Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 Review

 

Writer: Melissa Flores

Artist: Simona Di Gianfelice

Colorist: Raúl Angulo & Jose Enrique Fernández

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Cover Artist: Taurin Clarke; Björn Barends; Goñi Montes; Trevor Hairsine & Jordan Boyd; Santa Fung; Dan Mora; Mateus Manhanini

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $7.99

Release Date: July 31, 2024

 

Billy violated his fellow Rangers’ trust and shattered the Morphin Grid. Mr Ashford led an attack on the Rangers at Angel Grove. The last power egg is cracking. And Earth relies on Lord Zedd's Serpentera Zord for protection. Can the Power Rangers cure Dark Specter’s infection, restore their corrupted friends, and rebuild the Morphin Grid? Let’s leap into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 and find out!

 

Story

Zordon can’t stop Dark Specter’s unloving feeling. Chloe Ashford fights her evil dad in Angel Grove. Tommy watches Kimberly march off to war. Rocky and Adam wonder if they have one last fight in them. Melissa Flores gets Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 off with a bang, weaving numerous plotlines into this double-length finale in Boom's 8-year saga.

 

Amid the leave-taking, fighting, and drama, the big story is the assault on the Void. Ari reopened that area of space to the Morphin Grid. Now, the Zeo Crystal planet is up for grabs. The Good, the Bad, and the Infected all want to get their hands on this immense power source, so they forge paths through the Shattered Grid to reach it. The planet the Morphin Masters didn't want people to visit becomes the battleground for the health of everyone everywhere.

 

While friends and lovers depart for the Void, those left behind protect the homefront. Not all who fight are Rangers. Some wish to become Power Rangers. Others were Rangers but lost their superpowers. Lord Zedd protects Earth against the man who took Rita away from him. While Ari mourns her lover’s loss, Remi fights for Dark Specter. She realizes her partner loves her and remembers her feelings for Ari. In Remi's corrupted state, it's just a fact, nothing more.

 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 hums with power as Rangers and their friends battle their foes on many fronts. Yet, at its core, Melissa Flores' story is about generational change. Angel Ashford fights against the Rangers. His daughter Chloe became one. Billy ignored the advice of his friends and elders and shattered the Morphin Grid. Children will forge different paths than their parents. Teachers impart the wisdom of their years, but students embrace different beliefs, values, and outlooks than their mentors. Flores' story reminds us that conflict is inevitable and love is eternal.

 

Art

Like Godzilla and Kong, Serpentera leaps atop Rita’s former Space Skull, but the spaceship escapes Lord Zedd’s zord and hits back with laser fire. Angel Ashford transforms raging thralls into stretchy claws, but his daughter Chloe sprouts wings and dives toward his chest. As Power Rangers battle their corrupted kin, thralls surround aspiring and former Rangers. Rocky and Adam stand before a window, watching Kimberly and Tommy embrace. The wood frame of the paneled window evokes the bars of their cell in Safehaven.

 

Raúl Angulo & Jose Enrique Fernández ground bright, attractive colors with grays and browns on Simona Di Gianfelice’s art in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1. Ari blazes a white zigzag through the purple Void. Blue unites Billy, Zordon, and a holographic globe in a purple control room. Gray soldiers guard gray buildings amid soft green trees in the Bermuda Triangle. A green and purple kaleidoscope bathes Billy, Phantom Ranger, and Dr Kendall Morgan in its Spirographic light. While Billy watches morphed Rangers run into a swirling blue and purple vortex, a cracked white egg rests on a gray pedestal in a similarly colored room surrounded by brown pyramidal pillars.

 

Black and colored uppercase lettering inhabits white and colored dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. Lowercase black letters on parchment scraps reveal journal entries. Ed Dukeshire’s enlarged colored dialogue accompanies morphing, while sound effects enhance the battle for Earth and Ari’s attack on her corrupted lover’s spaceship. Thanks to Boom! Studios for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 reminds us that healing may leave complications, things and people shattered can be rebuilt but not necessarily restored, and children often forge different paths than their elders.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

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