This article is about a/an a mega-crossover event in the Power Rangers franchise. |
Shattered Grid is a 2018 crossover story event created by the staff of Boom! Studios and Saban Brands which coincided with both the 25th anniversary of Power Rangers and the commemoration of 25 issues of Boom's mainline comic series, based on a modern take of the Mighty Morphin era. The event had accompanying tie-ins with the spin-off comic book series, Go Go Power Rangers and the tabletop RPG show, Power Rangers HyperForce. Shattered Grid ran from March 2018 to August 2018, the month of the 25th anniversary of Power Ranger's original broadcast in 1993.
The story's tagline is: "No Ranger is Safe."
A new storyline titled Beyond the Grid followed up the aftermath.
Synopsis[]
After Lord Drakkon escapes from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, he sets his sights on one goal: conquering Power Rangers across all eras. From Time Force to RPM, no Ranger is safe as Drakkon’s conquest causes the Morphin Grid to shatter, jeopardizing all of existence. But it’s this very act that might give the Rangers a fighting chance against Lord Drakkon and his armies.[1]
Plot[]
Prologue[]
Set a few months after the first story arc of the books, "The Black Dragon" arc, Lord Drakkon had been defeated and his Power Coin was destroyed by the Rangers of an alternate reality, including a heroic and younger version of himself. He then was somehow transported to the universe of the Power Rangers of the main comic book timeline from his dark alternate future timeline. After being held in a special top secret containment area in Promethea for an unknown amount of time, the Saba from his universe appeared in his cell. Knowing what horrible acts Lord Drakkon had committed on their world, including the brutal murders of several Power Rangers, Zordon, and his allies, Saba had come in an attempt to kill the evil former dictator before he could do any more harm. This attempt failed and Saba was supposedly killed, with Drakkon using his headless saber body to open a portal to escape.
Main story[]
In the future, the Time Force Rangers go to investigate a mysterious rift in space. Wes warns that not only is this affecting the main timeline, but also the universes of the RPM and Dino Charge. Getting close to the rift, the Time Force Megazord is ravaged, pulling in Trip, Katie and Lucas. Wes tells Jen to escape and go back to the past and fix this problem. She escapes just in time as the Megazord explodes, taking Wes with it. Jen is barely able to escape as a massive Lord Drakkon looms overhead.
Following a failed attempt by Saba to assassinate him, Drakkon escaped from Promethea custody intent on regaining his powers and returning to his dimension. Alerted to this, Jason and Tommy confront Grace Sterling over hiding the fact that she held Drakkon without their knowledge. At Ninjor's home, Drakkon convinces the ninja sage to help repair his connection to the Morphin Grid, which, after passing various trials, he does. Drakkon is thankful but leaves the sage unaware of his true purpose.
In the Command Center, the Rangers plot out their next course of action with Billy wanting Trini's help in getting the Black Dragon working again to warn the Coinless of Drakkon's possible return and to set up a barrier around the Command Center. However, this plan is foiled when, in needing a break, Drakkon snuck into the Command Center and stole the Green Chaos Crystal back. Tommy and Kimberly had taken the slight downtime to get their minds off everything and go out on their first date. However, the date soured at the end as Tommy attempted to give Kim a good night kiss, Kim rebuffed him. As Tommy left, feeling terrible for such an action, Kimberly realized that she did want the kiss and followed him back.
However, by the time Kim caught up, it was too late - Drakkon had appeared and ambushed Tommy, running him through the back and stealing his energy to supercharge the Green Chaos Crystal. Kim began to battle Drakkon and was soon aided by Jen, but it was too late as Drakkon escaped back to his world and all Kimberly could do was hold Tommy's body as he died.
Returning to his world, Lord Drakkon reconnected with his army and decided to confront the disturbance they were dealing with - the Hyperforce Rangers who had accidentally ended up in this universe following his energy signature. Upon learning that Scorpina was making a move to claim Serpentera, Drakkon forced the HyperForce team to aid him in stopping her but forced them to keep Serpentera intact. However, the plan backfired as Marv forced a "No Killing" policy, allowing Scorpina to survive and Vesper taking control of Serpentera and crashing it into the ocean, though Drakkon got his revenge by taking her arm off.
Back to the mainstream universe, Zordon informs the Rangers that Tommy is dead, so they decide to place his body back to the alley so the police can find him. Days later, the Rangers attend Tommy's funeral, when Alpha tells them that Jen is awake. In the Command Center, Jen warns the other Rangers that the Morphin Grid "fractured" the timeline into several pocket dimensions, but Drakkon is now invading those worlds to gain more power.
After most of the Samurai Rangers were captured, Zordon contacts the Emissaries Three in order to convince the Morphin Masters to cut Drakkon off from his power, but they ignore his plea, denying that Drakkon and his army are dangerous threats to the Grid. In the meantime, Drakkon failed to recruit Dr. K, who discovered how to reverse the Dragon Cannons' effect.
