In a report about the state of Marvel's Marvel Age line, there are a couple of mentions of a Marvel Age version of Power Pack, the first issue of which is scheduled for February. In one word: Yay!
When it first appeared in the mid-80's, Power Pack was one of only two Marvel comics that I bought regularly (the other was Star Wars). As originally created by Louise Simonson & June Brigman, Power Pack told the story of the four young Power family siblings who were granted their powers by a horse-headed alien in order to fight off the lizard-like alien Snarks. The kids then did the obvious thing: they became super-heroes--the youngest in the Marvel Universe.
The first 25 issues or so were pretty good, despite strange issues like the Thanksgiving issue which features the likes of Wolverine and Cloak & Dagger dropping by for dinner. (In fact, it seemed like they were always shoehorning in the latest 'hot' characters as guest stars, in order to improve sales one would suppose.) After that things started to get a bit dodgy as the kids swapped powers, and after Simonson left it really went wiggy, going for an ill-advised darker approach, until the plug was mercifully pulled in 1991.
The Pack didn't fare much better in their post-series days, as Alex, the eldest Packer, stole all of the other kids' powers to join the New Warriors at some point. A 2000 four-issue mini attempted to restore some of the title's lost glory days, but was mostly notable for the art by Colleen Doran.
The new Marvel Age Power Pack appears to be a revamp of the title, ignoring all the old continuity and starting afresh. This would seem to be a good approach, as the core concept was strong enough on its own. Even though all of the Marvel Age titles are destined for collections, I'll probably be picking up the individual issues (provided it's actually good, of course).
8 comments:
ping comment
Yay! I'm psyched about this :)
The new-look Power Pack looks pretty good. The old-schoolers will probably say it's Marvel trying too hard with the manga look again, but I personally think it owes more to the contemporary Saturday morning cartoon style -- and that's definitely what kids are into. The only question now is if regular kids will actually be able to find it ...
They won't find it in comic shops, so Marvel is going to have to show patience for kids to find the digests in book stores and the over-sized edition in Target. If they pull the plug early because the Diamond orders are low, then everybody loses out.
"The old-schoolers will probably say it's Marvel trying too hard with the manga look again..."
Then they'd be right. The art is by a Japanese art duo called Gurihiru.
That cover is adorable! I was a huge Power Pack fan back in the day, so I think I'll keep an eye out for this one. Thanks for posting about it!
"Oh Boy! My favorite!!" -- Franklin :)
Chris
childfx.com/powerpack
emailchristopher(at)gmail(dot)com
I know June Brigman! My dad knows her actually, they were little kid friends.I just came on here for your picture. :) --Kelsey
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