Review: Power Rangers Volume 1

Power Rangers is one of two Power Rangers titles currently ongoing at Boom Studios, both written by Ryan Parrott. The other is Mighty Morphin – I’m not the biggest fan of the naming system they’ve used, but so be it. For a short publication history of Boom’s Power Rangers line, check out my review of Mighty Morphin volume 1.

In short – both titles take place in a present-day setting, but continuity-wise are somewhere around Season 3. Tommy is the White Ranger, and Rocky, Aisha, and Adam have replaced Jason, Trini, and Zack. In the TV series, the latter three characters left to attend a ‘Peace Conference’, as their actors quit over contract disputes. However, in the comics universe, we get to see where they ‘really’ went. And Power Rangers is the series that follows them, whilst Mighty Morphin focuses on Tommy and the others who stayed on the show.

The answer to ‘where they really went’ is ‘space’. Jason, Trini, and Zack have become Omega Rangers, handling cosmic threats. This was all set up during the final arc of the now-concluded Go Go Power Rangers title. And we’ve already seen the Omega Rangers in action during the final arc of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers title. I’m repeating my Mighty Morphin vol. 1 review, but these two ‘new’ series really do rely a lot on knowledge of the previous titles; they’re not very friendly to new readers. This is arguably even more the case for Power Rangers than for Mighty Morphin. After all, the Omega Rangers storyline is pure Boom continuity – it never existed on the show.

However, that makes it all the more exciting a read for those who’ve been keeping up with the comics. Rather than losing three of the OG characters to real-life issues, we get to see them go off and deal with a completely new set of threats. Parrott has created an ally for them in XI, a robot who is abrasive, sarcastic, and coolly competent; XI’s personality is a clearly deliberate and refreshing contrast to Alpha 5. Most interesting of all are the moments when Parrott places the Omega Rangers in conflict with the Earth-based Power Rangers. We already saw some of this in the previous titles, with secrets and lies threatening the relationships between the two groups. It looks like we can expect more to come.

Art and colors here are excellent, as readers have come to expect from Boom’s Power Rangers comics. Artist Francesco Mortarino is fantastic at handling the more space-based, sci-fi aspects of this book. With regards to colors, Raúl Angulo goes for a darker palette than we’ve seen in the Earth-based comics, which makes sense given the setting. This particular volume strikes an impressive balance of dark but extremely colorful.

If you’ve read previous Power Rangers comics, you know what to expect. If you haven’t, maybe dip into some earlier volumes first. But this book continues Ryan Parrott’s consistently enjoyable run on the Power Rangers universe. Cool stories, great character work, and awesome visuals.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall: 4.5 Stars

Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Francesco Mortarino
Colorist: Raúl Angulo
Publisher: Boom! Studios

Author Profile

Yavi Mohan

Yavi Mohan is a comic writer (and more frequently, comic reader) based in London. He is frequently overwhelmed by the number of comics in his reading list, to the extent that it sometimes delays his reading. This list includes every issue ever published with Spider-Man as the main character.