Preface
“I am very proud of you. As Power Rangers, you have served your planet well. But the Power Rangers, as you have known them, are gone forever.”
In their place, we welcome a new era for Power Rangers. Welcome, everyone, to Power Rangers Prime.
For those of you who are new around here, Power Rangers Prime is part of a new reboot for the PR franchise. Reimagining and consolidating several classic characters from the franchise along with new faces into a brand-new story for readers akin to Marvel’s Ultimate Universe or Absolute DC.
This is the start of it all. You don’t need to read any other comics prior to this. You don’t need to watch any episodes of the show to understand this. In fact, if you are a fan of Power Rangers and do have an encyclopedic mind to all things Power Rangers, throw it out the goddamn window because it won’t help you figure out what’s going to happen in this story.
Oh, sure, you’ll be able to recognize certain characters, certain ideas, and where they’re being drawn from. But, this isn’t the entire history of Power Rangers. This is taking key fan-favorite ideas and mixing them together for a cohesive story for anyone to be engaged in the franchise. It’s different than before, but this can help people get engaged more with these ideas, allowing them to go back and see more of the 30 years of characters this franchise has built. With the lack of news of any project from Hasbro, I fully believe that this is the right step forward to bring more into the franchise.
Let’s see how this new era begins.
The Cover
So, this is the first cover for this series, revealing a brand new Ranger for the audience.
Although I’m not usually one for covers that spoil the story, I don’t mind it here. First off, this form is teased in the very beginning so there is not too much issue there. Secondly, for brand recognition, you need something like this to show off how this is a new era for Power Rangers, and teasing a brand new design for MMPR Red is sure to entice new readers into buying it.
Plus, the image is already iconic. With the layout and the artstyle, it looks like this new Ranger is breaking through the darkness, the same darkness from Darkest Hour. Moving from one era to another. That’s the best way you could proceed with this.
(And, also, from what I can see, the MMPR redesign looks great to me. It takes the familiar basis of the MMPR suits, but it adds its own flair with more armored attachments and a different color scheme to make the suits their own thing.)
The Story
In the 1950s, Earth was invaded by an army of aliens known as the Beast Brigade of Gamma VII and were completely overwhelmed by the threat. Another civilization, from the planet of Eltar, came in and save them, becoming humanity’s protectors as they colonized the planet as their own, bringing over their technology and allowing other refugee aliens to stay on the planet.
70 years later, in the city known as Angel Grove, a slightly Asian but mostly Caucasian woman is being hunted down by Eltarian officers in an alley. She tries to use a device known as a Samuraizer to fight them, but the device is promptly shot as the officers realize that she is ‘one of them’.
Markon Zhao, short for Mark, is a half-alien refugee from the planet known as Aquitar and a current resident at Angel Grove University. He was taking out the trash that night when he found the woman hiding in the dumpster, clutching at her injuries and silently pleading for help. When the Eltarian officers arrive, Mark plays dumb and waits for them to leave before helping to carry her back to his dorm room.
Unfortunately, this is all seen from above by another student on campus, another Eltarian known as Jun.
The next day, after class, Jun goes to training with the Eltarian Youth Corps to meet with some friends of his, Ryan and Valentina and tries to tell them about what he saw last night. However, they don’t believe him, saying that they’re just fictional. Before he could explain any further, Jun’s mother, Admiral Janessa, overhears the conversation and promptly tells her son in private that the ‘myths and legends’ Jun was always so fascinated by are a dangerous thing to talk about.
Back in Mark’s dorm room, the mysterious woman finally wakes up from her injuries, having been bandaged and taken care of by Mark’s roommate, Orion, another alien refugee, only from the planet Andresia. She tries to leave, thinking it’s too dangerous, but he reassures her that she’s safe there and tries to learn more about her.
Her name is Lauren. Lauren Shiba. And, centuries ago in Japan, monsters invaded our world, but samurai warriors defeated them with powerful tools known as Morphers to tap into a cosmic power called the Morphin’ Grid and become beings known as Power Rangers. These powers were passed down from parent to child for generations, working with other teams of Rangers to defend Earth from any evil that threatened it. All the way to the 1950s when they fought against the Beast Brigade too. When Eltar came in, they took all of the credit for saving the day and proceeded to hunt down the Power Rangers. As a result, Lauren was separated from her family. Her father and her brother were taken from her, leaving her on the run for years until she encountered Mark in the alley.
But, it seems she might have more running to do. Because someone tipped off the Eltarians that Lauren was hiding in Mark’s dorm.
When Mark sees them searching the dorm from outside, he tries to call Orion to warn him, but one of the officers spots Mark and recognizes him from the alley. The officer corners him, demanding the truth, when Jun steps in, covering for Mark and vouching for him.
As the two of them start talking, suddenly, the moon explodes.
Something shoots down onto the planet’s surface, crashing into another dumpster in another alley.
