Review- POWER PACK CLASSIC VOL. 3

POWER PACK CLASSIC VOL. 3 (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Power Pack Nos. 18-26 and Thor No. 363 (cover dates January- September, 1986)

Writers: Louise Simonson, Terry Austin (#21), and Walt Simonson (Thor 363)

Artists: Brent Anderson (#18-21), Jon Bogdanove (#22-26), Bob McLeod (#20, inker #22-26), Scott Williams (inker), Terry Austin (inker, #21), and Walter Simonson (Thor 363)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If any Marvel property is ripe to be used by Disney in a Pixar CGI animated film, it is Power Pack. I can't believe that there are not rumblings of some kind. This is a surefire, family friendly concept if ever there was one: Jim Power creates an anti-matter machine which will unintentionally destroy the world. Aelfyre Whitemane (Whitey as the kids named him), of an alien of the race called Kymellians, intervened because a similar incident destroyed his homeworld. The ZN^RX (Snarks as dubbed by the Power children), wanted the machine for a weapon, and fatally wounded Whitey, who transferred his powers to the four Power children. The Power kids, who dubbed themselves Power Pack, also inherited his Smartship Friday. Yes, Marvel used the term Smartship back in 1984.

Artwork by Brent Anderson.

All of those events occur in the first volume of this series. By this point in the title the children are dealing with minor social issues and are plagued with guest stars, all of which caused declining sales and saw the title dropped from newsstand distribution with Issue 26 and become a bi-monthly Direct Market (comic shop) only title. I bought every one of these off of the stands, and began buying from the Direct Market exclusively in May of 1986, so this was no big deal to me at the time. 

Artwork by Jon Bogdanove

This title still holds up for the most part. We get treated to early Brent Anderson (Astro City) art, and Terry Austin (Uncanny X-Men, Avengers) also pops in for a while. Bob McLeod's artwork on issue 20 is great, and it also guest stars The New Mutants, a title that he helped launch several years earlier. I remember walking up to 7-11 in the snow on a Saturday evening in December of 1985 and buying that one. Louise Simonson's scripts have real heart to them, and it's a shame that this series has never caught on in any real way. 

Artwork by Bob McLeod.

I hope that we see more volumes in this line of trade paperbacks, but wouldn't be surprised if we didn't. They haven't exactly been burning up the iCv2 sales charts.