Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2017 Annual

This article is about a/an comic book in the Power Rangers comic sub-franchise by Boom! Studios.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2017 Annual
Editor	Dafna Pleban
Cover artist:	Goni Montes
Writer:	Kyle Higgins, Jamal Campbell, Tom Taylor, Trey Moore, Caitlin Kittredge
Letterer:	Ed Dukeshire and Jim Campbell
Release date:	May 31, 2017
Publisher:	Boom! Studios
Issue Guide
Publication Order
Previous	Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2016 Annual

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2016 Annual is the second Annual issue in Boom! Studios' run of Power Rangers comic books. It features five short stories: Search Party, Trini's Vacation, Forever Mighty Morphin Black, Perfect and Sabrina's Day Out.

Synopsis

The future of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers starts here as Tommy makes a choice that will have huge consequences for the team; Black Power Rangers from across parallel dimensions meet to face off against a deadly foe; and all-new secret origins revealed!

Plot

Search Party

The story is set in the Lord Drakkon Timeline, after Tommy has broken free from the control of Rita Repulsa. He wakes up after dreaming about breaking free from the mind control spell and an Asian man stirs him from his sleep to inform Tommy that some thugs have stolen his belongings he was carrying in his bag. Tommy chases after them and demands his bag be returned, but the thugs draw an Uzi and a katana sword and prepare to kill him. Tommy morphs into the Green Ranger and makes quick work of the thieves and takes back his bag as they run away in terror. Tommy senses a teleport nearby and hides, as the Black and Red Power Rangers are still looking for him. He teleports away as they search for him and ends up on top of a building. Tommy discards his helmet and cries as he feels he is being hunted, despite that not being the case. He is soon interrupted by Rita Repulsa appearing and trying to sway him back to her side by saying she is trying to change the world and gave him great gift: the power to shape the world. She had noticed that the teleports he traveled on are the places his family had moved to and followed the trail. Tommy refuses to be involved and wants to be left alone. Rita thinks this is pathetic as he is wasting his talents and simply wanted to give Tommy a "push" to truly live up to his potential. She speaks of a great warrior whom she shaped into a mighty conqueror who "brought peace" to the Toki system during her war with Zordon: Drakkon. Adding to her case is the fact that if he was a great Ranger, Zordon did not choose Tommy but chose the others instead. She believes that the reason the world is messed up is because it is divided by multiple leaders and champions such as the Power Rangers, it needs but one leader to bring order. Tommy seems more interested, asking her to tell her more about Drakkon and even thinking about adopting that name. Rita agrees to show him more and they teleport away. Jason and Zack teleport and just miss Tommy, worried as they have to find him before Rita does.

"Otherwise, who knows what might happen..."

Trini's Vacation

The story opens in 8,000 B.C. above Earth where Zordon and Rita are engaged in a space battle over a mystical artifact called the Babelstone. The Babelstone is a magical source of energy that when used can disrupt power supplies, jam communications and corrupt and destroy the speech of sentient beings. Knowing that the Babelstone was far too dangerous for anyone to use, Zordon opens fire and targets the Babelstone, presumably destroying it and leaving Rita with nothing.

Flash forward to the present day and Trini is vacationing in a small town called Boulder Cliff in her uncle's cabin, mocking the fact that it is called a "small town" given it consists of only a few houses and a general store. She is enjoying the view of the serene environment of the sequoia forest from her room and happy to simply drink her hot tea, wearing a "stupid but comfortable T-shirt" and stay in bed all day as she has earned it after the endlessly long moments of chaos from her Ranger duties. Unfortunately, her peace and quiet is interrupted by an explosion breaking the window of her room. Trini and her family look outside to see what the commotion is and find that a meteor has landed in the town. The meteor has knocked out all electronic communications including Trini's wrist communicator and she asks her mother to stay away from the meteor as it is messing with their phones.

On the Moon, Rita observes this and realizes that the meteorite is a surviving fragment of the Babelstone. She instructs Goldar to go out and retrieve it without getting the attention of the Rangers by working quickly and quietly without any signs of a rampage. Goldar pleads his empress for the chance to rampage just a little, with Rita sighing and rolling her eyes, telling him he can rampage a little after the Babelstone is secured. Goldar teleports near the site of the meteor crash and the townspeople run away as Trini races to grab the Babelstone. She commandeers a motorbike and races away with the Babelstone into the forest as Goldar and his Putty forces chase her. Trini then hides up in a tree to morph into the Yellow Ranger and then defeats the Putties. Before she can fight Goldar, Rita throws down her wand to make Goldar grow. Trini tries to call for the Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord, but the Babelstone is interfering with the link to her Zord. Goldar tries to take advantage of this by attempting to crush her, but Trini realizes that she needs to take advantage of her surroundings. She runs up a seqoia tree and scales Goldar's body to climb up to the cliff and uses the famous boulder monument of Boulder Cliff to squash him from above.

