It’s Boomin’ Time! (Part 2): Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink

Hello, my friends.  Even when we leave certain things from our lives behind us, the past can strike back in ways we could never imagine.  When that goes down, it can lead to a major situation that must be engaged and will ultimately forge us into our true selves.  For one particular player, her overseas venture shall see her going up against a potentially major crisis and will require her to take charge in order for it to be subdued.  On that note, I welcome you back to a certain review series called… When we initially began this journey last time, we looked at the first five issues of Boom Studios’ mainline series and saw how even though a certain Green Ranger had just joined a particular group of “teenagers with attitude”, the familiar antagonistic space witch that originally gave him his powers and Zord was going to strike back hard on both him and his teammates.  We’ll be returning to that narrative of course, but our featured review will be focused on the first mini-series within this overall line.  It initially came out during the opening story arc’s original publication and focuses on one of the original teammates as she comes across a harrowing situation while she’s far away from Angel Grove yet will have potentially grand devastation upon her personally as well as the entire planet.  As such, we’ll be delving into a certain six-part tale called… Its first issue came out in June 2016 and would go on to sell 39,674 copies, while the second chapter saw its release in July and ultimately had 18,342 books sold.  Weirdly, Issue 3 wouldn’t see the light of day until September where 15,077 copies wound up in consumer’s hands, followed by No. 4’s October publication where 13,274 books were bought.  Issue 5 would then have to wait until December before it came out and had 11,640 copies purchased.  Afterwards, the sixth and final part make its way onto shelves in January 2017 where it went on to sell 10,694 books.  As for the kind of peril that awaits our featured Power Ranger, let’s reenter the Morphin Grid and find out. We open on the last day of the Pan Global Games in Amsterdam, Netherlands where Kimberly Hart has completed a successful session within the gymnastics competition.  However, she had already noticed that her mother wasn’t there to watch her or even give her a call.  Within the locker room, Kimberly has called her up multiple times only to not hear a single mention from her as she starts to get worried.  Just then, her fellow gymnastic teammates show up in order to take her out for their combined celebration.  However, she declines their offer by mentioning that she’s supposed to meet up with her mother and stepdad.  After they take their leave, Hart begins to feel how something’s not right with her current situation and decides to check it out.  From there, she heads out on her motorcycle and speeds her way to St. Moineau.  During the ride, she narrates about how much she misses being a Power Ranger alongside her comrades. Eventually, she arrives in St. Moineau, France as her narration mentions how her parents had recently moved to this town only a few weeks ago due to her stepdad named Steven opening his own art gallery there.  While she was skeptical about this idea, she ultimately agreed with their decision.  As she drives into town, she notices how strangely quiet it’s being and that there’s nobody walking around as if something horrid is secretly watching her from afar.  She then reaches her parents’ home and discovers that no one’s inside, along with the front door being locked.  As such, she’s forced to break in and discovers the messy remains.  She then spots her mother’s purse and cell phone right next to the main house phone as she discovers that the building still has power, but the line is down.  As for her mom’s cell, Kimberly mentions how it has plenty of missed call notifications but it’s currently not receiving a signal from any phone service.  Suddenly, she hears some noises outside and initially heads out to investigate.  Fortunately, she remembers to not rush her way into an unknown situation as she grabs some bags from her motorcycle and heads back into the house.  With her bow-&-arrows, combat boots and even her wrist communicator that she got from Zordon in case of an emergency, she then looks within a nearby desk drawer and discovers some coins that she decides to take with her.  As she narrates about how she shouldn’t get distracted by her own self-worry towards her mother, she ultimately suits up and heads out to investigate. Just then, she hears a commotion from another human being before she discovers a young man being hassled by some “sea-monster-looking creatures”.  They then spot her as she proceeds to fight them, mainly holding her own despite being somewhat out of practice.  She then faces a challenge from the sole remaining being as she uses the coins to distract the creature before it attempts to charge right towards her.  Fortunately, her gymnastics training manages to come in handy as she jump-flips out of the way while it rams into a wall and takes itself out.  The young man then tells her to follow him before they manage to hide inside his family’s bistro.  He then introduces himself as Serge before she compliments him on his fluent use of the English language, especially since she’s rusty with her French.  She then asks him about those monsters, to which he says that he’s unsure.  He then says that while he attends a university in London, his sister named Britt, and their father live here and run this bistro.  He came back here after he was unable to receive any kind of contact from them over the course of a few days and that he arrived here three days ago in order to get to the bottom of this, especially since he’s also stunned by how the whole town seems “mostly deserted” due to those creatures lurking around the area at night causing destruction while also kidnapping several civilians.  Not only that, but there seems to be more of those monsters with each passing day.  Hart then asks Serge if there’s any survivors since she’s trying to find her parents named Maddy and Steven Beaumont, but he mentions how he not familiar with those names.  She then ponders why there hasn’t been any attempt to contact the police, the country’s military or even the Power Rangers for help, to which he mentions how the village has been cut off from the outside world ever since the incidents began and that she’s the first person to arrive here in a long time.  She then asks him if anyone tried to leave in order to go get help, to which he says that he thinks that his mother did yet everyone who tried to escape wound up getting captured.  He’s worried that Britt has fallen into the same fate since she made her own attempt to go get help after their dad was taken and that she hasn’t been seen since then.  Fortunately, he does bring up how he saw some of those beings going into the side of a particular cliff.  