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Preface
When this was announced, it was definitely unexpected.
Unlike the initial reaction to Soul of the Dragon’s reveal, where it was basically “Of course this happens. It’s Tommy, arguably the most popular character in the PR franchise. They would’ve been fools not to do this”, this novel felt like it came from out of nowhere.
Don’t get me wrong. Karone is a popular character in the fandom and deservedly so. (She’s a great character with an interesting backstory and some badass action moments and her actress, Melody Perkins, did an amazing job as her.) But, unlike Tommy, it’s questionable as to whether or not Karone is that well known to the mainstream audience so for a comic to be made for her, it sends a message. That they know that there are more stories that can be told of the Power Rangers than just in the MMPR era. And that’s a good thing.
So, now that we know that this is part of the possibility for a yearly Power Rangers graphic novel, let’s see how they do.
The Cover
It’s the same promo-looking cover for a lot of graphic novels so there’s not a lot to really judge here. But, to compare it to Soul of the Dragon’s cover, I like Soul of the Dragon’s cover more. While this is more dynamic with the characters’ actions with this cover, there are just a lot more interesting design elements in Soul of the Dragon’s cover.
The Story
SYNOPSIS: Terra Venture’s journey has ended but Karone’s journey hasn’t reached her ending yet. With the Quasar Sabers now returned to Mirinoi and her duties as the Pink Galaxy Ranger now over, Karone’s wondering what’s her path now.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Karone’s past begins to haunt her as the Psycho Rangers are suddenly resurrected, along with a new member Psycho Green, to find their leader, Astronema. Andros, Karone’s brother and the Red Space Ranger, goes on a hunt to free Karone from the Psycho Rangers’ captivity, but everything is not as it seems…
So, how is the final chapter for the former Princess of Evil?
Honestly? It’s exactly the same quality as the actual Psycho Ranger arc in “Power Rangers In Space”: uneven. Like Soul of the Dragon, let’s discuss this in parts.
Andros and Karone both receive little to no character development. None of their backstories are really examined and explored (besides one “kinda” retcon). There’s not a lot of information about their backstories either about them either (that isn’t a throwaway line or two), barely acknowledging any of the events of Lost Galaxy. In fact, there’s even an important detail missing for the history of this story: how Karone came up with her “plan”. The closest thing for an actual focus on these characters is the conflict between the both of them. Andros and Karone didn’t get to interact with each other much in-show so to see them finally at odds with each other is interesting. Thing is, while it is the best part of the story, the conflict feels restrained, not taken to its full potential. We get flashes of a real, compelling conflict between them, that they both have grown up into different people and they’re not the same siblings they were originally, but most of the conflict is about the Psycho Rangers and their “redemption”.
And speaking of the Psycho Rangers, unfortunately, the pure concept of the Psycho Rangers being redeemed is part of the problem. Power Rangers is a series that deals a lot with the concept of redemption but not every single character needs to have one, especially characters that are some of the most iconic villains of the franchise. There’s no need to do this, no one asked for this storyline. Just seeing it alone feels off. To be honest, I would be somewhat ok with this concept and its ambiguous ending if it deserved it, which I’m not entirely sure it does. Besides the opening sequence, the Psycho Rangers don’t really do anything that evil, rather just having dialogue about how they’re evil. We never see them go more into destructive and chaotic acts so it’s not that satisfying seeing them trying to change for the better because there’s not that much to change. You can’t even really refer to their previous acts in “In Space” and “Lost Galaxy” because Psycho Green essentially rewrote their personalities and characters here. Yeah, in a way, they’re new characters and having these new characters change their ways and reasoning all because Karone told them to doesn’t seem that compelling. (Like, I get it. They’re supposed to be children, not knowing right from wrong, but for the most part, they talk and act like adults so it’s really questionable how much this teaches them)
Now, I will say one major high point of this book: Trek, our good old Psycho Green. I didn’t really get a chance to read his origin story, but now that I have, Trek works excellently here as a good villain. Even though we don’t know exactly what his goal was with finding Dark Specter’s secret laboratory, his overall plan about creating a new “family” works as an evolution of his character. It’s the next logical step after being destroyed on his first mission and it’s the next step for his character, being alone for so long that he wants a family again. Trek tries to make the Psycho Rangers the Ranger team that he wants, one that would respect him and care for him the way his original team of Rangers didn’t. And then, there’s the art for Trek. In every panel with him as the focus, he stands out from everyone else on board. In relation to the art style, he just looks so creepy and unnatural that he absolutely fits with the word “psychotic”.
Now, for the technical aspects. This story was written by Paul Allor and this is his first story with Power Rangers. He has worked with multiple characters and franchises like GI Joe and TMNT. The main artist for this story is the same one that worked with Soul of the Dragon: Giuseppe Cafaro. And, I do want to bring up something I noticed when looking back at Soul of the Dragon in regards to the art (besides the interior of the Psycho Rangers ship not being visually interesting because it’s too white. Seriously take a close look at it). Soul of the Dragon’s emotional moments were short yet ok, but Soul of the Dragon’s action sequences were where it excelled. They were beautiful with creative use of motions and attacks. On the other hand, The Psycho Path’s action sequences are only average with nothing memorable, but the Psycho Path’s emotional moments are downright gorgeous, especially in the scenes with Andros and Karone that capture the amount of pain both of them are going through.