Later, the other Rangers arrive, worried about Trini but she tells them she is fine and to take care of the Babelstone as it was messing with the communications.  She also mentions that the Rangers can help by putting back the boulder as the town's name won't be Boulder Cliff without its famous landmark. She also mentions that Goldar won't be bothering them for a while as he was crushed under the boulder. Jason carries the Babelstone back to Zordon and Trini tells the Rangers that after all that exictement she is going back to her "probably now cold" tea in her room, relax in her stupid and comfortable T-shirt and stay in bed all day as she has earned it.

Forever Mighty Morphin' Black

On a ruined Earth, Alpha 5 has sent Adam on a mission to a secret location to create a beacon using his Power Crystal. Before Adam can activate it, an entity known as the Crystal Cryptid bursts in, craving Adam's power. Adam uses his crystal on the pedestal and activates the beacon, saying that the monster will never win. In the main universe, Zack is talking with Kimberly about having confidence issues with their battles against Rita and her monsters. Kimberly won't hear of Zack's gloomy outlook and reassures him they will always find a way to win as a team. Before she can grab his hand to help him up, Zack is pulled away by a black energy field and teleported along with several other black streams of light. Zack then hears a distress beacon from Adam requesting all who wield the Black Mastodon Power Crystal across time and space to come to help as all the other Rangers of his world are gone and he is all that is left after Rita created the Crystal Cryptid to destroy his world. Zack says that is all he needs to know and morphs into the Black Ranger. As he emerges from the teleportation stream, Zack is surprised to see he is among an army of Black Rangers from different universes and points in time. The Black Ranger Army rallies and overpowers the Crystal Cryptid using their various skills, weapons and abilities, finally destroying it.

The various Zacks and Adams interact with one another briefly and the Adam who contacted them thanks them all for saving his world and giving him the chance to rebuild it, holding the Power Crystals of his fallen comrades that powered the Crystal Cryptid. The Zack of the main timeline thanks Adam for renewing his confidence that he can make a difference. Adam reminds him that no matter what a Ranger stands firm in the belief that they can win no matter the odds, protect those in need and never give up. Zack returns back home happy in knowing that even in the most hopeless of situations, the Power Rangers will ultimately stand triumphant.

Perfect

Thousands of years ago, Finster is standing near the window of his workshop admiring the "beauty" of his village being burned down, something he reveals is his own doing. His wife Prepra demands to be let in as he has been shut inside his workshop for days and things are getting worse outside. She tries to talk to him and tells Finster how much she loves him but he has grown distant from her, but he ignores her and she enters his workshop horrified to see a sculpture of a monster. Finster explains that pain, suffering and fear inspire his art and he sees beauty in it as he became "lost" when he made the traditional art of his people. Plepra is horrified as she realizes that her husband is the arsonist burning up their town. Finster tries to justify his actions, saying his art needed to be "kept alive" so people could understand its beauty and the deaths from the fires were an "accident".

Upset and thinking something is seriously wrong with her husband's mental health, Plepra tries to go find someone who can help him but is stopped by Finster who grabs her. Finster pleads for her to not show his art until it is finished and Plepra begs for her husband to let her go. He accidentally kills Plepra when he lets go of her and forces her back, causing Plepra to snap her neck on a table as she falls.

Horrified that he killed his wife, Finster panics as the people of his town will find out and laments he just wanted to make something beautiful. Rita Repulsa arrives and overhears Finster's words, she tells Finster she has been searching for a master craftsmen on this world who sees "beauty in darkness" to use something she has acquired: magic clay that brings whatever is shaped from it to life. Finster is reluctant at first as he fears what the townspeople will do to him. Rita explains that she has killed them all and reduced the town to ashes, finishing what Finster started. She entices him even further by saying he can have the power to create life. Finster sees his wife's dead body and then accepts Rita's offer.

As the millennia passed, Finster marveled in his work, but grew more cold and let the darkness of evil consume him. He took pride that the whole universe knew of his "art" and spoke of him as the "dreaded demon artist". During the 10,000 years of faithful service to his empress, Finster every so often would sculpt a special clay statue of his wife when Rita was out managing a monster he created for her. His goal was to resurrect Plepra and his thoughts are one of madness as he believes that his creation will actually be his wife and she will forgive him and love him for his supposed artistic genius. He uses a lock of his wife's hair to make the clay take on her essence to become "real" and proclaims that despite not being a fighter like Goldar or able to cast Rita's magic, his talents make him God. The Plepra duplicate emerges from the monster maker and does indeed have the original's essence, showing fear of her husband and then begins to cry. Finster detests her judgemental looks and has a fit, thinking she'll ruin everything again. He grabs an axe and violently chops her up off panel, killing Plepra yet again.

Finster cries for a minute and then in his madness proclaims that it was "not her". He notes details he supposedly got wrong about her features and that his wife would never look at him the way "that one" did to justify his actions. Finster narrates this is yet another in a long line of failures (implying to the reader in a bit of psychological horror that Finster has resurrected and killed his wife multiple times). He claims he will not give up and makes another clay sculpture of Plepra, saying that he won't stop until he gets it right and she is absolutely perfect.

