Combo Rangers


Combo Rangers is a series of comics created in 1998 by Japanese-Brazilian author Fábio Yabu. The series debuted as a webcomic, but eventually received a print version published by JBC and Panini Comics.
The series is inspired by superheroes from pop culture, initially taking inspiration from Japanese tokusatsu heroes such as Super Sentai and its American version Power Rangers, initially starting as a comedy webcomic focused on parodies, but which developed over time with more serious narratives while still maintaining some of its original comedy proposal. The series shows the adventures of a group of children who are summoned by the retired superhero Poderoso Combo to become a squad of superheroes willing to defend their city from various villains.
The comic was canceled in 2004 for financial reasons, but maintained its legacy by returning as a trilogy of Graphic Novels between 2013 and 2017. Combo Rangers has won the HQ Mix Award three times.

Synopsis

Original Series

The story is set in a fictional city called Cidade City which is located in a fictional universe called "Yabuverso". This universe's Earth is depicted as having several superheroes and villains inspired by both American and Japanese media. The webcomic had three sagas and was continued by the print version by publishers JBC and Panini.
The plot starts when the retired superhero Poderoso Combo recruits a group of five kids, all about nine years old, to turn into the Combo Rangers to protect their city from an alien invasion by the Deskarga Empire led by General Monte. In the course of the story they meet a sixth ranger named Luke who came from the future to save Lisa from a greater threat. The first part of the story ends with the heroes sacrificing themselves in the final battle, but being resurrected with their memories as Combo Rangers erased.
In Combo Rangers Zero, a mysterious villain called Grande Mestre appears using his henchmen Dr. Delírio and the young girl Fabi to spread terror in Cidade City, Combo decides to ask for help from the kids again to become Combo Rangers again, having their memories restored and gaining evolved forms. In the course of the saga they meet Maya, find Luke again, lose their powers, but get new powers with new forms at the end with the help of an alien wizard. The saga ends with Grande Mestre revealing himself as an evil clone of Combo and Delírio being Maya's lost father, Dr. Cooper.
In Combo Rangers Revolution after the defeat of Grande Mestre a new alien villain called Cardman appears wanting to dominate Earth with his henchman Deck. The saga ends with an incomplete end-of-the-world arc.
The JBC series followed with stories without continuity. The Panini series showed changes with more focus on other superheroes helping the protagonists with Fox gaining new powers and Tati leaving the group in the end being replaced by Sarah as the pink ranger.

Graphic Novels

Set in a fictional city known as Cidade Nova, in the past, the world had several superheroes, but since a phenomenon began that made most humans gain powers, superheroes ended up becoming irrelevant, leading many of them to retire. However, when an alien dictator known as Satan Boss of the Domao empire appears, willing to dominate the Earth with his servants Deck and Giluke, Mighty Combo Combo, along with his partners Peacemaker and Mirrorman, find themselves forced to recruit a group of 5 determined kids who end up inheriting Combo's powers to fight through bracelets. After being chosen, Fox, Tati, Lisa, Ken and Kiko initially end up facing problems with the headmaster of their school Principal Pile and also Fox's father who are strict and want to prevent them from using their powers, however, after proving their courage by facing Deck and Giluke with their powers, they end up gaining everyone's support, making the superheroes resurface.
Giluke turns out to have visions about the original universe and wants to approach Lisa to whom he demonstrates a platonic love and tries to pretend to be a new student called Luke while making Mirrorman allying with Satan Boss by making him turn his evil version. Later Pile apparently sacrifices himself by fighting one of the villains which ends up making the Combo Rangers rethink to give up being heroes as part of a plan so that they can take their bracelets. However, Deck decides to betray Satan Boss by stealing the power of bracelets as a form of revenge, but ends up dying for not being able to contain all the power. Giluke returns to Satan Boss who also takes Pile to be his new servant making him brainwashing to be General Pile. After that Fox's father becomes the new headmaster of their school, Lisa begins to have visions of Luke from the original universe and managing to communicate with Mirrorman she creates a plan to rescue Giluke. After a long fight and finally rescue Giluke as the last member of the team, the Combo Rangers wage the final battle against Satan Boss through a giant robot built by Ken killing the villain by throwing him in the sun. In the end Giluke is adopted by Monte and Reflexo that reveal to have become a gay couple in the meantime serving Satan Boss and part to space to end the rest of their empire.

