Countdown To Darkness: Reviewing ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ #122

Darkness has fallen, all of reality is threatened, and as their adventures wrap up the Power Rangers must find hope. Unfortunately for them, there is only a small supply of that left in the uninfected cosmos.

While there is still a concluding one-shot to go, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #122 brings the ongoing series to an end. This penultimate chapter is brought to us by Melissa Flores, Simona Di Gianfelice, Raúl Angulo, Jose Enrique Fernández, and Ed Dukeshire.

One of the things that has stood out from Flores time on the title is the human element. Sure, there are the supernatural beings and magical morphing power and all the super-duper, out-of-our-realm-of-reality technology. Yet, what matters is the way that these characters have interacted, grown, clashed, loved, lost, emoted, and all around dealt with everything. Entire issues have turned their eye more toward these aspects more than the fighting or action beats.

Here, we get one that has some solid action but is very much about setting up pieces for the finale: the various Rangers and dealing with what they have gained or lost in the past year of this event. Chief among them is dealing with Billy’s choice in the previous issue, and the deep betrayal that came with it. Along with a big, shattering (not the shattering he did to the morphing grid) reveal about a character we’ve seen in the book since shortly after BOOM! Studios launched it in 2016.

Flores sure caught me off guard here, as I didn’t see that revelation coming, and it sure changes quite a bit about the recent run. Alongside this big explosive blow, some of that hope mentioned above does rear its head. How it will pan out and how all of this will conclude with the final one-shot leaves me with such anticipation.

No matter how dark things are, Di Gianfelice’s artwork has such a light and flowy feel to it. Allowing the characters to exist and dominate in any space, while also moving so fluidly through the panels. Emotional energy is strong, their facial and body language on point, and beyond clear to read. That slight touch of shiny whimsy that comes with this art style stands in perfect contrast to the overall story’s darkness.

It allows the Rangers to keep their light-and-hopeful feeling amidst all the corruption, letting the reader keep hope alive. We know that at the end of the day, our heroes are bound to pull things off. What we don’t know is what they’ll have to give up or lose along the way.

Solid panel choices and detailed heaviness in the work keeps that ominous tone looming close, always.

So too does the work that Angulo and Fernández bring with the color palette. Very toned down in many respects, creating a sort of level neutral feeling to the whole setting. Allowing the various vistas, techy spaces, or the Ranger’s themselves be where the poppier brightness comes into play. In opposition of that aforementioned whimsical energy, it helps create a sort of grounded familiar tone to the world. Helping it feel somewhat authentic to worlds we know, even with all the stuff that is vastly out of our world.

Big time character work issues tend to mean plenty of things to say, and words that are dripping with emotion. That’s where a letterer like Dukeshire can really shine, being the type that can bring all that so powerfully to every single letter. Even the characters that have no live-action actor portrayal, their voices “sound” familiar and powerful. Each utterance pointed as the fonts, bubbles, and other elements morph to maximize their impact.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #122 is now available from BOOM! Studios.