Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #4 Review

 

Writer: Amy Jo Johnson & Matt Hotson

Artist: Nico Leon

Colorist: Dono Sanchez-Almara

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Cover Artists: Goñi Montes; David Nakayama; Miguel Mercado; Kevin Eastman & Andrew Dahouse; Ivan Tao; The Escorza Brothers; Chrissie Zullo; Mel Milton; R1C0; Nico Leon; Justine Florentino

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 29, 2024

 

Selena Repulsa abducted Kimberly from her remote mountain cabin. She imprisoned Kimberly with Jason, Billy, and Zach. Selena has their power coins and Trini’s. So, who just teleported into the Bandora Palace? Let's grab our power coins, leap into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #4, and find out!

 

Story

Selena is the daughter of Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa. Before Rita died, she transferred her essence to the Morphin Grid. Selena gives Finster the surviving rangers’ power coins to upgrade his Monster-Matic machine into a Morphin-Matic. He uses the last of his magic clay to bring Rita Repulsa back to life.

 

When Kimberly’s daughter Olivia returned to her ransacked home, she knew enough of her parents’ history to realize what happened. So, in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #4, Olivia found Tommy’s power coin and teleported to the moon.

 

Ransacking Kimberly’s house wasn't Selena's only mistake. She assumed Billy's Benevolator destroyed Tommy's power coin when it bit a chunk out of the moon. So she didn't search Kimberly's house for Tommy's power coin. Then, when her first attempt to bring Rita back to life failed, she let Kimberly get her goat. In her anger, Selena reached inside her forcefield and pulled Kimberly out. So now, Kimberly can team up with her daughter and attack Selena.

 

Sadly, Kimberly has spent the years in hiding since Tommy's death. She has never used her power coin. Nor has she trained her daughter. By comparison, Selena has worked hard to master Rita’s skills since learning of her mother’s presence in the Morphin Grid. Selena also harnessed Finster’s expertise. Now, Selena can accomplish her plan. All she must do is wrest Tommy's power coin from Olivia.

 

Billy, Zach, and Jason's activities may have placed them in danger, but at least they helped others. Without using her power coin, Trini Kwan also benefitted her community. But in hiding away and not training her daughter, Kimberly Hart wasn't prepared when the danger she feared arrived. Amy Jo Johnson and Matt Hotson’s story reminds us that hiding accomplishes nothing. Kimberly and Olivia have good hearts. But is that enough to defeat a trained, resourceful villain who can also command the rangers’ power coins?

 

 

Art

Olivia finds Tommy’s power coin in the dark cabin. Green lightning shoots into the heavens. The Green Ranger stands before Selena’s fallen silhouette. Kimberly’s mouth gapes as she regards her daughter on hands and knees. Billy, Jason, and Zach clench their fists and adopt fighting stances within the crackling energy shield. Then shock overcomes Selena and the men's faces. What happens next, you ask? Selena brings her mother's magic wand down on Olivia's head!

 

After Kimberly frees her friends, they crash into sword-wielding putties. Kimberly brings a knife to a wand fight in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #4. Nico Leon makes the action easy to follow, as rangers pound putties and mother and daughter combat Selena. Energy sparks, blasts rangers, and more electricity than Dr. Victor Frankenstein ever summoned fills the air as a daughter stands in one of two pods in the Morphin-Matic machine. Guess who appears in the other one?

 

Olivia's suit scatters a green reflection of the crackling blue-white energy dome on the floor of Bandora Palace. Selena’s pink and purple clothes harmonize with the energy from Rita's power wand and provide an intriguing link with Kimberly's pink sweater and burgundy slacks. Dono Sanchez-Almara surrounds the gray putties with yellow and orange, while Selena’s attacks on Kimberly and Olivia turn the air purple. Pink and lavender fill the air as Selena orders Finster to activate his machine. Amid the swirling purple energy, a familiar Z shoots white energy toward the heavens.

 

Ed Dukeshire casts large, black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #4. Words grow bold for inflection and morph in size and color when rangers activate their power coins. Sound effects help us hear a dagger skitter across the floor and rip through a power shield, the putties charge to Selena's rescue, and Olivia crash into Selena amid the thrumming air and rumbling palace.

 

Thanks to Boom! Studios and Hasbro for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

As family fights family, older and wiser Power Rangers confront the next generation of villains, and Finster’s genius resurrects the dead in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Return #4.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.