Having a strong feeling that it was where the captured civilians were being held, he tried to form a search party only to be unsuccessful due to the remaining townsfolk being too afraid.  Kimberly then asks him to show where this cliffside opening is located as well as where the remaining survivors are as Serge points out the group’s last-known spots on a map, particularly on the East side of the nearby mountain range.  She then prepares to head out, but he wants to go with her in order to save his family.  She assures him that she’s going to contact some “very powerful friends” who’ll help them out and that she wants him to remain in hiding while promising to not abandon him and his fellow citizens. Later, she returns to her parents’ house and even hides her motorcycle inside.  Assuming that Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd are behind this, she takes out her communicator and decides to contact Zordon.  Just then, he receives her transmission as he transmits his familiar face in front of her before they each mention how much they miss each other.  She then informs him of her present situation and that she needs the Power Rangers’ help, but he brings up how the team is currently on another planet fighting Lord Zedd.  Not only that, but he’s been unable to get in contact with them for a while.  Because of this commotion, it’s why he hasn’t heard of her situation until just now.  While Kimberly narrates about her worries for Tommy and her former teammates, she once again mentions how she must remain focused.  While Zordon assures her that the Power Rangers will be strong enough to overcome their kerfuffle despite presently not being available to assist her, he does mention how there’s another way and that it’s inside her.  Alpha 5 then joins the conversation and informs her that she still bears the Pink Ranger energy since they didn’t use the Sword of Light to transfer said power onto Katherine.  As such, it’s only become latent within her.  Zordon then says that they can use the Sword of Light to reactivate her Pink Ranger energy and temporarily make her a Power Ranger again.  Despite Kimberly mentioning how this idea will be a risk towards him, she decides to accept the offer as she proceeds to harness the Sword of Light and becomes the Pink Ranger again.  Afterwards, Alpha 5 brings up how their scans have brought up something odd about the opposing monsters and that she must restrain them instead of destroying them until they’re able to learn even more about them.  Zordon then tells her that even though the Sword of Light is powerful, it’s also directly connected to his power.  After promising to keep it safe, she proceeds to head out before we return to Serge who becomes worried for Hart and decides to go look for her.  Just then, he sees the Pink Ranger zoom by on her motorcycle and becomes excited by her helpful presence. Twenty minutes later at the cliffside opening, Kimberly proceeds to sneak her way in and discovers loads of those aquatic creatures along with several cages.  However, one of those beings managed to notice & approach her as she kicks it and gives away her location.  She then proceeds to jump down and engages the numerous beings for a while before a familiar voice calls out to her, to which she discovers to be Goldar.  Not only that, but she also spots her captured mother as Goldar tells the Pink Ranger that she’ll help him bring a certain creature to life.  Hart expresses her befuddled confusion since she’s never seen him working away from Rita and Zedd, to which Goldar says that he has his own “ambitions and ideas” before once again demands for her to help him out, yet she turns him down.  As such, he presents his monstrous comrade named Verto who’ll make her regret not helping them out before Issue 1 ends with the latter transforming Maddy into one of the aquatic beings. Issue 2 begins where the last chapter left off (though it’s now “half an hour ago”) as Kimberly helplessly watches her mother get fully turned into a monster.  Verto then orders her to attack the Pink Ranger, yet the mutated Maddy isn’t able to do.  As such. Goldar commands the rest of the creatures to bring the opposing Power Ranger to him as Kimberly is forced to retreat and manages to do so by using her bow-and-arrow to cause a cave-in. We then shift over to her de-morphed and back at her parents’ residence as she narrates about how she couldn’t go up against the massive number of opposing figures and even mentions how Verto is the one who creates more aquatic beasts out of the captured civilians.  As she mentions how she’ll need from help to combat this, she’s suddenly approached by Serge as she asks him how he got in here to which he mentions that he was simply waiting for her to return and got worried.  He then brings up that he followed the Pink Power Ranger and asks Hart if said hero is rescuing their families, to which Kimberly says that she isn’t especially since the opposing creatures are actually the captured civilians and that they’re under the devious control of both Goldar & Verto.  Serge asks her how she knows all of this as Hart says that the Pink Ranger informed her of this and had to retreat due to being vastly outnumbered along with not having her teammates.  From there, she gets an idea and says that she’s going to talk to the Pink Ranger.  Serge wants to help her, yet she tells him that this is far bigger than them and that they must let “the professionals” deal with it.  However, he refuses to cooperate since he wants to take part in this fight to protect his town.  As such, she has him go inform the remaining civilians that help is coming and that they must hide especially since every captured person will just mean another monstrous foe for them to contend with.  Ultimately, he decides to carry out this plan as he takes his leave yet swears to go with her next time.  Kimberly then narrates about how even though the main team is currently off world, there’s still a small number of heroes still on Earth that can help her.  As such, she contacts Zordon & Alpha 5 and tells them that she needs some assistance.  She then requests to be taken to three notable and former Power Rangers in Jason, Trini and Zack, yet Alpha 5 informs her that Jason Lee Scott isn’t available to them since he’s off on a personal mission.  Hart then asks Zordon if it’s possible to share her power with the remaining ex-Rangers, to which he says that she can with the Sword of Light and give them access to his power.  Despite the potential risk to him, he’s willing to allow this before informing Kimberly that he’ll teleport her to her former comrades so that she can ask them to accept this important task.  Just as she’s about to embark on this side-mission, she’s unaware that Serge had been secretly watching all of this from outside before he’s suddenly approached by Verto. Later, Hart teleports into the vast South American landscape before she spots a glider approaching her at an accelerated rate.  