Welcome to another pile of comic book reviews! Not too many this week, because sometimes I’m feeling lazy and just want to read the comics I want to read instead of a larger smattering. Such is this week’s mood.

Comic Book of the Week goes to Power Rangers #11 for turning the action and reveals up to 11 and kicking the story forward right when it needs it!

Meanwhile, I’ve been playing No Man’s Sky lately and it’s pretty fun. I never attempted to play it back when it first came out and was not part of the hype. But it was on sale on my birthday and that seemed like a good thing for to try. Should be a fun, lazy game of space exploration.

Comic Reviews: Power Rangers #11, Superman and the Authority #3 and X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #2.

Power Rangers #11
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Francesco Mortarino
Colorist: Raul Angulo, with assistance from Jose Enrique Fernandez
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

I have always felt that Power Rangers was the weaker of the two comics. The Omega Rangers just aren’t as fun or as exciting as the Mighty Morphin team. But at least they can still bring the awesome action!

The Omega Rangers arrive at the coordinates of the Yellow Emissary, but she’s hidden so well that only Trini can see the planet. They teleport down and fight off the Emissary’s attempts to stop them, until she finally settles in to talk. The Emissary reveals that the death of the Blue Emissary opened the way for the Empyreals to return, and Zartus stepped in and seized his opportunity.

Meanwhile, back on the ship, Drakkon breaks free of his control collar and it’s revealed that he’s working for the Empyreals. He’s brought them to the Yellow Emissary, so they reward him with his Power Morpher! He transforms into the Black Dragon Ranger (with added red distortion) and nearly kills Xi! The Empyreals then head down to the planet to kill the Yellow Emissary. The Omega Rangers try to fight, but they’re no match, and the Empyreals destroy the Yellow Emissary!

Comic Rating: 9/10 – Great.

This was a super cool issue with a lot of big moments. And that works for the Omega Rangers. They may not have the rich personal lives of the Power Rangers, but they can definitely do big, intergalatic action. I liked pretty much every part of this issue. The fight and conversation with the Yellow Emissary is neat. I love the idea of the different colors meaning different things, so Trini has a different handle on this situation than the others. And the conversation itself is all manner of cryptic and foreboding, which is neat. And then the action just pushes to another level as we get the big Drakkon reveal, that he’s been working for the bad guys the whole time! Good. I never liked Drakkon and did not want him to become Omega Pink.

It’s just a cool moment. I didn’t know what to expect from Drakkon in this series, so to suddenly have it all come together with him being super evil — and getting to morph again — was a hoot! I don’t consider him the breakout character of BOOM!’s Power Rangers comics, but that’s probably just me. I simply don’t care for him. But he works as an antagonist, and I like that he wasn’t redeemed by the Omega Rangers. He’s evil, and now he’s got power again, and things aren’t looking good for our heroes! That all works splendidly for me.

TL;DR: A lot of big, cool moments happen in this issue, really pushing this story forward and upward!

Superman and the Authority #3
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Mikel Janin and Travel Foreman
Colorists: Jordie Bellaire and Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Steve Wands

It is so weird to me that this comic is only four issues long. Like, next issue is the final issue. It’s madness!

Our heroes fight some demonic mind entities to rescue June Moon from her own psychosis, then invite her to the team as they discuss recruiting their final member: Lightray. Enchantress and Apollo go to get Lightray, but first she’s kidnapped by Eclipso. Manchester Black, Natasha and Midnighter go to Dubai to fight some robots, bicker amongst themselves on the team name and field leadership, and then get ambushed by another group calling themselves the “Authority”. And back at Fort Superman, the Man of Steel is ambushed by the Ultra Humanity in Solomon Grundy’s body. He beats up Superman and prepares to take him to the Bottled City of Kandor to finally swap his brain into Superman’s body.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

It may be madness, but it’s still a fun comic. I wouldn’t mind if this was an ongoing series, quite frankly. Grant Morrison is an amazing writer, and he seems to be having fun with these characters. When was the last time Grant Morrison wrote a straight forward team book for one of the Big Two? He’s got a fun cast of characters, a good premise to work with and a solid story to tell. And some great artists to help him along — though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed that Janin isn’t drawing the whole thing. Still, everybody is fun in this comic, and the team dynamic is great. And Morrison is really putting in the work of bringing the team together.

It’s just so weird that this comic is apparently just going to be putting the team together. We get a big villain in this issue, and the stakes are largely set up for the final issue, so I’m sure we’ll get a solid conclusion. I’ll just then have to live with the disappointment of not seeing these characters again. I really like this Superman. He’s mellow and not as powerful, but he’s great as a fatherly figure in this leadership role. It’s really fun! And all of the other characters fit really nicely. I like this team. In the end, I guess this is just going to be a fun little comic that never had the chance to spread its wings and fly.

TL;DR: We finally get the immediate story that’s going to carry us through to the end, but this comic is such a treat to read that I’m rather bummed it’s going to end so soon. Morrison has put together a solid crew and he writes everybody so well, especially this version of Superman.

X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #2
Writer: Leah Williams
Artist: Lucas Werneck
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

I definitely have no idea where this comic is going, not after a cliffhanger like this.

While Xavier and Hope probe Magneto’s mind (to Hope’s dismay), the X-Men welcome the Avengers to their first official Krakoan visit. They grieve Wanda together and take the Avengers on a tour of the island and its facilities. There are some really nice character scenes, like one where Captain America talks Quicksilver down from his anger. While this is going on, Hope awakens Magneto and tells him to take Wanda’s body and sneak out. Magneto instead changes into his classic costume and attacks everybody, leading to a big fight. At one point, Magneto threatens Kyle, Northstar’s husband, and he’s talked down. Magneto then angrily confesses to killing Wanda and tells them all to take him in — and then Wanda shows up, giving Vision a big kiss.

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

It’s the little moments that make this issue really special. Like Captain America remembering Kyle from the Gala, and being front and center to stop Magneto from hurting him later in the issue. To Quicksilver being angry and Cap talking him down with heart. Really fun stuff. I also enjoyed the idea of the Avengers first official visit to Krakoa, and getting the tour. I like that sort of grounded, real world take on Krakoa. Then when Scarlet Witch shows up at the end, holy cow. I did not see that coming! Is it the real Scarlet Witch? I have no idea. She could be anything. The scene includes a quick snippet of Mystique watching from the shadows, so obviously not everything is on the up and up. I’m very eager to see what all of this means going forward.

This issue itself was really fun. The smaller, character-based moments gave way to another big fight as Magneto took on both the X-Men and Avengers this time. This felt more exciting in the last issue, but was still rather fun here. The scene definitely worked. But mostly this series is getting by greatly on the character-based stuff. Magneto breaking down and admitting he killed Scarlet Witch definitely feels fishy. I am dying to know all the secrets already!

My money is still on Toad being the killer.

TL;DR: The mystery deepens as more evidence is added to the story, including some truly interesting twists that I did not see coming. Mostly though, this comic is great for its grounded character moments more than it’s murder mystery.

The comics I review in my Hench-Sized reviews are just the usual comics I grab from Comixology any given week, along with a few impulse buys I might try on a whim. So if there are any comics or series you’d like me to review each week, let me know in the comments.

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