The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1712: Power Pack #44, March 1989

It seems that all of the issues of Power Pack that I have are from Marvel crossover events. Well, the ones I've read for the project are, anyway.

Not a bad story, a nice Inferno crossover, and a guest appearance by late-era New Mutants, before Rob Liefeld got his grubby, no-foot-drawing hands all over them. And a guest return to the series of original penciller June Brigman, who is currently killing it on Captain Ginger from Ahoy Comics. And, honestly, from experience, I can tell you that cats and young teens have an awful lot in common. Perhaps not when you're drawing them, but definitely when you're trying to interact with them.

The depiction in today's comic of parents going crazy is actually very chilling. The Power parents have just found out that their children have been superheroes for a considerable amount of time, and they had no idea, and this causes them to question their very identity as parents and people. And fair enough. If my kid had been sneaking out of the house on a regular basis to mix it up with aliens and supervillains, and I'd had no idea, I'd wonder how good a parent I was as well. So while the Inferno aftermath is ostensibly the story this issue, it's really the breakdown of the Power family in the wake of this momentous revelation.

But thanks to the morally-ambiguousness of Gossamyr from the New Mutants, we get a happy ending. Though I worry about these poor parents finding out again...

"The streets are so quiet after last night--it's creepy!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1583: Power Pack #27, December 1986

I never was too keen on Power Pack, and rightly so, as it was aimed at a younger demographic than what I was when the series began. Just about, anyway. This is not to say that the series is not entertaining, provocative, or well-rendered. Louise Simonson and (original artist/creator) June Brigman are amongst the powerhouse women who persevered in comics at a time when female creators were a true rarity. And the longevity of the characters attests to the talent and inspiration that went into the original series.

That said, this issue is almost, but only almost, one that could be skipped in the crossover. The Pack descends into the Alley to help their young friend Leech and runs afoul of a number of Marauders. There's something interesting to be noted here about tailoring a story for a demographic, and also of age-related inflection across multiple series. Other titles in this crossover have been very, very bloody, and the Marauders shown as a team that can take down both major teams of X-Men. So to see Power Pack take on Sabretooth, Arclight, Scrambler, and Harpoon and survive with barely a scratch takes quite a bit of suspension of disbelief when reading from the perspective of the rest of the story. What the comic is accomplishing, I think, is what many stories for younger audiences do: showing kids that they have agency and can take power in their own lives. On the metaphoric stage of the superhero comic, this makes itself known in the ability of these children to repel even the most brutal of killers.

I don't know whether this issue or tomorrow's Uncanny #212 was released first, but if it's Power Pack, the cover may well be the first skirmish between Wolverine and Sabertooth. Although, in a bit of false advertising, the two don't actually meet in the pages of this comic. But tomorrow...

"Let's see how she likes getting slammed with a condensed rock hard Julie hammer!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 145: Power Pack #18, January 1986 (Two Weeks From The Dollar Bin - Day 9)

I never really did get Power Pack. Much as, at the time this was being published, I was not that much older than some of the characters in the comic, I was much more taken with the older teens of The New Mutants. Power Pack seemed like a superhero comic for kids. Which might be exactly what it was, and that's not a bad thing. 15 year old me didn't think so.

This comic was actually on the ridiculous list I keep with me at all time, as it's a part of the crossovers for Secret Wars II. I've set myself the goal of getting all of the issues involved in that crossover, even though I know the whole thing has been published in a collected edition. Anyone who's tried to read one of those gigantic omnibuses, however, will know just how unwieldy such a thing can be when trying to read in bed.

That said, a lot of the crossover issues for the series (and, honestly, the series itself) were not that good, and I'm afraid this issue of Power Pack falls into that category. It could be because I have no external context for the story aside from its inclusion as a crossover, but very little actually seems to go on in this story aside from a fight with Kurse. Which, in and of itself, is not so bad, but I think I need a little more than 4 pre-teens beating up a Thor villain to satisfy my craving for superheroics.

Ah well. I guess they can't all be winners.