Sunday, March 01, 2026

Sunday Splash Page #416

"Storytime," in Power Pack (vol. 3) #1, by Marc Sumerak (writer), Gurihiru (artist/color artists), Dave Sharpe (letterer)

The Power kids' ongoing ended in '91, and then, not much of anything until a 4-issue mini-series in 2000 that I haven't read. But the Nineties probably weren't the decade for a kid team at Marvel. Not x-treme or kewl enough.

In 2005, Marvel got in one of their periodic moods to make some stuff aimed towards younger readers, complete with manga-influenced art from the Gurihiru team, that really emphasizes these characters are kids, as opposed to "kids" that are built more like young adults. So, a bunch of 4-issue mini-series revolving around Power Pack, starting with this one. Katie's hand-drawn retelling of the origin over the first 4 pages aside, it's not an origin series, as the kids have already had their powers long enough to make some sort of name for themselves as crime-fighters.

(There'd be a Power Pack: Day One mini-series covering the origin later, but I don't own it.)

Each issue, Sumerak focuses on one kid, usually them dealing with the strain of being a hero. Katie wants to stop hiding, and tell the story of them getting powers from an alien horse for an assignment about what she did over the summer. Alex tries to juggle responsibility as the oldest with wanting to spend time with a girl he likes. Julie wants to focus on being a regular kid instead of a superhero. Jack, however, wants to spend as much time being a superhero as possible, whether his siblings are around or not. Whether he's able to handle the trouble he encounters or not.

The issues aren't entirely standalone, certain elements pop up more than once. Katie's frustration with her feelings being dismissed by her siblings leads to an outburst of power that leads a Snark to their home. He returns in the final issue, having recruited and empowered a masked robber that escaped earlier in the issue when Julie was being pulled in too many directions at once. Both antagonists are dealt with by letting them get pulled into another dimension by a squid-thing, via a doorway the kids' dad built in their basement.

Which is kind of a harsh resolution now that I think of it. That squid probably wasn't looking to make friends, no matter how silly Gurihiru make it look. Certainly when the portal got opened in issue 2, disrupting Alex's date, the squid was played as a serious threat, but Sumerak doesn't dwell on what happened to the bad guys. Guess we know where Stark and Richards got the idea for their Negative Zone prison.

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