I grew up in an era of American tokusatsu shows. I’m talking Power Rangers, VR Troopers, Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, Big Bad Beetleborgs, to name a few. BOOM! Studios has recently been mixing two of these with their comic series Power Rangers Prime.
The series is written by Melissa Flores with art by Michael Yg and I’m loving it. This article feels a little awkward in terms of timing because I’ve read the already released Power Rangers Prime #1-6, #7 comes out on June 4, and Vol. 1 which includes #1-4 releases on June 3.
I think my approach will be to mostly cover the first four issues, but I might allude to things that happen in #5-6. I will also say that anything revealed in the first issue will not fall under the spoiler tag, but later issues will.
The Power Rangers universe is reborn… It’s time for Prime!
In this thrilling relaunch of the Power Rangers comic book universe, five young adults are chosen to inherit incredible powers, suddenly finding themselves in a universe-spanning conflict with an authoritarian empire, alien monsters, and a very… familiar villain.
This is a completely original take on Power Rangers and I am all for it. Many of the characters we follow are original characters like Mark and Jun, but then there are familiar faces like Lauren Shiba and Bulkmeier. So far, I really like how most of the main characters appear to be original, but there are handfuls of beloved characters sprinkled in here and there as a treat for longtime fans.
It’s very important to remember that this is a completely different universe than what we’re used to in a Power Rangers series. Yes, it takes place on Earth, but it’s an Earth with tons of aliens around and Eltarians came to Earth 70 years prior to help against another alien invasion and they have since colonized Earth. The VR Troopers are the superheroes that help stop big problems because Power Rangers are not approved by Eltar which is what establishes a big part of the conflict in this series.
As you can probably tell from that last paragraph, Power Rangers Prime very much looks at political struggles like classism (colonizer vs refugee) and racism (Eltarian vs non-Eltarian) as well as police states and how different groups experiencing it view the world around them. There’s also the classic good vs evil, friendship, relationships, etc. As you can tell, the Power Rangers are going to be more of a resistance force instead of the heroes of grandeur that we are used to.
I’m in love with this story from Flores and the art from Yg. Everything is so well cared for so far and I highly recommend that any Power Rangers fan pick this one up. The redesigns of some characters and suits are also very cool. I mean, just look at the Red Ranger from the cover of Power Rangers Prime #1! I’m definitely going to do my best to keep up with Power Rangers Prime.
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