Just then, it’s revealed that Trini Kwan is operating it before she jumps down and embraces her past teammate.  She then asks what she’s doing her, to which Kimberly says that she needs her and Zack to become Power Rangers again in order to help free a French village from Goldar’s control.  She even mentions that her own parents have been captured and that her mother was transformed into a monster alongside several townsfolk.  Ultimately, Trini agrees to help her as they both head out to recruit Zack.  As they arrive within a secluded area within the middle of a forest, Kwan mentions how it allows a certain project to help them conserve and create “new sustainable green spaces”.  She then says that places like this can only exist through “education and commitment” from those that live there and it’s what Zack is focused on.  They then arrive at a martial arts practice session where Zack Taylor is serving as the teacher before he’s met upon by Hart, to which he ultimately shares a bigger embrace with her.  Later, the three ex-Rangers have a private conversation where Kimberly mentions her current situation back at the French village and Zack also agrees to join her fight.  He then says that while he does see the importance of the work he’s doing right now and that he’s not too eager to come across Goldar again, he’s more than willing to be there for his lifelong friend and finds it interesting to become a Ranger once again.  With her acquiring some much-needed assistance, Hart proceeds to teleport herself and her friends back to St. Moineau. Once they return to her parents’ house, they get in contact with Zordon as Zack & Trini thank him for helping them take the lessons they’ve learned as Rangers and use them out in the world.  From there, Kimberly uses the Sword of Light to transfer some of her Pink Ranger power into her comrades as they once again become the Black and Yellow Rangers.  Zordon then informs the group that because they’re sharing a single Ranger’s power, they’ll each have limited powers individually.  As such, they’ll be able to function as a single unit.  Zordon then tells Hart that she’ll have the Sword of Light and that they must transfer his power back to him once they complete their mission since he’ll become increasingly vulnerable with each passing second before ending his communication.  The Pink Ranger then worries about the Sword of Light since it would help them in a fight, yet they would risk it falling into Goldar’s hands.  The Yellow Ranger then suggests that they could hide it within the town before they all suddenly get a broken transmission from Tommy Oliver within their helmets.  Kimberly then wonders why they’re receiving this from the White Ranger to which Trini assumes that they’re all sharing Zordon’s power, so his energy is somehow fragmenting this transmission to them.  Tommy says that he’s lost communication with his fellow Rangers and that Rita & Zedd are looming large.  Hart begins to talk to him as Oliver notices this and attempts to respond, but the transmission ultimately cuts out as she & her comrades are suddenly swarmed by the aquatic beasts. As they fight the beings, the Pink Ranger tells her allies to only incapacitate them since they’re still civilians.  Just then, one of the creatures tackles her with enough force to make her lose her grip upon the Sword of Light as Goldar comes in and claims it for himself.  He then uses it to forcibly de-morph our heroes and knock them out before they all eventually regain consciousness, only to find themselves within the cliffside hideout while also being tied up and within a cage.  Kimberly then offers to give their foe whatever they want if he simply allows the town and their citizens to go free, yet Goldar says that he already has what he wanted from her.  He then mentions that Rita didn’t come up with this plan and that he’s carrying this out in order for him to gain some villainous respect, especially since the Sword of Light will allow him to siphon their power into his new weapon.  From there, he uses the blade to transfer the Morphin Grid’s power into his weapon that he called Typhonis as our heroes horrifyingly discover that it’s a combiner robot made up of several of their prior Zords with Hart even noticing that her Firebird Thunderzord is among them.  Kimberly then blames herself for all of them falling for their foe’s plan before Verto returns and Goldar reveals to our heroes that they were betrayed by Serge.  From there, Issue 2 ends with the fiend demanding him to explain how he’ll help smite them for good. Issue 3 opens with Serge admitting that he did help Goldar out, but only if his sister remained unharmed.  While Kimberly uses her gymnastics physique to get her tied-up hands in front of her, Serge demands for Britt’s release.  However, Goldar had no intention of fulfilling his side of their deal and instead imprisons him due to outliving his usefulness.  Serge then reunites with his trapped sister and admits to doing what he did in order to save her, while she mentions that she was captured while trying to find their dad.  Meanwhile, Hart has freed herself from her roped bonds and manages to untie her teammates while begrudgingly confirms that he’s Serge and that he only did what he had to do.  He admits to her comment while also saying that it’s his fault, to which Britt says that her brother has a good heart despite being careless before they all wonder how they’re going to escape.  Fortunately, Kimberly says that they’re going to break out and rescue the civilians as well before they proceed to “think on the fly”.  This allows Serge and Britt to discover their superhero identities as Power Rangers as they promise to keep this a secret before Hart has an idea that will involve her communicator.  She then asks Trini for her help, especially since she’s worked on them alongside Billy in the past as she proceeds to get to work. Later, Goldar and Verto hear a strange noise before they’re suddenly met upon by the main Power Rangers team as the latter orders his mutated monsters to attack.  It’s then revealed that those heroic figures were actually projected from Kimberly’s communicator via a holographic chip as the creatures charge right through them and smash into the cage, freeing our heroes in the process.  As they flee into the cave, Britt accidentally twists her ankle before she gets helped up and uses her past knowledge of these caverns in order to guide them towards the outside world.  With Britt’s injured ankle slowing them down, it allows the mutated Maddy to catch up to them.  Fortunately, Hart manages to hold her back while also reaching her as they manage to reunite.  Kimberly then tells her mom to stay put while also promising to come back for her before she tells the group that they must save the imprisoned humans despite not having access to their Power Ranger abilities. As such, she tells Kwan and Taylor to free the hostages while she goes after the Sword of Light.  