One Last Chance: Reviewing ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ #121

When darkness encroaches, threatening to consume everything, even the brightest of heroes can be pushed to an inevitable breaking point. For Billy Cranston, the Blue Ranger, that time has come.

Choices must be made, and lines must be crossed, as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #121 brings the year-long event Darkest Hour and the whole series close to a conclusion. A powerfully emotional story from Melissa Flores, Hendry Prasetya, Matt Herms, and Ed Dukeshire.

I’m going to greatly miss this series, but holy crap what a way for it to be going out.

Flores has not shied away from mining the depth for the vast array of characters appearing in this series. Some have been captured and twisted by darkness, dealing with the trauma. Others have watched those they love suffer, and in some cases die. One of the smartest in the room has tried everything to protect what is left and realizes the only way might be to sacrifice everything to protect his world.

Many things have stood out about this run since Flores came aboard. One of them is the ability to focus on a character or characters, without it feeling like others are being abandoned or ignored. Events that have wide casts are not easy to juggle, trying to give every character their due, but she sure does make it seem that way.

We’ve seen a lot of artists cycle in as of late, helping bring different feelings to this event and franchise. Prasetya though is no stranger to this world or even this series, since he was there to help kick off the entire Mighty Morphin Power Rangers BOOM! Studios era back in 2016. Who else was there with him during that moment? Well, that would be colorist Herms, also making his return to the series.

With only two issues left in this run, it’s a pretty awesome move to bring back some of the original team to help close out the era.

Together Prasetya and Herms just really create something fun, powerful, and suitably dark.

A slight roughness helps elevate those feelings in the artwork, mixed with a smoother lighter nature. Letting the characters and the setting have the space to breathe and exist. Keeping the view in the thick of things, choosing panel styles and placements that allow us to be more participant than just observer. Each set piece that appears has a different overall feeling, level of detail, and visual tick so that they feel unique.

Herms’ color palette is lighter in many respects, sitting in a more toned-down less vibrant space. Thus, allowing the few elements, such as the costumes, provide the bigger pop as they appear. Plenty of darker tones are incorporated to create a more ominous feeling. Little by little darkness has seeped into the world and threatens everything. Additionally, as Billy begins to reach his darker conclusions that colors shift around him to mark his emotional journey.

Much has to be said for the characters to reach where we see them by the story’s ending. Dukeshire works his magic, as usual, allowing the dialogue to float around and really punctuate every moment. Encircling or hovering around the artwork, framing things so that our eyes glide through the page in the most logical way. Little shifts here or there allow the voices to be loud and clear, every emotional beat really hitting hard.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #121 is now available from BOOM! Studios.