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Preface
In memory of Thuy Trang
We’re here people, we’re here at issue number three. Last time I checked the sales listing this issue in particular was the second highest of the week behind Batman if I am correct at the time of writing this review. That is nothing to sneeze at and shows that despite some worries people were having that the zeitgeist might wear down or that the variants may have hurt it. Not to say that those may not play as factors in the future, but at this time, we don’t have anything to worry about. This one may be a little bit shorter than usual but make no mistake it is not a judgement of the quality of this comic book. Rather, it shows that we needed the other three issues to get us here and to really appreciate it. And that’s alright, even though it is a bit early with only the third, technical fourth, issue in a series, it’s okay that we are utilizing the continuity of the story.
If you want to check out the last review, click here.
The Story
An interesting place to start up the comic is to have us with Goldar, Squatt, and Baboo, at Rita’s lair alone. Where was he last issue when he was on the cover? Guess we have our answer. It seems Higgins is giving Goldy a bushido style theme with his refusal to eat because of his failure. That could be interesting if taken the right way and I’m eager to see how.
Back with Tommy he has a wicked nightmare that may or may not be giving us a clue that he is more messed up than we thought. What with Rita posing as his own mother and her generally domineering attitude it does make one wonder. I was reading this on my tablet having bought it from comixology and reading it one page at a time without seeing the second on a normal physical comic book did do well to help fool me into believing the set up for this demented punchline. Hopefully the young kids don’t get too freaked out but hey. This is another good way of showing the escalation at work here, that Tommy is not going to get better on his own and has to come to his friends for help, which happens here, and leads to the highlight of the issue for me.
Any Power Ranger fan worth their salt knows about the tragic death of Thuy Trang, who played Trini in the original series in 2001. I always liked Trini in the series, even amongst the already happy teenagers (I know right, teenagers being happy in a show, signs of the apocalypse now a days, huh?) she always stood out to me in her radiance. Plus being a geek in high school that people picked on later in school life, I wished I had someone like her to help me out and socialize better. What better way could Higgins honor our fallen actress than to give her the spotlight of sorts and some damn good character development.
It’s a weird and true fact to understand that one can’t be a Power Ranger forever, and so it’s interesting how Trini is already starting to think forward into the future. It’s very interesting and fitting for her character to want to deal with medicine to help people in ways being a ranger can’t. Sure a ranger can protect you from a giant monster smashing the abandoned warehouse district and blowing stuff up, but not from the common cold or even worse than that. What I love most here is that it showcases Trini’s best trait in my opinion, her empathy. She really connects with Tommy emotionally and gets him to open up about his wayward military style life. She should also make plans to study psychology in college, she could be good at it.
What I’d like to point out though is that we don’t know the exact time Tommy passed out and had his nightmare once more. So it does leave doubt on how much of that was real. It would be interesting if it was Tommy’s mind trying to get him to accept help and open up and he would use Trini as a catalyst for that, or rather a method to help break down his psychosis. Though that would come at the expense of development for Trini, it is an interesting idea to think about. Personally, I believe they’re talk happened in reality. Though I do like how Tommy is assured Trini was bad-ass enough to take things into her own initiative and take on the Dragonzord herself. Good on you mate, there’s one team mate you can trust.
On the flipside we have the rest of the rangers discussing Tommy, admittedly behind his back which one can be wary about. Oddly enough it is Zack who is the one most pressing the reasons they have to distrust Tommy. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, just unexpected. Tommy and Jason even in the show had a butting heads kind of relationship before they solidified themselves as good-natured rivals so it didn’t surprise me that Higgins would “exacerbate” that, for lack of a better word, to fit the story. As long as things come full circle and we have Zack back (heh) as the fun-loving guy we know, I’ll be satisfied. And with the solicitations for the upcoming issues he and Tommy have more in common than they think.
Now to talk about Rita, who’s endgame we’re finally starting to see the full scope of. It turns out the point was to get the crystal filled with negative energy of the green power coin, which is infested with it still as it turns out, to power a faux-dragon dagger to command the Dragonzord once more. An effective strategy I say. The pieces are coming together and I can’t wait to see the full puzzle. The next issue as well as the Pink mini-series will be delayed but I do feel that the wait will be worth it. When you have great art and storytelling, your fans will put up with a pause in product. Someone should tell that to Rob Leifeld. (Burn.)
Have a good read ranger fans and pick this up if you haven’t already..
The Technical Aspects
I won’t have much to say about the art today because I believe that I’ll get repetitive real soon and I don’t think it will be entertaining to have my constant gushing over the rt. Needless to say it is pretty darn good and the colors really do pop even in the night time during the zord battle. More and more with each success of issue I really feel the character designs grow on me and I can easily identify them as the characters they are without me having to remember that in my mind, if that makes any sense.
The covers in particular are consistently great. And consistency is great word to use as, since issue one, I like how we had the same atmospheric gradient haze of a sunset color on each of them, for the main covers at least. It really bridges these issues together and gives the impression that they are all part of the same story. It’s a pity we didn’t have a variant cover for the zero issue to further connect that as I’ve said the zero issue felt more like issue one.
The look of the Dragonzord’s face staring down the team conveys true menace with it’s read terminator-like eyes beaming down, staring at the reader. The rangers cowering before it holding a worn out Green Ranger helps maximize the threat and sell the danger for me. This is a really great cover to catch the eye of not only a Power Rangers fan but your typical everyday comic reader to entice them to pick it up for a once-over. Just good stuff.
Dear Zordon in the Great Beyond
Dude, you and Higgins and I thought of the same thing for the morphing grid and how it works. Great minds think alike.