Marvel have been catching up with some of their older, more obscure properties in “Legacy,” letting you know what they’ve been up to in their time off-panel. What’s exciting to me was this reintroduction to Power Pack, one of the more underrated All Ages comic of the ’80s. Can Marvel bring this super-powered Brady Bunch back into relevance?
Written by Devin Grayson
Illustrated by Marika Cresta
Colored by Chris O’Halloran
Lettered by Joe CaramagnaIn a twist of fate, four children gained incredible powers. And in a universe full of war-hungry aliens and terrorizing gangsters, they would need them. Thus Power Pack was born! But when an enemy from the past rears its head again, the youngest Power finds herself in a body-snatching nightmare! Big brother Alex better come around — or Katie is toast!
This adventure comes to light as Katie Power revisits family history!
This issue works as a good zero issue/catch up type of story. For those that aren’t familiar with the team, and considering their last proper issue in their peak was in the 80s, there might be a few. The way that writer Devin Grayson goes about this is tactful and solid. In a wise decision, the whimsical alien superpower origin is brushed over, and Grayson chooses to catch readers up more on the family dynamic rather than familiarise them with a played-out plot point. Grayson introduces the more interesting aspects of the original series – the hints of horror with disgusting aliens attacking them, and then builds upon that to give you a story of something they did essentially off-screen. Grayson continues the tone well – using a foe like that of the popular body-possessing Dire Wraiths, to give something to the nostalgic but something new to the newer readers.
And for a done in one story, the new flashback story is fun enough. The alien, who possesses gravity-wielding Alex, makes for a good villain for the Power Pack to showcase their powers against. We get a lot of cinematic scripting, that’s tight and action heavy, and reminds me a lot of the final scene in Disney’s The Incredibles. Grayson gets the band to work together to beat a common enemy and bring back their brother, and leave no plot thread dangling. But you can’t help but feel like this has all been done before. Grayson doesn’t push boundaries or do anything radically new, considering this is a new issue. Using nostalgia here is a double-edged sword: it’s a proven formula, and works best with the Power Pack, but it just feels hollow and like a missed opportunity.
Following on from that is my biggest issue with the book – it’s just not substantial. The main event is a ‘new’ flashback that Katie is retelling as a speculative fiction piece for her teacher, and reveals nothing new or exciting about what the Power Pack had been doing in their downtime. Greyson doesn’t even really resolve the problem either – we get what the teacher gets when she asks what happened after that – ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’, which feels super weightless. It’s almost as if the flashback we witness may as well be a made-up story in Katie’s eyes, with how throwaway it is. I get that this is a one shot, but it doesn’t bring anything new to the table – there’s no incentive to really pursue the Power Pack after this, especially considering the big cliffhanger related more to the Fantastic Four and overall, Marvel Legacy.
Thankfully, Marika Cresta ensures this is a pretty looking throwaway issue to look at. As I said talking about the script, a lot of the action is very cinematic and engaging. The issue #42 throwback effectively modernises the sequences from that comic. The scenes with Mr. Carmody are tense and claustrophobic, capturing fear in small, condensed single panels shots. Moving from that to the new flashback sequence, the street-level action is big and boisterous. Cars are being tossed in huge, awe-striking ways, and every time Alex uses his powers, Cresta makes sure you can feel the rails being ripped out from underneath the road. Most of the Power Pack visually look incredible mid-fight, but poor young Jack looks underwhelming, though that also is in part due to the scripting.
Continued belowSomething I do appreciate is how fun and fleshed out the NYC street setting is. Considering it’s the most overused battlefield of the Marvel universe, Cresta does pretty well in making it look lively and lived in, even at dusk. There’s cars everywhere, the street is filled with unique apartment fronts and shops, and good placing objects like fire hydrants and telegraph poles are used with abandon. I do have a problem with there being no other people on the street. Especially considering this is set in New York, this overlooking of detail takes you right out of the story, even with the action happening at night. Thankfully the action is engaging enough that you don’t notice it right away, but upon rereads, the absence sticks out like a sore thumb.
Cresta does have a clean visual style, which works nicely at conveying the human, emotional element of this “Power Pack” story, nigh on par with artists like Jamie McKelvie. The scenes with Katie at school, even though they’re mostly just story setup, do feel fun and lively. Katie’s teacher isn’t one note – she ranges visually from looking annoyed at the vague nature of Katie’s first draft, but understanding and engaged when Katie reveals her past and her new story. On the other side of the spectrum, the emotional moments of Katie facing Alex are ramped up. When the script talks about how she knew the real Alex was still there, we see Cresta emphasise the determination of Katie’s face to try and find it. The epic face-off between the two that happens a page later feels like an appropriate kettle-boiling moment, but Katie still looks like she’s hopeful amidst steely concentration.
Chris O’Halloran makes this issue pop in the best way. Modern coloring works well for this comic, considering it originally came at a time in the 80s that used a larger palette in its printing. This just feels like the natural progression of that. O’Halloran makes the very first panel pop with a nice golden gradient glow to emphasise this is a school morning. Most of the palette from then on in is mostly vibrant, shiny colors, but where O’Halloran really gets to step up is whenever Power Pack get a chance to play. Specifically, it’s a real treat whenever Lightspeed flies with here rainbow pattern through the panels – you can tell O’Halloran has a blast with her powers, but it’s also great to see Katie’s own energy based powers flash boldly through the NYC streets/
Marvel’s “Power Pack” return may be a hollow one, but at least it’s fun to look at. There’s a good classic 80s Marvel story in here, but it relies too much on nostalgia to really work, and doesn’t have any weight after you’ve put the issue down. But the art team works so hard on modernising this team for a new era, that I still want to see more of this comic, just with some actual story direction next time.
Final Score: “Power Pack” #63 is pure eye-candy to take in, but narratively it’s merely a serviceable throwback – one without any real stakes or ramifications.
