Review: Tensions Rise as the Truth Remains Hidden in Ranger Academy #7

Ranger Academy #7 creates tension between Tula and Sage as they investigate for answers at the Green Campus! The latest issue from BOOM! Studios takes us on an emotional rollercoaster before escalating quickly.

Good day all! We’re back with another ripping review of Boom Studios latest series: “Ranger Academy”. What seemed like another actionless slog of an issue quickly escalated as tensions began to rise. But is it too little too late? The verdict is still out on whether Ranger Academy will be continuing after Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Darkest Hour concludes. More on that in the link below!

RELATED: BOOM! Studios’ Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Universe Comes to a Shocking End

Ranger Academy #7 is the latest in the Boom Studios Rangerverse. Written by Maria Ingrande Mora with illustrations by Jo Mi-Gyeong and colouring by Joana Lafuente. Their skills combined together to bring a much larger world to the ever expanding comic Rangerverse. Today, I will be giving you my personal pros and cons of the latest issue.

RELATED: Review: Anxiety and Worry Take Centre Stage in Ranger Academy #6

WARNING: Potential story spoilers ahead! Read at your own risk!

The Pros

Ranger Academy #7 continues exactly from where issue #6 ended with Tula revealing that her sister died while being a student at the academy and like Sage, she was a Green Ranger! Sage finds out only she can access the Green Campus and tensions rise between her and Tula. While the last couple of issues have been a little slow and in some instances, boring; it’s nice to get some ‘real’ drama going. Regardless, it’s not the real highlight of the issue. We get to see the main current Ranger team, protecting the sector local to the Academy and they all remove their helmets, displaying their identities to the reader. It’s got a limited ‘cool factor’ as it’s just good to finally see some rangers or rather a complete team seven issues in. We also get the reveal of a mysterious antagonistic entity and Sage morphing into the Green Ranger by her own will! This happens directly after Lindy is taking by said antagonistic entity, so you know this is gonna lead into some drama and a possible fallout between her and Sage. It’s something to get excited about, along with issue #8 likely diving straight into the action if the end of issue #7 is anything to go by. That said, there are possibly more cons than pros to this issue…

The Cons

Touching back on the drama of this issue, my main gripe with it is how overdramatic it comes across. It plays out like a badly written teen drama (see every CW show) and tries to speed up to the ‘boiling point’ of the emotionally heated discussion. In fact, the whole issue has a feeling of ‘fast forwarding’, as if the writers are trying to play catchup to getting the story at an interesting point after the last few issues. This one is more subjective, but the reveal of the Ranger team makes the same impact as a wet tissue hitting the ocean; the costumes are kinda lame. I know, I know; it was implied early that every Ranger in the Academy essentially gets the same suit, but they just aren’t interesting or entirely unique designs. An issue BOOM! and Hasbro have had when it comes to implementing ‘new’ and ‘original’ designs into their Rangerverses. The identities of the Ranger team itself also feels like the creators were just ticking off ‘diversity’ boxes. One black female leader? Check! One male pink ranger? Check! One alien on the team? Check! This also paints a larger problem with Ranger Academy and to a degree, modern sci-fi in general; a lack of alien species. Again, somewhat subjective but for a series that acknowledges a whole Power Rangers universe, which is no stranger to distant fictional planets and alien lifeforms becoming Rangers, it certainly is mostly devoid of them and no, I don’t consider a human with a diamond on his head a good consolidation. I’ll end my rant here before I sound more and more like a lunatic, but to get to my main con points; badly written drama, uninteresting rangers and a plot that’s trying to hurry itself up makes for a mostly weak issue. Make no mistake though, it got better further in, but it shouldn’t have to be that way.

Conclusion

Overall, like it’s preceding instalment, issue #7 of Ranger Academy is a bit of an uninteresting one. The point revealed at the end of issue #6 only adds some minor context to itself before playing up some emotional teen melodrama. A team of Rangers show up to make an announcement, because they can, I guess? Then the issue gets good for a page or two before sucker punching you into waiting for the next one. Issue #6’s ending planted the seeds for a potentially good issue #7 but whether you felt the team achieved this may be based on your ability to swallow mediocrity. What makes it worse is it’s hard to get excited for future issues knowing the storyline could be potentially canned in the near future, following recent events.

For this issue, I’d give Ranger Academy #7 a 6 out of 10! While it does a little better than the last issue to capture the attention of the reader, the story rushes to the next checkpoint without much room to breath; a poor flow form with a cliffhanger that feels too little too late. It’ll be interesting to see if Ranger Academy #8 invigorates my interest in this series.

Ranger Academy #7 is available May 1st, 2024, at your local comic book store. This and more Power Rangers BOOM! Studios series are also available as a digital copy from content providers like iBooks, Google Play, and Kindle. 

What did you think of Issue #7? Looking forward to more? Any predictions on upcoming issues? Let us knows in the comments below! We look forward to seeing them. Stay tuned for more reviews of Ranger Academy and other awesome Power Ranger news and reviews here at The Toku Source!

Source: Boom! Studios