Playing Pretend With Your Life — Reviewing ‘Power Rangers Prime’ #7

Life is getting no easier for the universe’s newest batch of Power Rangers as the forces against them draw nearer. Melissa Flores, Michael Yg, Fabi Marques, and Ed Dukeshire deliver another character-rich world-building issue with Power Rangers Prime #7.

Different mediums mean that stories are delivered in different ways, naturally. If this was a television series, there would have been tons of morphing, big zords, and monsters being fought so far. That’s cool and all. I mean, I am a life-long Power Rangers fan, but this series is where the good stuff is right now.

I’m one of those who loves a good deep dive that fleshes out a universe and the characters within it. I like taking time to piece things together to forego action for more sedate moments. So, this series has been delivering constantly.

These characters are so interesting, and Flores has made them all engaging, endearing, and emotive so far. My connection to them already feels firm, echoing my feelings about Rangers from the past. Seeing this version of Rita and what she brings to the table does so much for the book. It’s a new universe with familiar beats that are remixed in the most illuminating ways, giving us the familiar but the different in equal measures.

I mean hell, we have been given a tiny robot T-Rex that is adorable as all get-out. No lie, I would fight the hordes to protect TeeZee already. Not a single moment’s hesitation.

Beyond the story depth, the visuals are allowed to really deepen as well the longer we continue. Yg draws in such a fun and bold way, keeping panels and spaces very dense, detailed, and fluid in their energy and depth. He creates spaces that feel relatively accurate in spacing and liveliness, from the sewers they are in at one point to the elegant ballroom space of the Eltarian party scene.

Bits of roughness are easily baked into the overall smoother aesthetic employed in the artwork. This gives things that much more textured feeling conjoined with the darker shadowy elements. Keeping to the tonal feeling needed for this dire series.

There is plenty of darkness to add to the story tone, which plays against the more vivid colors from Marques. Building the world with a more middle level palette of colors that allow it to feel familiar in visual appearance. It dips into the darker tones at times while much of the world is also bathed in vibrant flashy tones, especially because of the sci-fi elements in play.

The conflicting level of colors just works so well for the series overall, allowing the more hopeful, yet currently dimmed, lights of the Rangers to be part of what makes the world feel just a bit brighter. The hope amongst the large sea of oppression and danger.

Keeping the voices and the sound of the world so vibrant and powerful falls to Dukeshire. He matches all of the words’ emotional power to the deep facial expressions we see on the page. A smooth conjoining situation allows the audience a deeper chance to connect and create the voices in their minds. Shifting things here or there gives the various mutants, Rangers, Troopers, aliens and others some unique visual flair to their voices.

Power Rangers Prime #7 is now available from BOOM! Studios.