Back at the Command Center, the Rangers use both the Black Dragon and Time Force technologies to contact Dr. K and the RPM Rangers, only to find out that Drakkon has evolved again, and this time, he is accompanied with new allies: the Psycho Rangers, the S.P.D. A-Squad and Koragg.
In Drakkon's world, the Coinless managed to save Ninjor, but at the cost of Zack's life. Ninjor then reveals to everyone that Drakkon is conquering Rangers so he can get access to the Morphin Grid.
With Grace Sterling's help, all Rangers use her space colony to travel to the World of the Coinless and confront Drakkon's forces, while Zordon enlists the help of Rita Repulsa to suppress Drakkon's power. The plan almost succeds but Finster 5 electrifies them, saving his master. After killing Finster 5 in a "act of mercy", Drakkon connects himself with more morphin energy to assume his final form. Using this final form, Drakkon enters the Morphin' Grid, defeats the Emissaries Three and takes possession of the Heart of the Master, destroying the multiverse and creating his own world where he is a hero.
However, it turns out that Tommy had actually survived his assassination, Ranger Slayer's attack in the past overcharging him with Chaos Energy and pulling his spirit inside Drakkon. He taunts Drakkon enough to loosen his hold on his power just enough to free him and the Emissaries and go rescue the Rangers. The team, with the help of Tommy, is able to finally pull the Heart of the Master from Drakkon's person, causing his world to collapse. Drakkon refuses to be saved and stays in his collapsing world.
With the Heart secured, the Emissaries aid the Rangers in using the Heart to repair the damage Drakkon did, but tells them that it can't be completely fixed and small changes would occur to reality.
Tie-in story[]
In the Go Go Power Rangers timeline, the Ranger Slayer joins forces with Rita Repulsa to power-up the Gravezord, so she could deliver the Chaos Crystal back to Lord Drakkon. In reality, she was mind-controlled by Drakkon himself, but after the Rangers freed her, she reveals the truth to this world's Matthew Cook, and then use an arrow powered by the Chaos Crystal against a younger Tommy Oliver to transfer memories about possible futures, including his incoming death at Drakkon's hands. Now fully aware of the Rangers' identity, Matthew insists Kimberly and the others to entrust their secret, but they cannot answer, causing a permanent friction between them. Returning to the present, the Ranger Slayer was taken asylum by Grace Sterling and the Promethea agency.
Aftermath[]
In the aftermath, while the multiverse and the timestream was fixed, the exact level of repair is currently unknown. As well, Grace's space colony has been dislodged from time and space, casting her, its crew and the surviving Rangers into uncharted multiversal territory.
History[]
The story was heavily built up to and promoted in late 2017 and early 2018 and eventually in early spring 2018, it was revealed that the story would crossover into Boom's second comic Go Go Power Rangers and several popular Power Rangers teams from across the franchise would be part of the event. Jason David Frank promoted the comic in an online ad on IGN, portraying the evil Lord Drakkon in a voiceover narration. In addition, the 2018 Annual special would feature stories involving the other Power Ranger teams under attack and battling Lord Drakkon's forces and the Free Comic Book Day Special issue would directly tie into the event.[2][3]
Wondercon 2018[]
The comic story was further promoted into the canon of Power Rangers HyperForce at Wondercon 2018. Jason David Frank appeared on the show as Lord Drakkon, with the powerful villain attacking the Hyper Force Rangers in the RPG game. Special commemorative collectible pins were given away at the Boom! Studios booth and a panel was held featuring the writers and artists to talk about the story. Attendees of Wondercon could also purchase a special variant of Go Go Power Rangers Issue #8, featuring the Hyper Force Power Rangers team on the cover.[4][5][6]
SDCC 2018 and Power Morphicon[]
The story got more publicity at SDCC 2018, with the staff of Boom! Studios holding a panel to discuss the comic as well as letting fans get to know Marguerite Bennett and what her plans are for the comic series in the Beyond the Grid arc after the departure of Kyle Higgins from the writing staff. Collectibles from the event included more Shattered Grid pins and special variant covers of GGPR Issue 9 and Issue 29 of the main book featuring the Ranger Slayer and HyperForce.[7]
At Power Morphicon 6, several promotional tie-ins of merchandise were given out. These included more collectible pins, a Legacy Lord Drakkon figurine with a separate throne accessory, two special variant covers of Issue #30 and two Morphicon T-shirts.[8] Several panels were dedicated to the comic event, including a live reading by the cast of Power Rangers accompanied by music created by Ron Wasserman exclusively for the panel event.[9] Another panel was a heartfelt goodbye ceremony to Kyle Higgins for his time on the comic and another involved Hasbro and Boom! Studios discussing their future plans for the franchise after the story was over, including a live discussion on the next story arc.
