Let's Talk About POWER RANGERS UNIVERSE #1

This week, fans of Power Rangers got to experience the first issue of a new comic series called Power Rangers Universe. This is a limited series that will show the true origins of the Phantom Ranger and include Ranger counterparts for Gosei Sentai Dairanger which is pretty cool. You can check out the preview in case you missed that and after you read the issue, be sure to read my thoughts below. Power Rangers Universe #1 is written by Nicole Andelfinger and features art by Simone Ragazzoni, colors by Mattia Iacono, and letters by Ed Dukeshire. You can grab your own copy now from your local comic shop, comiXology (affiliate link), Google Play, iBooks, and Kindle.

What is the true origin of the Phantom Ranger? And what is his connection to the Morphin Grid? From the moment he first appeared 24 years ago, fans have wondered about the origins of the powerful and mysterious Phantom Ranger and how they tie to the greater Power Rangers Universe. These are questions which have never been answered—until now—in the game-changing series event that no Power Rangers fan can afford to miss!

This issue is pure setup and that makes all the sense in the world. In the preview we met a character in what appeared to be a Phantom Ranger suit, but it was white and gold, and they were experimenting with entering the Morphin Grid. This was referred to as Ascending. Once inside this dimension with the Grid though, this character (we later learn to refer to him as the Morphinaut) finds a dark, for lack of a better word, presence and shuts down the Arch connecting the dimension to his world of Planet 0117 in the A47 Galaxy.

We then jump forward 584 years and start meeting our main characters who conveniently are color coded and we learn/it’s confirmed that these people are Morphin Masters. First we have Orisonth in blue although they go by Ori. They’re the smart tinkerer of the group. Rhian is the red member who seems to be a bit more of the rebellious type. Phiro is yellow and seems to be fairly loyal to Rhian. Telosi is next and the color green. They’re concerned because a character named Xev (my guess is really good friend or romantic partner) hasn’t been in contact. Finally, we have Aleia as the pink character who seems to be more jovial and possibly even a jokester. These are all very early and shallow impressions as this one issue doesn’t give us a lot to work with in terms of their characters. Another thing to note is that on Planet 0117, aka Masterforge Elepis, families appear to be color-coded in general. We see Telosi’s family also in green and we meet Ori’s brother Karotor who’s also in blue. One final note in this section is that the five main characters all have their respective color in their hair to some degree although Aleia’s is more of a purple, but it counts I think.

The premise of the series so far is that Masterforges have been getting destroyed and in an effort to save the people on Elepis, everyone is using the Master Arch to evacuate and Ascend. Rhian overhears that there may be video footage of Masterforge Namize being destroyed, so they gather Phiro and Telosi and go looking for Ori who has the potential to help them access the footage. They find Ori and Aleia at what used to be their secret hangout apparently and Ori appears to have been using it for a while as their own lab. The five characters are able to find the footage using their Morphin Hearts as a power source and they see some creatures wreaking havoc on Namize. It looks like it could maybe be a young Dark Spectre, but there’s no definitive answer as to what these creatures are. The characters then get to the Master Arch for the Ascendingwhen the Morphinaut shoots out of the Arch and goes flying. Naturally, our heroes have to go check on this mysterious new character. When they get to the Morphinaut, they get a warning about something coming and then the Morphinaut is not in great shape. This is when Ori has an epiphany and realizes that they might be Ascending not just to protect the Morphin Masters, but also to protect the Grid from whatever evil is on the loose.

I wish there had been more here, but it is just a single issue. Thankfully, we’re getting a few more issues to find out the story. Overall, this was a good first issue. There was a lot of ground to cover and I think Andelfinger and the team did a good job of prioritizing the story. I do wish we could’ve learned a bit more about the characters, but surely that will come. I think fans of Power Rangers are going to enjoy this series.