WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Mighty Morphin #12, available now from Boom! Studios.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers have spent the last year going from one overwhelming confrontation or shocking betrayal to another. Now all of the trials and tribulations of the past few months are culminating in an unthinkable act of violence against Earth by the very same Guardians of Eltar who Zordon once pledged his allegiance to. That may have been thousands of years ago, but the impact of Zordon's time as a warrior is still being felt to this very day. In fact, it even led to the creation of the very same fortress that the Power Rangers now call home in a moment that would foretell everything that has come to pass since.
Mighty Morphin #12 by Ryan Parrott, Marco Renna, Walter Baiamonte, Sara Antonellini, Katia Ranalli, and Ed Dukeshire opens with a trip back in time to the day when Zordon was promoted to the title of Supreme Guardian. In spite of Zordon's achievement, the occasion was a somber one, as it had only come about after the death of Supreme Guardian Zophram. In truth, it was Zartus who had plotted against Zophram, leading him directly into the trap that had failed to kill him yet succeeded in ending Zophram's life.
Zordon, completely unaware that his mentor still lived on in secret, placed much of the blame for what had happened on his own shoulders, as well as those of the Elders whose inaction had seemingly set this great tragedy in motion. As such, Zordon's first act as Supreme Guardian would end up being one of rebellion against the dangerously bureaucratic Council of Eltar. With the Elders having decided to leave the Zeo Crystal where it lay, Zordon took it upon himself to construct a secret outpost from which to keep watch over the impossibly powerful artifact, one that every Power Rangers fan would recognize in a heartbeat.
Ever since the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers first premiered back in 1993, the Command Center on the outskirts of Angel Grove has been their home away from home. Much like what is seen in the comics, the Command Center of the small screen was created by Zordon millennia before the Power Rangers as we know them ever existed. Back then, it was Zordon's chosen base of operations for his ongoing fight against evil, though it never had such a specific purpose as it does in the Boom! Studios universe. The Command Center of the comics was created to watch over the Zeo Crystal in particular is an interesting enough development, but the fact that its genesis was an act of rebellion is genuinely shocking. Zordon has always been a zealous follower of the rules of law and order. He might be especially bad about keeping secrets, and he doesn't always exhibit very good judgment, yet he has never stepped out of bounds when it comes to fulfilling his duties.
There is no question that creating the Command Center was something of a dangerous undertaking for Zordon, although not one without its payoffs. The Rangers might know it as their headquarters, but in reality it is a monument to Zordon's first true act of leadership. That same leadership might be somewhat questionable right now, but recent shortcomings aren't indicative of what Zordon is capable of when he doesn't ask for permission or wait for someone else to guide his hand. As ironic as it is that those are the same qualities he loathes most among his own Rangers, they are likely the ones that will see them emerge victorious in the coming days.