Power Rangers has continued to show us the Omega Rangers of Jason, Trini, and Zack exploring the greater universe to stop new threats rising like the new Empyreal. Now in this new story arc the Omega Rangers have crossed paths with the villains of the In Space season of a newly crowed Princess Of Darkness in Astronema and her mentor/father-figure Ecliptor. This has further open things up for the Omega Rangers to possibly deal with more things that took place in later seasons. How will things go with this story involving Astronema and Ecliptor? Let’s find out with Power Rangers #6.
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artists: Francesco Mortarino and Simone Ragazzoni
Colorists: Raul Angulo, Jose Enrique Fernandez, Igor Monti, and Sabrina Del Grosso
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Twelve years ago the capital city of planet Inquiris (the planet Andros and Karone were born at) is attacked by Quantrons on the orders of Dark Specter. During the attack Darkonda is shown kidnapping a young Karone.
Karone is then handed over to Ecliptor to be trained and turn her into Dark Specter’s Princess of Darkness (recapping the story from Power Rangers Unlimited: Heir To Darkness one-shot).
In the present Ecliptor retells this story of Astronema’s origin but with the Quantrons being stated to be a Power Rangers team rather than part of Dark Specter’s forces. Ecliptor then offers to team up with Trini to save Jason, Zack, and Astronema after they were arrested by Space Patrol Delta (SPD). Trini is unsure of this team-up since Astronema is such a big threat. Ecliptor gives Trini his word he nor Astronema will not double cross the Omega Rangers. The decision is made to team-up.
On the SPD’s Maglev Train, Astronema reveals her history destroying Power Rangers creating greater tension between her and Jason.
The next day as the Maglev Train continues its travel Xi drives Ecliptor and Trini, who morphs into her Omega Yellow Ranger form, to the train. The Omega Yellow Ranger and Ecliptor proceed to battle the SPD forces on the train.
Eventually Omega Yellow Ranger is able to enter the train and find Jason, Zack, and Astronema’s jail cell. She then breaks the three out, revealing she is working with Ecliptor to free them.
Elsewhere Drakkon, with Yale of Saard’s help, intimidates Fendrick Prot into conducting some “business” between them.
Back on the train, the Omega Rangers work with Astronema and Ecliptor to fight off the SPD forces so they can escape. In the middle of the fighting Astronema saves the Omega Red Ranger by killing one of the SPD officers who attacked him from behind, much to the Omega Rangers shock.
Eventually the Omega Rangers, Astronema, and Ecliptor are able to escape. The Omega Rangers make it clear they will stop Astronema and Ecliptor next time they meet.
On their ship Jason and Trini discuss how much they done and the price for their actions. Jason says this is something they have to do which Trini calls out for sounding like something Drakkon would say. Trini reminds Jason that they have to remember there is always a choice to be made that differentiates them from the good and bad guys.
Elsewhere a new Empyreal is shown rising up. End of issue.
The Good: As Ryan Parrott brings in even more elements from future seasons of the Power Ranger franchise the journey that Jason, Trini, and Zack are on has gotten more complex. Everything that they are doing has been going more and more towards the shades of grey territory as the three Omega Rangers have had to make difficult choices. That is once again shown with the team-up they have with Astronema and Ecliptor in Power Rangers #6.
This latest story with Astronema and Ecliptor further progress how much Jason, Trini, and Zack have taken on as Omega Rangers. Each of them feels a responsibility from saving the universe from the bigger threats there are. But in doing this as Omega Rangers they are faced with even tougher decisions to make than when they were Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Because the three are in this spot where they are making the choices Parrott is able to highlight how this isn’t easy for them. They no longer have the safety net of Zordon, especially after their decision to break out Drakkon, to help give them advice. The discussion between Jason and Trini at the end of Power Rangers #6 gets across how much this is getting to the three of them.
Through all of this Trini continues to be the standout of the Power Rangers series. As each issue of Power Rangers releases we are seeing how Trini is becoming even more vocal then before. She is no longer just following along with Jason’s word as their leader. She understands that what they are dealing when it comes to threats like the Empyreals, Astronema, and Drakkon that they must keep in mind the choices they make.
Which goes to also highlight how Jason has become much more tunnel vision in his role as leader of the Omega Rangers. We are seeing Jason, now that he doesn’t have Zordon or another mentor to ask for advice of, making decisions that are putting the team at risk. Trini calling him out on this was the right call so we don’t just see him fall even more in thinking there is only one decision to make.
All of this works well with the team-up the Omega Rangers were forced into with Astroneman and Ecliptor. This team-up furthers shows the questionable things the Omega Rangers are doing as they placed themselves in a spot where they have to team up against the bad guys. Even though Trini only worked with Ecliptor to save her friends it was still to break them out from the Space Patrol Delta’s imprisonment. So even with good intentions this was more of a darker move by the Omega Rangers.
This is where Parrott’s storytelling really shined as the Omega Rangers eyes were open to how this forced team-up with Ecliptor and Astronema may not have been the best decision. Astronema killing one of the SPD officers in front of the Omega Rangers came across as a turning point for this series. It is an eye opening experience for the Omega Rangers that led to the necessary conversation that Jason and Trini had to close Power Rangers #6.
Drakkon also continues to be a strong part of the cast as we once again see that he is slowly manipulating his way into reclaiming his power. Parrott does not hide it from the reader that Drakkon is as villainous as he has always been. But because he no longer has his previous powers Drakkon now has to be even more cunning in how he gains control of things. Which we see with the “business deal” he forces Fendrick Prot into likely plays into his larger scheme. What Drakkon’s endgame in this series is will be very interesting to see play out.
It was also interesting to see Ecliptor continue the plotline Astronema’s home planet was attacked by Power Rangers rather than Dark Specter in his retelling of Karone’s backstory. This does seem to be going towards something bigger in the Power Rangers franchise as Parrott is building a path for the Dark Specter story from In Space likely taking place in this series. If that happens it could open up even more opportunities to explore the Power Rangers franchise in new ways as we no longer know what will happen next as characters and groups are showing earlier than when we met them in the original timeline.
The artwork by Francesco Mortarino and Simone Ragazzoni was strong. Having Ragazzoni handle the opening flashback was a good choice in having Astronema’s backstory have a different look. It allowed Francesco to focus on his style for the present day scenes as his artwork continues to be as dynamic as ever. I especially enjoyed how he portrayed Ecliptor’s fighting ability during the fight with Space Patrol Delta.
The Bad: As great as the character work has been for Jason and Trini in this series the same can’t be said for Zack. More than anything Zack has been more of a supporting character in this series even though he is one of the three Omega Rangers. Zack so far has been just following Jason and Trini’s lead. It would be best for his character if we saw him step up more to be vocal in the decisions that the Omega Rangers are making. That hasn’t been the case as of yet and hopefully changes as this Power Rangers series is a good opportunity to show how Jason, Trini, and Zack are all stepping into their own as leaders without Zordon’s guidance.
Overall: Power Rangers #6 does a very good job in furthering all the storylines with the Omega Rangers getting more involved in the events going on throughout the galaxy. The team-up with Astronema and Ecliptor was an unexpected surprised that pushed Jason, Trini, and Zack out of their comfort zone. As more elements from future Power Ranger seasons are brought into play into this series it will be interesting to see what the big endgame that Ryan Parrott has planned for the Omega Rangers.
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