Writer: Nicole Andelfinger

Artist: Simone Ragazzoni

Cover Artists:

• Main Cover: Dan Mora
• Incentive Cover: Dan Mora
• Dark Ranger Incentive Cover: Vincenzo Riccardi
• Negative Space Incentive Cover: Goñi Montes
• FOC Reveal Holofoil Cover: Songmuang Chuaynukoon
• FOC Reveal Incentive Holofoil Cover: Songmuang Chuaynukoon

Picking up from last issue, the invasion continues. The kids try to pick up the Morphinaut and carry him to the arch, but the main path is blocked. They head for the East Promenade, but they are quickly surrounded. Fortunately, Phiro’s pet Whendi, a creature that looks like a dinosaur, comes in and helps clear a path. But, Whendi is quickly covered with some sort of goop (possibly the blood of the creatures, although that isn’t clear) that transforms her into one of Dark Specter’s minions. As Whendi now attacks the kids, her attack is stopped by the grid energy flowing from the Morphinaut.. Using the Morphinaut’s grid energy to their advantage, they clear themselves a path to the Master Arch.

As they near the arch, some of the dark creatures manage to enter the arch, causing a feedback explosion (again, this isn’t clear). Ori is sent down to try to stabilize the arch, but, despite pleas over a broken call from Kartor, she decides it is more important to prevent the creatures from entering the grid, and pulls the plug on the arch, disabling it. At this point, the Morphinaut manages to wake up, and together, they all make it to the school to hide.

Inside, they are soon attacked by more of the creatures, but the Morphinaut manages to take them down fairly quickly. But, he’s unstable, and they need to figure out a way to save him. At this point, one of the dark creatures, which has been watching them from afar for the last few pages, walks right up to Telosi, but Morphinaut grabs it before it can touch him. But this creature actually begins to plead with Morphinaut, the first creature to actually talk. Soon, the grid energy manages to repel the dark energy, revealing that it is actually Xev. Much like what happened to Whendi earlier, he had been transformed by Dark Specter’s dark energy. We also get confirmation the Xev is Telosi’s brother. Based on this evidence of grid energy being the antithesis of the dark energy, and the reaction earlier, Morphinaut believes Dark Specter wants to use the creatures to destroy the Morphin Grid, as it is the only true threat to his power.

On one hand, thanks to Ori’s handiwork, they cannot enter the Master Arch. However, last issue, she almost managed to reactivate Morphinaut’s old Proto-Arch, which means that Dark Specter’s forces could also use it to enter the Grid. But before they can do anything, they need to find a away to stabilize Morphinaut before be just fades away. Ori has an idea to help him, by using their Morphin Hearts to siphon off the extra energy. Her plan works, but also morphs the kids into various Power Rangers: Rhian becomes the MMPR Red Ranger, Xev becomes the Black Wild Force Ranger, Telosi becomes the Green Samurai Storm Ranger, Aleia becomes the Pink Time Force Ranger, Ori becomes Zeo Ranger 3 Blue, and Phiro becomes the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger.

Their excitement is halted though by an atmospheric breach alert. They head outside to see that is it some sort of ship, which appears have a similar design as all of Dark Specter’s creatures. Morphinaut says it can’t be Dark Specter because he cannot take physical form yet, but whoever is in charge of the ship will be a formidable force, and they must make sure that the Grid does not fall.

Story – 3 out of 5: Well, most of the questions I had from last issue have been answered. This issue was much clearer than last time, although I’m still confused by a few things. We still don’t know what Masterforgers are. Also, didn’t Morphinaut see Dark Specter in the Morphin Grid last issue? Then why is he trying to destroy it. And where are all these other creatures coming from? Also, I wonder if there is a reason the kids morphed into the specific Rangers they did, especially since I thought some of those powers won’t be created until much later. Despite this, now that most of the introductory elements happened last issue, this issue was able to tell a fairly clear story that moved forward.

Art – 3 out of 5: Simone Ragazzoni’s art is still a bit confusing in places. I still don’t understand what happened when the creatures tried to enter the Master Arch. A lot of blur effects, but it took dialog to explain that something happened. Also, I think the art in the other PR book has spoiled me, because I am not a fan of his interpretations of the established Ranger suits. Looks like something out of an old coloring book rather than professional comic art.

Overall – 3 out of 5: This is an instance where I’m liking the story, but some parts are confusing, and the art isn’t working for me. Hopefully things pick up as the story should become clearer and, hopefully, the art improves as he gets more comfortable with the book. We shall see.