(BOOM! Comics) Power Rangers #18 Review

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Preface


Xi’s Log, The Spectrum II, Stardate 2022.4: 

“Hello, my name is Xi. I am a robotic helper, once again filling in entries for archival purposes related to the Omega Rangers of Safehaven.

At this time, I am aware of some of the previous entries for this contained snippets of my previous memories and experiences. I will not be referencing them anytime soon for they are not only useless in regards to my duties of assisting the Omega Rangers, but they contain several expletives of human culture, which is strongly deplorable for this. ”


The Cover


Cool image that draws readers in with this mysterious hooded figure and will have them wondering who it is exactly.


The Story


On Safehaven, the Rangers wake up. It’s a beautiful day to go out and help the universe. The Rangers’ social media callout from the last issue already has two responses: one for a potential distress signal on a lifeless planet and the other is an SOS from the planet KO-35. The Omega Rangers split up with Jason and Yale going to KO-35 while Trini and Zack go check out the distress signal.

Power Rangers #18 Preview Page 4

On the lifeless planet, Trini and Zack find a crashed spaceship. They suspect something’s up so Trini goes in alone while Zack keeps watch. Inside, Trini finds the corpses of two pilots and an empty space indicating the ship’s escape pod took off. Zack alerts Trini of the thing that presumably crashed the spaceship in the first place: the Terragon (patent pending). The two of them summon their Zords but don’t have enough power to stop it. So, Zack distracts it while Trini uses her Zord and rides the Terragon straight to the spaceship where the resulting explosion takes the beast out. Once the Rangers are safe, Xi tells them the location of the missing escape pod. And inside of it is a little baby alien.

On KO-35, Jason and Yale walk through the ruins of a city when they are ambushed by some enemies called the Xurix. The Xurix troops apparently were searching for a different Red Ranger to deliver to a being known as Darkonda. But, when the Xurix troops confront Jason and Yale, they decide that they want the Rangers to be their next snack. The Rangers easily overpower them, but as the last Xurix drone attempts to leave, it is blasted by a stranger in a robe. The hooded figure tells the Rangers that they need to follow him someplace safe and reveals himself to be this loser.

Back on Safehaven, Xi monitors the baby while Trini and Zack call Jason and swap stories. Jason tells them that they can’t come and help since teleporting in will alert the Xurix to his and Andros’s location. After the call ends, Trini and Zack deal with the realization that they might have to act as parents to the baby until they can find their home planet. However, even that plan is thrown out the window as the baby suddenly grows up to the age of a little kid.


Ending Thoughts


Splitting the team up for their own separate stories is different from what we’ve seen before. We’ve had the team split up before like in the Astronema arc, but we’ve never had them going off into completely separate scenarios. This serves as a great way for all of the Rangers to get their own focus without feeling crammed in. It also allows the art team to do more in terms of environment and action. When you contrast both stories with their environments, you get bright and radiant colors in a war-torn landscape with Jason and Yale and mute and hollow colors in a dark crash site with Trini and Zack.

Power Rangers #18 introduces the team to two faces, a brand new one and a very familiar one to fans of the Power Rangers franchise.


Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid


  • If Mrs. Westinghouse is supposed to be a reference to something, it’s a very weird one.
  • Let’s call this arc “Andros and the Stowaway”. Yeah, that’s right. I’m getting major Seymour vibes coming from that baby.