Power Pack 63 - Inferno

Katie writes about the time the Bogeyman attacked her family.

(This one-shot was released in 2017 as part of Marvel Legacy, a big relaunch focused on the classic characters which included a number of one-shots for series no longer being published with most continuing the classic numbering.)

Power Pack #63

Note confiscated from: Devin Grayson
Margin doodles by: Marika Cresta
Demonstrating perfect penmanship: VC's Joe Caramagna
Caught coloring outside the lines: Chris O'Halloran
Graded by: Sarah Brunstad
Cover Artists: Mike McKone and Rachelle Rosenberg
Variant Cover Artists: June Brigman and Nolan Woodard; John Tyler Christopher
Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor in Chief: Axel Alonso
Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada
President: Dan Buckley
Executive Producer: Alan Fine

(Oh for the days when credits were simple!)

Katie stays behind after a class to discuss her essay for a speculative fiction assignment. The first draft tells how during a heatwave she and her siblings were suffering from a fever when her father's old bass Mr Carmody came into the apartment and the whole family fled to the lift where Carmody went off with the parents. The children agreed to go after them but Katie ran off on her own and hit Mr Carmody. The teacher finds the story hard to follow as it's not clear why the parents leave the children in a lift or why Katie hates Mr Carmody. Katie is told to try again with a greater focus on horror and super heroics. She makes Carmody into a real Bogeyman who can possess people and wants to destroy four siblings called Power Pack who he blames for his downfall. He invades their flat and possesses Alex leading to a battle in the street with the other three siblings. As the battle rages she confronts her possessed brother and tells him Carmody can't make her blast her brother and can't make him squash her. The teacher comments how this is a better draft and asks how it ended but Katie just says, "I'm here, aren't I?" The teachers notes how Alex is clearly a source of security for Katie who says her brother is now travelling and suggests she call him.

Okay there's some pretty major continuity errors that stand out when this issue is read in close proximity to the original stories. And that's not just because I chose to include it in this look at Inferno but also because it's included in Power Pack Classic Omnibus Volume 2. For starters just how old is Katie meant to be in the present day? She's at PS 87 Magnet School which in the original run was the number designated to the elementary school (first/lower/primary) she started at just after the events of Inferno (and Julie finished as Katie began with Jack overlapping on both his sisters' times there). In the original run Katie was two years younger than Jack who was three years younger than Julie who was two years younger than Alex. The intro page here establishes that Julie is now in college (university) and Jack in high school so Katie is presumably at least 13 (and even if Julie and Jack are especially young prodigies, the teacher calculates that Alex would be in college by now). Katie and her classmates are certainly drawn looking older than 11. Other latter day appearances of the Pack from the mid 2000s onwards also have her siblings older than the equivalent ages if she was 11. Also her teacher remembers Alex but in the original series he was already in junior high school (middle) when the family moved to New York. Then there's the Pack themselves. Alex is using the codename "Zero-G" for a story set during the original run but he did not adopt that name until the 2000 limited series (the same would happen in the 2019 one-shot Power Pack: Grow Up! which explicitly states it is set around issue #18). More notably the Pack are all using their original powers when Inferno was set after the first swap around. And for a retelling of a story in the original of which their parents learnt about their powers, it appears in both versions the parents already know, having been told by Carmody on a previous occasion. Oh and Katie is blonde like Alex whereas in the original stories she was a redhead like Julie.

I suppose one could explain that the teacher has transferred from the junior high school to the elementary school and so knew Alex from there. Or that there's been some reorganisation of the New York schooling system that has merged the elementary and junior high into a combined/combination school. Or that New York is just very confused as to how the school numbering system works. And perhaps even Katie's first draft has rewritten the Pack's powers so that she's able to hit back against Carmody with the energy powers rather than just chase him with the flight powers. But it does all point to a rather casual approach to continuity which is especially surprising for a one-off special in a line that was pitching a more classic approach and even using the traditional numbering for the series.

Part of the problem is that it is very difficult to bring Power Pack back as they were in the here and now. Appearances by the characters in the 1990s and 2000s saw their ages creep up such that the 2000 limited series was probably about the last time it was possible to have the story of four children together in regular continuity. Since then both Alex and Julie have been shown growing up on other teams, with Alex actually ageing even faster due to his work across time for the Future Foundation, and, as Katie sadly remembers, is now off in space. Nothing is impossible in comics but finding a way to de-age the characters and put them all back together as they once were is too great a task for a one-shot which is why both the 2010s one-shots have instead gone down the route of telling stories set during the classic run. Or not quite.

As well as the wider continuity errors Katie's telling of the story is somewhat distorted from the original. There's no mention of the wider events of Inferno beyond the heatwave and the streets seem normal. I suppose it's possible given the reference to Carmody possessing Luke Cage that the second version could in fact be a later encounter set after the original series (and after Carmody's apparent death in Cage's series though it wasn't the first time he seemingly died) but the implication is that this is Katie rewriting the original events. As a result of all this we get a rather condensed fight scene that climaxes in a showdown based on how two of the siblings care about each other... and no actual conclusion.

It's nice to see Power Pack got revived and this probably led to two more recent projects but this one shot is just not the way to go. Either a reunion years later or a flashback to the old days is workable. This format results in a confused retelling and then rewriting of a past tale with no clear conclusion. And the Inferno connection is so slight that this issue does not need to be included in any future collection of the crossover; indeed including it alongside the original issue #44 would make the discrepancies stand out the more.

Power Pack 45 - Inferno

Julie faces the toughest challenge yet - babysitting!

Power Pack #45

Special guest scripts: Julianna Jones
Special guest pencils: June Brigman
Special guest inker: Hilary Barta
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Edits: Carl Potts
Same old Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Julie has a nightmare in which Carmody the Bogeyman taunts her about how the family will never be the same again and how she's growing up but wakes up and Katie comforts her. Later that day she graduates from her current school and has her 11th birthday party. A neighbour upstairs asks her to babysit their toddler Tommy the following evening and she agrees. She wonders if she's grown up or still a little girl and decides the test will be whether she needs to use her powers or not. Tommy proves a challenge, making messes everywhere and crawling off until she finally gets him to sleep. But with only half an hour before his parents return she calls up her sibling to help clean up with the use of their powers. She decides this means she's not very grown up. Later that night she discusses growing up with her whole family and how she'll always be her parents' little girl.

This issue has "Revenge of the Boogy Man [sic] Epilogue" on the cover and so as it's officially branded as the aftermath of the Power Pack storyline from Inferno I'm looking at it here. The cover shows Julie facing multiple images of Carmody but inside that only really occupies the first three pages reinforcing the idea that there was a sudden change of direction ordered upon the series and so rather than continuing to explore the ramifications of a major status quo changer we get this tale about Julie facing growing up.

Julie was named after co-creator Louise Simonson's daughter Julianna - and this issue is the second she's written (after #38) once again focusing on Julie. I don't know if either of her stories are fictionalised versions of events from her own childhood. And as somebody who's a youngest sibling and has never yet babysat I have no idea just what looking after a toddler for the evening is like either. But it is easy to relate to the experience of reaching the end of one school and facing moving on to another even though here we don't have school graduation ceremonies (or at least didn't when I were a lad), especially when one's birthday falls at the end of the school year. Some start evaluating just where exactly they are. Others start distancing themselves from all their previous likes in an attempt. Others still double down on the familiar. This shows Julie taking the first option which is entirely in character for her and approaching it first by drawing up a list then tackling a routine task.

