Boom Studios Announces 'Power Rangers Prime' Comic Relaunch
'Power Rangers' continues in comics form in a new continuity after the climactic 'Darkest Hour' concluded an eight-year story
We’re only a few weeks removed from the culmination of 8 years of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers comics from Boom! Studios with Darkest Hour #1 wrapping up a climactic yearlong event. But with a one-off releasing this week and a new crossover one-shot next month, that never felt like the end of the license, or that there would never be a main ongoing comic again. And so at San Diego Comic-Con, Power Rangers Prime was announced for November 2024 with little detail. It was Thursday that was the great unveiling.
The synopsis goes that Angel Grove University students face a difficult choice after crossing paths with a fugitive straight out of legend. The consequences for hiding her are dire, but her existence may not stay secret for long. The previous continuity’s final writer Melissa Flores is now teamed with artist Michael Yg, previously of Iron Fist and Shang-Chi. In the press release, Flores tells “With Power Rangers Prime, we’re bringing the comics into a reimagined world! Familiar characters and settings will pop up in unexpected ways, but this is an all-new adventure – a crazy journey I can’t wait to share with you that beats with the heart of what it means to be a Power Ranger. With designs by Dan Mora and art by the incredible Michael Yg, honestly I’m just blown away and so thankful to be a part of it!”
The trailer set to the synopsis made very clear who the fugitive is: Lauren Shiba, Red Samurai Ranger, who debuted in the final arc of Power Rangers Samurai’s second season titled Super Samurai. Played in 5 episodes by Kim Crossman, original comic continuity Lauren and then-Mighty Morphin’ Red Ranger Jason struck up quite the infatuation during the Shattered Grid event, but when the world was fixed, their encounter was forgotten. “When we see Lauren, she's on the run from an Eltarian police force who are hunting her down because she's a Power Ranger,” Flores teases. “And she's come to Angel Grove for a very specific reason and run into trouble. As we follow her, we start to meet a whole band of other characters who either help her or hurt her, depending on how they feel about Power Rangers. And we also see what this new Angel Grove looks like and how it came to be. So it's not the Angel Grove we remember, and there is no Zordon. So they kind of have to figure it out on their own, and the audience gets to do that with them.” While there was dabbling in following members of other Ranger teams beyond the Mighty Morphin team and the Omega Rangers formed by the three that in the TV series went to the “peace conference” in not only Shattered Grid, Beyond the Grid, and Darkest Hour, certain Unlimited and Universe stories, as well as graphic novels The Psycho Path and Sins of the Future, it will be the first time the ongoing’s focus won’t be anything about a Mighty Morphin Ranger.
“We were always gearing towards this grand finale for the eight years of Power Rangers comics, and we were looking for an opportunity to relaunch in a fresh way, to pull in lifelong Power Rangers fans, but also new fans and people who might look at the large scope of Power Rangers TV shows and comics and be a little intimidated by feeling like, ‘Oh, there's so much I have to catch up on before I can dive into a story about the Power Rangers.’ editor Allyson Gronowitz says. “So we wanted to take the opportunity to really set the table, start fresh, and kind of build something from the ground up. And I know, it's been exciting for me and Melissa to get to do that because we both came on to the comics over the past two years to basically shepherd this grand finale in. And now it's really cool to give Melissa kind of a blank slate and give her the opportunity to stretch her muscles and do a lot more ground-up creation for the Power Rangers.”
Readers can expect an eclectic mix of familiar non-Mighty Morphin characters. “The beautiful thing about Power Rangers Prime is that, literally, the entire zeitgeist of Power Rangers is open to us,” Flores remarks. “I can't explain why that is, not yet, but we get to play with some really fun characters. We look at every single character of Power Rangers, not just in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but all over the place. Like I said, we have Lauren and Samurai, there is a Megaforce character in there. We've already talked about Jungle Fury characters. They will show up in different ways, not the ways maybe you expect them to show up. And that's what I love about it. It's very much an ultimate world, where circumstance and consequence have created an entirely different world that we are getting to know.”
“What did I do to deserve drawing a Power Rangers book? Seriously! Back in the 90s, kids of my age in China got only a handful of American shows and cartoons and they were simply priceless! We’d rush back home from school to catch them regardless how pissed our parents were for not spending the time studying. But I had no regrets, because Power Rangers was one of the best,” Yg said. “Now, not only am I drawing it, but the book is… designed by Dan Mora, one of my favorite artists out there these days that I look up to. So it is for the team, for my younger self, and most importantly for you, that I’m putting my absolute heart and soul into this book! I can’t wait for you to read it.”
On Twitter, Flores greeted “Welcome to Prime!” and “It’s a whole new world. Stay tuned.” Power Rangers Prime #1 will be released on November 13, 2024. It features a main cover by Power Rangers regular Dan Mora, with variants by Juni Ba, returnees InHyuk Lee and Bon Bernardo, Joëlle Jones, Rafael Albuquerque and more.
Sources: Bleeding Cool, Boom Studios press release, IGN