Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers #3 Review

When we last left the Power Rangers, they’d returned to the command center after a battle with Rita Repulsa’s henchwoman, Scorpina. As the team was debriefed on the situation, Rita telepathically communed with Tommy, causing him to collapse.

Our comic opens with Tommy waking up at home with his mother tending to him. Tommy’s mother is glad that he’s okay and says that his friends dropped him off after he collapsed. However, when Mrs. Oliver lets on that she knows that Tommy is a Power Ranger, Tommy realizes that something isn’t right. Indeed, something is amiss as, in a rather unsettling transformation sequence, “Tommy’s mother” is revealed to be Rita Repulsa in disguise. Rita claims that claims that she’s the only one who truly loves Tommy before attacking him. Fortunately, this was all just a dream and Tommy’s still at the command center, the other rangers gathered around him. The others are obviously agreed and Trini suggests running some tests on Tommy, which Zordon thinks is a wise suggestion.

At Rita’s castle, Rita is gloating that her master plan is progressing perfectly. By using the Green chaos energy that Scorpina siphoned from Tommy during their fight, Rita is able to power her crystal to full strength. Now all she needs is a replica of the Dragon Dagger and she can begin her final attack.

Back at the command center, Trini is helping run tests on Tommy as the two bond. Tommy says that his family has moved around a lot, and Trini is jealous. She’s lived in Angel Grove her whole life but has always dreamed of seeing the world. Her Dad was a Doctor in Taiwan before he came to America and she’s always imagined herself following in his footsteps. However, the conversation takes an awkward turn when Trini asks how much Tommy remembers from when he was under Rita’s control. Tommy doesn’t respond. Trini apologizes. She never really meant to make Tommy uncomfortable, but the whole reason her dad became a doctor in the first place was because of the things he saw and did while he was in the military, and in her experience, talking about it helps. The conversation is interrupted when Tommy hears something and the two run outside, only to find the Dragonzord on a Rampage. The two morph, but Tommy can’t teleport inside the Dragonzord and his flute has no effect. He can only watch in horror as Trini is destroyed by the Dragonzord. Fortunately yet again, this is also a dream, and Tommy wakes up claiming that it felt so real. The results of Tommy’s scan are in and they reveal that his powers are considerably more unstable than the rest of the rangers. As the team speculates on what’s causing this, Tommy finally reveals that Rita’s been in his head this whole time, and didn’t tell the others because he thought he could handle it. As Jason berates him for not keeping others in the loop, the command center alarm goes off. And so our comic ends with Scorpina now in control of the Dragonzord.

What Works: I really need to praise the scene between Tommy and Trini. Not only do we get some nice interactions between two characters who didn’t really have too many interactions on the show, but we also give Trini, one of the least developed characters from the show, some much needed depth.

The Dream sequence at the beginning is nice and disturbing, and once again shows how the writers have made Rita more than just a comedic villain, but rather, a serious and horrifying threat. What Doesn’t: While the dream sequences were pretty cool, the fact that they were dreams felt like a bit of a cop out to me.

Also, so far, this series has been very light on the action. I get that we’re going for a more mature take on the source material, but this is still Power Rangers, and the primary appeal is the action and fight scenes. I’m sure they’re coming, but this series could do with some better pacing.

Overall: 4/5

I think that this is a very good series, but it is unfortunately very slow. I’m sure that once we get to Power Rangers level action, everything will be fine, but for now, this comic is getting a stamp of good, but not quite great yet.