It's a straightforward little character story which speaks to a very real problem children face. But it's not an aftermath issue in any real sense beyond showing the family dynamic is back to normal. The opening sequence may reference recent events but feels a little contrived to justify the cover. This issue's non-inclusion in Inferno collected editions is fully justified but for those interested it can be found in Power Pack Classic Omnibus Volume 2.

Power Pack 44 - Inferno

Power Pack continue saving lives but can they save their parents?

Power Pack #44

Special guest scripts: Julianna Jones
Special guest pencils: June Brigman
Special guest inker: Hilary Barta
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Glynis Oliver
Edits: Carl Potts
Same old Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Or not quite as the opening splash page is signed "Bogdanove & Heath" which has confused many including some online databases. The above list is what was printed in the issue but is in fact the credits for issue #45 accidentally printed in this issue as well and not the Inferno collections, neither Power Pack Classic Omnibus Volume 2 nor the digital listing online includes a correction. The letters page for a later issue reportedly lists the following as the correct team:

Jon Bogdanove - Writer & penciler
Russ Heath - Inker
...and the rest as above.

As we'll see this credit mistake matters more than most as it offers a very different perspective on what's going on editorially...

The issue opens with Power Pack fighting off demons when the portal reverses and sucks them all back into Limbo. Heading home they find their parents are in a permanent state of shock about the revelation their children are powered superheroes. Eventually Margaret breaks down, crying that she just wants her normal children back. Jim tells the kids to go out and they head off to help with the clear-up operation. Several vehicles are frozen in monstrous form and Alex's attempts to use his powers to rescue people reactivate the animated vehicles. They take a busload of passengers to a hospital which is understaffed and overwhelmed when the New Mutants show up. Mirage uses her powers to create solid images of what the head doctor wants - a small army of health care staff to cope with all the patients and a construction crew to rebuild the hospital. Together with Power Pack and the New Mutants they get the hospital into working order until an army unit shows up. Resting the Powers tell the New Mutants about how their parents now know their secret and can't cope with it. Mirage wishes they could help. Power Pack return home to find their parents in an even worse state with Margaret fantasising over a baby doll and Jim rambling on about not being fit parents good enough for their children. Then the New Mutants come in and tell Jim and Margaret that in order to protect their real children from Carmody the Bogeyman they hid them away and created super powered decoys to stop Carmody but didn't realise the parents would be in danger as well or tell them. Mirage pulls images from Jim and Margaret's mind of their desire - their children as normal. Gosamyr uses her powers to convince them then put them to sleep with the four Power Pack children then taking the place of the images then the New Mutants leave them to sleep and wake up with things back to normal.

To cut to the chase this is one of the worst reset switch stories I have ever read. The mistake with the credits will have convinced many readers that someone in Marvel editorial ordered an immediate undoing of the parents discovering their children's powers and assigned a guest writer to carry out the deed, undoing Jon Bogdanove's work. The discovery that actually this issue is written by Bogdanove complicates things but it still seems that some rapid U-turns have been happening. There was a hint on last issue's cover that the children would soon be going away to Professor Xavier's school and the cover of this issue with the children flying off with a suitcase and the New Mutants alongside them would seem to reinforce that plan, though in the issue itself there's no sign of the suitcase. There's a brief moment near the end where the parents have been put to sleep with the images and the real children assume they've been permanently replaced with duplicates as though that might have been part of the plan but that also doesn't match what's shown on the cover.

It's not clear what caused this change back though one factor may be that the planned new setting was now unavailable. This issue would have been published before the destruction of the mansion in Uncanny X-Men #243 which would leave the fate of the school up in the air. Add in the New Mutants' final loss of confidence in their headmaster Magneto after seeing him conversing with N'astirh in New Mutants #73 and it's likely that the school won't be taking in new pupils any time soon. But also there's a total change in the way Jim and Margaret are reacting to the discovery.

Last issue they were initially shocked and in denial when Carmody forced the children to reveal their powers but the parents soon accepted it and showed strength in dealing with the Bogeyman and the children's reaction to him. It's also worth noting that not only do they live in the Marvel Universe where a lot of strange stuff is public knowledge but by this point they've met aliens and superheroes and often had the child of the Fantastic Four over to stay. It was as though they had come to terms with it until a final panel cliffhanger showed their faces suggesting otherwise. Here they are shown experiencing a nervous breakdown and completely failing to cope with the situation. It's such a sudden shift that really isn't convincing as a motivation for the sudden about turn. Both have been shown as so much stronger than this and deserved better. The revelation had been so heavily debated and so built up to that to just suddenly turn around and unscramble the egg is an atrocious decision that suggests the status quo has to be reset all the time. This is a series of children growing up that has been through status quo changes already (whether moving to New York or swapping the powers around) and would do so again during the rest of its run and once committed to it should have built on the revelation with all the potential it offered. Instead this issue just tries to say it was a bad idea to ever make such a move but in doing so it has to undermine the parents in the process.

As for the means by which it's reversed, Mirage's false explanation is an extremely long speech with one of the biggest word to picture ratio ever seen in comics. It's astonishing that anyone would believe a stranger's claim that actually these are artificial duplicates and here are the real children especially as the actual real children's reaction is not in accord with this cover story. It takes a dose of Gosamyr's powers in order to reinforce convincing Jim and Margaret which may be about the only time Gosamyr has been of any use whatsoever but it's in the cause of an awful move to negate such a big development in the series so it does it not excuse the sheer tedium of the awful story that introduced her. A universe were there are many telepaths and magicians offers much easier ways to pull off this sort of reset rather than bizarre explanations and emotional manipulation but finding one with a connection to the Pack at short notice to have this all reversed in a single issue amidst the clearing up after Inferno might have been a bit of a stretch. So instead we get a lousy explanation to implement a lousy reversion.

This is the single worst issue of Power Pack in the book's whole run. Other issues may have silly stories that are best forgotten and the less said about the end of the series the better but this takes a huge development and stops it dead in its tracks through character destruction and a very silly reset method. There's clearly been an element of editorial diktat handed down and it is frustrating when story ideas get vetoed after they've started resulting in these messy U-turns but the result is this mess of an issue.

Power Pack 43 - Inferno

The Bogeyman has captured the Pack's parents and seemingly destroyed the family forever.

Power Pack #43

Jon Bogdanove wrote without distraction
Jon Bogdanove, Sal Velluto penciled to good reaction
Stan Drake, Al Williamson and Company inked in fractions
Joe Rosen lettered-in the captions
Glynis Oliver colored this attraction
Carl Potts can't get no satisfaction
Tom DeFalco Chief of Hoo-Haa Action

Carmody the Bogeyman has captured the Pack's parents and forced the children to reveal their secret powers. He takes off across New York with the four Powers in pursuit but anger and an inability to wait to work together works against them. They come across demons attacking people and pause to deal with them. Meanwhile in space Kofi learns the Kymellians have rebuilt Friday the living smartship but the ship's essence is fading away and nobody can understand why. The Bogeyman climbs the Chrysler Building and taunts Power Pack as they approach and attack. They save their parents but are left uncertain what to do with the Bogeyman who will just keep coming back. In anger Alex determines to kill him but the parents talk the children down and tell them they love them still. The Bogeyman is outraged at this display of familial affection and charges at them but goes over the edge, falling into a raging fire. The children take their parents home as the city seems to be returning to normal.

