The Punisher Annual 1 - The Evolutionary War

The Punisher encounters an Evolutionary War on Drugs.

(Due to the large number of creators the labels for some have been put in a separate post.)

The Punisher Annual #1

1st story: Evolutionary Jihad
Script: Mike Baron
Pencils: Mark Texeira
Inks: Scott Williams
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Janet Jackson
Edits: Carl Potts
Eliminator in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The problem with a line wide crossover, or at least one encompassing all the series with annuals, is that it's going to take in some extremely different series with very different power levels and perspectives. Both this annual and the next one demonstrate the extremities of this as they take in what were in 1988 Marvel's hottest new series.

The Punisher had been running for less than a year when this first annual came along and so it's very likely The Evolutionary War was approved before it was realised there would be an encounter on such a scale. The nature  of this crossover overall is such that individual events can be easily added or dropped from the overall plan but the different power levels can result in some very strange aspects to the plan.

The solution here is to tell a relatively straightforward typical Punisher story in which one faction is armed with high tech weaponry. The High Evolutionary's Eliminators aren't that much more advanced than some of the other more technological foes the Punisher and so don't feel out of place here whilst the Evolutionary himself is never seen, only mentioned. However the goal in this annual is ridiculous.

Here the High Evolutionary has launched a war on drugs and comments by his Eliminators imply that they're going after the whole chain from producers all the way through to users. It just feels absurd that such a broad target would be selected for such physical resources. It would be easy to refine the target to some particular drug variant only grown in the vicinity but as it stands it's an unbelievable goal. Still the practical result is that the Punisher gets to fight some hi-tech guys in Colombia.

This is yet another tale of a fight with a  Latin American drug baron, a cliche even at the time. However Mike Baron's script gives some good development to "El Caiman", presenting him as also a devoted father and popular philanthropist who has done far more for the local people than their own government. He and the Punisher end up in an alliance of convenience against the Eliminators and there's a real sense that they've come to respect one another enough that they'll let each go when the threat is removed. However both know that this cannot be and so when they find themselves in El Caiman's aquarium at the end the Punisher has no option but to fire a bullet to break the glass and feed the drug lord to his own pet from whom he takes his nickname.

As a Punisher story this is a good one-off tale that doesn't require an in-depth knowledge of the character and his continuity to understand it. But as a chapter in The Evolutionary War it's struggling to disguise just how difficult it is to fit that event into this series. The Evolutionary's goals are just too unrealistic to make sense.


2nd story: 3 Hearts
Writer: Roger Salick
Artist: Mike Bosburg
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Colorist: Max Scheele

This solo tale for Microchip is named after a Japanese proverb that a person has three hearts - the one they show to the world, the one they keep to themselves and the one they don't even know about. Microchip finds out what he is capable of when he goes to the help of the widow of an old friend whose new husband has become an assassin for hire and is even trying to kill his wife lest she report him. Although Microchip has developed many weapons for others, here we see his private nervousness over whether he himself can pull the trigger when he tracks down the assassin reporting back. We also get the comedy as he smuggles an anti-tank gun into a hotel. And then the story ends with showing his deviousness and ruthlessness as he confronts the assassin and seemingly makes a deal.

It's a good exploration of Microchip's character and capabilities when he doesn't have the Punisher around him but the story's title is rather over laboured with excess dialogue seeking to justify it. But otherwise this is just the sort of piece that super-size annuals should have.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: Pet Project
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Paris Cullins
Inks: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Herbert Edgar Wyndham was expelled from Oxford after losing his temper with key professors and then he found his home was insufficiently isolated to carry out his experiments. Salvation came when he met again with Jonathan Drew whose wife had inherited land in the Balkans and so they set up a laboratory there.

It's a relatively straightforward chapter that continues the themes of Wyndham being in a hurry, impatient with the conventional speed of science and being detached from conventional society. But it also exposes a problem with the character's name and aims. Evolution is the development of a species as it adapts to conditions with beneficial mutations coming to dominate as best able to survive. By definition it is not possible to stick an organism in a machine and flick a switch to turn it into what a later evolved descendant will be. Yet that is precisely what Wyndham is shown attempting. At best he can accelerate the individual organism's development to deal with the rays of his machine but nothing more.

