Power Pack’s origins gets revisited in kid friendly Marvel Adventures style.

Let’s face it folks, if you’re visiting this website and reading the reviews and are, in general, a Marvel or DC comic fan then odds are you’re in a particular age group. That is the 20s to 30s age group. The demographic for comics has been skewing older for some time now, not that this is a bad thing - an older demographic can handle more mature themes and stories. The American version of the medium has, in my opinion, matured greatly over the last 20 years and those of us who have grown up with it hold our heroes and adventures to a different standard. This is not a bad thing, as I said, but it also becomes a bit problematic for bringing young readers on board, the darker story lines and complex themes and harsher violence are above the level of most pre-teens. Also accessibility is a problem; Comic retailers are thinning out and most kids, if they are interested in the medium get their fix from a chain bookstore and Manga had a head start in that venue. This is why your tween (or slightly younger) nephew plays the Spiderman video game and has the DVD of the Fantastic Four but reads Shoen Jump. Marvel has been clever in addressing this problem in various forms. For starters there is the Ultimate line which was designed to bring early teens on board by starting fresh. Same characters but with a fresh start and decades of material to draw from w/o worry of messing up continuity. The next move was the Marvel Adventures, a magazine format with a lighter tone, simpler stories and kid friendly appeal. You see this on the magazine racks in your supermarket and chain book stores (rarely in the specialty shops) because that’s where the new blood is! So once again Marvel draws on their hundreds of characters and thousands of stories but gives it a fresh start (DC does this too but I’m doing a Marvel review) and a new tone. When you have a kid friendly Spider-Man and Hulk is was only a matter of time before we got the kid heroes too and that’s why Power Pack has been teaming up with everyone in the Marvel Adventures line for two years now. Now it seems that the Pack is making the logical leap with a story series focusing on their origin.

Day One opens with the Power family babysitting Franklin Richards as the FF go off on a deep space adventure. While playing on a rooftop the Power kids’ recount how they got their powers to Franklin Richards and the updating of Power Pack is underway. The first issue basically gets the ball rolling introducing the family and the players you might remember in the original Power Pack including Carmody, Whitey and the Snarks. The story itself is a reworking of the original Simonson and Brigman plot with the Snarks after the anti-matter device created by Mr. Power. From the perspective of, say an 8 year old this is probably exciting stuff; lizard men, laser guns, space ships, kids rescuing their parents. Odds are if you’re reading this you’ve already seen it back in the '80s but think of it hitting fresh young eyes. Power Pack hits all the right notes for a young reader touching on kid issues like Alex’s missing his friends he moved away from, and the empowerment fantasies that most kids have like keeping secrets (Mom and Dad Power don’t know of their kid’s abilities) and what could be more empowering to a kid than rescuing your parents from evil lizard men?

Gurihiru’s art is great and really strikes the right tone across the board. The crisp lines and vibrant colors prove that you can make something appealing to the younger generation without emulating Manga.

Another feature that turns out to be both entertaining and a bit of a throwback to earlier days is the short that follows the main story. Alex, in his Zero G costume, explains gravity in both classic and quantum physics form using humorous art and kid level metaphor. Fred Van Lente writing and Colleen Coover’s art accomplishes the sneakiest most difficult type of entertainment…educational. It’s great fun seeing an anthropomorphic sun bullying an anthropomorphic Earth, bullying a moon, bullying the ocean to explain gravity. This extra material is great fun and in fact I look forward to seeing more of these bits.

Final Word: OK, it’s probably not for your average comic reader, unless you’re a die hard fan of Power Pack (no shame in that). But, as stated above, Marvel isn’t aiming for you anyway. What you should do is pick this up for a niece or nephew or child of your own in the 7 to 13 age group. It is a great way to introduce them to the characters you love and open up a new adventure for them.

"Who is Crazy Mary?"

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