VR Troopers BOOM Studios Review: A Neon-Charged Revival With Heroic Swagger

WEPA! Now this right here is how you dig into the toybox of 90s nostalgia, pull out something that could have easily been treated like a dusty relic, slap some modern comic book electricity on it, and say, “Nah, familia, we still got work to do.” BOOM! Studios’ VR Troopers does not come back into the arena tiptoeing like it needs permission. It kicks the door open with that old-school tokusatsu-adjacent swagger, wires sparking, armor glowing, mystery creeping behind every shiny helmet, and a big question hanging over the whole thing: what happens when the heroes who think they are protecting the world start realizing they may have been handed a very edited version of the truth?

Written by Mairghread Scott, illustrated by Sebastián Píriz, colored by JP Jordan, and lettered by Taylor Esposito, this six-chapter collection spins out of Power Rangers Prime and gives VR Troopers its first proper comic book spotlight in decades. That alone is enough to make longtime fans sit up like somebody just played the old theme song at full volume in a Brooklyn bodega. But the real win here is that the creative team doesn’t treat the property like a museum piece. This is not “remember this thing?” with panel borders. This is a reintroduction with teeth. It honors the source material, yes, but it also interrogates it. It pokes at the shiny heroic machinery and asks what’s really underneath the chrome.

The story centers on Ryan Steele, aka VR Ryan, one of the Eltarian empire’s elite human heroes on Earth. Right away, Scott gives Ryan more going on than “good-looking hero guy in cool armor.” He’s carrying history, family wounds, uncertainty, and the kind of internal pressure that makes a character interesting before the laser blasts even start flying. His mission begins with what looks like a straightforward pursuit of a rogue Skug, but that quickly mutates into something far more personal, political, and strange. The further Ryan follows the thread, the more he starts realizing that the Eltarians the supposedly noble power structure behind the VR Troopers may be sitting on secrets big enough to crack the team’s entire worldview.

That’s where this book really starts cooking. Scott understands that a revival cannot survive on nostalgia alone. Nostalgia gets people in the door. Story keeps them seated. And this book has story. It takes the bright, action-heavy DNA of VR Troopers and laces it with questions about empire, loyalty, identity, propaganda, and chosen family. Nothing gets so heavy that the book forgets to be fun don’t worry, there are still armored heroes throwing down with monsters and villains like rent is due tomorrow but there’s enough thematic muscle here to give the adventure some real weight.

Ryan’s journey is the emotional engine. He is not just asking, “How do I beat the bad guy?” He is asking, “Who am I when the system that trained me might not be telling the whole truth?” That’s the good stuff. That’s the secret sazón in the pot. The book gives him heroic confidence, but also vulnerability. He has the look of someone who knows how to fight, but not always how to process what the fight means. That makes him compelling. He’s not a perfect soldier. He’s a young man trying to understand where duty ends and conscience begins.

The supporting cast also brings that team-book energy that this kind of franchise needs. You feel the structure of a larger world around Ryan. The VR Troopers are not just standing around waiting to pose. They have differing attitudes, tensions, assumptions, and loyalties. The book smartly lets the team dynamic evolve across the chapters instead of forcing everybody into instant harmony. By the time the story leans into trust, family, and what it means to stand together, it earns that emotional turn. It doesn’t just hand you a motivational poster and call it character development. Nah. It puts the characters through the grinder first.

And then there’s the Eltarian angle. Ohhh, now we’re talking. By tying VR Troopers more directly into the larger mythology spinning out of Power Rangers Prime, BOOM! Studios creates a stronger foundation for this property than a simple retro reboot ever could. The Eltarians give the story an institutional shadow. They’re not just background lore; they’re the polished, powerful, “we know what’s best” authority figures whose version of heroism may come with fine print nobody bothered to read. That gives the book a modern edge. It’s not cynical, but it’s not naïve either. It knows heroes can be used. It knows symbols can be manipulated. It knows the difference between serving justice and serving somebody else’s agenda can get real blurry, real fast.

Sebastián Píriz’s artwork is a massive reason the book lands. The visual language feels sleek, sharp, and kinetic without losing readability. The armor designs have that perfect mix of retro-recognizable silhouette and contemporary comic-book polish. The action scenes move with speed, but they don’t become visual soup. That matters. A lot of modern sci-fi action can look like somebody threw a motherboard into a blender. Here, the pages keep their rhythm. The fights have direction. The body language sells impact. When Ryan transforms, launches into combat, or finds himself face-to-face with something he doesn’t fully understand, the visuals carry both spectacle and tension.

