Lo and behold, another Power Rangers comic review and so soon after the last one since this is the most recent release. Some mild spoilers on this one, kids, but much of my criticisms of the previous comic can also apply to this one. Too much of a tease and leaving me with more questions than I would care for.
Anyway, we have a “new Ranger” in the form of Trini Kwan – who is the same Trini that was “killed” in Once And Always, except not really as it turns out since she was pulled out of her native universe and into this universe that could very well be the same universe as the previous MMPR run of comics from Boom. That’s as far as I’ll go here.
All we have to go on is the premise – in that this Trini who’s been pulled from another universe who thinks her dead now has a bunch of Rangers from the past thirty years popping in and out to assist in various extraterrestrial adventures of sorts… and that there’s a looming big bad that isn’t Lord Zedd, who plays a bit role that doesn’t go beyond this one issue – sorry for spoiling the movie for everyone.
Honestly, there’s not much to go on. We have the cameos and each one gets a name card so we know who they are (not that a longtime fan would need such things and for the newbie fan, these are probably names they’re going to forget quickly unless they’re even remotely interested in looking up the series they originated in – we’ll see). That’s about the extent of their involvement and honestly, if that’s how it’s going to be for this series going forward, then what is even the point? Hell, considering Boom’s schtick for occasionally creating their own Ranger designs, it wouldn’t surprise me if they start integrating some new teams we haven’t seen before and get more of a focus on those before fans get tired of the whole concept.
Once again, there’s little in the way of substance. How did Trini get here, why is she here, how is she having all these Rangers helping her out with these, who is this mysterious big bad behind the scenes, and how underwhelming is the reveal going to be when we eventually get there? It’s also hard to come into this and not get the sense of reading someone’s crazy fanfic idea or something? (Granted, a lot of these comics are officially licensed fanfic ideas, but some do a better job of hiding that fact than others.)
Once again, I’m left with very little to go and other than the action bits being somewhat consistent, there’s very little reason to grab me. At least the MMPR reboot or whatever you want to call it have SOME nuggets of intrigue in there, but this doesn’t quite have that. I’ll probably give it another look when the next issue comes along, but beyond that… eh.
On a last note, the art is fine. Not my favorite, but at least the Ranger suits featured look like what they should. Not a fan of Trini’s new suit, but whatever. Par for the course with these things, I suppose.
