[DreamSword]

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Volume 7

Daniele Di Nicuolo returns as the artist for this, and it's a great move too because alot of her panels are really good through this volume.

Shattered Grid is widely considered Kyle Higgins' magnum opus, and for good reason, because it's an event that's incredibly huge for not just the comics, but the Power Rangers franchise as a whole.

It's a crisis crossover between all things Power Rangers, and takes advantage of that in every way that it possibly can. Sure, the primary focus is still on the MMPR team, but just about every iteration of the Rangers gets their time to shine here, with lots of great interactions throughout.

The set-up is that after escaping, Drakkon fools Ninjor into repairing his Morpher, and, after taking Ninjor prisoner, proceeds to kill Tommy in order to charge the Chaos Crystal and get back to the world of the Coinless. This in turns causes an ontological paradox that literally shatters time and space, and allows Drakkon access to worlds and knowledge unbound.

And you'd better believe that the very first issue set the fandom ablaze. Killing Tommy? Absolutely unthinkable at the time. And in an event that crosses over the entire franchise? Even Hyper Force would get in on the action! It's the perfect thing to celebrate the 25th Anniversary, and showed that this wasn't mere fanservice, this was set to be absolutely huge.

Even better, Drakkon himself isn't one note here, expressing both regret and frustration at seeing the alternate life he could've lead. One filled with love, joy, and friendship. It disgusts him on so many levels at once. It's the classic struggle of love vs power, and while he feels a level of hesitation about it now, Drakkon is still dead set on the path that he's chosen, and he sets his sights on the Morphin' Grid in and of itself.

Something to also note real quick is that the reading order provided by BOOM Studios doesn't include the 2018 Annual, which takes place halfway through this volume. I'll be including it when I cover the next volume of MMPR as a result. Which fits, since volume 8 is slightly shorter than most other volumes.

But yeah, Drakkon goes all out here. Stealing other power sets to add to his own, creating new Sentries out of other Ranger suits to add to his army, having a version of Finster who absorbed Alpha-5 as his primary ally, creating gadgets that can disrupt other Rangers' powers, and, oh yeah...

Actually recruiting villains from across the franchise to his cause. Koragg, the A-Squad, and the Psycho Rangers, just to name a few.

This isn't just one giant war though, as there's a wonderful narrative flow to everything filled with great character interactions. And all carried by wonderful atmosphere and artwork. It's not all MMPR all the time either, as characters like Doctor K from RPM, Lauren from Samurai, and Jen from Time Force are integral to everything going on.

It's a wonderful start to what's considered the best arc of the comics, absolutely.