Power Rangers Writer Breaks Down Ranger Slayer’s New Costume and Status Quo

Power Rangers: Ranger Slayer brought fans back to the world of the Coinless, and it introduced a whole new status quo by issue’s end. Part of that was establishing a new leader and with it a sense of order for Drakkon’s kingdom, and it meant that Ranger Slayer is now in charge of keeping the peace and uniting Drakkon’s forces and the Coinless. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Ranger Slayer writer Ryan Parrott all about the big issue, including Hart’s ascension to the throne and that killer new costume she received as part of her new leadership role.

“Yeah. I mean, that was a long conversation with Dafna and the people at BOOM!, because that was my pitch for the series when I came into the book,” Parrott said. “I said, ‘Hey, so I love the idea of her coming back, but I don’t want her to just come back. I think it’d be kind of dull if she just comes back and joins up with the Coinless and picks up with them. I want to change the status quo a little bit. I think there’ll be something interesting.’”

“And the thing that I thought was, in the same way Trini did sort of the worst thing that she could possibly think of, what if Kimberly was sort of faced with a similar situation and was like, ‘what’s the last thing she wants to do?’ I liked this idea that she’d come back and try and sort of pay for her mistakes,” Parrott said.

Ranger Slayer shifts the status quo both for Ranger Slayer and the world of Drakkon and the Coinless, and it sets up the next person to run with the ball in a big way.

“She ultimately has to end up becoming the thing she hates the most, which is some version of Drakkon, and I like that contrast of her not wanting, like the reluctant leader, who’s literally sort of keeping the peace between these two factions. I thought that was a really interesting setup for whoever takes over,” Parrott said. “This idea, everybody’s sort of working together. We talked about a lot about that, where we’re like, ‘Well, it’s Drakkon’s followers, they follow him.’”

Kim is now the leader of a powerful force, and it was time for a costume upgrade as a result, injecting some Drakkon elements into her already stylish suit.

“So there we just said, ‘Well, then maybe we should make her look more like Drakkon, in the same way that Drakkon when evil Tommy became Drakkon and one-upped his outfit. We were like we should do something similar, and so we played with a bunch of designs. I think we went through like 15 different designs for it, and that one was ultimately the one that I thought really brought a sort of regalness to it that was really cool. Just to show her ascension to the throne, it just seemed like the right thing to do.”

We couldn’t agree more, and you can check out the new look in the images above.

Power Rangers: Ranger Slayer #1 is written by Ryan Parrott and drawn by Dan Mora with colors by Raul Angulo and letters by Ed Dukeshire, and you can check out the official description below.

“The Ranger Slayer — AKA Kimberly Hart, the Pink Mighty Morphin Power Ranger from the alternate universe once ruled by Lord Dakkon — returns home and nothing is like she expected. In a world that only knows her as a villain, can Kimberly show her universe that she’s become a hero… and is that even the right thing to do? Confronted by a terrifying new version of an old enemy, and with her home in chaos, Kimberly will make a stunning choice that no Power Rangers fan can miss. This issue is also a perfect jumping on point for new readers — and sets the stage for the next Power Rangers epic!”

Power Rangers: Ranger Slayer #1 is in comic shops now, and you can talk all things Power Rangers with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!