Power Pack 42 - Inferno

Power Pack face their worst nightmare as they discover the Bogeyman really is under the bed.

Power Pack #42

Jon Bogdanove who both wrote and penciled lightly
Stan Drake who finished in ink tightly
Don Hudson inking the backgrounds slightly
Glynis Oliver who still colors brightly
Carl Potts editing nightly
Tom DeFalco Editor in Chief Politely
[And Joe Rosen lettering with credit overlooked unknightly]

(In case you're wondering about issue #41 it was an unrelated issue by a different team that saw the Pack dealing with a landlord committing arson so as to use the insurance to clear his debts.)

In Limbo Douglas Carmody gets changed by N'astirh and sent to Earth. The heatwave in New York coincides with all four Power children coming down with a fever and being unable to join together to use their healing powers to cure themselves as their parents are constantly around. The flat experiences more of the weirdness as living sewage and mildew invade whilst out on the streets Carmody and other demons make their presence felt. The Powers plan to leave the flat to stay at a relative's who has a water supply but Carmody sneaks into the building and confronts them in the lift. Grabbing the parents he demand the children reveal their secret.

Many of the foes thrown into Limbo in various issues have been transformed by the magic there into something far more demonic and dangerous and so it's natural to give Carmody a power upgrade beyond a simplistic man using technology into something far more powerful and dangerous. His demonic form retains his obsession with decency, attacking gangs in the street and then picking on a loud obnoxious fat man and stealing his suit to create a suitably comic appearance for this monstrous foe.

Much of the issue focuses on a seemingly ordinary family trying to survive in the madness caused by illness, the heatwave and now reports of the demons invading New York with the complication that the children could easily cure their illness and deal with many of the immediate problems but it would require them to give away their secret. Meanwhile their parents are suffering the effects of the madness with Jim worn down by the heat and long walk home through streets overflowing with rubbish when public transport packs up whilst Maggie is showing signs of collapsing under the strain.

And then the Bogeyman attacks and forces the children to reveal their identities to their parents.

The debate about whether to tell them or not had been running for a good while both in the stories themselves and on the letters page but seemingly resolved with a decision to not do so. However the cliffhanger to this issue blows so much open and offers a real prospect that a major lasting change is being made here.

This makes the slower pace of the issue feel natural. It's all building up to the key moment at the end so it helps to give us a final look at what life has been like for the parents before the bombshell. Making such a bold move is a shock but also offers true change going forward.