This issue starts with one of the biggest moments in the entire series - the Powers' parents discovering their children have powers and are using them. Much debated both in the series itself and on the letters page the matter has been forced by the intervention of their revenge seeking archenemy, raising the stakes. Inferno supplies the backdrop to the changes in Carmody and also demons who provide a distraction in the chase but this is a highly personal tale focused on their true worst nightmare.

It's a story of discovery with both Alex and Julie finding new ways to use their powers - Alex can now fire multiple smaller powerballs at the same time and Julie can generate a molecular density field of condensed air - along with the family as a whole discovering about each other. At first Jim and Maggie react in disbelief but when they see their children acting to defend the family they remind them they are still their children and loved no matter what with Maggie even reminding Julie of a past conversation when she said she'd love her even if she could fly. Jim and Maggie have been put through quite a bit over the course of the series without knowing why things keep happening to their family so it makes sense they can understand what's happening and not much of a further stretch that they can accept it. However some will find it far too lubby dubby and can sympathise with the outrage of Carmody as he reacts in disgust, recalls his own harsh childhood and then cannot come to terms with the monster he has become.

However the very end of the issue suggests a different track as the children head out to help with the clear-up operation and the final panel shows their parents in total shock. Was a change forced upon this story that we'll see in the next issue? The cover to this one has a scrap of paper on it with "An introduction to Xavier's Sch... Gifted You..." and the cover to the next issue previewed at the end here shows the four children flying away from their parents with a suitcase and crying with some of the New Mutants in the background. Was there a plan to send them off to Xavier's school and overlap with the New Mutants more often?

At its heart Power Pack is a series about family and this issue challenges the dynamic like nothing before it. The dark world around them is as nothing to the darkness that has invaded their family and it's understandable how the children react in fury rather than thinking calmly, whether it's Katie charging off without the others or Alex determining to kill Carmody. And this is that rare issue that truly changes everything, doing so in spectacular style.

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.

Power Pack 40 - Inferno

Power Pack team up with the New Mutants to rescue Rebecca from the Bogeyman.

Power Pack #40

Written with E.S.P. by Louise Simonson
Penciled A.S.A.P. by Sal Velluto
Inked in his R.V. by Gerry Talaoc
Lettered with H.P. by Joe Rosen
Colored with T.L.C. by Glynis Oliver
Edited in N.Y.C. by Carl Potts
S.W.A.K. by Tom DeFalco

(This issue has been included in the actual Inferno collections but the chronology of the New Mutants' appearances and a caption on the first page place it earlier in the sequence here.)

Following on from last issue the Pack sneak out to hunt for Rebecca but instead run into the New Mutants who are on the same quest. After a brief fight before each team realises who the others are they agree to work together and try an unusual tactic of flushing out Carmody the Bogeyman through sending fake photographs to the police and media. It's amazing how quickly the media accept the photographs as genuine and run them - especially J. Jonah Jameson who is seen receiving one who should know by now to think twice before rushing to print but the tactic works and the Bogeyman soon swoops in to carry off Katie.

The rest of Power Pack and the New Mutants follow to discover that a disgraced ex energy executive has set up his own villain's lair complete with multiple robots and a video screen with which he communicates with the demon N'astirh. Carmody is a bigot but also completely amoral and willing to abandon the Right at the first sign of problems for its leader and is instead seeking to sell Rebecca and Katie to N'astirh who also talks about Carmody's soul. It's an odd exchange unless one assumes Carmody is speaking metaphorically and not realising N'astirh is more literal. But Rebecca is deemed too old and so only Katie interests the demon. The others attack and Illyana eventually throws Carmody into Limbo.

It's surprising how the Bogeyman's fate is just brushed over with Illyana commenting how he's been put "where he deserves to be" without any discussion as to the ethics of the sorceress serving as a one girl judge, jury and executioner. The others return Rebecca to her family and discover how they intend to regain secrecy through moving and changing their name. Meanwhile the Pack decide that it would better to not tell their parents about their secret.

This is another action issue that seeks to step up the threat of the Bogeyman through the revelation of his greater resources and contacts with demons. But it feels slightly off that a man initially motivated solely by anti-mutant bigotry (never realising that the four Power children aren't mutants) is now going down the route of a mutant slave trader and has someone made contact with demons in another dimension. It feels too contrived just to bring Power Pack further into the orbit of the looming Inferno. It's also a bit of a continuity mess as we're introduced to N'astirh's involvement and part of his plan a little too early due to the placing of this issue in the New Mutants' chronology.

This was Louise Simonson's last issue on the series she co-created and she would not return to the Pack until a holiday special at the end of 1991 that sought to wrap things up in a better way than the last issues of the regular series left things. There's no grand conclusion beyond the conversation at the end to decide once and for all on the question of whether the children should tell their parents about their powers. Otherwise it's not the best point to bow out on.

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.

Power Pack 53 - Acts of Vengeance

Another series whose contribution to the crossover is limited is Power Pack. At this point the book came out about every six weeks, had just come through a big storyline in which the children's powers were switched around again and was in a period of creative flux with a succession of fill-in writers including Terry Austin on this issue alongside Ernie Colon drawing his only contribution to the title.

Power Pack #53

Words: Terry Austin
Pictures: Ernie Colon
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colours: Glynis Oliver
Managing Edits: Sara Tuchinsky
Edits: Daniel Chichester
Big Edits: Tom DeFalco

Once again, we find Doctor Doom overseeing an attack on a particular set of heroes, though this time it comes in the form of a report back as he puts Typhoid Mary on a psychiatrist's couch. Since Doom has engaged a mentally unstable psychotic to discover the secrets of the Kymellian technology before killing the Power children, only to have her pursue an alternative course, perhaps the wrong villain is on the couch. It's also notable that Doom, through the Kingpin's files, has had no problem in locating the children, a sign of how they've let their secret identity slip.

At its heart, Power Pack is about a close family and sometimes the greatest threats come from those who would break up the family. Despite the ages of its protagonists (traditionally between five and twelve), this is a series that has never shied away from the darkness of the world around them. So Typhoid Mary may seem a bizarre choice of villain to pitch against them but her style in infiltrating, beguiling and then destroying proves to be the perfect approach for the crossover, if not perhaps for Doctor Doom. It is a little strange though to see her interacting with Alex almost like a girlfriend given their respective ages, though some twelve-year olds are surprisingly tall. Her attempts on the Powers' father are stronger, although a little undermined by Colon's almost cartoon style.

If there's a disappointment to this issue it's that coming straight after the children have switched powers again there should be more acknowledgement of the inexperience of Alex, Jack and Katie (Julie has regained the lightspeed powers again) beyond Alex thinking how he's never tried a particular trick that Julie mastered with the density powers. Still Mary's out of date information proves critical.