Shattered Grid Storyline List[]
The issues below are listed in release order.
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 24 (Prelude)
- HyperForce Episode 19
- HyperForce Episode 20
- Go Go Power Rangers Issue 8 (Prelude)
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 25
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 26
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2018 Annual
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) FCBD 2018 Special
- Go Go Power Rangers Issue 9
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 27
- Go Go Power Rangers Issue 10
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 28
- Go Go Power Rangers Issue 11
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 29
- Go Go Power Rangers Issue 12
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 30
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Shattered Grid Finale Issue 1
Collected editions[]
In addition to the normal collected volumes that will contain the above issues [10], a softcover volume collecting issues 25-30 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Shattered Grid finale issue, and the FCBD Special will be released in August, 2019. A hardcover deluxe collection will be released November of 2019 and include everything in the softcover as well as issue 24 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, issues 9-12 of Go Go Power Rangers, the 2018 Annual, and a story exclusive to the deluxe collection, and other extras .[11][12][13] Finally, the 2018 Annual was released as part of the 2nd Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Lost Chronicles collection in June 2019, Except for the hardcover collection, all the issues and collection are/will be released on digital outlets. [14]
Image | Issues collected | Exclusive Stories | Release Date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Shattered Grid Deluxe Edition Issues 24-30, GGPR 9-12, 2018 Annual, FCBD 2018 Special, Shattered Grid Finale 1 |
"A Promise to Keep" | November 12, 2019[15] | 978-1684153435 |
Promotional Material[]
Boom! Studios produced two videos to promote Shattered Grid. The first video features Jason David Frank providing voiceover narration as Lord Drakkon with promotional images from the upcoming event.
The second video Power Rangers: Shattered Grid, released March 22, 2018, is a live-action prelude featuring Jason David Frank reviewing footage from various seasons of Power Rangers before declaring his intent to attack. The two costumes that appear in the video were created by Aniki Cosplay. The short was produced by Kyle Higgins, the lead writer for Shattered Grid.
Notes[]
- Variant covers of issues for the books include a 25th anniversary set of variant covers by Jordan Gibson. They resemble the covers from the Marvel era comics from the 1990s with different events from the franchise featured on the cover. (EX. Issue 27 features the Power Rangers when they were de-aged into kids from Season 3 of the original TV show)
- This storyline marked the first official appearance of the Grid Battleforce Rangers from Power Rangers Beast Morphers ahead of their in-series debuts. It also featured the comic-book debuts of the HyperForce Rangers and the Dark Ranger.[16]
References[]
- ↑ Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Shattered Grid
- ↑ https://www.boom-studios.com/2017/12/14/power-rangers-shattered-grid-conquers-free-comic-book-day-2018/
- ↑ https://www.boom-studios.com/2018/01/15/time-force-joins-power-rangers-shattered-grid-in-april-2018/
- ↑ http://news.tokunation.com/2018/03/20/jason-david-frank-lord-drakkon-tonight-power-rangers-hyperforce-51087
- ↑ http://news.tokunation.com/2018/03/20/exclusive-power-rangers-pins-boom-studios-wondercon-2018-51090
- ↑ http://news.tokunation.com/2018/03/07/exclusive-wondercon-power-rangers-hyperforce-comic-cover-revealed-50887
- ↑ https://www.google.com/amp/comicbook.com/powerrangers/amp/2018/07/10/power-rangers-sdcc-exclusives-one-place-/
- ↑ https://comicbook.com/powerrangers/2018/08/17/power-rangers-power-morphicon-boom-studios-exclusives/
- ↑ https://comicbook.com/powerrangers/2018/08/08/power-rangers-shattered-grid-live-power-morphicon/
- ↑ Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Vols 7 & 8 and Go Go Power Rangers Vol 3; the prelude issues in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Vol 6 & Go Go Power Rangers Vol 2
- ↑ http://www.boom-studios.com/2018/07/16/power-rangers-shattered-grid-collections-program-revealed-by-boom-studios/
- ↑ http://tokusatsunetwork.com/2018/07/power-rangers-comic-collections-announced/
- ↑ [listing for the deluxe hardcover on Amazon doesn't list issue 24 or 2018 Annual as part of the book. Until proven otherwise, RangerWiki assumes Boom's press release is the accurate listing]
- ↑ See this page's Talk section for confirmation on the Shattered Grid softcover's digital release; the other softcover collections are confirmed based on previous volumes also being available while the hardcover only being available in a physical edition is based on the previous Year One and Year Two hardcover collections also only being available in physical editions.
- ↑ Amazon.com
- ↑ http://ukiyaseed.weebly.com/ukiyaseeds-other-blog/power-rangers-shattered-grid-spoilers-surprise-ranger-debuts
Footnotes[]