Since 2016, the Power Rangers have been a staple in the world of comics. Various creative teams have managed to tell some entertaining stories over the past eight years, but with the original saga now effectively over, it means the entire slate is being wiped clean across the board. And what better way to fill the void than with a new comic and some fresh blood?
Before the weekend, IGN Boom helped lift the curtain on Power Rangers, a brand new comic by Powerful Morphine Writer Melissa Flores and Iron Fist Artist Michael Yg, who called for a “completely new beginning” for entry into Rangers Company. The book focuses on Lauren Shiba (the second Red Ranger from Power Rangers: The Movie) while being hunted by a troop of Eltarians. While her exploits eventually lead her to Angel Grove, Flores said the city is “not as we remember it,” which is underlined by the absence of Zordon. As for other Rangers, she was tight-lipped, but revealed characters from Power Rangers Megaforce And Power Rangers Jungle Rage would occur.
“They will show up in different ways, not in the way you might expect,” Flores said. Prime gives her and Yg “the entire zeitgeist of Power Rangers”, and she has every intention of profiting from it. “We look at every single character of Power Rangersnot only in Powerful Morphinebut everywhere.” How Lauren interacts with these characters depends on her feelings about the Rangers in general, and the general mood is that Power Rangers gives the series “an ultimate world in which circumstances and consequences have created a completely different world that we know.”
In contrast to Boom’s previous Power Rangers Comics, Power Rangers will be a standalone work rather than serving as an extension of the series. Editor Alyssa Gronowitz said that after the Darkest Hour story arc, a “ground-up creation” was always planned, both to give readers a new entry point and Rangers to inspire fans and also create something completely unique. “We take a good idea and make it our own in a way,” she explained. “(Prime) gives us the opportunity to filter out the essence of what makes the Power Rangers what they are and explore it in a very targeted way.”
“We can use familiar elements that we love Power Rangers”, added Flores. “We can add new elements and really make it a true comic book experience because we don’t have to worry about what the other media is doing. We can just focus on what we Power Rangers in this comic series.”
Power Rangers begins November 13, and you can read IGN’s full conversation with Flores and Gronowitz here.
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