Despite this issue not better acknowledging its place in the overall series framework, this is nonetheless a more than okay chapter in the crossover, although let down a little by the art.

Power Pack #53 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)

Essential X-Men volume 6

Essential X-Men volume 6 comprises Uncanny X-Men #199 to #213 and Annual #9 plus New Mutants #46 and Special Edition #1, X-Factor #9 to #11, Thor #373 to #374 and Power Pack #27. Chris Claremont writes all the X-Men and New Mutants issues, Louise Simonson the X-Factor and Power Pack issues and Walter Simonson the Thor issues. The art on the regular X-Men issues is mainly by John Romita Jr with individual issues by Rick Leonardi, June Brigman, Barry Windsor-Smith, Bret Blevins and Alan Davis with the annual by Arthur Adams. The New Mutants regular edition is drawn by Jackson Guice and the Special Edition by Arthur Adams. The X-Factor issues are drawn by Terry Shoemaker and Walter Simonson, the Power Pack issue by Jon Bogdanove and the Thor issues by Sal Buscema. And yes, there's a separate labels post.

This volume contains material from three different crossovers and they represent almost the full spectrum of types. There's what is basically a crossover between annuals that amounts to just a couple of specials telling a combined story. There's a big event crossover based around a limited series with other titles just dipping in to the story for a short period. And there's a storyline told over several ongoing titles.

The annual is the second half of a crossover with the New Mutants Special Edition. This was originally planned as an annual but turned out to be so long it was instead put out in the deluxe format of the day. This avoided the problems of graphic novels as it wasn't too much more expensive than a regular annual, would be easier to find in later years and also reproduces well in black and white. Unfortunately, this extension now means that the second issue in the volume features a team of characters who are largely unfamiliar to the regular X-Men series and the story takes an age to wade through. Worse still it's placed after a dramatic issue ending as Magneto agrees to go to trial and even though the length of time it takes to set up a trial makes this the natural place for the story (and the trial issue shows the return to Earth) it still feels like an obstacle in the path of the story rather than a crucial step forward. The tale sees Loki allied with the Enchantress to seek revenge on Storm and the X-Men but instead Storm is currently with the holidaying New Mutants and so all are transported to Asgard. The Special Edition naturally focuses on the New Mutants in this different environment but whatever its merits as a New Mutants tale here it's just an extended character study of unfamiliar characters. The X-Men annual brings our regular cast into the story but for the most part they're just exploring Asgard and rescuing the New Mutants from the changes Loki and the Enchantress have brought. Storm is also transformed and given both a hammer and weather powers to take the place of the absent Thor as the new goddess of thunder. It's an intriguing idea but it isn't explored as fully as it could be, with Ororo one of many characters distorted by the magic around them. Other good points include the prospect of the New Mutants staying in Asgard where they are accepted rather than returning to a world that fears and hates them. But ultimately this doesn't really feel like an X-Men story but an intruder from another series. Beyond seeing Rachel publicly adopt the name "Phoenix", to Cyclops's displeasure, this is an entirely forgettable crossover in the way of the main narrative. The art is, however, highly effective, helped by having Arthur Adams draw both parts. There are even some fun pop culture references including Warlock's disguises as the Starship Enterprise and Hägar the Horrible.

Issues #202 & #203 are crossovers with the later stages of Secret Wars II. Crossover issues for this event can be mixed, ranging from the Beyonder merely passing through the events of a regular issue to an incoherent mess as he gets needlessly involved in ongoing storylines to something spectacular when the encounter is used to explore the regular characters in-depth in such unusual circumstances. Here we get a two-part story focused upon Rachel as she sets out to destroy the Beyonder who instead enhances her power and manipulates her into attempting to destroy the whole universe. The parallels with Jean's descent into all-powerful madness are all too clear, especially when Rachel nearly uses the M'Kraan crystal as her main instrument of destruction. Eventually she relents, realising she cannot sacrifice so many lives who are unaware of their situation. It's a strong character study of Rachel and a chance to bring redemption to the legacy of Phoenix at a time when other titles were resurrecting Jean Grey and decoupling her from the power. This is one of the best of the Secret Wars II crossovers.

The "Mutant Massacre" was the first big crossover between various mutant titles and various satellites; the latter consisting of those also written by various mutant writers. It's surprising to find the whole thing collected here (bar a rather detached Daredevil issue) as the X-Men and X-Factor are kept apart throughout this volume and Essential X-Factor volume 1, which was released the same year, only the X-Factor side of the crossover is included. We also get an early example of the mess that can come when crossovers try to show the same even from different angles as a scene where Magneto and X-Factor spot each other outside the Hellfire Club has noticeably different dialogue in each series. The event itself is rather unsatisfying as a group of killers called the Marauders make their way into the Morlocks' tunnels under New York City and start killing the mutant residents. No clear reason is given for the action at this stage and the Marauders are mainly a set of previously unseen mutants, including Arclight, Blockbuster, Harpoon, Malice, Prism, Riptide, Scalphunter and Scrambler. They do, however, also include Vertigo and Sabretooth. The actual victims of the attack are surprisingly less than the story implies, largely amounting to just one established character, Annalee, and a whole bunch of background extras and one-offs created just to be killed off here. All the other established Morlocks are shown escaping, though some may now end up in one new home or another. As an event it's rather tame in the broader impact on the world. But as a character piece this is a desperate time. Few of the heroes who go into the tunnels emerge unscathed and by the story's end Nightcrawler, Colossus and Shadowcat are all incapacitated in one way or another whilst Storm undergoes a crisis of confidence. And the story introduces the conflict between Wolverine and his best-known foe, Sabretooth.

The Wolverine/Sabretooth conflict has become such a core part of both characters that it's extraordinary to realise that both had been around for about a decade before they were first shown fighting together. It seems the problem was that Sabretooth was deemed an Iron Fist villain and thus unavailable to Chris Claremont after he left that character's series, but with Power Man and Iron Fist having come to an end only a few months earlier it was now possible to transfer Sabretooth over to X-Men. The series doesn't waste time in throwing the two foes against each other twice in as many issues and dropping hints about a longstanding enmity between them. Neither character's full history has been detailed, leaving many mysteries to be addressed another time, but it seems we have a conflict between a hero and a distorted reflection of himself. Given the little we do know about Wolverine's past we have perhaps the conflict between a tamed savage and an untamed one, showing the very different route Wolverine could have taken.

Another Wolverine conflict appearing in the X-Men titles for the first time here is that with Lady Deathstrike, previously seen in Alpha Flight and, in her pre-cyborg form of Yuriko, in Daredevil and other titles. However despite Yuriko's body being transformed by Spiral as, presumably, part of her ongoing plans, the issue (#205) feels like an emergency filler, as does its immediate predecessor where Nightcrawler rescues a young woman from Arcade's complex only to discover she's unknowingly the heir to a European throne. She's written out so quickly it's as though plans were made and rapidly ditched.

