A House Built On Secrets — Reviewing ‘VR Troopers’ #1

Once upon a time, the Power Rangers were Earth’s greatest heroes and protectors from evil. This is not that world.

In this world, the Rangers (those that exist), are fugitives. They were outlawed by the Eltarians, conquerors who took on the guise of saviors. These Eltarians have found humans willing to step up and become their promotional planetary hero force.

Spinning off from Power Rangers Prime comes VR Troopers, a series dedicated to these characters. A blast from the 90s past from Mairghread Scott, Sebastián Piriz, JP Jordan, and Taylor Esposito.

Every character has their unique situation. While the Troopers are very much antagonists in the Power Rangers book, they are the protagonists of their own stories, which now include this particular book.

Scott does some good work to really get us into the head of Ryan Steele, giving the other side to what we have seen in the Rangers’ series. These are people who believe they are the heroes of their world, doing the right thing. In most cases, they are doing the right thing, stopping crimes and other stuff.

Yet here, we see how deep the Eltarian secrets and colonizing stuff goes. The manipulation begins to show itself to the Troopers. We get such a deep look at how much Ryan’s father meant to him in a very organic way. This leads up to the reveals near the end and the potential secret of the mysterious foe they face off against.

Really glad to see more of Piriz’s work in a series. It’s just such an intriguing style of artwork. It’s very emotive with tons of depth and details, with a very inherent lightness to everything. There is a rich feeling of kinetic energy rippling through every panel, whether there is motion or static moments. A rougher texture is very clear in distinct ways alongside the smoother elements.

Definitely love the use of white or negative space in many of the pages. It’s so really visually dynamic to have the panels sliding around in different shapes with the starkness of the white space.

Part of the lighter aspect comes from the chosen color palette. Jordan uses a lot of cooler colors, mainly because a lot of this story takes place in darker or night. Flashes of darker and more vibrant colors are all throughout. Naturally so, these characters wear suits filled with reds, blues, and other brighter colors. Many of the backdrops and other elements are the toned-down cooler ones that feel more natural and familiar.

Setting up a sense that this space is like the ones we’ve encountered before. It’s a good counter to the more fantastical on the page.

Secrets come pouring out as do all the emotions. Esposito makes sure that those are felt along the way in the lettering. He gives every bit of dialogue, be it caption or bubble, the right amount of heft and power, shifting the shapes and styles for each type of communication. This gives those voices a unique little something of their own.

A “Hy-Ah!” that bursts right out of the bubble? Love to see it. I truly love to see stuff like that. It’s comic book goodness.

VR Troopers #1 is now available from BOOM! Studios.