It’s been fairly full steam with Marvel and DC reviews here at the Masked Medic, but I couldn’t forget the awesome folks at Boom Studios who have been making waves with their Power Rangers novels, could I? Especially given that I’d heard that they were coming out with a couple of new series too! I’m waiting for the time they move onto other Power Rangers seasons. Anyways, the last we saw of the Rangers, they were hunting down Finster who was wreaking havoc in the absence of Rita Repulsa!
‘Volume 6’ of this fantastic series, sees Grace and the Rangers in the Command Centre with Alpha 5 confirming Grace’s story. The team are stunned, however, when Grace offers them a chance to work with her and her organization, Promethea to investigate and stop this latest threat. As she shows the Rangers around the facility, where they have Finster locked up. She then has them check out one of Finster’s new monsters which turns from human-looking to monster whilst they’re there. The Rangers try their best to take it down, but then out of nowhere Grace turns up in a “Mechazord” to aid them. Although grateful for the assist, it’s clear that the Rangers have got questions about Promethea’s intentions. Meanwhile, Rita has been on a quest to find a being known as “The Wizard of Deception” in order to have him forge a mysterious artefact for her. It’s not known what that artefact is, but following this, someone helps Finster escape his prison in Promethea’s base. Rita wants to know what Finster has been up to and when he tells her that he has monsters in waiting, she tells him to unleash them all at the same time, finally doing what every single person who has watched Power Rangers wonders, why only one monster at a time? Ahah! Naturally, the Rangers need to split up and they decide that they’ll take up Grace’s offer of helping out with her Mechazord! The monsters are fairly easily defeated, however, a bigger problem is about to present itself. Billy, the team’s resident genius, whilst inquiring how Promethea is getting their power, discovers that they have in some secret containment, Lord Drakkon and are feeding off his power. The Rangers are outraged and have to decide what they’ll do. But are there other players in this game? And just what is Drakkon’s plan? Surely he doesn’t intend to be a prisoner all this time?
I have to say, this series really doesn’t fail. Even when the overarching plot isn’t as exciting as an alternate world where Rita has won, or some crazy evil Megazord destroying the Rangers’ Command Centre, the story keeps you hooked. The whole concept of Grace and Promethea is great because we get to see this character development in Jason who now has, even more, to take upon his shoulders. What if his team fail like the one before? I think one thing that was brushed under the carpet was the impact that the previous team’s failure had on Zordon. He’s always so wise, but surely he too must regret the mistakes he’s made? Drakkon returning, I think was a no brainer. The villain has easily been the highlight of this entire comic book series, and one of the things that I think has cemented in my mind that Boom Studios was serious about this IP. The cliffhanger of the novel was done pretty well and I know for a fact that I can’t wait to return to this series!
The artwork, as always, was very good, however, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it’s nowhere near Dan Mora’s level. The covers, a lot of them done by Mora, were fantastic as per usual! Overall, this was another solid entry in the series, and I can just anticipate that something big is coming and I am very excited to see what it is!
Favourite Panel:
Oh shit.
Favourite Character:
Jason’s stepping up more and more in this series and you can tell that he’s got what it takes to be the best leader of the Power Rangers ever!
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★★½
Character Development: ★★★½
Artwork: ★★★½
Enjoyability: ★★★½
Re-readability: ★★★
Level: Beginner