'Created by Karone when she was still the evil Astronema, the Psycho Rangers were programmed with overwhelming hate for all things Power Rangers. They were defeated at great personal cost by the Galaxy Rangers, but now someone has brought them back and they are more murderous than ever before. Who brought them back, and why? And can Lost Galaxy Pink Ranger Karone and her brother Red In Space Ranger Andros stop them before they bring the universe to its knees?'
Since Boom! Studios have been working on Power Rangers the quality of the franchise within comics has shot up exponentially. In the past Power Rangers comics were forgettable at best, and downright awful a lot of the time. Nowadays, however, fans get treated to well written, and well constructed stories that have gone on to become some of the best stories in the entire franchise.
The latest stand alone graphic novel focuses on characters that aren't related to the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and really benefits because of that. Instead, the narrative shifts to focus on characters introduced during Power Rangers in Space.
Picking up after the events of Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, we focus on Karone, the sister of the Red Space Ranger Andros, who has at this point been a villain, reformed, and even been a Ranger herself on the Lost Galaxy team. When the villainous Psycho Rangers return, including the new Green Psycho Ranger, they target Karone as she created the team when she was the villain Astronema. Taken by the Psychos', she is forced to confront the destructive actions of her past once again.
Power Rangers: The Psycho Path really focuses on what it means to be a good person, not only in Karone's continued quest to try and atone for her past actions, but in seeing how the Psycho Rangers begin to grow into real, rounded individuals.
That's one of the most interesting aspects on the book. In the past the Psycho Rangers have been one of the best evil Ranger teams, but haven't been anything but one dimensional. Here they're presented as much more real. We begin to learn that they actually have personalities, and that if given the chance they can care for more than just fighting Power Rangers.
This focus came as something of a surprise, as I thought that this was going to be a more standard Power Rangers story, with the Psycho's hunting down our heroes. But they don't really spend all that much time as antagonists, and after a relatively short time you come to not only care about them as people, but want them to actually go on to survive the events of the story. Paul Allor really gives over more time to character development than any Power Rangers story deserves, and by the end of the book I found myself feeling like I cared for the Psycho Rangers more than I do some Power Ranger teams.
By the end of the book the Psycho Rangers, and the way I view them, have changed. They're no longer just faceless bad guys, but people. I want them to keep on growing the way they have here, and I want them to come back again in the future as the heroes that they're learning they could become. I can't really think of a Power Rangers story that has ever really done this with a villain before other than Karone, which makes her inclusion in this story that much more important, as it's not just someone dealing with the actions of their past, but one reformed villain helping five others.
The book also includes the Supersonic Rangers story that reveals the origins of the the mysterious Green Psycho Ranger, a short story that was previously only included in the deluxe edition of the main series graphic novels. The story not only sheds light onto the origin of the villain for those who couldn't get the deluxe addition, but also stands out for its inclusion of the Fiveman Super Sentain team.
A great book that not only adds more to the Power Rangers universe, but sets the stage for more potential stories involving the iconic villains.
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