Mighty Morphin Vol. 5

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (BOOM! Studios)

by Mat Groom, Moisés Hidalgo (Penciller)

In the wake of the Eltarian War, the Mighty Morphin team finds themselves exposed due to a decimated Command Center which has left their connection to the Morphin Grid, the Power Chamber, vulnerable to attack. The Power Rangers and Zordon embark on a desperate mission to the Lion Empire to secure a new Command Center before their enemies strike, cutting them off from their powers forever! In order to do so, they'll need to leave behind one of their own, Rocky the Red Ranger, with only Promethea and the Green Ranger as backup to defend Earth...

But Rocky won't be able to focus on taking care of his family for long... as King Aradon of the Machine Kingdom and his forces invade Earth! Even with the Green Ranger by his side, will the Red Ranger be able to hold off Aradon's Mechanical Minions long engouh for the rest of the Power Rangers to make it back in time?

Collects Mighty Morphin #17-20.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book

110 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 8, 2022

About the author

Mat Groom is a writer from Sydney, Australia, where he works on branding and narrative development at the creative agency For The People and teaches open-to-the-public storytelling classes.

Self/Made is Mat’s solo comics writing debut.

Reviews

[Paul Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the aftermath of a major conflict. How will the rangers rebuild? I like that the response to the Command Center being destroyed is different that what it was in the original tv show. The rangers must repair and move forward while still defending their home.

This book is puts Rocky in the spotlight. His family life is featured more than it has been before. Adam and Aisha are also slowly getting more depth, but not as much as Rocky in this volume.

Zordon is growing and changing, too, alongside the rangers. He isn't static in his beliefs. He's often stubborn, but he's currently on a new path.

One of my favorite tropes is going undercover at a fancy party. This book takes it one notch up with ridiculous aliens abound. The Machine Empire seems to be the next big force the rangers will have to overcome.

I give this volume a 5/5.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mat Groom comes on as the new writer of Mighty Morphin and I feel just okay about this. I’m not too familiar with his work, but after reading this, I think he gets the characters pretty well. He did write a book for the Massive-Verse that I didn’t like for predictability and cliche-ness in that one also. This was a fair bit predictable in the story, but I’ll chalk that up to being a transition thing in this case. Power Rangers can be predictable in almost everything it is, but Parrott shined as the exception. Sounds like things are going to be shaken up a bit with the last page’s revelation though, so we’ll see where Groom goes with this one.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

New series writer Mat Groom inherits Mighty Morphin' in the wake of the Eltarian War, sending the team across the universe to recover a new Command Center since their last one's a little...broken. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Rocky and Matt deal with an incursion by the Machine Empire.

It's always hard to take over an ongoing series, especially one like Power Rangers where it's very clear right away whether or not you "get" the book - but Groom's story here is chock full of references not just to the previous adventures that the comic book Rangers have been on, but other seasons of the show as well, from the Machine Empire to some familiar looking armour from Ninja Steel that plays a role in the space storyline. Groom slides into the driver's seat easily, and it's a shame that he only really got these four issues and the next two to make his mark on the team - I'd have liked to see what else he had in mind.

On art, Moises Hidalgo has cut his teeth on Power Rangers comics before, and it's always nice to see him hanging around on either title.

Mighty Morphin' hands the baton over to a new creative team but doesn't miss a beat in the transition at all. Good stuff.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 1-4 was a really impressive series with a perfect ending setting up even more exciting possibilities… which seem to have been ignored completely here. I understand this is a new series with a new writer but I’m not sure why there couldn’t be more continuation of the previous series. Particularly, Book 4 teed Zedd up to be a total badass and he doesn’t even appear here. The new antagonist looks more comical than anything.

I think there is a huge drop off in the art work here also. Some of the facial expressions are really poor early on. There are also very few ‘stand out’ pages that I’d consider very cool artworks. I can’t help to compare against the artwork of previous editions. :/

I got Book 6 when I bought Book 5 so I will be reading on but I’m hoping this returns to former glories!

[Craig Schorling · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure how I am feeling with the change in writers. I am willing to still give this the benefit of the doubt. The start to this new arc feels a bit abrupt and the art isn't as good. The characters still feel the same for the most part so there is hope. The villain seems a little bland right now. Hoping that this gets better.

[aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love my Power Rangers' comics! This one is the follow up to the Eltarian War where the command center was destroyed. The MMPR go on a mission to find a new command center while Rocky stays back to protect what was left with Matt. Looking forward to the next!

[Kris Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While most of the Rangers head to space to replace their command center (lost at the end of the Eltarian War), Rocky is left behind to both defend the rubble and look after his siblings.

A nice, calmer piece after the crossover with some great character moments from Alpha, Billy, and Rocky.