 This article is about a comic book in the Power Rangers comic sub-franchise by Boom! Studios.
|
Go Go Power Rangers #28 is the twenty-eighth issue of Go Go Power Rangers and the eighth tie-in issue of the Necessary Evil story arc.
Synopsis[]
Before RITA REPULSA was the Power Ranger's enemy she was imprisoned in a dumpster on the moon, serving time for her widespread reign of terror. Within the confines of her cell, Rita is forced to confront her sins, by experiencing the lives of those she has affected...
Plot[]
10,000 years ago, Rita Repulsa is stirred awake by a voice and finds herself in a strange light blue room. She demands to know where she is, who is speaking to her and where her minions are. The voice identifies itself as an A.I. named Moment and explains that Squatt, Baboo, Finster and Goldar have already begun their “sessions”. Rita realizes that Zordon has placed her in his “little dumpster”. Moment states that due to Rita’s list of numerous crimes, Eltarian law and the high court wanted to give her the death penalty, but Zordon negotiated the jury to give the confinement she is in as an act of “mercy”. Rita asks how she can get out of her cell, to which Moment states that she will be released when she has completed the designated “recalibration sessions” and been deemed fully rehabilitated and asks for her consent to begin. Rita believes that Zordon was a fool, even in her own failure to defeat him she thinks he has done so to himself and sarcastically says that of course she consents, only to suddenly find herself in the body of a young alien girl. Moment designates this new environment as “Session One/Cycle 07”
Rita is confused and asks Moment what is going on, but she doesn’t reply. She is addressed as Neyosha by the girl’s mother who notices her daughter is exceptionally moody this morning when Rita demands to know where she is and makes threats. The mother plays along with her daughter’s game and tells her “empress” to come down for breakfast when she’s ready. Upon coming down, Rita notices that there is no spaceport on this planet and wonders if she can conjure a spell to aid her escape, only for Neyosha’s father to also think his daughter is playing an “evil princess” today. He asks what she wants on her round cakes (the alien equivalent of Earth pancakes), Gornie berries, Ninac slices or the remains of her fallen enemies. Rita tells the man to mock her at his own peril and she will remember every slight and crush every city on this planet to dust. Neyosha’s father then becomes concerned about how his daughter is speaking, asking if she is alright. Rita suddenly starts to forget who she is and apologizes to her father, saying that something is wrong with her.
Moment then buffers Squatt’s session, who hatches from an egg and is cared for by an alien mother bird and her chicks. He happily rides on the mother bird and soars through the sky.
Moment then returns to Rita’s session, now labeled “Session One/Cycle 15”. Neyosha is now a teenager and talking with her friend, saying she hates her school. Her friend says she hates everything, to which she denies but she finds life here so boring. Her friend offers to take her to Lirio’s to watch the new river stallions learn to swim, Neyosha declines but suddenly, her other friend Curina runs towards them crying and covered in berry juice. She says that it’s nothing when asked what happened and just wants to go home but Neyosha insists she wants to know who did this to her. She confronts Malax Brinn, while she understands that the place they live in is boring, she doesn’t find his prank of setting off a Gornie Berry Bomb amusing especially since Curina is a nice girl who helps Neyosha with her studies. In exchange for helping her, Neyosha will protect Curina from bullying, especially from moronic boys too scared to actually come up and talk to girls and terrorize them as a way of getting attention. She threatens to rip off Malax’s limbs if he even dares to attempt to bully her friend again and to leave Curina alone forever. Malax understands but then, at the risk of being killed by her, asks Neyosha to come with him to watch the river stallions at Lirio’s.
Moment then checks on the session of Finster, who is in solitude on an uninhabited planet making monsters from his clay. He then completes the clay sculpture of his wife Plepra, who becomes flesh, wakes and then warmly greets her husband, asking if she fell asleep. Finster says she did for just a moment and leaves the cave that they were in, coming out into the morning sun and Plepra thinks that the planet they are on is beautiful. Finster disagrees, but he hopes that with hard work, it will be when he is done with it.