The issues in this run are from the era when the X-Men titles grew into a clear franchise with the launch of a third title, X-Factor, as well as continuing to feed elements between X-Men and New Mutants. Both throw up a few problems within this volume. Although the New Mutants are usually introduced when they appear it can at times be confusing to know what's going on over in their title that feeds into this one. In particular Magneto seems to spend most of his time as the school's new headmaster over there rather than here, reducing the impact of his now working with his old foes. More problematically Betsy Braddock seems to just appear in the mansion from nowhere and has presumably been imported from the UK Captain Britain stories via the New Mutants. The "Mutant Massacre" sees her demonstrating her telepathic abilities and courage to the point where the very last page in the book shows her being welcomed to the team under the name Psylocke, but it would have been less jarring if there had been some explanation as to where she's come from and what she's doing in the mansion.

The biggest impact in the long term comes from the launch of X-Factor. Issue #201 represents X-Men's contribution to the heavy lifting required to set up that series as Cyclops is written out abruptly. At the same time he has to face now being a father himself but also the loss of his main father figure as Professor X is stuck in deep space with Lilandra and the Starjammers. He feels his family pulling in direction but the team in another, a situation made worse by his apparent lack of interest in keeping in contact with Madelyne whilst he was in Paris for Magneto's trial. Finally Storm forces the issue by challenging Cyclops to a duel for the leadership and surprisingly wins. This proves the impetus for his departure but the whole thing feels forced, trying to simultaneously extract Scott from both the team and his family and support his characterisation in the new series. It makes the newly born baby boy (so far unnamed) suddenly feel surplus to requirements along with Madelyne. The whole thing all feels very sudden and forced, as later interviews have confirmed that X-Factor was created by editorial dictat. Also complicating this series is the publicity campaign in the early issues of X-Factor that inadvertently ramps up anti-mutant tensions.

The other main loose end with Scott concerns Rachel as it's never established if he's deduced that she is his daughter from an alternate timeline. Also, in light of the retcon that set-up X-Factor, it's never made clear just who her mother actually was - the real Jean or the Phoenix entity that impersonated her? Rachel is succumbing to doubts, fears and revenge leading her to go on a rampage that nearly has her killing the villain Selene until Wolverine intervenes and stabs Rachel. It's a shocking moment but seemingly the only way to prevent the Phoenix menace taking off once more. Rachel survives but is alienated from the X-Men and succumbs to the lures of Spiral.

The dark world that Rachel comes from seems to be getting ever closer in many different ways. Early on we see other mutants starting to work for the government as mutant hunters when Mystique negotiates for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to become the government sanctioned agency Freedom Force, complete with provisional pardons for all its members. Meanwhile Magneto's alliance with the X-Men takes some big steps forward as he surrenders himself for trial before an international court and then after the trial is derailed by terrorist attacks he accepts Xavier's request to take his place as headmaster as Xavier goes off into space to be healed from his recent injuries. It's a bold step forward though as noted above Magneto is featured less in the volume than one might expect though he is shown mulling over an offer of a rank within the Hellfire Club as an alliance between the Club and the X-Men; however this doesn't seem to go anywhere here. Nevertheless it's a sign of how the X-Men's world is twisting into an ever-darker environment in which the "baddies" are now either on the "good" side or the side of authority - and the two are not always the same. Meanwhile Professor X, hitherto the guiding light of the team, finds himself accidentally lost in space when the Starjammers' ship is unable to return to Earth.

This is actually quite a bleak run for the series, breaking down traditional assumptions and instead presenting a dark world where sides are now far more blurred and death is ever closer. The reformation of Magneto is seemingly complete and his replacing Xavier is a dramatic step but one that has been carefully built up to. Less well handled are some issues in the middle of the run with the rapid writing out of Cyclops and the starting then stopping of the story of Nightcrawler's new friend. The two big crossovers covered here provide some strong character moments for the series but overall the "Mutant Massacre" is based on a rather thin premise that makes it less than stellar. Also underwhelming for its length is the annual Asgard crossover due to the excessive time devoted to the unfamiliar to here New Mutants at a critical stage in the book. Overall the result is a somewhat mixed run.

Sidesteps: Power Pack Classic volume 3

Power Pack Classic volume 3 contains issues #18 to #26, plus Thor #363. Almost all the Power Pack issues are written by Louise Simonson, with the exception of issue #21 which is by Terry Austin. They are drawn by a mix of Brent Anderson, Jon Bogdanove, Bob McLeod and Scott Williams. The Thor issue is written and drawn by Walter Simonson.

There's still a strong element of the rest of the Marvel universe at the start of this volume, but after issue #20 the guest appearances drop away to cameos except for issue #26. But in the first three issues we get in succession a Secret Wars II crossover that is also half of a crossover with Thor (although Thor himself doesn't appear until his own series), then a double-sized Thanksgiving special that sees return appearances for Cloak and Dagger, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde (billed on the cover as such - did she ever get a consistent identity?), Beta Ray Bill, and Annalee and Leech from the Morlocks. Then issue #20 sees a team-up with the New Mutants Cannonball, Mirage and Wolfsbane. After that the guest appearances drop away to cameos, even though some are highlighted on the cover such as Spider-Man (#21) and the Fantastic Four (#23), but the final issue in the volume sees Cloak and Dagger appear once more. Some of the intervening issues take the children away from Earth, but even those set on it are focused on the regular characters rather than endless guest stars. As a further step towards giving all the Power children plenty of space there's a somewhat rotated reduced usage of Franklin, Kofi and Friday. What's also nice about the Secret Wars II crossover is that it actually has repercussions on the series as a whole, with the Powers' mother badly injured by the rampage of Kurse, and subsequent issues explore how the family react to this.

A common theme throughout these issues is of the development of powers and self-confidences. Kofi steadily learns how to refine his ability to teleport and take others with him, as well as finally learning why his father Yrik is hostile towards him. Franklin's powers steadily develop to the point where he has occasional precognition even while awake and is successful at preventing the foreseen disasters. He also proves able to use control his dream powers to the point where he direct himself, see the present and even interact with others via astral projection. At the same time he continues to feel abandoned by his parents (though in part because they go off searching for him) but comes to be ever more part of the Power Pack family. But Alex and Katie get some of the strongest material. Their mother was injured whilst buying materials for Alex's school project, and he blames himself, getting angrier and angrier with himself and with others. To add to the tensions is his poor handling of his relationship with fellow school pupil Allison, and the rivalry from Johnny Rival. It climaxes when sledding in the park when Alex saves Allison from going under ice, but then uses his gravity powers in a fight with Johnny. Alex's attitude to the others is poor at times, especially Katie who feels pushed around at often used as little more than a gun, making her hate her energy powers. Things climax on the Snark homeworld in issue #25.

Before then we see the Power family coping with the shock of Margaret's hospitalisation with Professor James Power particularly hard hit and the children left over more to their own devices. This contributes to a number of stories such as a hospital vigil when they encounter monsters from the realm of Limbo and Mirage of the New Mutants fights off the arrival of death for Margaret. Issue #19 is a double-sized special for Thanksgiving, in which Katie organises a party for the team's friends, to the annoyance of Alex and Julie who think it inappropriate, and Katie also successfully diverts a parade balloon to the hospital in the hope that it will cheer up her mother. Meanwhile Leech has annoyed Annalee, who has the power to project her emotions onto others. Cue much chaos all round. Another tale sees the author of Katie's favourite books kidnapped and it falls to Jack and Katie to rescue her.

