• Writer: Ryan Parrott
• Artists: Francesco Mortarino & Marco Renna
• Cover Artists:
  • Main Cover: Gerald Parel
  • Legacy Variant Cover: Daniele Di Nicuolo
  • Incentive Cover: Gerald Parel
  • Incentive Cover: Daniele Di Nicuolo
  • Incentive Cover: Angela Wang
  • FOC Reveal Cover: Valentine de Landro
  • FOC Reveal Incentive Cover: Valentine de Landro
  • Incentive Cover: Angela Wang

We begin in Angel Grove, where Bulk & Skull bring their audience, and us, up to speed on what has happened. I’m not sure how they knew the name of White Tiger Dragonzord, but that segues us over to Matt and Tommy fighting the Orange Empyreal. They are having trouble because Matt has never been part of a combination and isn’t sure how to do it. Fortunately, Tommy has plenty of experience, and after apologizing for his recent behavior, he helps Matt get a handle on working together. This allows them to fire off a Dragon Thunder Blast, which manages to stun the Empyreal long enough for them to hit is with a Tiger Tail Strike, destroying the Empyreal. Although this also manages to knock down the WTD, Matt uses the reboot time to also apologize. But, they are interrupted by blue energy coming from the Empyreal, taking a humanoid form.

Meanwhile, on the moon, Zartus appears to begin some sort of spell that will most likely allow him to take the Zeo Crystal. But, apparently Zordon did spot Zartus when he teleported in, because he shows up and shoots Zartus in the back before the spell can be completed. Zedd also arrives, still intent on fighting Zordon, but when Zordon is willing to prove his honesty by throwing down his weapon and giving Zedd a free shot to strike him down, Zedd attacks Zartus instead. And to remove any further doubt, Zartus confirms that he was the traitor, and is willing to fight both Zordon and Zedd for the Zeo Crystal.

In Earth orbit, the Omega Rangers have surrounded the Purple Empyreal, but after the Green Empyreal confirms the destruction of the Orange Empyreal, Purple quickly strikes them all down and rockets down to Earth. Down below, the rest of the Rangers seem to have the upper hand against Green, but they cannot manage to land a blow. Then Purple arrives, blasting Thunder Megazord. As they are about to attack the Rangers together, the Omega Zords, floating powerless in space, suddenly come online and return to full power, courtesy of the Blue Emissary. With the destruction of the Orange Empyreal, the Blue Emissary has been resurrected, and upgrades the Omega Zords so that they can form the Ultra Omegazord. Returning to Earth, the Rangers use the Thunder Megazord to somehow charge up the Omega Staff, giving the Ultra Omegazord enough power to slice the Green Empyreal in half.

Back on the moon, Zartus reveals that he’d always been holding back against Zordon and Zedd back when they used to train, and manages to not only hold his own against the 2 of them, but even manages to get the upper hand. Finally working together, they realize that Zartus knows how they used to fight, but they’ve changed quite a bit in 10,000 years. Planning to take advantage of Zordon’s robot body and Zedd’s sorcery, then try a new attack, but it doesn’t seem to be working to well.

In Angel Grove, the Purple Empyreal manages to combine with the remains of the other 2 Empyreals to form a Super Empyreal, and then takes out all 3 Zords. But, before the Super Empyreal can begin work to renew the Earth, it is interrupted by the arrival of The Horrid.

Story – 3 out of 5: Don’t get me wrong. This was a fun read with some pretty epic moments. But, this issue felt like padding. The Rangers are almost defeated, so we get yet another new Zord combo that lets the Rangers temporarily get the upper hand. Then, as the Empyreals are almost defeated, they end up with a new combo too, which we didn’t know they could do, that allows them to regain the upper hand, and basically put us right back where we were. Meanwhile, other than Zedd finally believing Zordon, and helping him fight Zartus, nothing was really accomplished here either. And what has happened to Grace, Zelya, the SFF, and the others? After feeling like we were really getting some story progression in the last few chapters, this issue really feels like we slammed on the brakes. Hopefully this is corrected in Mighty Morphin 16. Oh, and since we are being nit-picky, why would you call an attack “Tiger Tail Strike” when it is basically the Dragonzord’s tail performing the attack?

Art – 5 out of 5: This time out, Francesco Mortarino handled the part of the story featuring the Rangers fight with the Empyreals, while Marco Renna handled the fight on the moon. Not sure if this was always the plan, or if Mortarino was running behind schedule, but it works. Their styles are different enough that you could tell the difference, but similar enough that the change wasn’t jarring. Mortarino puts a lot of neat details in the Zord fights, and Renna does a great job with the moon fight. Although, it is weird seeing Zedd taking hits in a fight, since we really only ever saw him in 2 fights on the show (against Tommy in MMPR Season 3, and against everyone in Dino Fury), and, despite losing one of them, I don’t really recall him taking and actual hits.

Overall – 3 out of 5: Despite the story feeling like filler, the art keeps you entertained. That is very important, since there are enough story elements in this issue to keep you from skipping the issue altogether, and the art, at least, makes it enjoyable filler.