Moment returns to Rita’s session, now labeled “Session One/Cycle 26”, Neyosha is now a young woman who fell in love with Malax and is now celebrating her wedding, kissing her groom as the two become husband and wife at the ceremony. As they walk together, Malax jokingly asks how long does she think their marriage will last, with her believing it will only last a week, maybe two if he is really nice to her and asks how long he thinks it will last. He continues joking saying that he started looking for another girl at the reception..then affectionately says he doubts he will ever find another to love ever.
Later, Neyosha dances with her father who says he was unsure about her husband when she introduced him to her. She confesses he was a punk and a bully and maybe she has a type for bad boys. Her father thinks that might have been the case but she has whipped Malax into shape and turned him into someone respectable and worthy of marrying his daughter. She thinks that is a bit too far, with the both of them wishing that Neyosha’s mother could have been at the wedding as she passed away some time before. Neyosha then says her mother would have been happy to have become a grandmother, shocking her father with the revelation that she is pregnant. She asks her father to calm down and enjoy dancing with his little girl before she becomes too big to even walk. Neyosha’s father is overjoyed with the news he’s going to become a grandpa, thanking his daughter as this is the best day of his life.
Moment then loads Baboo’s session, he has become king of his homeworld and a Pongie by the name of Archduke Pontoo approaches him. He calls King Baboo a disgrace to every Pongie who sat upon that throne by being a coward and a liar. Archduke Pontoo claims that the soldiers in his army are ready to cause an uprising against the king on his command and he challenges Baboo for the right to the throne. Baboo replies that if Pontoo wants the throne then all he must do is die for it, the archduke laughs thinking that the king will fight him.
King Baboo shows him his father’s sword, a weapon laced with poison that would leave all who dared oppose him in agony and die slowly from a single cut. He proposes that they cut their hands with the blade to be affected by the poison and whomever is still standing after the agonizing pain and not succumb to its fatal effects, shall receive the antidote and the throne. Pontoo doesn’t have the guts to accept the challenge and walks away. Baboo’s royal adviser calls his master’s bluff a shrewd tactic and asks if there was actually any poison on the blade. Baboo grins evilly and says that is something that they may never know the answer to now.
Moment then goes back to Rita’s session, now labeled “Session One/Cycle 36”, Neyosha is now a mother of two children and having a discussion with her son Baylon about his temper and accidentally hurting his sister in a fight because she took Baylon’s things without asking. Neyosha confesses she understands and she used to be very angry when she was his age, she was always alone and scared. It made her feel like a monster and she felt that the only way to deal with those emotions was to protect herself by being meaner and angrier, by “Making her monster grow”. Baylon asks her if it worked, but she says that it didn’t, it made her feel worse until she met his father and had him and his sister Aurie, the love of her family made the monster shrink until she realized she could barely feel it anymore. Neyosha tells her son that they should share any negative feelings that they have to each other and try to work through them together so they can control them better. Baylon likes that idea and agrees as they walk home.
Moment then loads Goldar’s session, with the winged warrior in the heat of battle and boasting to his enemies that his sword and shield were forged in the hot magma of Rhea and they will never dull or shatter and outlive every single one of his enemies. He continues to boast, but gets hit from behind by a four armed alien with multiple maces. He is about to be killed, only to be saved by his brother Silverback, who tells his sibling to have less bravado and more bloodshed. Goldar is confused, as Silverback is dead, but his brother says that the circumstances of how and why matters little since their enemies are many and they are few and asking questions will not keep them alive. Silverback asks his brother if he will join him and fight endlessly by his side until they either taste glorious victory or fall together in death. Goldar smiles and says it would be the greatest honor to him to fight with Silverback, with his brother ordering him to charge at their foes as “glory and eternity await”.
Moment goes back to Rita’s session one last time, labeled “Session One/Cycle 76”. Neyosha is now a grandmother and walks with her family, her grandson Codja eager to show her the blooming of the trees in the park. Baylon tells his son to slow down and wait for his grandparents. Neyosha has to stop for a moment, as she isn’t as spry as she used to be. Malax holds her in his arm and reminisces about how the planet Redna 2 was so different compared to now with larger cities instead of habitat domes. Malax says she still is the girl who threatened to beat him up for unleashing a Gornie Berry Bomb, which Neyosha says he looks like an old man and the love of her life.