Píriz also knows how to make silence work. That’s underrated. Some of the strongest moments are not just the big hits, but the quieter panels where Ryan is processing information, staring down a choice, or sitting in that uncomfortable space between what he was told and what he now suspects. The facial acting gives those beats room to breathe. The book may be full of tech, armor, and digital energy, but the human expressions keep it grounded.

JP Jordan’s colors are straight-up essential to the mood. The palette leans into neon blues, electric reds, toxic greens, and cool shadowy environments that make the whole book feel like a late-night sci-fi transmission you picked up on a secret channel. It has that digital dream quality, but it never looks flat. The colors help separate the human world, the VR action, the Eltarian spaces, and the more sinister corners of the story. Jordan gives the book atmosphere. The glow matters. The darkness matters. The contrast makes every transformation and energy strike pop like somebody plugged the comic into a generator behind Yankee Stadium.

Taylor Esposito’s lettering deserves a shout too, because in a book like this, sound and pacing are half the battle. The dialogue stays clean, the action effects hit with personality, and the lettering supports the high-tech chaos without cluttering the page. When the book wants impact, the lettering punches. When it needs conversation, it steps back and lets the performances breathe. That’s professional work right there.

What I appreciate most is that VR Troopers feels confident enough to be both a comeback and a reinvention. It respects the fans who remember the original energy, but it doesn’t trap itself in amber. This isn’t some “remember when?” nostalgia bait wearing shiny boots. It’s a genuine attempt to make the concept matter now. That means new readers can walk in without needing a PhD in 90s syndicated television, while longtime fans get enough familiar DNA to feel seen. That balance is harder than people think. Too much old-school fan service and the story becomes a tribute act. Too much reinvention and fans start looking around like, “Who invited this stranger to the cookout?” This book finds the middle lane and drives it with confidence.

Is it perfect? Not entirely. Some readers may want the story to slow down even more in places, especially when the mythology starts expanding and the conspiratorial pieces begin stacking up. There are moments where the book moves fast enough that you may want to double back and make sure you caught every thread. But honestly, that also gives the collection reread value. It’s dense in a good way. It’s not empty calories. This is not comic book cotton candy that disappears the second you bite into it. There’s texture here.

The biggest compliment I can give this book is that by the end, I wasn’t just thinking, “Cool, VR Troopers came back.” I was thinking, “Okay, where does this go next?” That’s the mission. That’s the win. A revival should make you excited about the future, not just comfortable about the past. BOOM! Studios, Scott, Píriz, Jordan, Esposito, Clarke, and the whole creative/editorial squad understand the assignment. They bring the armor. They bring the action. But more importantly, they bring the questions. And questions are what make a reboot dangerous in the best way.

VR Troopers is a slick, smart, energetic comeback that takes a beloved franchise and gives it a sharper comic book spine. It has cyberpunk flavor, superhero momentum, sci-fi intrigue, and enough emotional current to keep the story from becoming just another shiny helmet parade. For old-school fans, this is a welcome return. For new readers, it’s a clean jumping-on point with style, mystery, and heart. For BOOM! Studios and Hasbro’s expanding comic mythology, it’s another strong signal that these legacy properties still have serious juice when the right creative team plugs them back into the grid.

VR Troopers is back online, baby and this signal is strong.

CRUSADERS SCORE:
3.5/5

Writer: Mairghread Scott
Illustrator: Sebastián Píriz
Colorist: JP Jordan
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Cover Artist: Taurin Clarke
Designer: Madison Goyette
Assistant Editor: Caroline Butler
Editors: Lily Kessinger and David Mariotte
Executive Editor: Tea Fougner
Editor-in-Chief: Andy Schmidt
Hasbro Special Thanks: Tayla Reo, Lily Zahn, Linda Lee, and Ed Lane
Variant Cover Artists Include: Goñi Montes, Dan Panosian, Jorge Corona with colors by Sarah Stern, Karen S. Darboe, Chris “Mista Jonz” Jones, Sina Grace with colors by Nick Filardi, Alex Milne, Michael YG, Kei Zama with colors by Josh Burcham, Paulina Ganucheau, Jake Smith, Adam Warren with colors by Josh Burcham, Phillip Johnson, and Francesco Tomaselli. Credits verified from the uploaded BOOM! Studios digital edition.
Publisher: BOOM! Studios / Hasbro

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