Ending Thoughts
This is not Karone’s story. This is not even Andros’s story. This is a story about the Psycho Rangers and their potential redemption. If you accept that, you’re going to get a mixed story with some exceptional emotional moments and a memorable villain, but with an underwhelming plot and dull action sequences.
But, to try and end this on a more positive note, there’s something to remember that this is an attempt to expand more on unexplained lore for post-MMPR seasons. And unfortunately, there are not a lot of attempts to even try something like this. So for a story like this where it’s trying to take a chance and make it something for PR fans to love, I do have to appreciate it in a way. We’ll see whether or not there is another graphic novel coming next year, but if this is the last one of the series, “The Psycho Path” is definitely a story PR fans will talk about.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- A thought I had on what the next graphic novel could be (besides the two examples we have containing original Boom! Creations) is that the previous examples have been a (somewhat) mixture of two series. Soul of the Dragon centered around MMPR, but also contained SPD elements. The Psycho Path centered around In Space, but sort of contained MMPR elements (or the really basic Lost Galaxy elements). It might be an idea that the next one will try to mix two series’ elements together in some way like Time Force and Hyperforce together.
- I do appreciate them including “Psychotic” in this novel. It was a story that was so hard to find because the Year 2 Edition was sold in limited supply and if you could find one, you pretty much had to sell your fingers to buy it.
- I’m not going to question the Psycho Rangers’ behavior based on their past appearances, because again, they’re kinda new characters here. BUT that does mean I get to ask certain questions about past continuity like gee, I don’t know, “How did Trek escape the moon when his ship was shot down / damaged for decades? How did he recover his Psycho Dagger? How did Trek recover the Psycho Rangers from the Data Cards SINCE THEY WEREN’T TURNED BACK INTO DATA CARDS BECAUSE THEY WERE DESTROYED BY THE GALAXY AND SPACE RANGERS?! And even if they were somehow turned back into data, why didn’t Trakeena just use them again? Or, if she had them, wouldn’t the cards have been destroyed when the Scorpion Stinger crashed?“
- Now, the question is which one’s better? Soul of the Dragon or The Psycho Path? In my opinion, Soul of the Dragon. Even though it’s basically one big cliché, I was a lot more satisfied with the story ending and the expansion of the PR lore.
- Haven’t played Mass Effect yet, but I’m pretty sure those KO-35 soldiers are from Mass Effect.
- Congratulations, Zhane! You did literally nothing in this story and there’s not even an explanation as to why you’re not doing anything of value! (Seriously, this was also a complaint I had back in the original Psycho Ranger arc and the To the Tenth Power two-parter. This is part of the reason why, in my opinion, Zhane is one of my least favorite 6th Rangers. Mainly because it’s so vague why he doesn’t do anything of value most of the time)
- Ok, even though it’s not directly referenced, from Andros’s line about Karone saying that she needed to be alone, it sounds like this is a continuation of the “Trial of Astronema” story from the 25th Anniversary special, which I’ll again give props for.
- Regarding the explanation on how the whole Karone / Astronema relationship works, I’m fine with it (Though, I do question the hair thing. Does it change over time? I’m thinking of how Astronema’s red bowl haircut worked with this. I’m also thinking that in the Legendary Battle, Karone probably just transformed into Astronema and no one said a word)
- The explanation for the Psycho Rangers’ civilian identities, that they’re basically zombies, is pretty goddamn cool. (Also, this really fits with the whole Halloween month theme).
- Seriously, Karone? You wanna teach them all about being a family and justice and you show a western movie? For the love of God, I could do better, let me just pull out my anime collection.
- Andros went on the shuttle alone so that no one else would have to be hurt by his family and then immediately tells the others where he is. I’m not complaining, I’m glad he’s telling them that, but what was the point in him going off on his own? Just to get a headstart?
- Psycho Yellow: “[We’re] Smarter than you!” I didn’t mention this up above because it was getting too long, but it’s a shame that this concept isn’t the main point of the story: the Psycho Rangers are much more dangerous now that they’re smarter. Before, they were only focused on their goal to destroy their Ranger counterpart (and getting easily duped by a guy in a stupid clown wig), but now that they have the mental capacity to plan it out long term on how to kill the Rangers. That’s a threat we could’ve dealt with, but nope.
- Andros doesn’t like lying to his teammates, but he certainly doesn’t mind sneaking off and hoping they don’t notice.
- I’m fine with all of the Psycho Rangers’ names except Virgil. That really bothers me for some reason.
- Oh my god, I just realized. There was another way to bring the Psycho Rangers back. The ghost thing. Remember in “Mission to Secret City” when they were just ghosts? Use that! Explain how that happened and how it could happen again. So, the big problem isn’t figuring out to kill them, but how to make sure they stay dead.