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Preface
Astronema. A fan favorite villain that surprisingly has been not featured in any PR comic so far.
What I mean is we’ve had a lot of focus on the other side of Astronema: Karone. Karone herself has gotten exposure in the main comics through Shattered Grid and Beyond the Grid and has been featured in her own graphic novel, the Psycho Path. Those stories have shown who she was as a hero attempting to redeem herself, but in comics, we’ve never been shown first-hand what kind of villain she was.
Can Astronema hold a story on her own? How does this tie into what’s going on with the Omega Rangers? Only one way to find out.
The Cover
Great. Great cover right here.
The elements of the cover are fantastic, Dark Specter looming in the background behind Astronema and Ecliptor. The color contrast between the two, red and black for the background and green for our two main characters, allows people to draw their attention to the main elements on the cover. Overall, this cover has a sense of evil looming over it all.
The Story
On a distant planet, Astronema is on a mission to kill a “flashy” team of Rangers, the Prism Rangers. As the Pink Ranger sacrifices herself so that the other Rangers can get away, Astronema berates herself on being sloppy at her job.
We then get the story of her life. As a young girl, Karone was unknowingly kidnapped by Darkonda and placed into the care of Ecliptor. Believing that the Power Rangers killed her parents and her brother, she trains alongside other apprentices to one day become the second in command to the ruler of the empire himself, Dark Specter.
However, there is one thing that holds her back: her anger at how she is supposed to live up to her family’s honor when she constantly fails and fails again. And so, Ecliptor gives her something he kept from her for years: her mother’s locket with pictures of her and her brother inside of it. Ecliptor convinces her to use her anger of her family as a weapon for the Power Rangers and tells her how she should not be ashamed of herself. And so, she keeps on fighting…
Until now, back to the present, where she has the honor of facing off against the only other apprentice still alive after all of these years, Darkonda’s. Though Karone still thinks of her opponent as her sister, through a tough match, she brutally defeats her by slashing her right in the face. With that finished, there is one more trial Karone must accomplish. She enters into the darkness and embraces who she truly is now: Astronema.
Which leads us back to Power Rangers #5…
“Set a course for Onyx.”
Ending Thoughts
With stories where your main protagonist is a villain doing terrible things, the quality of the story depends on not whether you agree with what they’re doing, but whether you understand why they’re doing it. And believe me, you understand exactly why Astronema is the ultimate Princess of Evil.
This story has a different writer to it compared to the main series: L. L. Mckinney. And she did a fantastic job with Karone’s story of becoming Astronema. We finally see how Karone had to fight for her title as heir to Dark Specter, that she had to struggle against others going for the same title. Every moment of kindness that she had was completely squashed in front of her, making it a weakness to her. She had to be completely broken by her new “family” to become the Princess of Evil, to survive.
And what’s still unique about her is that she’s not being driven by the same chaos and cruelty that can be found in many other PR villains in-story and in-universe. What drives her is straight-up anger. Anger at the situation she’s in. Anger at the world. Anger at herself. This is shown clearly in the scene with Ecliptor where he hands her the locket, which also shows the endearing father-daughter relationship they both have.
Not only is this story a great showcase of Astronema and Ecliptor, but fans will love the other connections made to the Power Rangers universe. The Prism Rangers from Super Megaforce, the Mighty Morphin’ cameo, and a surprising villain’s appearance that will definitely make you want to reread the story all over again.
Artwork for this one shot is done by Simone Ragazzoni, who PR fans will remember from Drakkon New Dawn, and it’s very enjoyable here. Compared to that series, the artist is allowed to have the human characters have a wider range of emotions here: happiness, sadness, anger, psychotic rage. You’re allowed to connect more with the characters as a result. Action sequences are well handled with so much detail and motion to keep track of, especially in the final battle. As for coloring, it doesn’t have the same dark shading as Drakkon New Dawn and the colors are brighter and more vibrant which works perfectly for the sci-fi setting. The different creatures and environments stand out as a result.
Power Rangers Unlimited: Heir To Darkness #1 is not a necessary issue for readers of the Power Rangers series following through with the Omega Rangers, but I wouldn’t recommend skipping this. This is the story fans of Astronema have been waiting for with radiant and energetic artwork and surprisingly heartfelt moments in the center of this villain’s origin.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- Forgot to talk about the designs of Astronema and Ecliptor in the Power Rangers #5 review. So, Astronema’s outfit is cool in the way that it’s inspired by Ecliptor’s overall design, making the two feel more connected. The cloaked clothing around Ecliptor is cool and works to make a sweet design, but it feels weird overall. Because of this appearance, we know that essentially he can wear clothes. In the show, he just chose not to for some reason.
- I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. Ecliptor got done dirty in the Countdown to Destruction. He deserved to live and be with Astronema and I’m glad that this comic knows that these two together are amazing.
- Prism Rangers, along with the Supersonic team from before. I’m kind of fine with them being death fodder in these sorts of stories. First off, again, it’s an acknowledgement of the PR universe that was mentioned in Super Megaforce while being a reminder that not every Ranger team has success. Secondly, I’m honestly still not sure how this works in terms of copyright with Toei and all of that so if we all we can get is one limited story with a New Powers team, I’m ok with that.
- Also, bit of a coincidence that it focused on the Pink and Green Prism Rangers when they were the only Ranger Keys of their team actually used in Super Megaforce.
- So, “Mal”… I had a thought on who he is, but then I realized it really doesn’t make sense for continuity. Though, even if it’s not him, it’s still a weird thing to think about. It’d be like a Thrax situation from Overdrive.
- I have no idea who “Ex” is though.
- I love the concept of the locket a lot more now. It’s not just a representation of her family that Karone lost, but it’s now a symbol of the bond that Ecliptor has with her and that’s amazing.
- I really do like the final battle here, but I honestly think it could’ve been done without the last flashback. It’s supposed to add that Karone and “Dee” are supposed to be family and they somewhat care for each other, but I felt it is a little unnecessary. You could’ve easily squeezed it in the beginning flashback.
- Slight nitpick, but why say “Continued in Power Rangers #6”? Can’t you say Power Rangers #5 since that immediately follows where she’s going? God, you’re trying to make this too confusing for fans jumping between series.
- Also, now for overall continuity. So, we now kinda know why Astronema was in the Onyx Tavern, but we still don’t know how she knew Jason and Zack were Power Rangers.
- Only question I have now for Astronema is the same one I had since In Space: How does the hair thing work? Who’s her stylist?