Having she lays down the groundworks for her plan, they proceed to set it into motion as she manages to reach Goldar and disarm him of the blade.  After fighting through a few opposing beasts, she manages to reacquire the Sword of Light and allow herself, Trini & Zack to become Power Rangers again.  Goldar then blames Verto for this turn of events before turning his back on his monstrous comrade, even mentioning how Rita doesn’t even know of his existence before saying that he’ll become the most being of all once he conquers Earth.  Verto then tells Goldar that he’s the biggest threat to both Rita and Zedd before ordering his monsters to attack him, yet he flies up towards Typhonis’ cockpit as the Pink Ranger tries to intercept him.  However, he’s able to grab and throw her away.  Back with Serge, he decides to not flee with the freed patrons and instead help our heroes out due to him partially causing this crisis.  Back with the Rangers, Kimberly communicates to her teammates to rescue the prisoners while also keeping Serge and Britt safe.  While Kwan helps Taylor fend off a fierce beast, Serge is able to guide the townsfolk to safety. Meanwhile, Hart finds herself surrounded by Verto and his mutated monsters.  Noticing that her transformed mother is amongst them, the Pink Ranger tells her to find a safe place while she goes after Goldar.  She then tries to leap after her foe, but she’s only able to reach a small height due to having to share her strength with her teammates.  Fortunately, the mutated Maddy puts her daughter on her back before climbing up the side of Typhonis.  The rest of the beings manage to follow after them, yet the Pink Ranger is able to fend them off.  They then manage to follow Goldar inside of the combined Zord, but he’s able to subdue Maddy before engaging Kimberly in a duel.  Suddenly, a massive rumble occurs as Typhonis starts moving.  Hart is able to reunite with her mutated mother before she resumes her struggle with Goldar. Just then, they hear from Verto as they learn that he’s able to take control of the combined Zord with his own trident.  While the Pink Ranger takes advantage of Goldar’s distraction by kicking him, Typhonis proceeds to burst out from the caves.  Back inside the combiner Zord, Kimberly leaves her mom in order for her to pursue Goldar as they once again engage each other in a fight.  Just then, Typhonis enters the ocean (I’m guessing the Atlantic?) as Verto tells Goldar that he’s spent several years unable to rise through Rita & Zedd’s ranks while questioning his loyalty to them.  As such, he’s going to send his untrusting comrade and the Pink Ranger to the oceanic depths.  Goldar then tries to leave, but the combiner Zord managed to get beneath the waves in time as he opens a hatch and allows some water to start pouring in.  Hart is able to help him close the hatch in time, but now they both find themselves trapped inside as Issue 3 ends with Verto ordering his aquatic creatures to follow Typhonis towards the ocean floor in order to make sure that neither being inside of it is able to get out alive. Issue 4 begins beneath the sea as the Pink Ranger is trying to save Goldar, her mom and herself from a watery demise while narrating about how Typhonis’ metallic makeup is preventing her from communicating with her comrades.  However, Goldar refuses her help as they proceed to briefly fight each other.  Kimberly tells him that they don’t have for this and that they need to work together so that all of them can escape.  He then chastises her for not facing him “like a warrior”, to which she tells him that she was retired from her Ranger duties when this whole ordeal began.  He then laughs before mentioning that because of her situation, she was the perfect target in order for him to get to Zordon.  She then tells him that she’s not “being a mushy good guy” and that they must escape, unless he wants Verto to inform both Rita and Zedd about his scheme.  Fortunately, this gets him to agree to her plan since it would give him a chance to go after his former partner-in-crime.  She then specifies how they need to keep Verto alive long enough for him to transform all of his transformed beings back into regular humans. We then shift over to the caverns where Verto gloats about his ever-increasing army of aquatic creatures ultimately allowing him to conquer the planet.  He then spots a fleeing man as he easily captures the guy and turns into another one of his loyal beings.  He’s then approached by Trini and Zack before he sends his monstrous armada after them.  During this, Serge and Britt are helping several civilians escape before the former spots Kwan and Taylor engaged in battle.  The Black Ranger then brings up how they can’t get in contact with the Pink Ranger, to which the Yellow Ranger reminds him that their comrade still wants them to rescue the innocent people before she’ll eventually try to communicate with Zordon.  She then attempts to contact him, but she only receives loads of static while barely making out what he’s trying to say.  Alpha 5 then mentions that Zordon is fading at a rapid pace before Trini tells him that they need to help the townsfolk out.  Alpha 5 assures her that even though Verto is the only one who can transform his aquatic armada back to regular humans, he’s hurriedly working on a possible solution.  After observing this clash from afar, Serge tells his sister that they’re going to save their townsfolk “like Power Rangers”. Back inside Typhonis, the room that Kimberly, Maddy and Goldar are trapped in is nearly filled with ocean water.  Hart is unable to open the hatch due to the immense water pressure before asking Goldar if he included an escape pod on his combiner Zord, but he gleefully says that he didn’t since it’s built out of “the greatest Zords ever to be downed”.  Fortunately, this gives her an idea as she asks him if any of the Zords are able to be detached from Typhonis.  He explains that he found those Zords in pieces and has merged them with Cyclopsis’ technology.  As such, any large Zord is far-too entwined within Typhonis’ power.  She then asks him about its smaller attached Zords especially if her Firebird Thunderzord is mostly intact, to which he says that it’s likely “small and pathetic” enough to be severed from Typhonis.  He then mentions how he intimately knows how to divert Typhonis’ power as he proceeds to do so before the mutated Maddy suddenly drags her daughter down to her Zord.  Once inside, the Pink Ranger is able to start it up and detach itself from Typhonis before sweeping back to allow Goldar inside.  She then flies back to St. Moineau before discovering that Verto and his mutated armada are bearing down on the town.  Goldar wants to smite his former partner-in-crime along with his aquatic beasts, yet she tells him that they have to keep the fiend alive in order for her mother and the innocent civilians to get transformed back into humans.  A struggle ensues in the cockpit before Goldar gets kicked away and decides that he’s done working with her as he begins to bail on her.  