Characters

Heroes

  • Fox Fonseca, the Red Combo Ranger and leader of the team. He is portrayed as an immature, airheaded, lazy boy who hates studying, most often serving as the main comic relief; still, he is responsible enough to lead the team and has a great sense of justice. He starts dating Tati in Combo Rangers Zero.
  • Tatiana "Tati" Rosa, the Pink Combo Ranger. In the first saga she was presented as a girl with a calm personality, but her personality quickly changed during the plot being portrayed as an extroverted and obsessive girl who had a platonic love for Fox to the point of constantly wanting to get his attention without success. In Combo Rangers Zero she starts dating Fox, with her relationship with him serving as comic relief in the face of an abrupt change in Tati's personality, beginning to show aggressive and envious behavior to the point of attacking Fox when she sees him around other girls, especially Maya. In the printed series, she matures in behavior and leaves the team in the last issues leaving the groupe leaving Sara to take her place as the Pink Combo Ranger.
  • Lisa Lima, the Yellow Combo Ranger. Tends to be the most innocent and naive of the team. At first she was portrayed in the first saga as a poor girl who constantly struggled to try to study and have a better life with her parents, still in this saga she showed prominence by developing special powers and also a close relationship with Luke who becomes her boyfriend in the following sagas. She is usually seen having Tati as her best friend who usually tries to give her advice on how to behave. Her early design was based on Fuu Hououji from Magic Knight Rayearth. In the original Lisa series had a father and mother, but in the reboot they were replaced by a gay couple.
  • Kenji "Ken" Ozora, the Blue Combo Ranger. A Japanese-Brazilian boy, he is sometimes seen as the group's second leader after Fox. Unlike Fox, he is more serious and focused on missions, in addition to being one of the smartest along with Lisa. His parents are divorced, his father is busy and he rarely sees his mother.
  • Frederico "Kiko" Freitas, the Green Combo Ranger. An Afro-Brazilian boy, he has a calm personality and sometimes speaks with slang, in addition to having a passion for music. Among the characters, he is the one who is most seen changing his haircut between each saga.
  • Luke, the White Combo Ranger. He was introduced during the plot of the first saga as a mysterious hero who often appeared to save Lisa. Over the time it was revealed that he was a time traveler from the future who came to save the Combo Rangers from a terrible fate and at the end of the saga he disappears after fulfilling his mission. In season Zero, his present-day counterpart returns, being dead at first and having his body used by the villains to become the Black Combo Ranger to eliminate the protagonists, but he is later revived and has since become a permanent member of the team as the White Combo Ranger again. In the reboot he is introduced as one of the villain Satan Boss' servants alongside Deck, initially introduced under the name Giluke, at first acting as one of the villains, he quickly redeems himself throughout the story by visions of the original universe, becoming a Combo Ranger at the end of the third graphic novel and being adopted by Pile and Mirroman after the defeat of Satan Boss.
  • Maya Cooper, a young genius girl who is one of the main allies of the team. She was introduced in the first saga as a girl from the future who was responsible for training Luke and sending him to the past to save the Combo Rangers. In Combo Rangers Zero her present-day counterpart gains a major spotlight as one of the main protagonists, after meeting and helping the team against Grande Mestre and Dr. Delírio while she was in the search of her father Dr. Cooper. Her design in the first season was based on Hikaru Shidou from Magic Knight Rayearth. The character was omitted from the reboot.
  • Mighty Combo, the mentor of the Combo Rangers often referred to as Tio Combo by his students and other characters. He was originally introduced as a hero from a virtual world who communicated with the protagonists and summoned them to his base through Ken's television, but over time he was rewritten as a retired superhero of alien origin. He is characterized by his short stature, always wearing a mask and his immense lack of luck. He had retired in the past after an event in one of his fights that made him choose to no longer use his powers for health reasons. Alongside Fox, he is often portrayed as the main comic relief due to his immense lack of luck during his long life. He is a longtime member of a league of superheroes known as ASH. His mask design is a reference to Ted Kord. In the reboot it is shown that the Combo Rangers' powers are linked to him and in this version the Combo Rangers can access them through bracelets and can lose them if Combo dies.