Looking A Little Green — Reviewing ‘Power Rangers Prime’ #09

Tides have been greatly turned in battle when the usually common team of five Power Rangers gains a sixth Ranger. In this brand new, dark, and dangerous universe, things don’t go completely as planned for the Green Ranger’s debut.

It’s not green with evil situation, but Powers Rangers Prime #9 does bring some Green Ranger power beatdowns. An intriguingly bold chapter in this ongoing saga comes from Melissa Flores, Michael Yg, Fabi Marques, and Ed Dukeshire.

<<SPOILERS FOLLOW>>

As you might have guessed, the Green Ranger is indeed Rita herself. Taking power she had denied herself previously, she comes to the ‘rescue’ (in a way) of the other Rangers against the VR Troopers. I really like the way that Flores writes Rita, both in this run and the one that came before it. She has given this character such levels of depth and intrigue that we couldn’t even come close to in the original shows.

A Rita that finds herself somewhere in the middle between good and evil, more survival minded, is a Rita worth paying attention to. She’s got layers and motivations that align and don’t align with the rest of the main cast. Throwing her in the mix as a conflicted sixth Ranger mixes things up for the better.

Twists around the first Zord, how the Rangers interact, Lauran’s choice to be captured, and even the introduction of Black Ranger Junmor’s father are all great. Overall, the conflicting nature of this new universe and the slow build Flores has employed work well. This gives us just enough to keep fleshing everything out but leaving more to bring to the table every issue.

Every month brings more of Yg’s glorious artwork. Smooth with flashes of roughness, this art has such natural and filling depth and presence. Characters have weight and purpose on the page as they move or even just stand and talk. Their body language and facial expressions tell us everything that we need to know. Action sequences are bold and kinetic as they flow across panels and pages.

I appreciate the good sense of scale that came with the reveal of TeeZee as the first grown zord. This really allows the characters to feel in awe and potential fear of this large robotic being that towers over them.

Another balance that is handled well is that of the color palette deployed by Marques. There are a lot of darker tones in this issue, and this world too, especially with the nighttime aspect. The overall lighting created in the space feels open and bright but also authentic to a lit up darker space like that they find themselves within.

Flashy colors are paramount to any Power Rangers story. They thrive here as they are also touched by a bit of a tone-down at the same time, keeping their hopeful vibrancy but also fitting well into the overall world. Meaning they feel natural to the world at large but also justifiably out of this world at the same time, which is just how things should be really.

Rita gets a few mental monologues here and the characters have tons to say to one another. Dukeshire hammers it all home on the page with the right tones, volumes, inflections, and emotional depth that is required. He lets the words spread across the page smoothly and powerfully, delivering voices that visually are similar, but each come with their own little flair or uniqueness.

Power Rangers Prime #9 is now available from BOOM! Studios.