Power Company was a bit Heroes for Hire, but with more focus on the business side of superheroics for hire. The economics of it, the boardroom politics that cause friction, how other heroes might react to this, especially given the number of really sketchy companies in the DCU, stuff like that.
Co-creators Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett put together a team of almost entirely new characters. They did use Bork from the Brave and the Bold story, "But Bork Can Hurt YOU!", and a clone of the Paul Kirk Manhunter that chose not to die fighting the "good" one. Otherwise, I think everybody was new, even if some of their origins involved established characters. Homeless runaway Sapphire happened to swipe a weird gem that was prized by Kobra (as seen in Random Back Issues #29), and the head of the company, Josiah Power, was an attorney who had his career ruined when that metagene bomb from Invasion! activated superpowers.
(There were a series of one-shots introducing each of the characters, each with a different artist, but I'm not going through all those.)
The set-up is half the cast - Bork, Sapphire, teched-up former stuntman Striker Z - are "associates", which seems to translate roughly to employees, the others - Josiah, Manhunter, pop star/sorceress Witchfire, and Skyrocket up there - are partners, who bought shares in the company and therefore get more of a say in how it's run, clients they accept, things like that. Manhunter is a merc, looking to diversify his holdings. Witchfire thought it'd be good for her public profile. Skyrocket's the only real hero of the bunch, but helping people because it's, "the right thing" don't keep the balance sheet in the black.
It's still, in some ways, a traditional superhero team book. Grummett's art runs to that style. Clean lines, smooth art. The colors are bright, the action is big. Other than Josiah - who mostly wears a suit - and Bork - who rocks jeans and a tank top - everybody has very "superhero" looks. And Busiek's writes to have subplots for most every character, which can be shifted from the background to the focus at any moment. There's a lot going on in the casts' individual lives, and in their relationships with each other. Manhunter and Witchfire against Skyrocket, Josiah trying to keep everyone going the same direction because he does believe there's value in this. Bork and Sapphire as sort of a mutual support group, the homeless teenager and the mutated ex-con. Skyrocket trying to make friends (or allies?) of the associates. Manhunter's past coming after him.
Unfortunately, the book ended after 18 issues, so a lot of things were never resolved. Bork felt a little bad about trashing some armed robbers he used to know from his criminal days, and worried about backsliding. Sapphire was probably going to be targeted by Kobra eventually. Witchfire learned something about herself that was never explained or delved into in any particular way. Josiah spends the about 8 issues in a coma, coming out of it just in time to help rescue the group from another dimension. His sidelining does allow more friction and backstabbing between the other 3 partners, letting them make moves they might not otherwise, but he felt like he was going to be a more central character, so the extended absence is notable.
(Busiek and Grummett don't really get to anything with Striker Z, unless we count the story where he and Manhunter run into trouble on what was supposed to be a publicity stunt, and Striker learns not to make assumptions about how easy or hard a job is going to be. He was present when Witchfire learned that thing about herself, so I wonder if there'd have been something there. She's a big star, with the ego to match, he's a stuntman, one of the guys who makes big stars look good.)
While Busiek and Grummett introduce some new threats - at least, I think Dr. Cyber and the Dragoneer were new - they don't mind using what's already available. Third-rate super-powered goon squad The Cadre are hitting a lot of scientific research facilities and companies, which Skyrocket is trying to figure out how to protect when they won't sign contracts hiring the company to do it (because her sales pitch needs work), and Manhunter and Witchfire veto her using company resources for pro bono work. Dr. Polaris shows up as the man behind the Cadre, amped to new levels of power thanks to an alien (a Controller? I don't know DC aliens) he'd taken prisoner.
(Coincidental, but Nicieza did something vaguely similar with Graviton in Thunderbolts around this time, ramping up the villain to new levels, taking all the other heroes out of play except for the book's cast. Except Graviton was being used by the alien, rather than using it. Which just proves he's more of a goober than Dr. Polaris, I guess.)
They can't have other heroes popping up all the time, but there are a few. Green Arrow, as much an antagonist as anything. Issue #15, drawn by Gary Chaloner (the only issue Grummett doesn't pencil), has Batman hounding Manhunter across Gotham. Firestorm pops in for a few issues, needing gainful employment. I read somewhere years ago, can't verify the accuracy, there was a poll about who the fans wanted to have join the book, and the Haunted Tank won. But it ended up as some experimental hover tank, piloted by Jeb Stuart's granddaughter and haunted by Jeb. Not sure that's what folks were looking for.
The book did not end with the company closing its doors, but other than Josiah Power appearing in a reboot of the Power Company last year, I'm not sure any of the others have shown up anywhere since. Which at least means they weren't fed into the Event Woodchipper by Johns, Meltzer, or some other writer. It's too bad. I tracked it down in back issues several years ago, and wish it would have gone longer. At least to see how some of those other threads played out.
