Will The Power Protect You? — Reviewing ‘Power Rangers Prime’ #1

Once upon a time, long ago, a great evil from among the stars fell upon the completely unprepared planet Earth. A powerful group rose up to save the Earth from this evil, bringing them hope and prosperity.

Before they colonized them and took much of that away.

Welcome to Angel Grove, but not the one that you knew. It’s time for a brand new story to dawn as Melissa Flores, Michael Yg, Fabi Marques, and Ed Dukeshire bring Power Rangers Prime #1 to vibrant, bold, rebooted life.

Having ended the Power Rangers saga as it had been for almost a decade at BOOM! Studios, it seems only right that Flores (as well as Dukeshire) should get to flip the script for the new era. Someone that showed so much love for the franchise and its rich history through her almost two year run on the previous title. Getting to take that love and thrown one’s own spin on the whole thing, giving it an Ultimate Marvel-esque new beginning, surely was an exhilarating experience.

Basically, long story short, in this world, the Eltarians (the race of beings the Power Rangers’ mentor Zordon belongs to) did just what I stated in the opening paragraph. They came to Earth to “save” humans from something called the Beast Brigade. Eltarians gave humans new tech and advantages before colonizing their world. It’s the Eltarians’ world now, as they run the various political and military institutions, and seem to rule with an iron fist in some respects.

When a group that is ‘evil’ ingrains themselves as society, wrapped up in progress and order, how would any version of ‘good’ arise to take it down? This is what the opening mystery person (who is revealed by the end of the issue) ponders in caption boxes while finger painting air images of Power Rangers.

Flores gives so much here, setting a solid foundation for the world and giving us enough to become attached to the characters we meet (most of which likely will become our new Ranger team). Seeing Lauren Shiba, from Power Rangers: Super Samurai, is an interesting and welcoming sight. Because it brings part of the franchise still into play, but through a character that is canon but was so underutilized she might as well be new.

This world is really dense, dark, and heavy on all counts. Yg really delivers that feeling on every page. Each character has true presence and authority over their space within this world, moving fluidly with just a touch of a rough texture to be seen. Emotional energy is easily delivered because the facial expressions and body language come in loud and clear.

I really love how dynamic the paneling is here, shifting and sliding all over the place. There are varying shapes that burst and slash across the page at times. Not only does this give us unique visuals and views, but gives the action scenes even more of a push as they happen. Fight scenes feel frantic yet coordinated with the way that Yg lays them out.

Heavier colors deepen all the aforementioned feelings and effects, as Marques switches between two color palettes. One of them brightens and livens up some of the pages, especially during the day time, to play into this idea that the world is “fine” or “better” for having the Eltarians there. On the other end are the darker, heavier, and often toned-down colors found on other pages (chiefly nights) where the bigger more conflicting moments are happening.

We get some really neat lore flashbacks with the Power Rangers of this world, which the Eltarians hunted down. It allows Yg room to draw tons of typical Power Rangers stuff, from morphed fights to zords and giant monsters. Color-wise Marques brings the brighter ones to play but applies a really noticeable sort of yellowish filter to it all. Giving it an older feel that makes sure it’s clear these are flashbacks just by a simple glance.

As noted before, Flores and Dukeshire were there playing with the Rangers in the before times. It’s great to see Dukeshire still bringing his lettering magic to these pages. Placing all the dialogue and captions in the most advantageous positions to maximize their power and flow alongside the rest of the art. Giving them the right nudge to let emotions and burgeoning personalities to really shine through.

Without spoiling, the final reveal is a nice one. It gives us some classic flavor and call backs to how the Power Rangers saga all began, but with renewed energy. At the same time it allows Flores to play with something she excelled at in the previous run, and I’m excited to see where it all goes.

Oh before I forget, there is a great inclusion of another 90s Saban related project that got me giddy. Such a solid pairing, and believe me the theme song was going in my head right away. Nicely played.

Power Rangers Prime #1 is now available from BOOM! Studios.