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The Power Pack (Don’t) Grow Up (And That’s Fine) In The Power Pack Omnibus

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Power Pack #44, cover art by Jon Bogdanova, written by Jon Bogdanova, art by June Brigman, Russ Heath, Hilary Barta, and Glynis Oliver, lettering by Joe Rosen

Louise Simonson might be best known as co-creator of seminal X-Characters like Cable and Apocalypse (with Chris Claremont, Rob Liefeld and Jackson Guice), or perhaps as one of the key writers of the “Death of Superman” story, but those accomplishments are still only part of the work she’s done in superhero comics. After editing various Marvel books for years, Simonson was inspired to create a new team in the Power Pack, which featured four super-powered siblings (Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie Power) who gain their superpowers from a horse-like alien (called Kymellians, at war with the Snarks) named Whitey. In collaboration with the great June Brigman, Marvel’s first-ever preteen superhero team was formed.

Power Pack Classic Omnibus remains a unique book all these years later, and though it was ostensibly aimed at children, the stories often leaned into fairly adult subject matter. After all, Power Pack #27 saw the children appear in the Mutant Massacre, where they worked to stop Sabertooth’s murderous rampage across the Morlock tunnels while witnessing the attempted annihilation of an entire community of mutants. Yet the greatness of Power Pack is in how it mixes incredibly heavy subject matter with the endearing dynamics of a family that truly loves one another. The worse things get, the more the Power kids come through for each other, and that’s largely what continues to define the team here in the latter days of their ongoing.

Collects: Power Pack (1984) #37-62, Excalibur (1988) #29, Power Pack Holiday Special #1, Power Pack (2000) #1-4, Fantastic Four (1998) #574, FF (2011) #15, Power Pack (2017) #63, Power Pack: Grow Up! and material from Marvel Super-Heroes (1990) #6 and Marvel Fanfare (1982) #55 [Read more…] about The Power Pack (Don’t) Grow Up (And That’s Fine) In The Power Pack Omnibus

How to (Re)Read the Hickman Era of X-Men: Look at What They’ve Done (House of X #4-5)

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VI. Memorializing Human Villainy (the HOX4 data page)

At last! We return to the HOX 4 data page, which, relative to the series’ other data pages, comes across as the least objective piece of interstitial documentation in the series—although not because the tallies of mutant dead and who’s responsible are wrong.

Related:

Hickman X-Men Reading Order

Krakin’ Krakoa!

More in this series!

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Heroes Reborn: Avengers (1996) Retrospective!

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Avengers #1, written by Jim Valentino and Rob Liefeld, art by Rob Liefeld, Chap Yaep, Jon Sibal, Marlo Alquiza, Ashby Manson, and Extreme Color, lettering by Steve Dutro

Get on your pleather pants and floral print tops, losers, we’re going back to 1996. Mainstream comics were undergoing a strange, tumultuous time in the aftermath of the creator-owned explosion of Image Comics. Trying to stay on top of the sales charts had led to some pretty cringeworthy stunts, and frankly, what’s one more among friends? The X-Men’s long-building threat, Onslaught, had just seen most of the publisher’s non-mutant hero populace transported to a pocket dimension created by Franklin, the occasionally terrifying child of Sue and Reed Richards. In this world, many stories that had once taken years to build and deliver were smooshed into a much smaller number of issues. After a quick introduction, plots were completely derailed, and within about a year, we were back to the 616 with a general “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” attitude about the whole event.

Heroes Reborn: Avengers undergoes at least three major creative lineup changes in twelve issues, which may give you a decent idea of how disjointed and weird this series is, even when completely divorced from the greater Heroes Reborn context. It might also go without saying that this series, which barely manages to eek out a single coherent plotline over the course of a year, doesn’t age great, but it still somehow isn’t the worst thing printed in 1996 (here’s looking at you, Amalgam Universe). [Read more…] about Heroes Reborn: Avengers (1996) Retrospective!

Venom Retrospective: Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman’s Venom Never Became the Man He Was Destined to Be

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Years ago, in 2018’s Venom #1, Eddie Brock was told “God was coming” for him. He — we — took the threat seriously. Here was the promise that an all-consuming threat, a unifying evil for all of Symbiote-kind and for the numerous heroes that had crossed paths with it, was coming with ramifications. Ramifications for one of Marvel’s most storied and beloved characters. Knull, one-dimensional as he is, was meant to be a catalyst for change in Eddie Brock’s life.

In many ways here in 2021, having introduced a new god, a secret history of the Symbiotes, and a son now poised to take the mantle of Venom, it’s fair to say that over the course of the 35 issues of the main title (not to mention numerous events, tie-ins, and spinoffs), Eddie’s life was changed. The problem is that by the end of the run– one of the longest in the character’s history — Eddie never became a man capable of accepting that change as his own.

Why? Because while Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman successfully reinvented the Symbiote, they failed to make a case for Eddie both inside of or outside of it. In fact, here at the end of all things, potentially Eddie’s own life, it is a series that is, as a whole, characterized by his reactions to things, rather than by actions. By growth in scale, but not by growth in impact. Successes and failures that are in direct opposition to each other, and ones that really only make sense with further investigation and interrogation.

Venom by Ryan Stegman

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U.S. Agent: American Zealot Review!

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Described by writer Christopher Priest as, “a morality play in five acts” U.S.Agent: American Zealot, follows the adventures of John Walker, the titular U.S.Agent after he’s been booted from the role and demoted to government contractor status. Deployed as a joke, Walker is tasked with securing a top-secret facility hidden beneath a destitute former coal town.

What should be a routine ‘bag and secure’ mission, quickly spirals out of control as Walker is confronted with his estranged younger sister, Kate – lost in the witness protection system after the murder of their parents – now a goverment agent, and April Manning, a billionaire who has used his wealth to purchase himself access to real power: a new iteration of the super-soldier serum and with it, the ability to reshape America into his perfect vision of the country.

The series is framed using the device of residents of Ephraim, West Virginia, being interviewed about the aftermath of John Walker’s visit to the town. Ephraim is a town devastated by the closure of its coal mine. A glimmer of hope arises in the building of a Virago Distribution center (our tale’s Amazon stand-in) – but the conglomerate flies in its workforce and builds its own private power plant. None of the wealth it generates flows back into the community.

Some residents take matters into their own hands and blow up the distribution center’s power plant, unaware of its top secret status. They’re overjoyed when Walker arrives – he’s dressed in the flag, he’s got the shield, he’s Captain America. And they sincerely think he’s going to help them take the fight to the man. [Read more…] about U.S. Agent: American Zealot Review!