Maddy is able to grab onto his leg while Kimberly tells him that they have to work together, yet Goldar simply flies away. While the site of the Firebird Thunderzord streaking across the sky excites her teammates, Verto gets furious with her escaping a watery grave before he summons Typhonis.  While Serge spots the Firebird flies overhead, it suddenly gets damaged due to Verto throwing his trident into its wing.  Following a crash-landing, she then approaches the fiend who not only managed to retrieve his trident but also holds up Zack by his throat.  Fortunately, Serge is able to make a saving tackle onto Taylor before Goldar picks Verto up in order to smite him and prevent Rita & Zedd from hearing about his plan.  However, Verto is able to bite Goldar and cause him to throw his former devious ally back into the water. During this, the Rangers, Maddy, Serge and Britt manage to run into a nearby cave as Kimberly mentions that they need to contact Zordon.  However, Trini and Zack inform her that he’s getting dangerously weak.  As such, Hart decides that they’ll simply give him his energy back and that they’ll manage without it.  She then contacts Alpha 5 and informs him of their intention before their robotic comrade tells them of a revelation that’s both good & bad for them.  Because Zordon is trapped within a time warp, he exists outside of their own timeframe and that his communication with them needs loads of energy in order to function.  As such, severing his connection to the energy tube will allow our heroes to have some additional energy at their disposal, specifically for an extra day.  Zordon then chimes in and praises Serge & Britt’s personal bravery before telling the Pink Ranger that she’ll need a full team in order for them to prevail.  He then adds that even though they’ll be weaker individually, they’ll remain strong when unified before Kimberly uses the Sword of Light to transfer this extra energy as Serge becomes the Blue Ranger and Britt turns into the Red Ranger.  Kimberly then tells her French friends that they’ll need to make Zordon’s sacrifice worth it before they all head out. Our heroes then confront Goldar who admits that he needs their help since Verto will return with his mutated army along with Typhonis, to which Hart will only assist him if he agrees to leave the fiend alive long enough for him to change every aquatic being back into humans.  Goldar accepts her terms before mentioning that once Verto is vanquished, their alliance is over before he flies off.  Our heroes then help the rescued humans set up some traps in preparation for their foe’s arrival before Goldar returns and lets them know that he’s spotted something.  Our heroes, Maddy and Goldar make their way to the beach as they confront Verto who’s piloting Typhonis while his vast group of mutated beasts are alongside his combined abomination.  With the fiend’s intention to smite all of them and conquer the village before expanding his grasp upon the world, Issue 4 ends with our heroes, Maddy and Goldar ready to take them all on. Issue 5 opens with Typhonis arriving at St. Moineau as Kimberly tells her fellow Rangers that they need to get in between their approaching foes and the town in order to distract them from their own conquering end goal.  Goldar tries to slash his way into the combiner Zord, but he’s unable to create much of a dent before demanding for some help.  While Serge and Britt manage to carry out their containment plan while they hold the aquatic beings off, Trini & Zack begin to climb up Typhonis. Unfortunately, Verto is able to force them off.  As such, Hart gets into her Firebird Thunderzord and manages to get it off the ground. She then manages to attack the combiner Zord with her individual Zord, but she’s unable to cause any significant damage before it gives out again and crash lands.  Afterwards, she hears from Serge that he and Britt are helping the townsfolk trap the creatures before she and her team proceed to regroup as they notice that Goldar is trapped within Typhonis’ grasp.  With Verto eager to smite him, the Rangers and the mutated Maddy are united before Britt asks the Pink Ranger for their next move.  Suddenly, they get contacted by Alpha 5 who informs them that he’s sent them their Shark Cycles and that he’s upgraded them to have flight.  From there, our heroes proceed to hop on & soar towards Typhonis in order to engage the being.  Kimberly tries to save Goldar, but Typhonis hits her Shark Cycle and smashes it.  With Hart plummeting towards the ground, the Yellow Ranger flies in order to save her.  However, she’s not able to grab her hand in time. Fortunately, Goldar was able to escape the mechanical clutches in time as he glides in and helps her out.  They then arrive back at the Firebird Thunderzord as Hart tells her teammates to distract Verto in order to keep him away from her Zord.  Golar then proceeds to work on its mechanical components in order to get operational again and send out a signal to Typhonis in order for it to get drawn back onto it, thus allowing them to sneak on board.  The mutated Maddy then makes her way on before Goldar gets the Firebird Thunderzord working again as it proceeds to reattach to Typhonis.  From there, they make their way inside the combiner Zord as the Pink Ranger contacts Serge and Britt in order to inform them of her situation before telling them to corral the remaining monsters and help the villagers.  Afterwards, she reminds Goldar to refrain from immediately smiting Verto before we shift to the Blue and Red Rangers riding their way towards their town’s Fountain Square.  Just then, they spot Typhonis smashing the Black Ranger’s Shark Cycle before he gets saved by the Yellow Ranger and proceeds to ride with her.  Over within the combiner Zord’s cockpit, Verto is suddenly approached by Kimberly, Goldar and Maddy as Hart’s mutated mother charges right towards him.  However, he’s able to grab Maddy’s head and attempt to make her cave into her monstrous side.  Suddenly, his neck gets grabbed by Goldar before Hart kicks him away in order to prevent him from destroying their foe.  Fortunately, Maddy is able to recover and trap Verto within a fierce grasp.  The Pink Ranger then contacts her team and informs them of their triumph before they all return to the village. From there, she has Verto transform her mother back into a human who proceeds to worry about her husband.  Afterwards, Verto turns all of his aquatic monsters back into humans as they’re all unable to remember what happened to them before the Pink Ranger asks Trini to keep watch alongside Zack since it’ll allow her, Serge and Britt to proper see their own families.  After the three of them De-Morph, Kimberly proceeds to reunite with her mother before she asks her daughter what she’s doing here due to her participation in the Pan Global Games.  Hart then says that she heard about the commotion within St. Moineau and decided to head over in order to find her.  Afterwards, she and Maddy are then able to spot Steven.  