MMPR #32 Reveals Who’s Under The Solar Ranger Mask

The remaining Power Rangers, stranded in the far outreaches of space, must deal with clashes with the local alien cultures as well as among themselves. The appearance of a new, unknown Ranger has brought up a ton of questions and could lead to their survival…or complete annihilation. If this Solar Ranger is able to connect to the Morphin Grid way out here, there could be hope for them, but there’s clearly more to this newcomer than meets the eye.

Artist Simone Di Meo was born to draw Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He’s taken this series to insane levels of science fiction. We’re way past Angel Grove here. We’re dealing with giant spaceships and various alien races instead of just a big robot and a goofy monster. Somehow this series is even more visually interesting without a Megazord.
Di Meo’s designs for the aliens are incredible. The ones we see in the opening pages are like a strange cross between sharks and crocodiles and just as vicious. They’re snarling and ready to eat the Power Rangers at the drop of a hat. This extends to the letters as well. Jim Campbell uses a rough, otherworldly looking font, implying a gruff voice for some of the aliens that engage the Power Rangers that only adds to the overall experience.

What elevates the artwork considerably is Di Meo’s impressive panel layouts. They’re ever-changing and really aid in the story, whether that’s to focus our attention on key details in a certain area, or the mix things up in an exciting action sequence. This makes Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #32 such an engaging read.
We get a glimpse as to who’s under the mask of the Solar Ranger in this issue. The character continues to glitch out, like she’s phasing in an out of reality or she’s a bug in a video game. This is a great effect that colorist Walter Baiamonte excels at. The Solar Ranger pops off the page in an almost unnatural way. It’s like your eyes are playing tricks on you as you can’t entirely focus on her with the flow of colors on and near her body. Her very presence distorts your vision of everything around her.

While MMPR has turned into a compelling and action-packed sci-fi adventure, I’m not yet invested in the characters. This is my own fault as I’m not as familiar with these other teams as I was with the Mighty Morphin group. Up until this point, the comic benefited in part from my childhood love of the original show, but it quickly rose above that.

I’m not ready to bail on the series or anything as writer Marguerite Bennett is working quickly to flesh out these characters and explore their personalities. It’s interesting to see how they interact with one another and carry their own emotional baggage. I recognize that I would get a lot more out of this comic if I had watched some more iterations of the TV show, so every month I’m just reminded that I have a lot of Power Rangers episodes to binge on Netflix. This comic is taking the franchise in some brand new directions and it is well worth the time investment.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #32 from Boom! Studios is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.