Power Pack
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The Power Pack is a team of fictional child superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. They were created by writer Louise Simonson and artist June Brigman, and first appeared in their own comic book series, in 1984. The series lasted 62 issues. The characters have since appeared sporadically in other books.
The Pack is noteworthy for being the first team of preteen superheroes ever in the Marvel Universe, all without adult supervision. The characters were moderately popular and have loyal fans to this day.
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[edit] Publication history
[edit] Original series
The original Power Pack series premiered in 1984, in a double issue written by Louise Simonson, pencilled by June Brigman and inked by Bob Wiacek. The series continued through early 1991, during which time Brigman and Wieck were replaced by Jon Bogdanove and Hilary Barta as principal artists.
[edit] 2000 miniseries
In 2000, a four-part miniseries about Power Pack was released. In this series, the kids' ages had advanced a few years: Katie was now in the fifth grade (due to her intelligence); Julie and Jack were in junior high; Alex was in high school. James and Maggie, the children's parents, knew about Power Pack. The Powers now wore masks on their adventures, which, by and large, were restricted to "practice sessions" on their home on Bainbridge Island, 10 miles from Seattle. Not much new ground was covered in this series, which once again pitted the Pack against Queen Mauraud and the Snarks in outer space.
[edit] Return of Power Pack
As announced by Joe Quesada from his New Joe Fridays [1] at Newsarama; Power Pack will be returning to the in-continuity of the Marvel Universe in late 2007[2], after the events of the Civil War.
[edit] Fictional team history (original series)
At the beginning of the original series, Alex (12), Julie (10), Jack (8) and Katie (5) were bright, normal American children living with their parents in a beachfront house in Virginia. Their father, Dr. James Power, was a brilliant physicist who discovered a process to generate energy from anti-matter with the assistance of a converter, of which he made a prototype. An error in his formula, which could have caused a chain reaction and destroyed Earth, was discovered by Aelfyre "Whitey" Whitemane, a member of the Kymellian race resembling humanoid horses. A similar accident destroyed the Kymellians' home planet.
Whitey tried to stop the experiment by warning the Powers, but was mortally wounded by his enemies, the reptilian Snarks, in the process. The Snarks kidnapped Dr. Power and his wife, Margaret, with the hope of obtaining the secret of anti-matter. Whitey rescued the Power children and told them what was happening. Before dying, he passed his powers to them to complete his mission.
The children, with the help of Whitey's "smartship," a sentient starship called Friday, managed to stop the anti-matter test by stealing and destroying the converter and rescued their parents from the Snarks. They decided to continue being superheroes, and to hide their powers from their parents. Alex took the codename Gee, Julie became Lightspeed, Jack, Mass Master and Katie, Energizer. They wore costumes made for them by Friday (actually Kymellian spacesuits). The costumes, which were constructed of unstable molecules and stored 'Elsewhere,' could materialize and disappear with voice commands.
The team, based in New York, attempted to deal with normal "kid problems" such as bullies and loose teeth while battling some of the deadliest enemies in the Marvel Universe. The Pack fought the villain Kurse on two occasions during Secret Wars II; they were also heavily involved in the events of The Fall of the Mutants and Inferno storylines. During the Mutant Massacre, they descended into the sewers and fought Sabretooth.
The Pack's two greatest enemies during the original series were the Snarks and Carmody/The Bogeyman. Carmody, one of James Power's former employers, spotted the Power children when they stole the anti-matter converter at the beginning of the series, and became obsessed with revenge. At first, he tried to work with government agencies to prove the Powers were mutants; later, he became a super-villain himself and assumed the identity of The Bogeyman. After being thrown into Limbo by Magik of the New Mutants, he returned in a demonized form and nearly killed the entire Power family before finally committing suicide.
The Snarks reappeared in the series at various intervals, generally attempting to kidnap the Power children and steal their powers. These story arcs, which usually occurred every twenty-five issues or so, usually resulted in power switches.
Power Pack's closest allies were other young superheroes: Cloak & Dagger worked with them on several missions; they also teamed with members of the X-Men and New Mutants on numerous occasions.
Another occasional member of the team was Franklin Richards, the son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who went under the name of Tattletale while adventuring. Ironically, although Franklin was a member of the group, the Fantastic Four had no knowledge of Power Pack until the very end of the series. Instead, they thought of the Power children as "Franklin's friends".