This flaw goes back to the character's original appearance and suggests that his creators did not have the strongest understanding of evolutionary science when they named him. It raises the question as to what is the character's actual goal.

Also included is a guide to the Punisher's Battle Van and a diagram of his New Jersey warehouse.

Overall this is a good Punisher annual but a disappointing The Evolutionary War one. The Punisher was always going to be one of the hardest characters to fit into the overall event but even so the draw here just doesn't stand up well. It is unfortunate that both the first two annuals in this event have been disappointing.

The Punisher Annual 1 - Labels post

Due to the large number of creators on this annual some of the labels have been moved to a separate post.

X-Factor Annual 3 - Inferno Prologue/The Evolutionary War

The High Evolutionary's grand scheme begins with the forced sterilisation of the Subterraneans.

X-Factor Annual #3

1st story: Unnatural Selection
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Terry Shoemaker
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

It's not immediately clear what the rationale behind the order of The Evolutionary War annuals is. As we'll see the mutant and Spider-Man books are not evenly spread throughout the whole affair. Nor is there any pattern to the power levels of the lead characters in individual annuals. Instead the order seems to be somewhat at random. Sometimes the High Evolutionary's schemes will specifically draw him into the world of some characters. But on other occasions it's random as to which heroes will turn up to deal with any particular problem as happens here.

The High Evolutionary has put together a squad known as the Purifiers who are here charged with sterilising the Subterranean races as they have been deemed an evolutionary dead end who need to be cleared before accelerating the evolution of Earth as a whole. But one Moloid, who calls himself Val-Or, has developed a form of telepathy and cries out with most psychic beings around the world hearing the cry. X-Factor go to the rescue of the Subterraneans and rescue Val-Or then fight back. Meanwhile the High Evolutionary's activities have attracted the attention of Apocalypse. Both seek to use evolution to push humanity forwards but Apocalypse prefers caution and natural selection, initially seeing the High Evolutionary as impatient and forcing evolution. The two engage in a conflict both physical and verbal as they trade their differing philosophies until they teleport underground where Val-Or's survival and fighting back persuades Apocalypse that the Evolutionary's methods are indeed encouraging natural selection after all.

As the opening chapter of a grand event there's a lot riding on this issue but unfortunately it doesn't impress well. The confrontation with Apocalypse is clearly intended to help introduce the High Evolutionary by exploring his goals but it also demonstrates that X-Factor has its own evolutionary focused villain who comes across as more impressive. Also the Subterraneans are not natural X-Factor/X-Men characters so it's a little odd to find the team being the ones to come to the rescue when the cry is also shown being heard by members of other teams such as the Avengers who are not shown either coming to the rescue or failing to locate the incident.

This leaves a rather unimpressive issue that is an okay X-Factor story as they rescue a mutant from another species but a very poor opening to the whole saga. The lead villain is poorly introduced and undermined at the same time whilst there's limited encouragement to go out and get the rest of the saga. Back in 1988 an annual cost almost twice as much as a regular issue and so for a regular reader of only a few of the titles getting the whole saga would involve paying a lot more than their regular expenditure. On the basis of this chapter alone there's little encouragement for anyone but a completist to do so.


2nd story: Changes!
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Tom Artis
Inker: Joe Rubinstein
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

X-Factor's young charges are fooling around on Ship when they come across the Beast and his photo album. Through the photos the kids see how each of the team members has changed over the years and how X-Factor itself has evolved. They then look ahead to being sent away to school.

