Boom! Studios 2016
Written by Kyle Higgins
Illustrated by Hendry Prasetya
Coloured by Matt Herms
Lettered by Ed Dukeshire
The Black Dragon has come! As the balance of power shifts, Earth finally falls into Rita’s evil hands. Do the Power Rangers have a hope of saving their home and defeating the nefarious danger they now face?
I’m pretty impressed with this series so far. Tommy is fighting to be trusted and accepted by the others and now Rita has taken over their headquarters and forced the team to flee to a safe place. Meanwhile Billy has been taken and in the same prison that Goldar is in. With Zordon and Alpha nowhere to be found things aren’t looking good for the Rangers, cut off from accessing their powers. The only good news is Tommy still has his so there’s still some hope.
I like how things go this issue as well whoever or whatever this Black Dragon is he’s powerful that’s for sure. Not only did he essentially defeat the Rangers but here he’s adding insult to injury as he’s able to take over their Zords and bring them to life under his control. With Rita making herself at home in their lair and issuing demands to world leaders it’s interesting to see that Kyle is willing to take this to that level. Granted i’m new to the Power Rangers, this being my only introduction to them, but that they are able to be stymied like this and have to mount one heck of a counterattack well colour me impressed.
The characterisation is great here as well. With Billy gone, coincidence I think not, Trini is the smartest and most familiar with the technology. This means she’s a little out of her depth and keeps questioning her own ability. While not the greatest thing to see it’s really about the frustration she’s feeling here and that comes across brilliantly. She’s a lot smarter and more talented than she’s giving herself credit for but with the situation what it is she’s feeling overwhelmed and this honesty in that portrayal is refreshing.
Tommy having worked for Rita thinks he knows where Billy is. With Jason at his side the two go and start their rescue mission in hopes of being able to regroup, power back up and take the fight to Rita. Trust and redemption for Tommy just might be on the horizon and it has to feel good for him. This is the adventure they all needed to accept the new team dynamic and the addition of the Green Ranger.
I’m totally behind Hendry and what he’s doing with the interiors here. His attention to detail with crisp, clean line work and character definition is exciting. The little touches he uses in things like brickwork or the cities where the Zords are, see cultural iconic buildings, the use of angles, perspective and even the backgrounds help control the flow of the story through it’s pages beautifully.
Thanks to what the guys are doing here this feels like an authentic superhero book with those shades of family, friendship and the differences in opinion that made the teenage team books of the eighties work so well.