James and Maggie Power were just as clueless about their children's "extracurricular activities." The Pack took great pains to conceal their powers and missions from their parents. They did not discover the truth about Power Pack until the 42nd issue of the series, and then only when the demonized Carmody told them outright. The discovery led them both to have mental breakdowns; these were "undone" by the combined efforts of the New Mutants' Mirage & Gosamyr. It would be later be revealed within the series that Lord Yrik Whitemane, in repairing the damage done to Margaret Power caused by Kurse, enemy of Thor, had set up mental blocks to help the children hide their powers.
The last nine issues of the original series were marked by a dramatic change in both art and story. These changes, which attempted to make the comic edgier and more adult, were largely reviled by Power Pack readers. By the time the book was canceled at issue #62, the family was enroute to Kymellia, Alex had been transformed into a Kymellian, Margaret Power had lost her mind, and the rest of the characters had been thrown into similar disarray.
About a year and a half after the cancellation of the series, creators Louise Simonson and June Brigman teamed up on the Power Pack Holiday Special. This book basically undid all of the plotlines changed in the "creative shakeup," returned Alex to normal, and sent the Power family back to New York. It also introduced the idea that the Power siblings could exchange powers at will, a theme that would be used heavily in later incarnations of Power Pack.
[edit] Themes of the original series
While the characters of Power Pack were children, the series often dealt with mature themes. Many of the social problems of the eighties found their way into the Pack's storylines. These issues were usually addressed realistically: for instance, in one story arc about drug use, one of Alex's classmates died from a crack overdose. In another memorable issue during the Mutant Massacre, the Pack walked into a room of dead mutants. Among the themes addressed were:
- Environmental pollution
- Sexual abuse (special issue)
- Drug abuse
- Runaways
- Kidnapping
- Gun violence
- Murder
- Death of parents/guardians
- Missing children
The writers also emphasized the fact that the Pack had to learn to deal with their powers — and their lethal potential — responsibly. In one early issue, Jack was wracked with remorse when he thought he had killed a man; in a later story arc, Katie dealt with immense guilt, called herself a "monster" and wanted to die when she saw how severely she had injured the Snark prince Jakal.
In 1986, Power Pack was featured with Spider-Man in a special comic designed to fight sexual abuse. The one-shot issue, written by Louise Simonson, was distributed free and reprinted in the comics sections of many major newspapers. Marvel continued the campaign by featuring the characters in print public service announcements.
Unlike most super-heroes like Spider-Man or Batman, the Power kids were not "conveniently" orphaned. Instead, they had close and loving parents and sometimes felt guilty about keeping their powers secret from Mom and Dad. The question of whether to tell or not to tell was often a matter of debate between the kids, and the readers would argue the matter out in the letter pages.
The letter pages also included drawings sent in by readers which was fairly unusual for super-hero comics of the time.
[edit] Alex and the New Warriors
Alex stole his siblings' powers for himself and joined the superhero group New Warriors under the names Powerpax and Powerhouse. This understandably caused some friction with his brother and sisters. Alex eventually gave his siblings their powers back, and they all reverted to their original names (except Alex, who named himself Zero-G and Julie, who was now called Starstreak, the name Katie had chosen when she had Julie's powers). During Alex's time with the Warriors, the Power parents discovered what their children were doing. At first they were opposed to it, but eventually came to accept the Pack's need to use their powers responsibly.
Speedball tried to recruit Alex back into the Warriors team. Alex politely refused, due to the conflicts his membership would cause for his siblings (though Katie offered her services, to Speedball's chagrin).
During Marvel's Civil War event, Alex's codename Powerhouse was briefly mentioned by Hindsight Lad, an ex-teammate responsible for outing the secret identities of many New Warriors[3].
[edit] Julie and Excelsior/Loners
Some time after that adventure, Julie Power did some soul-searching and came to the conclusion that adventuring deprived her of a normal childhood. She quit being a superhero and moved to Los Angeles, hoping to become an actress. There she joined Excelsior, a support group for former teenage superheroes, where she is once again known as Lightspeed. Excelsior's first mission was to bring in the members of the Runaways, ended with their battle against Ultron.
With the recent actions caused by Superhuman Registration Act it's yet to be establish as to which sides of the conflict Excelsior and the rest of the Power siblings will be involved in. However, a recent article on Newsarama has previously made a brief cryptic remark about Julie Power's reaction to the situation;[4] in which may be shown within the upcoming Loners series, due to premiere in April 2007.