This is a straightforward infodump story. There's no real substance to this and there isn't meant to be. Instead it's a handy little refresher on the history of the main characters that also serves to introduce them better for anyone picking up this annual because of the wider crossover. There's also a hint dropped for the X-Terminators limited series coming up soon. This year saw annuals increased to 64 pages overall (including ads) and rather than extending the stories even further it's good to see a return of such features that spotlight history and/or supporting characters not normally given the limelight.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: The Gift
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Paris Cullins
Inks: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Herbert Edgar Wyndham, an amateur British scientist in 1928, is experimenting with using radiation to mutate rats. Having exhausted his inheritance he seeks academic recognition and sponsorship to advance to the next stage. At an international conference on genetics he meets an American student called Jonathan Drew but also receives a setback when a leading geneticist of the day argues against experiments until the genetic code is mapped, fearing financial and political masters will have their own ends (one of the other attendees is a young Arnim Zola who would go on to be a leading Captain America foe). But Wyndham doesn't want to wait. That evening in the bar a mysterious stranger with a glowing face hands him instructions on how to break the genetic code.

This is the opening chapter of a recounting of the history of the High Evolutionary that is sometimes left out when this annual is reprinted outside of The Evolutionary War. It is unsurprising to find this was written by Mark Gruenwald, so often the keeper of Marvel continuity in this period. By this point the High Evolutionary had been around for more than twenty years with stories by many different writers and the result was a convoluted mess that Gruenwald here sets out to untangle.

It's a straightforward opener that establishes Wyndham as a young man in a hurry who rashly overspends his inheritance and then finds his research dead ended until the sudden breakthrough comes. The themes of the High Evolutionary's character are there to see from the outset. The mysterious stranger is glimpsed in the background throughout the conference and creates an intriguing mystery as to who he is and why he has chosen to given Wyndham the secret. This saga is off to a good start and does far more than the main story to encourage people to keep buying and reading.

Other material includes pin-ups of Jean Grey by Walter Simonson, the original X-Men by John Byrne and the original covers to X-Factor #8 by Jerry Ordway and #16 by David Mazzuchelli. Overall this annual is only so-so. The problem is the lead story isn't the best example of X-Factor going and does a poor job of opening the overall saga The other features are more interesting and show a good use of the expanded format but it's the lead feature on which things hang.

The Evolutionary War

Since a significant chunk of this crossover comes up in X-Men: Inferno Prologue it seems best to look at the whole thing. As we'll see from some changing status quos over the books it's doesn't take place in one single event so I'll weave in and out of it as necessary though as all three mutant annuals are placed together a big chunk will come at the start.

The Evolutionary War was a bold crossover in its day. Previously there had been many stories told over a couple of annuals but for 1988 Marvel opted to tie all eleven(/twelve) of its annuals together to tell a big story of the High Evolutionary's grand plans for Earth and his work in preparation. In addition the annuals also carried chapters of a back-up story "The High Evolutionary" by Mark Gruenwald which detailed and rationalised the character's history plus various short stories outside the crossover featuring characters from the regular series. As a result the whole set of annuals offers quite a substantial look at part of the Marvel Universe at this time.

Clearly something worked as Marvel would return to the format the following year with Atlantis Attacks before switching to smaller storylines over only a selected number of annuals in the early 1990s. DC would also try the format with the likes of Armageddon 2001 and Bloodlines.

For now let's get started...

Uncanny X-Men 234 - Inferno Prologue

Wolverine and Madelyne both face inner struggles.

Uncanny X-Men #234

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The cover for this issue is easily the best yet seen in this run, really selling the idea of Wolverine struggling with a Brood egg hatching inside him. It portends to the showdown in this issue. The bulk of it wraps up the Brood storyline as the X-Men continue their battle through the streets of Denver including a battle in a diner where the patrons discuss who to help (whilst two keep kissing, oblivious to everything going on around them). But in the process it's becoming ever clearer how dark the X-Men are getting with several willing to kill the humans hosting the Brood. Colossus calmly breaks the neck of one whilst Storm incinerates another with lightning. Even Havok finds it is becoming easier to casually blast away his opponents but privately doesn't like how things are developing. Curiously it's Wolverine who shows the most hesitation at the end as he confronts Harry Palmer in human form and things how Palmer is operating a facade even to himself but ultimately reasons that the real Palmer is long dead.

