Comic Review: Power Rangers 11 (Spoiler Warning)

/ Charlie Niemeyer
  • Retail Price: $3.99
  • Writer: Ryan Parrott
  • Artist: Francesco Mortarino
  • Cover Artists:
    • Main Cover: Gerald Parel
    • Legacy Variant Cover: Daniele di Nicuolo
    • Incentive Cover: Gerald Parel
    • Incentive Cover: Daniele di Nicuolo
    • Incentive Cover: Rian Gonzales
    • FOC Reveal Cover: Yejin Park
    • FOC Reveal Incentive Cover: Yejin Park
    • Incentive Cover: Rian Gonzales

Synopsis: Will the Omega Rangers be able to enlist the last Emissary to help to defeat the Empyreals? The Omega Rangers attempt to question the enigmatic Yellow Emissary, who may know the secret of the Empyreals undoing. But even if they can convince the Yellow Emissary to help, it may be too late if Drakkon isn’t on the same page. The fate of the Omega Rangers and the Yellow Emissary hang in the balance as they all fight for their lives!

Picking up from issue 9, Trini has lead the team to, seemingly, the middle of nowhere. The ship’s computers literally pick up nothing, but Trini is able to detect a planet in her morphed form. On a leap of faith, the Omegas teleport down, leaving Drakkon and XI on the ship. Fortunately, there actually is a weird looking planet, although it isn’t what Trini saw when she made her connection. They are quickly attacked by floating cloth, which is actually controlled by the Yellow Emmissary. With his cloth defeated, he appears, only to tell them that he cannot help them destroy the Empyreals.

Back on the ship, after a little friendly banter, XI apologizes for not trusting Drakkon. Soon, Drakkon leaves the bridge and, once alone, makes himself throw up a lock pick he got from Fendrick, which he quick uses to remove his collar.

Back on the planet, the Omegas finally learn how the Red Emissary died. They also learn that Zartus, in his quest for Unlimited Power, used what was called the Celestial Shard in Mighty Morphin 11 to revive the Empyreals. Once Zartus resurrects all 3 Empyreals, they will have the power to reshape the universe. And, now that they are bonded in this reality, the only way to stop the Empyreals is to destroy Zartus.

While they get over the shock of this news, we return to the ship, where the Blue/Orange Empyreal contacts Drakkon via telepathy. Drakkon had been working for them the whole time to help them find the Yellow Emissary. Now that he’s completed his part of the deal, they give him his morpher, and a fully powered Black Dragon coin.

At this point, the Empyreals attack the ship, but the shields hold. On the planet, the Omegas try to help, but they are unable to summon their Zords. As XI attempts to bring the ship down to the teleportation range, Drakkon morphs and fights XI, quickly subduing him.

On the planet, the fight between the Empyreals and the Omega Rangers is not going well for the Rangers. Using Trini as bait, the Yellow Emissary is forced out of hiding, holding them off long enough to free Trini. But then the Blue/Orange Empyreal grabs the Emissary by the head, and literally tears him in half.

Story – 4 or 5: Wow! Okay, big revelations here. So, Zartus is responsible for the Empyreals. That probably shouldn’t come as much of surprise after all he did for the Zeo Crystal, but it kinda did to me. It is also hinted that the Empyreals are the Emissaries resurrected. So, the Yellow Emissary was not hiding due to being scared, but in an effort to prevent Zartus from turning his dead body into an Empyreal? Also, it was hard to explain in the synopsis above, but the Celestial Shard changes the colors of the Emissaries when they are “reborn.” Instead of the primary colors of red, blue, and yellow, the Shard changes them into the secondary colors of Green, Purple, and Orange. If you ever studied color theory in school (it was usually a lesson in your average art class), these are complimentary colors as well. So it appears that the Blue Emissary became the Orange Empyreal, and has both colors in his suit. The Red Emissary appears to have become the Green Empyreal, although his suit looks more like pink and green. So, presummably, the Yellow Emissary will soon become the Purple Empyreal. Adding to this confusion is that they aren’t mentioned by name here, and the Empyreals’ speech bubbles reflect their Emissary colors. I am very curious about this Celstial Shard though. While it doesn’t look exactly like previous depictions of the Zeo Crystal, it is interesting the Zartus would have another magic crystal so soon after showing his connection to the Zeo Crystal. Plus, Lord Drakkon returns! I feel bad for poor XI, and, if he survives all this, I wonder if this will affect him at all. He was finally starting to warm to Drakkon right before his betrayal. Might be interesting to see of Parrott plays with this at all going forward. I’m really looking forward to the confrontation between him and the Omegas.
The only thing that keeps this from being a 5 out of 5 is that lack of clarity. The connection between the Emissaries and Empyreals is very much implied, but never stated. Too much dancing around the facts here. And, for those who haven’t been reading since issue one, it would have been nice to explain the image that I thought, at first, was the death of the Blue Emissary, but the red coloring makes me think its the Red Emissary. Like I said, not very clear.

Art – 5 out of 5: The art is very well done here. Very clear and, for lack of a better word, animated. Everyone stays on model the entire time, and outside of some slight wonkiness on the Yellow Emissary’s helmets, it is all fantastic. Especially the full page splash of morphed Lord Drakkon. This appears to be his earliest form, with no black on the suit. Basically what JDF wore in the promo trailer for Shattered Grid. It looks great here. Consistency is key in comics, and I can overlook the helmet wonkiness. Power Ranger helmets are hard enough to draw when its just 1 at a time, let alone 2 different helmets joined together, and changing every panel. I did like that when the Emissary first appeared, it was as the Yellow Omega Ranger and Yellow MMPR Ranger, reflecting both of Trini’s forms.

Overall – 4 out of 5: Despite the lack of clarity, this was a great issue. Things moved forward, and looked great in the process. A few new problems are set up, and it seems like the Omega Rangers are about to be overwhelmed. It leaves you yearning for the next issue to arrive already, which is pretty much the idea.