While Serge and Britt embrace their father, Kimberly tells her parents that she’ll be right back before she rejoins her fellow Rangers.  She then privately meets up with Goldar and Verto and thanks the latter for changing his captured humans back before Verto mentions how he’ll be introduced to Rita and Zedd as their new lieutenant.  Goldar then tells her that they’re never going to mention their plan to anyone and that her saving his life is why he respected her wish.  Now that their alliance has ended however, he proceeds to murder Verto with his sword and warns her to never mention their brief partnership lest he goes after her and her family before he takes his leave. Hart then makes her way back to her fellow Rangers before she discovers Kwan and Taylor sharing a kiss with each other.  Kimberly then learns from Trini that she’s been kindling a relationship with Zack for a while before Serge and Britt meets up with them.  Hart then informs all of them that Goldar has left and that he’s killed Verto before letting them know that Zordon needs his energy returned to him.  Britt then mentioning that Earth needs Power Rangers to which Hart says that their world already does and that even though they all did a good job in the role given their circumstance, it’s not their job to deal with their world’s problems.  From there, she contacts Alpha 5 who informs her that the main Power Rangers team has been discovered.  He then shares the White Ranger’s communication as Tommy explains that he & his comrades are currently off-world and in desperate need of help due to them losing power.  He then mentions Rita and Zedd before his weakened comm link gives out as Kimberly becomes worried for them, to which she then asks Alpha 5 how long they have before Zordon absolutely requires his energy returned to him.  Alpha 5 calculates that they have about 12 hours left before Hart says that they now have access to Typhonis.  As such, she wants to go help the main Power Rangers team especially given the adversaries that they’re facing.  Alpha 5 mentions that he was able to lock in on their coordinates before it gave out.  To help Kimberly and company out on their rescue mission, he proceeds to send them a pair of Carrierzords called Tor and Titanus before mentioning that they’re the last of their reserve Zords.  While it’ll help them get Typhonis into space, it’ll be up to them once they get going.  From there, Issue 5 ends with Hart easily retaining Serge and Britt’s help as the whole group looks forward towards one last mission. Issue 6 begins on the planet Orulind within the Vica Galaxy as the main Power Rangers team find themselves in hiding.  With their Ninja FalconMegazord immobilized by Serpentera’s disruptor as well as the Z-Putties completely surrounding it, Tommy tells his teammates that they’re going to fight their way through those adversaries in order to regain control over the combiner Zord.  The Pink Ranger a.k.a. Katherine Hillard then mentions that destroying the disruptor will allow their Megazord and communicators to work once again before the Blue Ranger a.k.a. Billy Cranston spots Serpentera heading away from their immediate area, thus giving the team their badly needed chance.  They then proceed to dash towards and reach a nearby outcropping before the Yellow Ranger a.k.a. Aisha Campbell says that if they try that again, they’ll certainly get spotted.  Billy and Tommy assure her that if they reach their Megazord, then they can power up its weapons and destroy the disruptor.  When the Red Ranger a.k.a. Rocky DeSantos asks if this plan doesn’t work, the White Ranger simply says that they’ll be stuck on the world together.  Just then, Kat hears something approaching before they all spot Typhonis riding on Titanus which is being carried by Tor.  Tommy recognizes those Zords and realizes that help has arrived for them before we then shift to the cockpits as Zack is in control of Tor, Trini is operating Titanus while Kimberly is in charge of Typhonis while Serge and Britt are alongside her.  Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa are stunned by this arrival before Hart tells them that they’re going to rescue the main Ranger team, thanks to the Typhonis Ultrazord.  With Serpentera approaching them, Oliver informs her about its disruptor and that both Titanus & Zor will have to operate individually in order for them to destroy it since it’ll allow Typhonis to provide enough of a distraction for him and his team to reach their Megazord.  Kimberly then mentions in her narration that he’s never remotely doubted himself before wondering if her confidence would’ve remained equally high if she had stayed on the team.  Hart then says that the disruptor is starting to affect the Typhonis Ultrazord and that separating the whole unit is the only way to go. As such, Kwan and Taylor separate their Zords from Typhonis before Zack pilots Tor towards Serpentera.  Unfortunately, the opposing mechanical monster smashes into the Zord with enough force to disable it.  Lord Zedd then orders his Z-Putties to attack the on-foot Rangers before Kimberly contacts Taylor as he says that while his Zord is down, the impact was still fierce enough for the disruptor to get disabled.  From there, Typhonis helps the White Ranger and his team fend off the Z-Putties before the former gets approached by Serpentera due to it getting past both Tor and Titanus.  With the opposing being closing in on them, Hart tells her team that they must hold it off for Tommy and his comrades to reach their Megazord and get home.  Zack and Trini then mention how they’ll need their help in order to get back to Earth as well before Kimberly says that they’re going to get out of this peril together before she braces Typhonis for the impending impact.  Just as Serpentera is about to ram into this combiner Zord, it suddenly gets hit by Oliver’s Falconzord before he reunites it with his comrades’ Ninjazords and reforms the Ninja FalconMegazord. Hart then tells them to escape back to Earth since they now have Serpentera “on the defensive”, yet the White Ranger says that they’re not leaving any Ranger behind as both combiner Zords proceed to attack the opposing being.  They then finally decide to flee as Tommy thanks her for some timely help as Typhonis reunites with Titanus and Tor before everyone begins their flight back home.  As all of the Rangers embark for Earth, Taylor contacts Kimberly and says that they should let the main team know who helped them.  However, Hart declines since she wants to return Zordon’s energy to him first as she removes her helmet and narrates how she could actually get in contact with Oliver via a single button.  She ultimately decides to wait until they get back to their world in order to embrace him like old friends before mentioning how out of touch with the team she feels, since she’s feeling like it’s due to her not knowing about him and his comrades being off world before she arrived at St. Moineau.  