The climax of the battle comes at the amphitheatre where the Revd William Conover is giving a sermon to a huge audience but it feels like its been built up too much. Wolverine stumbles in fighting the effects of the Brood egg planted within him and Conover shows him compassion, believing him to have taken drugs, then realises the true horror. He believes his prayers help cure Wolverine and the narrative leaves it unclear as to whether it was just the healing factor alone which expelled the egg or if Wolverine was helped by the therapeutic effect of Conover's words. Conover subsequently gives an pro mutant interview to the media and appears to be the first prominent religious or political leader to take such a stance, suggesting potential development in later issues. There's also a strong hint that his wife has been impregnated with a Brood egg.

The Madelyne Pryor subplot continues as her dream sees her wandering out into the desert where heat melts her features back before she falls in water and comes to a paradise island where S'ym offers her the chance to exorcise her torments and she accepts as it is only a dream - or so she thinks. This plot has been building things carefully and is highly intriguing but it must be said that a lot of the visual impact is let down by the very odd appearance of S'ym. He looks almost comical and is let down by the strange waistcoat he wears. The character's appearance is a parody of Cerebus the Aardvark (and his name taken from Cerebus's creator David Sim) but as someone who has never encountered Cerebus outside of looking up S'ym's origins the effect is lost on me. And a straight character parodying what was original a comedic strip is a rather risky approach. It is a pity that the opportunity was not taken to use the techno-organic virus to give the character a more serious look. What's also a little unsatisfactory about this whole sequence is the presence of Gateway seemingly inside Madelyne's dreams. It's not clear if this is the real Gateway or a projection of her mind or indeed what the aboriginal mutant's true aims are.

Overall this has been an okay story but it feels like it's one issue too long and has been dragged out purely because of the temporary switch to fortnightly publication. It's had some great moments and an especially intriguing subplot but it's also had some extremely protracted chase and action sequences that could have been better condensed. Sometimes less is more.

Uncanny X-Men 233 - Inferno Prologue

The X-Men battle the Brood whilst Madelyne Pryor gets deconstructed...

Uncanny X-Men #233

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editors: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

With this issue the series underwent a temporary increase in the schedule, now having two issues a month for three months. (Just to be confusing it's called "twice a month" and "bi-weekly" in different places even though those terms aren't strictly synonymous. And "bi-weekly" is a term that often confuses - why has the term "fortnight" never taken off in the US?)

This is a middle chapter of an ongoing saga and mainly focused on the battle between the X-Men and the Brood possessed mutants. The battle is fierce and fast with Rogue soon taken over when she absorbs the psyche of Temptress and in turn possesses Psylocke then the two subdue Wolverine who is soon infected with a Brood egg. Meanwhile Havok spends the issue worrying about using his powers at full force on human beings, having no prior experience of the Brood and thus little understanding of what their possession does to their hosts. When he sees the consequences he is horrified.

Being a mainly battle issue there aren't too many developments here and there's only a couple of subplots advanced in this issue. One sees preparations for a giant sermon by an evangelist in the mountains with the reverend privately reflecting positively about mutants and wishing he had the power to heal. The other is a strange dream sequence as Madelyne Pryor fantasises about being able to fly and her life with Cyclops (Scott Summers) as though they were made for each other only to face first the destruction of their home and then the appearance of a strange featureless form who Scott leaves her for. Things get more surreal as Scott takes everything from Madelyne including her hair and features and puts them on the featureless form making her into Jean Grey before departing, leaving Madelyne as an abandoned nothing in some nowhere. It's quite a strange depiction of her feelings about Scott, Jean and herself.

When Marvel increased the frequency of a series to fortnightly in this era it often resulted in multi-part sagas that sometimes ran on for more issues than they were fully warranted. This issue feels somewhat slightly as though it's one of the earliest examples of having too many issues being put out. It's not bad per se but the battle feels extended more than it needs to be and so not much else happens in the main plot. Still the surreal sequence with Madelyne Pryor does a lot to maintain the interest momentum.

