where Billy is on the Morphing Grid has that same feeling because it’s slowly being corrupted by the touch of Dark Specter.

Panel framing choices really help move things along smoothly, with the action doing the same. It’s also here that things feel like they have appropriate scale and weight, making one believe it could all hop off the page right now.

Brighter colors pop up within the Ranger costumes and some of the powers/weapons. Around them though Herms goes with a more toned-down palette full of shadows and darker tones. It sets the tone and makes sure that we feel the overwhelming doom that is coming for these characters. We feel their fear, sadness, loss, and determination through the fantastic facial work but also because of the color choices that were made.

This is the same thing that Dukeshire nails each time with the choices for the lettering. Not just in the placement of the letters which makes sure things are spaced out and easy to follow. But also, with the choices for the fonts and how to depict them. Volume, tone, emotion, and personality are important and are felt in each bubble and letter on the page. From the dialogue to the colorful and loud SFX that can be found here or there. There is true impact to what is presented on the page beyond being the means through which we gain information and context for the story being visually told.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #112 is now available from BOOM! Studios.