They all manage to reach Earth before Kimberly’s team ultimately lands at the cliffside beach just outside of said French town as they regroup inside a cave and get in contact with Alpha 5.  From there, she uses the Sword of Light to return Zordon’s energy to him before he expresses his gratitude to them for their heroic deeds.  He then helps Hart return the blade to its hiding spot before Kwan asks about their Zords, to which Alpha 5 says that Titanus will immediately return to its hiding spot while all of the rest will need some repairs, even mentioning that Billy will have a fascinating study session over Typhonis.  He then tells the group that they’ll have communicators in case another emergency pops up for them to deal with before signing off as Kimberly and Britt thank each other for everything that’s happened due to the incident while Serge appreciates being allowed to be his “own action hero”. Later, Hart arrives back at her parents’ St. Moineau-based home before reaching her room in order to relax.  Just then, she receives a text message from Trini who tells her that she and Zack are eating at a cafe before asking her if she would like to meet up so that they can talk.  Kimberly agrees as the three former Rangers hang out for a bit before Kwan informs her that she and Taylor are about to head out to Paris in order to spend a few days there before they ultimately head back to their South American camp.  The group then wonders if Serge, Britt and the townspeople would actually want them to stay in order to properly rebuild, despite all of them no longer having access to their powers.  Hart assures her friends that they all know how to help others before encouraging them to check out Paris while she stays put for a while in order to “touch base” with her mother and even hang out with both Serge & Britt.  She then promises to keep in touch with them before we shift to her arriving back into town while narrating about how she’s actually felt very energized due to what’s recently went down.  She then arrives at Serge and Britt’s home as they mention how they’re too wired to feel sleepy.  They then tell her that despite only being Power Rangers for a limited amount of time, they both still immensely enjoyed it, and the experience allowed them to both to learn about themselves.  Specifically, it’s inspired Serge to become an Emergency medical technician while Britt is now eager to learn about Disaster Planning over at her university.  From there, Kimberly promises to keep in touch with them since they’re now friends with each other and mentions that she’ll eventually be leaving town before heading out.  During her ride, she narrates about how her friends, Zordon and Alpha 5 have taught her that you don’t have to be a Power Ranger in order to be a hero.  However, she somehow feels guilty due to her having not previously known about Oliver and his comrades’ peril before showing up.  Despite feeling sick of the avoided fact that she wouldn’t have known that he was gone, he still sees himself as an active Power Ranger and that neither he or her can “think of him as anything else”. And so, the comic ends one year later at the Pan Global Games Training Grounds in Miami where following her practice, we learn that she’s been struggling to write a letter to Tommy.  As she narrates about how she should tell him the truth, she eventually manages to create her letter to Oliver about her feelings for him.  In her narration, she mentions how things seem to be different with her from the person she loves and that it can lead into hiding themselves within their personal duties.  She then says that isn’t enough being “the woman in pink” who’s also fighting alongside him and that “it’s about wanting the same things” within “the same way”.  As he rides off to conclude this tale, she mentions that whether someone morphs into an appealing version of themselves or they only wear the outfit for certain amount of time before moving on, they’ll always be heroes. Overall, this six-part tale was a wonderfully crafted romp that allows the original Pink Ranger to shine brightly in the featured spotlight.  Just like the storyline within the main series, this modernizes the TV show’s initial circumstances and provides Kimberly Hart with her own adventure that sees her drawn back into the familiar fold once the initial crisis has put her parents in danger.  In particular, it’s her main mother and her new husband since this does remember that Kimberly’s original folks have had a falling out with each other.  In addition, she had left the team in order to pursue her gymnastic dreams, and the story uses it as a logical reason for her to come across this devious scheme that’s occurring a few countries over.  This also allows Hart’s leadership skills to have plenty of breathing room to operate since she not only reunites with a few other former Ranger friends (which also explains what they’ve been up to past the Peace Conference), but it also brings in a few originally created characters that get a good amount of development.  With both pairs brought together, she goes through a fairly-sized struggle in the commanding role which ranges from her dealing with the looming threat to Zordon’s health since they’re borrowing his energy in order to briefly become Power Rangers again to tempering Goldar’s vengeance towards Verto so the latter can undo his transformative evil.  Not only that, but her complicated personal feelings towards Tommy would also come into play during the final issue with him and his team’s off-world struggle which I’ll get into during my discussion about the narrative.  In addition to all of that, she gets an additional & unlikely ally in the form of her mother after she’s been transformed into one of Verto’s creatures.  Fortunately, Kimberly is able to establish a connection to her mom’s humanity in order for the parental figure to regain control and provide some much-needed help in this Earth-based fight.  It is a bit convenient that she was just about to realize that her daughter is a Power Ranger right before she gets transformed and that she completely forgets that after turning back into a human, but at least it felt unusually creative for a hardly-utilized character to play a surprisingly effective supporting role for this tale.  For everything that Hart has to juggle in order to stop Verto’s own attempt at world domination before eventually rescuing the mainline Power Ranger team, it may not have felt exhaustingly overwhelming but what’s presented still had plenty of harrowing heights for her to deal with.  In terms of Zack and Trini, it’s nice to see them reunited with their fellow comrade while also learning about their out-of-the-box way towards helping others within their post-Ranger lives.  They remain as likable and reliably strong throughout the proceedings before we eventually learn about their own budding romance.  On first glance, it can initially seem a little jarring to some longtime fans since in the show, since Kwan was greatly supportive towards Billy, and it seemed like some sparks of chemistry existed between them though not on the same level as the far-more famous pairing of Tommy and Kimberly.  