Codja gets excited when he sees the blossoms and points to them as he races towards his grandmother.. only for he and Baylon to be crushed to death by the giant foot of a monster as Rita Repulsa sends down her invasion forces to decimate and conquer Redna 2. Neyosha is horrified witnessing the death of her son and grandson, but Malax tries to help her escape. Neyosha thinks something is wrong, as she remembers that monster from her dreams, only to run into Rita Repulsa herself. The evil witch raises her wand and the last thing Neyosha sees before she dies is the massive bolt of crimson magic coming towards her as she tries to reach out for her husband.
“Scenario Complete”
Rita wakes up back in her cell and is confused, still thinking she is Neyosha and asking where she is and where is her husband Malax. Moment inquires if the session was “emotionally resonant”, Rita is scared and still mentally Neyosha, with Moment stating that “neural readjustment” will take place momentarily and Rita will regain her real memories. Rita still thinks she is Neyosha and says she is 76 years old and tries to remember her son’s name but the memory begins to fade and she starts crying. Moment asks if she found that particular lifetime illuminating and the personal interactions fulfilling,
Rita doesn’t understand what happened to her and asks what this place really is. Moment says its creator believed that rehabilitation of a prisoner requires the instilling of emotional stability, once a subject enters, they are scanned and then the appropriate scenario is constructed. Some subjects require only moderate behavioral modification, with him desiring the love of family that he didn’t have at an early stage of life. For Finster, it was the tranquility of exploring his art, for Baboo, the desire to have control over his life and have purpose and Goldar simply wanted catharsis from chaos.
But for Rita Repulsa, her psychological profile data from the first session indicates that she has trauma rooted from deep feelings of isolation and abandonment. Moment reveals Rita’s punishment is to experience the lives of those she has destroyed: all 4,239,172 of them, and become a “living repository” of their lives in the hopes of instilling empathy in her when rehabilitated. Based on the data from the first session and how Rita performed, Moment calculates that the time until she is fully rehabilitated and released will be approximately 26,234 years. Moment then asks Rita if she is ready for Session Two, Rita begs her to stop, but the cold A.I. boots up the session despite her protests.
“Session Two/Cycle 06”
Rita is now a six year old blonde reptilian humanoid named Riveka. She panics and repeatedly tries to say her name so she doesn’t forget, but Riveka’s mother calls for her to get up, wondering if she’s going to sleep all day. Rita cries as her memories fade away again becoming Riveka, saying she won’t sleep.…
The End
Appearing[]
To be added
Covers[]
Reprints[]
- Go Go Power Rangers Volume Eight
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Necessary Evil Part One Deluxe Edition
- Go Go Power Rangers Volume Two Deluxe Edition
Errors[]
To be added
Notes[]
- Retro Album Variant Cover Reference: Ten by Pearl Jam.
- In the first panel introducing Neyosha as a child, a Scrump doll from Lilo and Stitch can be seen in her room on the floor.
- Moment’s sessions with the five prisoners revealed deeper truths about each of them:
- Squatt desires the love and family his biological parents never gave him as a baby, as they tried to give him away to spare their lives from the wrath of Rita Repulsa only to be executed by her in disgust.
- Finster desires for his art to be appreciated and work on it in solitude with his wife affectionately by his side, being reborn from his clay sculpture of her.
- Baboo desires to be in control of his life, becoming the king of his people. This could come from his resentment of being bossed around, something that led to the downfall of the Pongies homeworld because of his arrogant King ordering him to use an untested potion.
- Goldar simply desires to be a great warrior again and fight alongside his brother Silverback, something he cannot have.
- Rita’s trauma rooted in abandonment is caused by the death of her mother Lady Fienna and the feelings of isolation are the result of her abused upbringing by Master Vile. Based on the first Session, Rita desires to have her own family.
- Given that she eventually escaped, it should be noted that Rita had 16,234 years remaining on her prison/rehabilitation sentence upon Arrival Day.
References[]
Footnotes[]
