Ranger Academy #11 Review

 

Writer: Maria Ingrande Mora

Artist: Jo Mi-Gyeong

Colorist: Joana Lafuente

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Designer: Madison Goyette

Editors: Kenzie Rzonca, Allyson Gronowitz, Bryce Carlson & Matt Gagnon

Special Thanks: Dafna Pleban, Tayla Reo, Linda Lee & Ed Lane

Cover Artists: Miguel Mercado, Jo Mi-Gyeong & Yoshi Yoshitani

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $3.99

Release Date: October 2, 2024

 

Evil has a name, and that name is Dark Specter. Billy Cranston shattered the Morphin Grid to banish the rampant infection. But when the Blue Ranger reassembled it, Dark Specter slunk back inside. When memories of its malevolence waned, Dark Specter emerged from the shadows and used a toddler to kill Junior Rangers and her parents. Sage’s brother Zilan died while using a device he built to cure her. Can Sage and her friends return from Vaela before more tragedies rock Ranger Academy? Let's grab our Power Coins, leap into Ranger Academy #11, and see!

 

Story

As Mathis, Tula, Lindy, and Sage prepare to depart, Rhianth arrives. Sage’s father doesn't want to return to the Academy where Zilan died. But he feels he should. Rhianth once frightened Mathis, but they snap at him to decide quickly. Mathis is receiving worrying signals from Ranger Academy. What has Dark Specter done in their absence?

 

While Maria Ingrande Mora often points the spotlight on Sage, Rhianth gets a chance to shine in Ranger Academy #11. He lost Sage when she stowed away with Mathis and Tula. Now, her adoptive father catches up on what he missed out on. Returning to the Academy also lets him reunite with his friend Nika. Still, Rhianth fled Ranger Academy after Zilan’s death. Can his return bring hope to his alma mater?

 

Mathis and Tula must also reforge their relationship. Tula hid things from Mathis and dragged them into her web of deceit. But like Lindy, Theo, Kartyr, and Maev, Mathis and Tula have become Sage’s family. They must accept each other’s faults and concentrate on what binds them together.

 

Like Zordon, the school’s Headmaster inhabits a tower of light. That glowing face brought hope to the Junior Rangers who studied and trained to become Power Rangers. But it also expelled the infected, closed the Green Campus after Zilan’s death, and forbade any search for a cure. In Power Rangers #11, Dark Specter has corrupted the Headmaster. The school’s ultimate authority taunts students and teachers. Using its connection to the Morphin Grid, the Headmaster spreads fear throughout Ranger Academy.

 

Art

Mathis, Tula, and Sage look wary as they study Zilan’s machine. But Lindy's face glows as she regards the device. Dressed in his long brown coat, Rhianth evokes Captain Malcolm Reynolds as he stands outside the shuttle. Little, goatlike Nugget is a reminder of Rhianth’s responsibilities and the way Captain Mal often transported livestock to struggling farmers on isolated worlds. As Sage regales Rhianth with her adventures at Ranger Academy, he peers out of the corner of his eyes, where an echo of his childhood lurks behind his shoulder. Up front, Mathis and Tula look small as they stare out the cockpit viewscreen at the domes built on an asteroid. Rhianth, Sage, and Lindy fade to shadows as Mathis and Tula seek to rebuild their shattered trust in Ranger Academy #11.

 

A red storm swirls around the school’s Opalescent Dome as Joana Lafuente’s purple shuttle descends toward an asteroid mottled with a black blight. Palms and plants look dark and gray as the Headmaster’s pink face swells above Rhianth and the students. Black, brown, and red shadows reach toward them like grasping hands. Yet, in a school dominated by red and gray, Sage and her friends find hope in a luminous place that sparkles and glows with gently colored light.

 

In addition to Jo Mi-Gyeong's evocative characters and dramatic settings and Joana Lafuente’s restrained and textured palette, Ed Dukeshire fills Ranger Academy #11 with black and red uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons and shares Sage's thoughts in green narrative boxes. While the Head Archivist’s off-camera dialogue fills a white narrative box, a yellow border reminds us which campus Nika attended as a Junior Ranger. Giant red letters herald an act of bravery, while yellow sound effects trumpet a new danger threatening Sage's family and school. Thanks to Boom! Studios and Hasbro for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

As Sage, her adoptive father, and her friends return to their infected school, the hope of curing the corrupted students and faculty lies with Lindy, the first-year student who cannot morph, in Ranger Academy #11.

 

Rating 9/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.