Then again, both her & Taylor have been away from action for a good amount of time, and they’ve interacted with each other a lot since leaving their Ranger roles behind.  As such, it’s understandable why the creative team decided to have them pair up with each other which decently works here.  Either way, they make their return as solid as possible while never losing the familiar sparks that made them the wholesomely strong characters that fans have known since the beginning.  With Serge and Britt, these originally made supporting characters don’t have the deepest of backgrounds since we’re essentially introduced to them after the initial attacks have already gone down.  Once the situation forces them to learn about our Morphinominal trio’s secret identities before helping them out by guiding their townsfolk to safety along with joining them on the battlefield, the experience inspires them towards the ground-level rescue jobs that will allow them to provide much-needed aid to those that’re in danger, yet won’t be on the same monstrous levels that our regular heroes face.  Ultimately, this adventure is what forges their ultimate desire into providing aid to others on a regular basis as they prove their effective worth throughout the proceedings.  As for Goldar & Verto, they initially start off as the main bad guys since the former does admit that he wants to break away from Rita and Zedd’s regime in order to prove that he can handle some devious schemes on his own.  It’s only when Kimberly is able to reacquire the Sword of Light from him that he severs his villainous ties to Verto and ends up creating his own shared problem since the latter is able to gain control over their own combiner Zord in order to carry out the diabolical plan on his own, thus forcing Goldar to reluctantly work with Hart in order for both of them to stop the fiend and get what they each want.  It’s fitting to see him attempting to make something of himself as a standalone fiend, only to have him admit that he needs help in order to undo the mistake that he wound up putting onto himself.  While the only extent of any possible character arc for him seems to be letting his warrior pride get put in check once he’s forced to clean up a mess that he’s caused, he still brought his boastful personality to the proceedings in order to maintain his status as a standout antagonist.  As for the originally created Verto, he presented himself as a pretty worthy foe especially since he’s already turned several of St. Moineau’s civilians into Fish Monsters by the time that Kimberly came along to learn about this building scheme.  His escalating terror has some nice progress to it since he could increase the size of his fishy foot army if any unfortunate person found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Not to mention, him using past Zords to combine with Cyclopsis in order to create his own Megazord is where we finally get to see an idea that I came across twice within my Power Rangers Retrospective.  Specifically, it was in the third issue of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Ninja Rangers” along with the lone issue of “Power Rangers Zeo” in that the villain takes possession of something that used to belong to the Rangers and intends to use it against them for their evil ways.  For whatever reason with the former and due to Image Comics losing their license on the latter, those concepts were never followed up on.  Here, we have the notion of various past Thunderzords along with the White Tiger Zord being merged with the aforementioned monster in order to create Typhonis and it gets used by both sides to some good effect.  While the idea may not have reached its full devious potential within a villain’s hands, it was still a neatly effective sight to see it finally carried out.  The story itself handled its conflict within a steady pace, allowing its readers to have the conflict unfold while also receiving some important information at the proper moments.  Because the primary crisis serves as our main focus throughout the majority of the mini-series, it sort of makes the eventual rescue of Oliver and his mainline team a tad underwhelming once we get to the final issue.  Don’t get me wrong since it is set up twice during the actual event and the harrowing off-world situation is tense, especially since the all-power mechanical monster with a pitiful internal power source named Serpentera does get to impose its terrifying will.  However, it did feel somewhat truncated since we also had to have our epilogue for Hart and her friends within the last several pages.  As for her not having the courage to tell Tommy that she was the one who ultimately saved him this time, the complicated feelings she’s having with their prior relationship which eventually leads to her writing the infamous break-up letter that was in the opening part of the Power Rangers Zeo multi-part episode “There’s No Business Like Snow Business” feels like this was a retroactive explanation from her side as to why she decided to end their kinship.  Judging from her narration, it feels like she went through a personally emotional rollercoaster after discovering that he was in deep peril while being away from Earth, especially since this occurred some time after she stepped down from her Ranger duties but before the main team ultimately became the Zeo Rangers.  As such, her choice to ultimately terminate her kindred flame with him felt like she can no longer see herself sharing the same interests with Tommy since she can only see him as a Power Ranger while she’s moved on with her own life.  It was definitely gutsy of the creative team to include this in order to provide some sort of closure to fans who’ve felt gut-wrenched from the initial break-up back when it happened and I felt like it was handled pretty well.  It may be too little, too late for some, but the attempt felt like it was handled as thoughtfully and delicately as possible.  Finally, the art work remains as colorful as ever while the central cast was expressive, detailed as they could be and allowed the action scenes to have a solid presentation.  In the end, it has plenty of engaging elements upon its plate and it handles them with professionally-handled care in order for Kimberly Ann Hart to shine upon this showcase stage.  As such, it’s makes for a recommended good read that’s worth aiming for upon your target. Next Time:  Our original six are now finding themselves going up against the evil witch’s newest creation that’s been built up through her former connection to Oliver.  With this being now putting the team at a severe disadvantage, how can they possibly combat this fully emerged threat?  Things are about to get hectic within Angel Grove as we delve into “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #5-8”. Power Rangers (created by Haim Saban & Shuki Levy) is owned by Hasbro.