Power Pack

Darren Scott, Editor

Although Power Pack launched in the US in 1984, and I was dipping in and out of superhero comics as a child, it wasn’t until their appearance as a back-up strip in the 1986 UK Star Wars comics that I first discovered Marvel’s super siblings. The advent of Secret Wars, then the later UK comic Spider-man And Zoids, had cemented my transition from someone who simply enjoyed superhero adventures to a proper fan.

But it was my obsession with another franchise that finally got me hooked on the exploits of the Power kids. When Marvel UK launched its weekly Thundercats comic on 14 March 1987, I was ready to embrace the back-up strip adventures of Power Pack from the start.

It was children with superpowers in spaceships, fighting alien monsters. Superheroes and sci-fi – my worlds were colliding! The kids, seeing a shooting star, found themselves gifted with alien abilities from Whitey, a dying, sea-horselike Kymellian. Alex, aka Zero-g, could control gravity. Julie, aka Lightspeed, could fly fast. Jack, aka Mass Master, was able to control density. Meanwhile Katie, as Energizer, had energy-based powers.

They went on to have affiliations with my other favourite superhero team, the Fantastic Four (Franklin Richards is an honorary member of the team), the Avengers and X-men.

Created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman, the US series ran for 62 issues before being cancelled in 1991. A Holiday Special arrived later the same year, that reversed some of the elements that had been written into later issues, with a special 63rd issue published in November 2017.

They left the Thundercats comic in September of 1988 – replaced by Adventures Of The Galaxy Rangers, leaving the UK with no Marvel superhero characters in comics for several years. I was so appalled that I even did a petition at school, to many a bemused response.

It wasn’t until a trip to London in the mid-’90s – to attend the recording of the first episode of the third series of Absolutely Fabulous, thank you for asking – that I was able to find out what had happened to the Power family. To my delight, Forbidden Planet had almost every back issue reduced to 50p. My friends laughed as I lugged around bags of heavy comics in the sweltering heat, but I still have them all now.

It was announced recently that the original creators are working on a new miniseries. I hope it’s the start of a whole new adventure for both the Power siblings and me – because my formative superhero experiences are forever tied with theirs. Though they never seem to age...

Darren has had quite enough of your Snark.