Power Rangers: Darkest Hour writer Melissa Flores reveals her experience and influences as she concludes the 30th-anniversary event. Boom! Studios have released Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 as the final installment for the arc and the entire 8-year-old series. With San Diego Comic-Con 2024, our team got the chance to speak to the Writer about bringing the entire series to a close and providing the last story for the comics in a 12-month event.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers reaches the end of the story as Darkest Hour concluded at the end of July 2024. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 was released as the final installment to the year-long event that celebrated the 30th anniversary of the franchise.
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In the end, fans do have some amazing content to enjoy next from the Power Rangers comics. This includes one-shot, Power Rangers Infinity #1, and the mysterious Power Rangers Prime #1, which was revealed during San Diego Comic-Con weekend.
Darkest Hour Writer Reveals Creative Insights into 30th Anniversary Comic Event
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ends its long run as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 concludes the story. Melissa Flores was featured at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 as part of Boom! Studios panel as fans witness the future of the Power Rangers comics. Our team was delighted to interview Flores regarding her thoughts and choices in creating the fight against Dark Spector. Chalice Williams inquired about the choices made in the Darkest Hour event, including the decision to involve specific characters.
The Solar Rangers appeared quite late into the event. Did you want them to be the final piece before the finale?
“I did. I felt like one thing I really loved about Marguerite Bennett’s run is that the amount of lore that she added to Power Rangers through that run was astounding to me. You know, the Solar Rangers and the whole idea of a Zeo crystal planet. I wanted a chance to revisit them. I wanted a way to honor them and give them the space that I feel like they deserved.”
– Melissa Flores
“Highlighting such a powerful lore in the comics truly shows how much attention to detail Flores added to the event. Her inclusion of the event as a late entry was revealed as she discussed how she fit the void into the story. The writer also revealed it was a natural conclusion and wanted fans to see more depth, while allowing fans to see the new team members. This includes giving the fans an insight into the new Solar Ranger team and how she tackled taking them into the Darkest Hour.”
– Melissa Flores
The inclusion of the Solar Rangers provided a magnificent Joker card for Darkest Hour, surprising fans with a fantastic return for one of the comic’s most recognizable originals. Flores also revealed that she wanted to honor every part of the run but wanted to show how far the reach of space the infection traveled. This includes how it affected everyone and how it felt natural to place to use their world as a last stand to end the event. We also asked about her favorite characters to write with, such as the new Green Ranger Matt, but Flores highlighted her love for using Mighty Morphin’s iconic villains.
“I love that I was able to create new forms for both Zed and Rita, like Mistress Vile and the Z Ranger. They were just so much fun. I’ve always loved their [Rita and Zedd’s] love hate relationship and the undertone of sexual tension between the two of them, and how toxic and complicated it is. So, I had a lot of fun with those two characters and really just being able to create my own Ranger and have it be Zedd was really fun.”
– Melissa Flores
Many different ranger teams are featured including your favorite Kendall. Why did you select Taylor (Wild Force, Noble Eagle Ranger) to play such a major role in the story?
“I really love Alyson and as I’ve gotten to know her. She embodies this strength, and I like the character Taylor as a former soldier. I just really love her character in Wild Force. She’s just so stoic and I feel like it was a nice character for Jason specifically, to play off of. You know, somebody that is there to keep going, and I wanted to honor Wild Force because it was a 10th anniversary season.”
– Melissa Flores
“I really wanted to bring something somebody from that team. Given how much I love Taylor, and how much I loved Alyson, it seemed a natural fit for that character to be there. Especially for the character that I needed, just a soldier to help Jason kind of be that authority force to help the civilians on Earth, while the other Rangers were doing what they needed to do.”
– Melissa Flores
In addition, Flores also revealed the response for adding the Yellow Wild Force Ranger as part of the Darkest Hour. This includes a response from Alyson Kiperman, who portrayed Taylor Earhardt in Power Rangers Wild Force.
“Alyson loved it she was so happy, like yeah, she’s just so excited. She sends me DMs all the time of the art, being like “oh my god it’s really cute”.”
– Melissa Flores
Unlike Shattered Grid, Rangers turn into Dark Rangers instead of losing powers, or dying, was that out of concern for the continuity, or for a distinctive difference between both anniversary events?
“We wanted to make a difference between anniversary events like we really wanted. We didn’t want to focus on every Ranger all the time because that was already done to such beautiful. Nobody can replace Shattered Grid, we don’t want to.”
– Melissa Flores
“I think for the Darkest Hour what I really wanted was this idea of like, “what’s going to happen if you can’t morph” and “If you do morph, you just become like the worst version of yourself and the worst version of you”. So, we wanted to keep them on the board because we wanted the ability for them to be cured. I mean that’s one of the things that’s really beautiful about Power Rangers.”
– Melissa Flores
Flores also compares the event to other iconic survival stories that pit heroes against other heroes. While also revealing more about the reason for allowing Rangers to be infected instead of killed. This includes the effect the story would have had on characters and providing fans with a memorable event.
“I’m not there to create like DC Zombie is like that has a beautiful that has a perfect place, but it wasn’t this story. We didn’t want to kill off a lot of Rangers, we wanted Rangers to feel that we wanted hope at the end of all this. I feel like Rangers are at their best when their backs are against the wall and lose their friends. Evil Rangers is such a trope of Power Rangers that fans really love, and I wanted to honor that as well.”
– Melissa Flores
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Darkest Hour #1 is now available at your local comic book store and as a digital copy. This graphic novel concludes the Darkest Hour event and features as the last installment of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series.
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What do you think of Darkest Hour? Did you love the story created by Flores and the team for the 30th-anniversary event? Are you excited to see more Power Rangers content from Boom! Studios? Let us know on social media and keep following The Illuminerdi for more Power Rangers content.
SOURCE: Chalice Williams, Melissa Flores
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