However there is one major storyline steadily built up to and it pays off well. The Snark Empire is consumed by a power struggle as the Emperor's health fades, and one of the Queen Mothers (a title that here indicates the mothers of the princes who struggle to become Emperor, rather than the widow of the previous one) is seeking weapons to ensure her son will win the conflict to succeed him. Issues in the earlier volumes have already touched upon the struggle, including the origin story, but now we get a strong struggle on Snarkworld itself as the four Power children are kidnapped with the intention of stealing their powers to transfer to Prince Jakal. In the ensuing conflict everyone, including Franklin, Kofi and Friday, have to face the ultimate challenge but they eventually win through. However in the process they lose their powers and gain different ones.

This was the first of several power transfers throughout the history of the team and offers a degree of diversity. Although new codenames aren't used in these issues, Alex now has the energy powers, Julie the density powers, Jack the gravity powers and Katie the lightspeed powers. This resolves the problem of Katie hating what she can do with her energy powers and Alex feeling he has to bully her to use them, but also offers new possibilities for the issues to come. However the storyline also sees the destruction of Friday, and it's uncertain if he or she can be repaired, whilst Kofi reconciles with his father in the epilogue and returns to the Kymellian homeworld. Meanwhile the Power children return to their parents, with their mother now out of hospital, for a warm welcome home - and a meal of James's much hated lentil soup! It's a good moment on which the volume ends.

I previously wrote that I had no information about the series' sales and in particular any indication as to whether it was especially popular in channels most traditionally associated with children. So it's surprising to see at the end of issue #25 a note announcing the series will be "in a new bi-monthly format available only in comics specialty [sic] shops and through subscription!" Dropping in frequency is usually a sign of weak sales all round, whilst abandoning the newsstands would suggest that the title didn't have a particular reach amongst younger readers. I stress "suggest" because I still have no information about subscriptions and this was a general period when the overall American comics market was shifting so that comic shops rather than newsstands were the primary source of sales (for a whole load of reasons beyond this post's scope, this didn't really happen with British comics although many specialist shops existed here for imports of American comics) so a book going direct market only meant less then than in earlier years. And a common criticism is that comic shops were, and some still are, inaccessible to younger children, often being located away from the main shopping centres where they're unlikely to be seen and frequently doing little to encourage children, or some parents, to go inside.

(Although the note at the end of issue #25 suggests the series was in trouble, it would last until issue #62 and some of the changes were at least partially reversed. From issue #33 onwards the frequency was increased to nine issues a year. The cover design from issue #40 onwards indicates that the series had returned to newstands.)

The art for the most part in these issues holds up well and manages to remember that the stars are children, not tiny adults. However at times John Bogdanove draws Franklin a little too young for my liking, and in some long shots he is rather cartoony. Otherwise the art brings everything to life vividly. There is one standout error in page order when two pages in issue #24 (pages 209 & 210) are printed in reverse order but I don't know if that was an error in the original issue or created by the tradepaperback. Otherwise the reproduction is excellent.

Overall this is a petty solid volume that shows the series at what should have been its height, but sales had other ideas. Nevertheless this is a good set of adventures featuring a highly likeable set of characters in a diverse set of situations - what should be a natural combination but which takes real talent to pull off. Never once does the series forget that it stars children but there's no dumbing down - instead the world and universe they're in is shown to be a place of both joy and fear, of wonder and terror, of tragedy and triumph. The series is very underrated.

(Unfortunately this may be it for Power Pack issues. A fourth volume was due to be released earlier this year, taking the series up to issue #36 and over the half-way point, but it was cancelled late in the day. This probably also means the series won't be Essentialised anytime soon even if Marvel didn't have a policy of trying to avoid overlaps between the Classics and Essentials. However a number of individual issues from later in the run have been included in various collected editions handling crossovers.)

Sidesteps: Power Pack Classic volume 2

Power Pack Classic volume 2 has within it issues #11 to #17, plus Uncanny X-Men #195 and the graphic novel Power Pack and Cloak & Dagger: Shelter from the Storm. All the Power Pack issues are written by Louise Simonson, with the Uncanny X-Men issue by Chris Claremont and the graphic novel by Bill Mantlo. All but one of the Power Pack issues are drawn by June Brigman with a fill-in by Brent Anderson. The Uncanny X-Men issue is drawn by John Romita Jr and the graphic novel by Sal Velluto. The graphic novel was actually published in 1989 whereas the regular issues in this volume are from 1985, but the status quo it presents can only fit into the early years of the series, as we'll see when looking at a future volume.

In my review of volume 1, I criticised the excessive number of guest appearances by the rest of the Marvel universe, at least one in every issue once the family moved to New York. The situation is slightly improved here as, discounting Franklin Richards and Jarvis (the Avengers' butler - at this point the Baxter Building had been destroyed, forcing the Fantastic Four to temporarily stay with the Avengers) since one is a new member and the other part of his existing status quo, there are only appearances by other heroes in issues #12 & #15, albeit with some slack picked up by the Uncanny X-Men issue and the graphic novel. The only villains from outside the series are the Morlocks in the first two issues and the X-Men crossover. Otherwise the series spends some time developing its own recurring villains in the forms of both the Snarks and the Bogey-Man, their father's ex-boss embittered by his downfall and now donning battle armour in a one-man war against the children.

Whilst issue #12 leads into a crossover with Uncanny X-Men, with the latter included here, issue #15 follows up on an issue of Thor that isn't in the collection. It's easy to work out the necessary details without out, but it's another sign of how the series can be over integrated with the rest of the Marvel universe. Issue #15 also has one of the most misleading covers, with Beta Ray Bill prominently shown yet he's only on one page and doesn't interact with the children. Another omission is Fantastic Four #282, the first half of which began the process of introducing a new member (although where possible it would probably best be truncated as the second half of the issue is both a Secret Wars II crossover and the middle part of a major Psycho-Man storyline). However once again the issues here move at a pace that means it possible to not even realise the dreams Franklin refers to had actually been shown.

Power Pack issues #16-17 see the addition to the team of Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who takes the codename of "Tattletale". Being even younger than Katie it would be tempting to see this as a "Cousin Oliver" move (and he's a cute blond kid to boot), but in his two issues collected here he holds his own well, even when fighting with Katie over silly stuff, and is endearing rather than annoying. But despite the feud, and her jealousy at no longer being the youngest one and thus special, she suggests letting him join them. (Franklin's somewhat limited ageing has been a source of much fan comment over the years so it would be interesting to look at latter day adventures involving both him and other Power siblings see at what different rates they've aged relative to each other.) His available powers are primarily the ability to see the future in his dreams but this proves critical in allowing the team (as we must now call them since he isn't related to the others) to quickly locate the other new arrival, Kofi Whitemane, a young Kymellian from the same family as Aelfyre "Whitey" Whitemane, who gave the Power siblings their abilities in the first place. Kofi is an interesting addition, reinforcing the alien connection of the children's powers but as a youngster himself he is still on a learning curve, and is sometimes surprised at how the Power siblings have managed to adapt their powers. Including Friday, seven is probably the maximum size for a team book before it becomes unwieldy, but fortunately the smartship only appears from time to time. As Franklin only gets his costume and codename at the end of the last regular issue in this volume, it's not yet possible to see how the series can handle such an expanded cast.