Uncanny X-Men 232 - Inferno Prologue

"You didn't come here to talk to me about button mushrooms and birds."

Uncanny X-Men #232

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editors: Ann Nocenti & Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

After several issues of character developments we finally get to see the X-Men go into action as they track down a man with a Brood implanted in him in Denver. But the issue isn't told from the X-Men's point of view but rather from the host's.

And so we see Harry Palmer (I've never seen The Ipcress File so can't comment on any similarities, deliberate or otherwise) first encounter the Brood when a giant shark lands near his campsite and creatures from it consume his companions as he flees in terror. Now he works as an urban paramedic without consciously realising that he is secretly implanting things into mutant patients as he responds. This includes one called "Robert Delgado", a sign of a Doctor Who fan on the creative team. Then Palmer finds himself pursued through the city by the X-Men until Wolverine makes a shocking discovery.

Also making a shocking discovery is Madelyne Pryor back in the Australian outback. Watching news from around the globe she sees coverage of Cyclops and Marvel Girl. She reacts as though it's the first time she's ever seen images of the latter, which is a little hard to believe, and then comes to the realisation that Jean was the only woman for Scott and he was only ever a Jean substitute. The realisation causes her to smash the screen in anger.

This issue also sees the debut of a new costume for Psylocke as she adopts an armoured suit to better protect her in combat. It rapidly proves handy when Palmer throws Colossus at her. The chase is strong and tense with all members of the team given their own strong moments in a stunning climax leading to an excellent cliffhanger.

The Brood are a race that's often difficult to handle but this issue finds the right balance by focusing on the hidden horror nature of them, making for a strong and tense situation. This is the launch back into action that the X-Men have been waiting a good while for and it doesn't fail to impress.

Uncanny X-Men 231 - Inferno Prologue

Colossus poses as his own ghost to help his sister

Uncanny X-Men #231

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Rick Leonardi
Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Ann Nocenti
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The decision by the X-Men to pretend to be dead is not without its costs - and not all members have to pay the same amount. Colossus has always been the most family minded of the team, devoted to his sister Illyana, but is now forced to hide from her at a time when she most needs help. To add to his woes he's been almost stuck in his armoured form for a long time now, finding it nearly impossible to change to his human form, and so he's become trapped in a hulking metal form that overheats in the Australian desert and is too crude and clumsy around the home. And he's haunted by nightmares about Illyana being prepared for a gruesome fate. Eventually Storm and the other X-Men agree to let him go and see her and Gateway teleports him to Limbo.

The cover is maintained through the coincidence of Colossus arriving partway through his sister casting a necromancy spell to bring help and so throughout the issue Colossus pretends to be his own spirit summoned up by his sister, helped by his now being invulnerable to magic which appears to her to be a further sign that this is his ghost. She needs help as demons posing as characters from a novel (which I have never heard of let alone read) have invaded the mansion and captured the rest of the New Mutants. Colossus finds himself back in his happy teenage home only it's much changed by the demons and he has to overcome them to free the New Mutants.

Despite the contortions to maintain the illusion of being dead, this is otherwise a straightforward issue of sibling duty as Colossus nobly rushes to his sister's side, also helping to fight off the growing rebellion by S'ym. The end of the issue sees the two have a heart to heart and Colossus tells her that as long as a person exists in the hearts of memories of those dear to them they can never truly be dead. In the process, as Illyana notes, he has helped to save her from herself. However after she's gone S'ym re-emerges and swears to win the war.

This is an important and necessary character piece as the narrative moves ever closer to Inferno. Though it's pencilled by Rick Leonardi who is becoming the regular fill-in artist on the book it feels substantial rather than filler grabbed in a hurry. However once again the issue's placing is awkward. We have still to see the X-Men operating in action under their new status quo and instead have been through multiple character pieces. This story might have been better off held back a few issues to allow the X-Men to go into action first.

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.