Power Pack 39 - Inferno

The Pack face the prospect of having their secret exposed.

Power Pack #39

Louise Simonson wrote with flair
Sal Velluto penciled with care
Mark Farmer inked on a dare
Joe Rosen lettered with a payer
Glynis Oliver colored in her lair
Carl Potts edited - beware!
Tom DeFalco read with a glare

As noted at the start there are a few issues that haven't been included in the various Inferno collected editions that are still worth a look at for their contribution to the wider story. One such issue is Power Pack #39 which starts off their confrontation with Carmody the Bogeyman which runs into the crossover. So far it appears to have had only one reprint in Power Pack Classic Omnibus volume 2 (which otherwise contains issues #37 to #62 of the original run plus the 2000 limited series, various one shots, inventory material and guest appearances).

(Oh and to set something down at the start the spelling of the villain's alias is all over the place in these issues. I'm going to stick with "Bogeyman" throughout.)

This issue sees the series continue to fight a sales decline (it was already a lower frequency direct market only book by this stage) by switching to a format with more story pages and fewer adverts on better quality paper - and with a small price increase. As we'll also see the series is in some creative flux which will impact on these issues as we go through them.

One of the key questions for the Pack in this period was about whether or not they should tell their parents about their powers. Their parents already knew they had met aliens on multiple occasions but the powers remained a secret with the children disagreeing about whether to take them into confidence. Now two developments are pushing this debate to the forefront - an anonymous caller who has discovered their secret and the publicity around Rebecca Littlehale, a young mutant with the ability to teleport towards any bright light she sees. She was rescued in an earlier issue but now faces a storm as her house is besieged by both reporters demanding a demonstration and protesters both in favour and against her. Then the house is firebombed and a strange flying man in armour captures her, leaving the Powers to chase her, discovering the man is their old foe Carmody the Bogeyman who is now working for the Right to capture young mutants for experiments. And it turns out he is the anonymous caller, sending photographs of the children using their powers to their parents. They manage to destroy the most incriminating but get grounded for climbing out of their flat window.

This is a pretty intense issue in stepping up the conflict with Carmody now connected to various foes from the pages of X-Factor though he is also willing to give his captives to whoever bids the highest. On a previous occasion Thor and the Asgardians threatened Carmody if he ever acted against the children again but it's now clear that something has neutralised that threat.

Rebecca's power is pretty awkward which suggests it won't be much use to many but her situation makes for some dramatic scenes that reflect the debate amongst the Power children that was presumably also being argued out on the series's letters page. This issue is also a strong reintroduction for the children's archenemy and sets up to a key encounter next issue so it's a surprise that it's been left out of the collected editions. It also shows that the series still had a lot of life in it at this stage despite the warning signs about declining sales.