The series deals with some surprisingly mature themes and demonstrates that regardless of the characters' ages this is not a kiddie title. We see the siblings facing the horrors of kidnapping, the shock of waking up to find no-one recognises them and the horror of having both bodies and minds twisted so that they will no longer remember who they truly are. There's exploration of how loss can leave people twisted and angry with the world, whether the Morlock Annalee mourning her children, Batman Bates mourning a baseball career cut short by war, or Carmody the Bogey-Man, Professor Power's ex boss, mourning his life before the children destroyed the anti-matter converter. The kids face more down to earth problems as well such as school rivalries that see bullies manipulate situations to get others into trouble and unjustly punished, or the horrors that lurk in the sewers such as alligators. Throughout it all they retain a spirit of adventure but never drift into naivety. However there is one point where it would be nice if the series did go out of its way to explain something. Issue #13 sees the children go to a baseball match where Jack's hero's record is under threat, but heroes can often turn out to not be all one expects. It's a sombre tale of hope, failure and expectations, but it's a little hard to follow at times if one knows nothing about the rules of baseball and just what is happening in the game at any given moment.

The volume concludes with a graphic novel from 1989. Now I'm generally rather biased against graphic novels. Often they seem to be excessively priced - this one had a cover price of US $7.95 at a time when the regular series went for about $1.00 - and never have anything like as much story as the price indicates. Sometimes the art and more sophisticated colour can make up for this a bit (and in a colour reprint such as here the reproduction works, whereas the black & white Essentials haven't been kind at all to graphic novels) but nowhere enough to justify all the extra expense. Fortunately many of them are inconsequential and can be ignored if one wishes, but occasionally they're a core part of the continuity so have to be read if one is to get the complete story (and in the days of collecting back issues mainly via comic shops, past graphic novels were particularly difficult to locate). They're also often a pain to store, especially the Marvel ones from the 1980s which used an unusual page size. Of course when they come in collected editions the only real question is whether they consume space unnecessarily but here they take up the space that would otherwise have been given to only a couple of issues. Still it's hard to set aside one's dislikes of the format completely. Despite the order of billing, this is really a Cloak and Dagger story at heart, written by their co-creator, with Power Pack not even appearing until nearly halfway through. It focuses on the plight of runaways, showing two teenagers, one escaping a violent and abusive parent, the other an overprotective one. They find themselves in the darkness of the city where even supportive shelters contain their own dangers due to competition for numbers for funding and where life isn't the great escape they expected. At the heart of one shelter is a twisted man with the power to absorb others' life-force, a side effect of drugs that failed to cure his disease. There are clear parallels with the lives of Cloak and Dagger, with a look at the ethics of the former as he struggles to control his hunger for light. Amidst all this the Power siblings are very much sidelined, primarily only serving to locate where Dagger has been taken, and the story could easily have been told without them. It's not a bad Cloak and Dagger tale but it's a utterly unnecessary Power Pack one and could easily have been left out in favour of a few more issues from the regular series. It's also unusual in being set some years earlier than when it was published - was this either a conscious reaction against later developments, a delay in production or a writer returning after a break from regular Marvel work who was out of touch with recent developments? (The last one is unlikely as Mantlo's regular comic writing had ended only a year earlier when his run on Alpha Flight concluded, and he instead focused on his legal career. I think this graphic novel was the last comic he wrote, though until 1993 occasional other stories saw print in the various inventory series Marvel Fanfare and Marvel Super-Heroes.)

The graphic novel aside, this collection shows the series coming along well and developing its own mythology. The guest appearances have also been cut down, removing distractions and allowing the series' own characters to grow and develop. Whilst no individual issue or storyline leaps out as especially spectacular, overall it's a pretty solid volume that continues to put the children through a diverse set of situations that make them more than meet their potential.

Sidesteps: Power Pack Classic volume 1

Power Pack Classic volume 1 contains issues #1 to #10 of the original series. As bonus material it reproduces a page with biographies of the creators, presumably from issue #1, and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entries for all four children and the team as a whole. (This is potentially confusing as the individual entries cover the children as they are here but the team entry includes details from issues in later volumes.) All the issues are written by Louise Simonson and most are drawn by June Brigman with individual fill-ins by Mary Wiltshire and Brent Anderson, and layouts on one issue by Mark Badger.

All too often attempts to create different types of heroes instead just produce grown white men with breasts/different skin colours/different sized bodies. It can make the resulting strip disappointing. But here we get a series that looks and feels like it features ordinary children. Louise Simonson's brief biography in the first issue mentions both her love of children's literature (to the point of spending much of her childhood with her nose in a book - a trait passed on to Julie) and her daughter Juliana (presumably the source of Julie's name unless someone else came up with that) suggesting a strong understanding of children and it shows. Similarly, June Brigman's biography mentions her work drawing quick pastel pictures for the public, with portraits of children commonly requested. This combined experience shows as the Power siblings look and sound like real children - maybe slightly rounded and idealised as with much fiction, but a far cry from the "little adults" that so often appear.

The first four issues also feel different in another way in that they're set in an undefined (unless I've missed a caption), almost idyllic location. Again, this feels reminiscent of a lot of children's literature that is set in a place that could be many readers' own homes or else a holiday destination. The Power family home may be a house by a beach with the surrounding settlement not shown until issue #5, but it's not hard to see elements familiar to many readers that brings the story close to home in a way that setting it in a world famous city with familiar landmarks wouldn't necessarily do so. Unfortunately issue #5 initiates that very such move but more on that below. In the meantime, we have a take on a familiar tale of children on their own discovering something incredible and being drawn into the excitement and magic of it all. But this is no mere retread of stories by the likes of E. Nesbit though it's not hard to spot the influence (several siblings in an undefined by real place encountering the fantastical within that environment). Instead the series has a surprisingly hard edge, shown most vividly in the first issue where the children find themselves in the middle of conflict between two alien races, and the kind alien who rescues them dies in the process.

The opening storyline is pretty self-contained and may have been conceived as a standalone mini-series to try out the characters before committing to an ongoing title (in the same year this was tried with the West Coast Avengers whilst immediate popularity saw the Transformers limited series converted into an ongoing title). As a result the origin story worked well when I first read it in the earlier Origin Album trade paperback and it holds up just as well here. The first issue introduces all the characters and situation and so we embark on a journey as the kids learn about their powers and face repeated danger. It's also a clever move that the children don't immediately gasp the full extent of their powers and subsequent issues show them learning how to control them better, particularly Alex whose powers don't come with directional controls.

What's also surprising about the opening four issues is the complete absence of guest stars from the rest of the Marvel universe, especially as none of the characters had been seen before. It helps to add to the novelty and freshness of the series. Unfortunately as the series progresses this point is tossed to the wind when the family move to New York at the end of issue #5, with issues #6-8 featuring a team-up with Cloak & Dagger and also a guest appearance by Spider-Man, whilst #9-10 feature Marrina, from the pages of Alpha Flight. Yes the Marvel universe is a shared one, and such encounters a regular part, but they don't need to happen all the time. And in what is still a new series they can cramp the space needed for the star characters to develop and grow. And with the exception of Spider-Man the guest stars are all relatively obscure so it's hard to see any of their appearances as being motivated by boosting the series's exposure and sales. So just why are they needed?

