Power Rangers Prime #3 Review

 

Writer: Melissa Flores

Artist: Michael Yg

Colorist: Fabi Marques

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Designer: Madison Goyette

Editors: Caroline Butler, Allyson Gronowitz & Matt Gagnon

Cover Artists: Dan Mora; Danny Earls & Jão Canola; Bon Bernardo; Doaly; Sweeny Boo; Inhyuk Lee; Dustin Nguyen; Guillaume Martinez; Juni Ba

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $4.99

Release Date: January 22, 2024

 

Lauren was a hunted Power Ranger. The Eltarian Guard shot her before she could activate her Morpher. Rita Repulsa was a prisoner for a thousand years. Rita found Lauren’s Morpher and used it to construct a new wand. But Rita’s magic is unstable. The Space Witch wants to restore her power. Lauren yearns to free her parents from imprisonment. But the Eltarian Guard hunts both women. How will Lauren and Rita evade the rulers of Earth and accomplish their objectives? Let's grab our Morphers, leap into Power Rangers Prime #3, and see what happens!

 

Story

After the Eltarians annexed Earth, they transported other refugees to their new colony world. Mark and Orion worked hard to escape the refugee center. They attend Angel Grove University and serve as interns in the Natural History Museum. While their status there affords them special privileges, classified research areas are off-limits to the non-Eltarian interns. Still, Mark wants to help Lauren find her parents. So, when Lauren mentions she needs another Morpher, Mark knows where to find one.

 

Jun saw the Eltarian Guard hunting Lauren. The Eltarian student studies the history of the Power Rangers. But Jun's obsession becomes dangerous when he brings Lauren, Mark, and Orion into his dorm room. Jun’s mother is an Eltarian admiral. Lauren comes from a privileged Human family. She wants her roommate to understand that he has crossed the line. Lauren contacted her boyfriend, Ryan, to quietly take Lauren into custody. But Ryan is a VR Trooper, and nothing he does will be on the quiet. And while Valentina joins Mark, Orion, Lauren, and Jun in their search for another Morpher, Ryan makes a battle plan.

 

In Power Rangers Prime #3, Melissa Flores peels away the Eltarian illusion. The interstellar empire frees planets from invaders, then scatters their inhabitants in a continuing diaspora. While Humans like Lauren’s parents, Ryan, and Bulk seek positions of power from their alien masters, the Eltarians rewrite Earth's history. They proclaim the Morphin Grid never existed and the Power Rangers are dangerous radicals. But Rita Repulsa sees through this fiction. With Bulk as her guide, she hunts for a power source to recharge her magical batteries and restore her abilities as a formidable Space Witch.

 

Art

As Mark follows Professor Barall past a Mammoth reconstruction and a T-Rex skeleton, soldiers in battle armor guard the displays and alien visitors. While following her down an empty hallway, Mark glimpses hovering objects through an open door. In Jun and Valentina's room, Valentina looks through the window while Mark stares at his new friends. Valentina's yellow clothes match the sky, while Jun's blue skin links him with Mark's blue jacket.

 

As Michael Yg conjures alien architecture, laser rifles, and battle armor that appears and disappears like a Power Ranger costume, Fabi Marques infuses Power Rangers Prime #3 with bright and appealing colors. Wisps of white cloud in an azure sky rise from the burnished gold refuge among the brown rocks outside Angel Grove. A purple-and-blue leader waltzes through the pink and green interior. One room in the museum gleams with all the colors of a rainbow. Yet the colored diamonds on Jun’s black and white jacket suggest a privileged court jester more than the potent son of an Eltarian Admiral.

 

Ed Dukeshire casts uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The words grow bold for intonation, swell for raised voices, and rarely shrink. Giant red letters ripple through the air following a Boom, while a vibrating cellphone signals betrayal in Power Rangers Prime #3. Thanks to Boom! Studios for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Some people in Angel Grove crave power. Others want a stable job and a quiet life. Rita Repulsa and Lauren are as different as black and white. But when the Eltarians paint them with the same brush, a Space Witch and a Power Ranger find common ground in Power Rangers Prime #3.

 

Rating 9.7/10

 

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