[edit] Members
Note that the Power siblings have changed powers on more than one occasion and remain the core of the Pack.
| Real Name | Marvel-616/Marvel Age Code Name | Code Name History (powers associated) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Power | Zero-G (gravity) | Gee (gravity), Destroyer (energy), Mass Master (density), Powerpax (gravity, energy, density, acceleration), Powerhouse (gravity, energy, density, acceleration), Zero-G (gravity) | |
| Julie Power | Lightspeed (acceleration) | Lightspeed (acceleration), Molecula, Mistress of Density (density), Lightspeed (acceleration), Starstreak (acceleration), Lightspeed (acceleration) | Her flight trail is rainbow-like, but features only the subtractive primary colors yellow, magenta, and cyan. |
| Jack Power | Mass Master (density) | Mass Master (density), Counterweight (gravity), Destroyer (energy) | |
| Katie Power | Energizer (energy) | Energizer (energy), Starstreak (acceleration), Counterweight (gravity) | |
| Franklin Richards | Tattletale | Precognition, astral projection | Son of Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four. Officially joined Power Pack in issue #17 of the original series. Has not been an active member since the end of Power Pack volume 1. |
| Kofi Whitemane | Teleportation | Unofficial member. A Kymellian youth and cousin of Whitey. About the same age as Alex. Made his most recent appearance within the 2000 Power Pack Miniseries. | |
| Friday | Warp Drive, Flight, Supercomputer, Forcefield | The Smartship Friday is an intelligent starship. |
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Marvel Age
A new Power Pack miniseries debuted in 2005. Written by Marc Sumerak and penciled by Gurihiru Studios, it mostly ignored previous Power Pack continuity and its versions of the title characters, and appeared to be geared toward young children. Although the four-issue series was not released under the Marvel Age or Marvel Adventures imprint because of editorial decisions and it was released as a limited series; it's recently been established to be a part of the Marvel Adventure-verse.
A second Power Pack miniseries, by the same creative team, debuted in October 2005; this "sequel" guest-starred various members and villains of the X-Men. Including Cyclops, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Beast, Mystique, and Nightcrawler. This new limited series, X-Men & Power Pack, followed the same continuity as the first 2005 miniseries.
A third Sumerak-Gurihiru Power Pack miniseries, entitled Avengers & Power Pack: Assemble debuted in April 2006. This title, which follows the same continuity as the other two miniseries, teams the Pack with various members of the Avengers, in which (as shown in order on the covers of the mini-series) will involve Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew). However, issues #3 & #4 will be a two-part adventure in that the Pack and the Avengers will be battling against Kang the Conqueror.
A fourth Power Pack miniseries debuted in November 2006. The miniseries is appropriately entitled Spider-Man and Power Pack co-starring the Wall-Crawler himself & his enemies, such as Vulture, Sandman & Venom. The miniseries included two sub-plots; the first where Spider-Man is reduced in age and temporarily joins the Power siblings, while the second involved the Venom symbiote costume.
A fifth Power Pack miniseries debuted in March 2007, following the events from the Spider-Man and Power Pack miniseries. The newest one will be involving the Hulk (one of the few popular Marvel superheroes that never actually encountered the Pack in the 616 Marvel Universe, although he appeared in a flashback within Power Pack #36) along with his enemies, such as the Absorbing Man. The miniseries will be drawn by David Williams, instead of Giruhiru.
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
- The Powers can be seen in one panel of the Exiles comics, when the Exiles are sent to the Age of Apocalypse. They are in an experiment tube and merged/melded together and obviously a failed experiment of the Dark Beast[5].
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Television
In 1991, after the cancellation of the original comic, Marvel developed Power Pack into a live-action show for NBC's Saturday children's television lineup. While a pilot episode was made, the series was not picked up. The pilot was never aired, but in the years that followed, copies of the tape circulated among Power Pack fans.
[edit] Cast
- Nathaniel Moreau (Alex)
- Margot Finley (Julie)
- Bradley Machry (Jack)
- Jacelyn Holmes (Katie)
- Jonathan Whittaker (Jim)
- Cheryl Wilson (Margaret).
[edit] Bibliography
- Power Pack #1-62 (August 1984 – February 1991)
- Power Pack/Cloak and Dagger: Shelter from the Storm graphic novel (1990)
- Power Pack Holiday Special oneshot (1992)
- Power Pack #1-4 (August – November 2000)
- Power Pack #1-4 (2005)
- X-Men & Power Pack #1-4 (2005-2006)
- Avengers & Power Pack Assembled! #1-4 (2006)
- Spider-Man & Power Pack #1-4 (2006-2007)
- Excalibur 29
- Marvel Superheroes Summer Special
- Marvel Universe 10
- New Mutants 49
- Secret Wars II 6
- Strange Tales 12, 13, 14
- Thor 357; 363
- X-Men 195; 205
- X-Men Classic 99