The situations and foes are a mixture of the familiar and the new, with the siblings and allies facing threats such as hostile aliens, militaristic businessmen, agents of a government body, would be crime lords and monsters with enhanced powers. It's a strong mixture of scenarios and the series doesn't kiddify itself when presenting a drug lord or covering the origin of Cloak and Dagger. We also see the four siblings handling the problems of ordinary kids - keeping secrets from their parents, enduring boring trips with relatives, adjusting to a new school and so forth. It all helps to round them out.

As for the children themselves, we get four well-rounded siblings who each have distinctive personalities. Katie/Energizer is the youngest and most innocent but also the most optimistic; she's also wound up with the most difficult to control power. At the other end of the scale Alex/Gee also has powers that are hard to control and some of his attempts are quite amusing. Then there's Jack/Mass Masters, the grumpy younger boy who can control his powers but initially thinks his are the most useless; however over time he discovers more and more uses for them. Finally there's Julie/Lightspeed, the older girl who almost always has her head in a book and who can move and fly fast. With separate personalities and powers each is clearly distinctive and offers more than their own. In most of their adventures they have help from Friday, a sentient Kymellian smartship (a running gag is that no one is sure what Friday's gender is, leading to arguments about the correct pronouns). The main supporting cast are their parents, who are supportive and caring but ignorant of their children's powers.

These first ten issues show a bold new idea hit the ground running. Unfortunately some of the early momentum is wasted when the series moves to New York and begins a run of guest stars who often distract rather than enhance the stories they're in. But the basic concept is quite novel for Marvel and the execution works well. This is a title that may evoke themes from children's literature but it isn't written purely for readers the same age as the stars. Rather this is a title that can be enjoyed by all ages and fit alongside other, more convention superhero series.

Power Pack - an introduction

It's time for a look at a series that deserves at least one Essential volume but instead has to do with other collected editions for now...

I've had limited experience of Power Pack over the years. As a child I only read a couple of issues of Marvel UK's ThunderCats and none of Star Wars. Although Power Pack was a back-up strip in both titles either it wasn't in the issues I saw or I simply forgot about it. Then when I first got into US comics directly (as opposed to experiencing them via the various UK reprint titles) it was the early 1990s and their series had ended by then. About the only time I can recall seeing any of the Power siblings in then-current comics was an appearance by Alex as "Power Pax" in the New Warriors when they showed up in the Spider-Man crossover "Maximum Clonage". Of all the Spider-Man storylines to be first sighted in, that one is amongst the worst. (I did see rather a lot of Franklin Richards in many titles, but those appearances almost never reference his Power Pack days and in any case he was long established so doesn't count in this regard.) The 2000 mini-series is one of many that seems to have completely slipped me by.

I have, however, encountered a small number of back issues in one form or another. Issue #18 is a crossover with Secret Wars II and whilst I was picking that up I came across a surprisingly cheap good quality copy of the 1988 Origin Album trade paperback which reprinted the first four issues. The team also made a few other appearances in the period around Secret Wars II that I saw, such as in Thor and Fantastic Four. Later on I found the special one-shot with Spider-Man dealing with sexual abuse, and more recently issue #27 is part of the "Mutant Massacre" crossover and so has popped up in both Essential X-Factor volume 1 and Essential X-Men volume 6.

At first glance it's curious that Power Pack hasn't had any Essential volumes yet, especially as a modern day revival has been quite successful in digest form. One possible explanation is that the modern series are a new continuity. Another could be the different age target (more on this below). But a third is the release of the early part of the series in the Classic format, and the success of those books. I forget where exactly I saw it, but I've seen sources stating that the Essentials sometimes rely on other collected editions with higher budgets doing the ground work in creating new masters of the material. There's also a desire to avoid too many overlapping releases. And the success or failure of the Classics may determine whether or not demand is perceived for an Essential release.

There's a general presumption about children's fiction that children generally aren't interested in the adventures of those younger than themselves. How true this is I'm not sure. As a child I was a voracious reader of many of Enid Blyton's mystery and adventure series but largely stopped reading them before I was as old as the youngest of the children (although ages weren't always spelt out, particularly when the series accumulated a dozen or more books). However that stopping was in part down to a teacher who imposed a "Blyton Ban" (without explaining why - she was terrible at explaining things) when I was eight years old and I drifted towards other books before realising the ban was no longer in force. On the other hand I read most of the Chronicles of Narnia books when I was a year or two older than the ages of the youngest children involved but I can't remember the ages being specified (and the BBC adaptations of 1988-1990 cast all of the children with actors older than me and sometimes older than the conventional ages given in the books). With most children's television I was either younger than the major characters or not home from school in time.

How does this impact on the comics industry? I'm from a country where, for good or for bad, comics, by which I should probably specify the publishing format, have the reputation of being for children (to the point that manga, graphic novels and even trade paperbacks somewhat stand aside from the term and even series like 2000 AD or the reprints of US Marvel & DC superheroes can now be found amongst the sci-fi/cult magazines rather than with other comics in most W.H. Smith's, in a change from when I was a child). The reasons behind this are many and generally beyond the scope of the post, but I do wonder if part of this is down to the predominance in the popular mind of titles either featuring children and/or tying in with children's television and toys. It's notable that for most of their history the US superhero comics have generally shied away from titles starring children - there were some examples in the early years, most obviously Captain Marvel (although even he is a boy who transforms into a man), but most either faded away or grew older. By the 1960s most of the DC child versions and sidekicks, like Superboy or Robin, were teens rather than children, whilst over at Marvel the youngest heroes were also at least in high school. Titles starring pre-teen children just don't seem to have existed for decades before Power Pack.

So just who is Power Pack aimed at? The advert for the series says "for readers of all generations" and the series is surprisingly multi-levelled. Children can presumably identify with the characters who face the problems of sibling rivalry, keeping secrets from parents, enduring trips with relatives, the travails of school and more that children know all too well. The secretly-young-at-heart can identify as well, whilst parents may warm to the series also. But I suspect many teenagers and above at the time may have found it embarrassing to be seen buying and reading the series. This is a pity because the series works on another level too, exploring some quite deep themes without trivialising them. I'd be fascinated to see the precise breakdown of the original series's sales as whilst the figures don't tell everything, there are indications that subscriptions disproportionately go to the young (either as gifts or because they don't have easy transport access to comic shops) and newsstand sales skew younger than the direct market. If these assumptions are true (and that's a big if) and the complete data is available (another big if because the Statement of Ownerships don't go into that level whilst the series was published in an era of multiple direct market distributors) then it may be possible to get an idea of at least which markets the title did best in. However none of the sales data directly records the age of buyers, let alone readers, so we will never know exactly who was reading it.

But regardless of who was reading the series in the 1980s, or who buys and reads the modern version, there are now three Classic volumes of the series (and a fourth was scheduled earlier this year but then withdrawn - hopefully it will one day materialise) with the first twenty-six issues of the series and some associated crossovers. It's time for a look at one of Marvel's more unusual teams.