Let's Talk About POWER RANGERS #15
Power Rangers #15 dropped today from Ryan Parrott, Francesco Mortarino, Marco Renna, Raúl Angulo, Sara Antonellini, and Ed Dukeshire. We are almost at the end of the Eltarian War arc and this issue has tons of action for fans to enjoy. I’m very curious as to where we’re going after this event. Where do you think we’ll go?
THE ELTARIAN WAR CONTINUES. With the fate of Earth and the Zeo Crystal hanging in the balance, unexpected alliances are formed to stop the Empyreals and their master! On Earth, the Zord battles continue, culminating in the Omegazords finally coming together in a never before seen form! Will it be enough when all seems lost?
Picking up after the preview of the White Tiger Dragonzord getting some love, we have Zordon and Zedd teaming up against Zartus. Zedd finally acknowledges that Zartus is the real monster. Don’t get me wrong. Zedd and Zordon aren’t friends. Heck, I’m expecting them to fight immediately after Zartus is dealt with. But for a moment, the pair form a truce to fight Zartus who is actually a better fighter than either of them. However, they’ve both undergone some big changes and they start to use those changes to give them a slight edge. There’s still the catch of Zordon being a good guy though and not wanting to completely obliterate Zartus. As Zartus puts it, Zordon’s too sentimental.
Meanwhile, on Earth the Rangers have been fighting the Empyreals. In fact, the White Tiger Dragonzord was successful in defeating one and freeing some blue form. The Purple Empyreal fights the Omega Rangers in space and ends up draining their energy so that it can help the Red Empyreal who’s in trouble against the Thunder Megazord. Thankfully, the blue form that was freed was the Blue Emissary and he recharges the Omega Zords and helps the Omega Rangers form the Ultra Omegazord which rushes back to Earth and makes short work of Red. Unfortunately, this causes a huge reaction from Purple. Somehow, the destruction of its brethren leads to it undergoing a metamorphosis and it grows some extra limbs boosting its power and as Rocky says, it’s a Super Empyreal. Super very quickly defeats the three Megazords facing him down and is just about ready to destroy the world when out of nowhere a voice comes and the Horrid descend. WHAT!?
Two things to talk about from this issue. First, the arrival of the Horrid was very surprising to me. Maybe I’m just not as smart as others, but I didn’t expect to see them. With hindsight, it does make some sense though. I think the voice belongs to Drakkon, but I’m not completely convinced of that. I thought he had a color for his speech bubbles, but I could be misremembering. Second, this issue I think really highlights the relationship between the Empyreals and the Emissaries. We knew that if the Emissaries were destroyed, an Empyreal would be born and int his issue we see the reverse happen. The two are so intertwined, they’re two sides of the same coin. I find it fascinating the more I connect them. The Empyreals do all they can to hurt and destroy while the Emissaries create and protect. Yes, I’m maybe a little slower on this, but I do think it’s beautiful in a way and deserves at least a mention.