Power Pack
Power Pack is a superhero team consisting of four young siblings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Louise Simonson and artist June Brigman, they first appeared in their own series in 1984, which lasted 62 issues, and have since appeared in other books. Power Pack is the first team of pre-teen superheroes in the Marvel Universe and the first team of heroes in comics to feature characters of that age operating without adult supervision. In 2005, the title was relaunched as a series aimed at younger readers—though this was eventually declared a separate continuity from that of the original series and the mainstream Marvel Universe.
The team consists of four siblings: Alex Power, Julie Power, Jack Power, and Katie Power. The dying alien called Whitey, a scientist of the Kymellian race, transfers one of his four superpowers to each of the Power children so they can save their planet from the alien conquerors known as the Zn'rx. The children band together as the superhero team Power Pack. Along with fighting aliens and super-villains, the team's stories were known for focusing on morality debates and social issues such as child abuse, homelessness, drug abuse, bullying, and the ethics of using excessive or lethal force in combat.
Publication history
Original series
During the early 1980s, Marvel Comics had a policy that all their editors should also be writing comic books. Despite this, Louise Simonson recalled,Simonson chose June Brigman as Power Pack's penciler because of her talent for drawing children. The Power Pack series premiered in May 1984 in a double-sized issue inked by Bob Wiacek. The series continued into 1991, during which time Brigman and Wiacek were replaced by Jon Bogdanove and Hilary Barta as principal artists, and Bogdanove took over as writer. The Power Pack letters column, titled "Pick of the Pack", printed drawings and jokes about the characters submitted by readers, an unusual practice for a Marvel title.
In the first story of the series, the alien Kymellian known as Whitey is fatally injured by the alien villains known as Snarks. He gives the four Power children his powers before dying. His mass control power goes to Jack, his energy and disintegration power goes to Katie, his ability to fly goes to Julie, and his control over gravity goes to Alex. In issue #25, the team's powers are temporarily stolen, then returned but rearranged. Due to this "power switch", each Power Pack child now has an ability wielded by one of their siblings, leading to a change in codenames. The Power Pack children finally switch their costumes to match their new powers in issue #47. In issue #52, another rearrangement of powers and codenames occurrs.
Unlike superheroes such as Spider-Man or Batman who were orphaned, free agents, or teenagers often trusted to be on their own without supervision, Power Pack was made up of pre-adolescent siblings who had a close relationship with each other, as well as their supportive parents Jim and Maggie Power. Early in the series, the children decide to keep their powers and superhero activities concealed from their parents, believing it would cause them stress and worry. This decision leads to several moral compromises and feelings of guilt for the Power Pack members whenever they have to lie to friends and family or allow harm to occur because helping could mean revealing their abilities. The question of whether or not the powers should be revealed is an ongoing source of debate among the children. Power Pack readers also argued the matter out in the letters pages. During Jon Bogdanove's story "Revenge of the Bogeyman", which was a tie-in for the crossover Inferno, the parents learn their children are superheroes. Bogdanove depicted Jim and Maggie Power as so overwhelmed by the situation that they suffer mental breakdowns. To help the Power family, the New Mutants use illusory clones to convince Jim and Maggie Power that their children were never superheroes. This restored the secret identity status quo. Fans reacted negatively to this resolution, saying it was a deus ex machina, that it avoided dealing with the issue of the Powers' secret identities, and that it characterized Jim and Maggie Power as weak and irresponsible in a way inconsistent with their earlier portrayals. Bogdanove attempted to partially address these criticisms in Power Pack #50 with the retcon that Jim and Maggie's mental breakdowns were the result of a Kymellian post-hypnotic suggestion rather than their emotional reaction to learning their children were superheroes.
Despite the characters of Power Pack being children, the series often dealt with mature issues. Many of the social problems of the 1980s found their way into the book's storylines. Among the themes addressed were pollution, drug abuse, runaways, kidnapping, gun violence, bullying, orphanhood, and homelessness. Stories regularly depicted the Power children learning and debating how to use their potentially lethal powers responsibly, often on their own but sometimes with guidance from older heroes such as Spider-Man. In one early issue, Jack is wracked with remorse when he thinks he has killed a man. In a later story arc, Katie seriously injures a Snark prince named Jakal, which causes her immense guilt and leads her to call herself a "monster".
Through the series, the children age and mature. In issue #1, Alex is 12, Julie is 10, Jack is 8, and Katie is 5. In issue #45, Julie graduates from elementary school with honors in English, and the story says she will join Alex at school 44.
The same year Power Pack debuted, the team appeared alongside Spider-Man in a special comic designed to discuss children targeted by sexual abuse. The one-shot issue, written by Louise Simonson, was distributed for free and reprinted in the comics sections of many major newspapers. Marvel continued the campaign by featuring the characters in print public service announcements. Later the same year, the writers used the Snark Wars storyline to address the issue of child abduction. During the same storyline, photos of missing children were printed in lieu of the comic's regular letters column. In 1989, the Power Pack teamed-up with Cloak and Dagger in a special graphic novel addressing teen homelessness and runaways. Hotline telephone numbers for Covenant House were printed on the back cover.
Along with Spider-Man and the duo of Cloak and Dagger, Power Pack frequently encounter members of the X-Men and New Mutants. In issue #16, they meet Franklin Richards, and in issue #17 Franklin becomes a part-time member of Power Pack. He joins on many other adventures, occasionally staying with the Power family for days at a time when his own family are off on adventures. Franklin has a tense relationship with Katie Power, as Simonson explained: "Katie hates Franklin's guts. He's smaller than she is, and the others are making a big deal of him. She considers him low man in the pecking order.... Katie and Franklin will kind of become friends, but there will always be a little bit of rivalry between the two of them."
Starting with issue #42, Jon Bogdanove, who wrote issue #36 as a guest writer, took over as regular writer, remaining in that capacity until issue #52. A number of other fill-ins took place in the series's later years; Howard Mackie wrote issue #34, Julianna Jones wrote issues #38 and #45, Steven Heyer wrote #41, Terry Austin wrote issues #46 and #53, Judy Bogdanove wrote #54, and Dwayne McDuffie wrote issue #55. During Bogdanove's final issues, Franklin Richards returns as a regular member of the team.
Further changes involved Alex Power mutating into a Kymellian without explanation, forcing him to hide from his girlfriend Allison as well as from public life. The series was cancelled with issue #62. The final issue, printed in the fourth quarter of 1990, depicts the team and their parents journeying into space together.
One year after the original series' cancellation, creators Louise Simonson and June Brigman teamed up for the one-shot issue Power Pack Holiday Special. The one-shot comic resolved the cliffhanger the series had ended on, restored the Power Pack's original powers, and undid some of the changes to the characters done during the run by Michael Higgins and Tom Morgan. Power Pack Holiday Special also included a short comedy story involving an art style that evoked Calvin and Hobbes, and a short story that showed an older, teenage Julie dealing with romance and self-esteem issues.
The Power Pack stories were reprinted by Marvel UK beginning around 1986. It was Marvel UK's practice at the time to use a less well-known series as a secondary story in a comic devoted to more recognizable characters, and Power Pack became the back-up "strip" in a run of Marvel's licensed Star Wars weekly Return of the Jedi. During this period, it was printed partly in black and white and partly in color, as was the main Star Wars strip. Power Pack subsequently became the back-up strip for the UK ThunderCats comic, where it remained until its eventual replacement by the Galaxy Rangers series.