And, someone comes crawling out of it…
Ending Thoughts
We’re back to the beginning. And, you know what? It’s a pretty good one.
As a first issue, it fully immerses you into this new world that’s been created with art detailing how different this utopia is than our regular world and with dialogue that feels natural and introduces a brand new cast of characters. The pacing feels a little slow, similar to Darkest Hour at times, but it feels more appropriate here as the comic is taking its time to build the overall premise of the story. There’s a lot of backstory here, with this world having a much different history than we’re used to, and a lot of it ends up making the setting unique enough to stand on its own. The characters themselves feel relatable enough to be likable for the audience while at the same time, being set in an environment that could allow conflict to occur between them.
Because, already, it’s setting up an important theme for what the story can explore.
One of the first lines this comic asks is if we need heroes. That in a society, if evil is defined as progress, then what would be the ‘good’?
We see that here through the idea of colonization, the idea of settling and establishing control over an area. In this example, it would be the Eltarians, an ancient alien race, coming over and establishing their presence on Earth in exchange for technology and protection. They essentially brought Earth into a new future, creating a utopia where everything seems okay, but through Lauren’s perspective, someone with a rich family history, we see the uglier side of it, the Eltarians effectively wanting to remove whatever didn’t fit their image, not wanting people to talk about the history they didn’t write. So far, it’s not shown to be oppression of all humans like so many of these evil societies do as it sells the image of Eltarians and humans living side-by-side. But, already, it’s showing a picture of the Eltarians being elite in their status, calling out people’s refugee status like Mark and Orion as if it was an insult to them. (Because, after all, if their race didn’t do anything like save the world, why should they deserve respect?)
More than ever, with the current state of the world and the direction it’s heading toward, if this topic is given the complexity and attention it deserves, then I truly believe Power Rangers Prime can be something special. Something to stand against the Ultimate Marvel and the Absolute DC comics. To be more than just a reintroduction of several characters, but to utilize their best parts to show the true meaning of what power is.
Speaking of those reintroductions, even though this comic is a solid starting point for new readers, fans of the franchise will find this enjoyable as well. With Melissa Flores’s history with Power Rangers, it’s no wonder why the connections and references pulled from PR are so far and wide. From the usage of Lauren and Orion, two Rangers from the Neo-Saban Era over a decade ago, to the goddamn VR Troopers from the 90s, a property that has never come back since that time! Though very brief, I already feel like the best aspects of both characters are already at the forefront. Though Lauren doesn’t have the whole burden of sealing away Master Xandred like in the show, her focus already is more on the isolation portion of her story, forced to fight alone without any of her family or friends supporting her and dealing with a form of survivor’s guilt. Though we only get a brief scene of this, it’s expertly dealt with by pairing her with Orion. In the original show, he lost his planet and had to deal with surviving on his own, but like his attitude here, he more or less looks on the bright side of the situation. I really hope this dynamic is fleshed out in the issues to come.
Plus, the integration of the Eltarian troops I felt was appropriate. True, we did get them during the original MMPR run, the whole Eltarian War arc, but although this comic functions as a new starting point for new readers, the premise shows that it’s exploring the potential aftermath in its way. What would happen if the Eltarians won? How much would Earth change? That alone gives it more of a purpose and defines the setting of the whole story.
The artist for this series is Michael Yg, who has mainly done work with Marvel comics, specifically for Iron Fist and Shang-Chi, two heroes known for their martial arts prowess. Getting someone like that to work on a franchise like Power Rangers looks like a no-brainer. As I said, we don’t get a ton of action as this first issue is taking its time establishing the world, but the brief bits of action we did get, specifically Lauren’s fight, feel dynamic with motion following naturally with the panels. The artstyle, as well, is incredibly detailed, being almost reminiscent of the original artstyle in the first few issues of the Boom! MMPR series. But, at the same time, with sharper lines and darker shading capturing the darker tone, it stands on its own as unique, just like this series.
Power Rangers Prime #1 may be a slower start to this new future for the Power Rangers than expected, but, for fans new and old, this comic serves as a clever return of the ‘Day of the Dumpster’, building up all of these characters on their own before their world truly changed.
Random Thoughts from the Morphin’ Grid
- I should have expected Orion to be a free-loader. Because of course, he is!
- First sign that Eltarians shouldn’t be here? They need to learn how to spell! Look at the globe for the university! Or is the true spelling of this city in this universe “Angerl Grove”?
- I don’t know who that US president is supposed to be and I don’t want to guess either.
- I have so many questions about the VR Troopers inclusion, but I’m going to wait before I ask any of them to see what exactly this is all about.
- By the way, I love seeing a lot of these iconic characters in this artstyle. Lauren and Ryan look so good, matching their live-action counterparts very well. Orion is the only exception to this. I don’t buy Orion at all. It looks nothing like the actor. It might be the hairstyle, but he also looks too buff in my opinion. Maybe in this world, he just ate too much fro-yo?
- … Wait, is that a smartphone in the 1954 flashback?
