From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays, No.200
Hello, and welcome back to our all-ages comics column, From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays! If you’re a Power Rangers fan then hopefully you’ve been keeping up with the Shattered Grid event from BOOM! that’s been on fire since the first issue! There’s been twists, giant robots, and more Rangers than you can throw a Putty at!
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Shattered Grid #1
Publisher: BOOM!
Story: Kyle Higgins
Pencils: Daniele Di Nicuolo & Diego Galindo
Inks: Simona Di Gianfelice
Colors: Walter Baiamonte & Marcelo Costa
Letters: Ed Dukeshire
Cover: Jamal Campbell
The Shattered Grid event has been a must read since it began and shocked us all with the death of a major character. Pretty sure you know who it is by now but just in case there’s someone who has successfully dodged online spoilers all this time I’ll respect your struggle and not mention it here. Just know that this event has brought all of the Power Rangers for over the past 25 years together to battle Lord Drakkon as he attempts to take over the Morphin Grid.
Higgins keeps you on the edge of your seat here and makes this finale anything but predictable. Though one thing you can expect is that not all of the Rangers will make it out alive as the issue opens up with another fallen hero on the battlefield. I guess Higgins needed to remind us how high the stakes are as he pulls off several more intense action filled moments. One being the idea to combine several Zords from the various Rangers into a brand new Megazord in an effort to battle Serpentera. He also provides those big character moments that display pure heroism and sacrifice that puts the Rangers on par with some of your favorite capes and tights heroes. With all of the action taking place it’s the twist in the end that helps take the events to another level. Higgins scales things back a bit to include the original Rangers along with some new friends for the final conflict with Drakkon. However, he writes this sequence so well that there’s no amount of martial arts skill and giant robot action that would hit as hard as the emotional punch that is delivered to Drakkon.
As in the previous Shattered Grid chapters we get a solid looking story that handles the crazy amount of action quite well. The visual pacing is frantic, frustrating, and exciting as all of these Rangers are fighting for the fate of the galaxy against overwhelming odds. When the new Megazord is formed the design is a great payoff which makes the fact that we don’t get to see a major battle between it and Serpentera disappointing. With a story this large and with so much going on some things were bound to be cut short but a giant robot fight shouldn’t have been one of them. Especially with art this strong and able to deliver quality action sequences the story would have benefitted from a longer giant robot battle. There’s also a sudden change in art styles during the third act which fits quite well and syncs with the narrative. The expressive characters and overall mood just puts the entire sequence over when we get to the end of the story. It’s more of an emotional turn which was set up by Galindo and Costa and nailed with every panel.
This was one ambitious event that took the Power Ranger mythos to the next level. Mostly due to the creative team handling the enormous cast with great precision thus giving everyone their time to shine and push the story forward. Overall, Shattered Grid spanned several generations of Power Rangers and regardless of when you became a fan this story does right by all of them!
See more of the all-ages features in From Friendly Ghosts to Gamma Rays!
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