Sabrina's Day Out

A monster is at an Angel Grove carnival and is standing in front of two people that it thinks look suspiciously familiar. The woman narrates that if Rita finds out about what is going on, they will be punished as it is revealed the two are Scorpina and Goldar in disguise. Scorpina narrates in thought that she does not want her boss Rita to know they are taking a day off.

The story goes back to twelve hours earlier, when Rita gives Scorpina and Goldar orders to infiltrate Angel Grove in disguise and find anything that could damage the reputation of the Power Rangers. To keep the Power Rangers busy, Rita will send down a large wave of monsters while Scorpina and Goldar dig up dirt on the Rangers. Unfortunately, the Rangers are upstanding citizens in their civilian identities and everyone who knows them have nothing that they can use. Goldar is annoyed their adversaries are so normal and they are going to be punished by Rita for coming back empty handed. A woman walks by them and hands "Sabrina" a flyer for free taffy at her vendor stand at the carnival. Scorpina accepts the offer for free taffy as either way, they are going to be punished later and she is tired of every day being either "destroy the Power Rangers" or folding Rita's laundry. Goldar protests at first, but then decides to go along. Scorpina plays games of Skee Ball and ring toss and wins various prizes that Goldar carries such as stuffed toys. Scorpina admits in narration that even villains need a day off and she likes playing Skee Ball as she is better at it than any Earthling. Goldar wins a miniature figure of himself at the high striker game, though he breaks it by using his full strength. Scropina wonders where the Power Rangers are as it has been hours with no sign of them.

The Rangers are miles away in the Megazord fighting off a large army of monsters and the monster army is slowly growing larger. As they are distracted, the monster from the opening of the story sneaks off to attack Angel Grove. The scene cuts back to the present where Scorpina and Goldar are arguing on what to do as if they let the monster get away it will tell on them. If they drop their guises to attack, they will be seen. Scorpina suggests something unthinkable; do something heroic, much to Goldar's revulsion. The two throw their prizes to distract the monster and then Goldar punches the monster unconscious for destroying his mini Goldar figure. A child sees the Power Rangers and the two realize it is time to go. As they leave, they both admit it was a fun day and that the best part was to pretend to be heroes and laugh as that last part was not true.

Errors

• to be added

Notes

• In Trini's Vacation, Trini mentions the forest around Boulder Cliff and how it is full of woodland creatures and sarcastically says that maybe they can befriend her and do her hair. This is a reference to various Disney films starring Disney Princesses such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella where animals would help the main heroine.
• In Forever Mighty Morphin' Black, several Black Rangers from different alternate universes and points in time appear. Among them are:
  • The Adam Park that contacted them all, who is on an apocalyptic Earth ruined by Rita's Crystal Cryptid monster. He is a much older version of Adam in his late 50s with a beard, mustache and long greying hair in a ponytail. He still has the Black Shogunzord, but it obviously is the last Zord in existence as all the others have presumably been destroyed along with their respective Rangers.
  • Adam Park wearing the Defender Vest from his appearance in Once a Ranger.
  • Abraham of the Wild West Rangers from the Power Rangers episode of the same name.
  • Adam Park in his Ninja form from the 1995 Movie Timeline
  • A female Zack (Presumably from a gender flipped universe where the male Rangers of the team are female and vice versa)
  • A medieval Black Ranger from an unknown universe.
  • The Armored Black Ranger wearing the Dragon Shield.
  • Various other Zacks from different seasons and points of the Mighty Morphin era (as they all wear different hairstyles Walter Jones had during his time on the show).
  • Two older adult versions of Zack from the future or alternate realities.
  • A Zack who wielded the Ninja Powers (presumably staying behind from the Peace Conference)
  • A Black Ranger from a universe where the Power Rangers are more traditional style comic book superheroes, as this Black Ranger sports a cape with his costume and can fly like Superman.
  • A Black Ranger in massive power armor.
  • A White Ranger that has the colors of the Mighty Morphin Black costume inverted.
  • Zack from the Pink Ranger mini-series comic in his All New Black Ranger form.
  • Adam from the Power Rangers in Space episode Always a Chance is briefly seen in a cameo.
• The title of the third story is a reference to the anniversary episode Forever Red.
• In Perfect,Finster's wife is named Plepra, which is a reference to his Zyuranger counterpart Pleprechaun.
• The story format of "Perfect" is similar to black and white horror comics such as Creepy, as it tells a darker story than the others in the annual with horror elements in it.
• The story Sabrina's Day Out gives a possible explanation to a complaint/source of confusion non-Power Rangers observers have about why Rita sends only one monster at a time to attack the Power Rangers. In the comic story, Rita cannot make a large army of monsters grow at the same rate as just one monster, as such a task requires her magic to focus on multiple forces instead of one single soldier. Thus, the Megazord could easily squash some of her forces as the process of growing to giant size takes longer to complete.