X-Lapsed, Episode 191 – Power Pack #4-5 (2021)

One thought on “X-Lapsed, Episode 191 – Power Pack #4-5 (2021)”

• Power Pack is one of the most pivotal series in my fandom. I have mentioned before that I was raised on Marvel UK and was introduced to the X-Men via reprints of the original 5 but the title I stuck with was Return of the Jedi Weekly which I picked up from issue 45 (25th April 1984) until it was cancelled with issue 155 (6th June 1986). This comic would reprint 3 US comics at a time split into 5-6 page chunks so effectively you would get 3 monthly books by reading 4 weekly issues. As this ate up material really quickly they would reprint two different eras of Star Wars (issue 45 had a Jo Duffy/Ron Frenz post Jedi story and a Carmine Infantino drawn pre-Empire story) and a third story. They started with movie adaptations (issue 45 had the adaptation of For Your Eyes Only) but eventually they started reprinting Power Pack. This meant I read reprints of Power Pack 1-23 in the back of Return of the Jedi.

  At the time I was aware that these were reprints of American comics. A neighbour had been on holiday to Disneyland and had brought back Dazzler number 4 as a gift for me as they knew I loved comics. I just didn't know that you could get US comics in the UK. I thought Marvel UK was the only route.

  Return of the Jedi Weekly was cancelled because they ran out of material to reprint. The Marvel US book had gone bi-monthly and the UK reprints caught up. Seemingly they were caught by surprise by this and the Power Pack reprints ended with the last page of Power Pack 23 which was a cliff-hanger that suggested that Katie might have died. At the bottom of that last page someone had written something along the lines of "look out for the Marvel US Power Pack in your local newsagent to find out what happens next".

  I took my pocket money and went to the local newsagent and lo and behold I found a small pile of US comics and amongst them was Power Pack 22 which (even though I had already read a reprint of it) became the first US Marvel I bought myself. And here I am 35 years later still buying the things. I consider Power Pack to be my gateway drug to an enduring comics fandom.

  Because of this I bought Power Pack: Outlawed as it came out and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a shame you didn't get to catch up with Rick and Jeff from Unpacking the Power of Power Pack as it meant you missed some elements of the two books which were set-up in the earlier issues. The recaps being in comics related to the fact that Katie wanted to give their parents a comic that revealed they were Power Pack but her siblings convinced her not to. The characterisation of the 4 kids is great throughout the series. They deftly deal with the fact that Alex and Julie have been aged up while Jack and Katie remain younger and they really capture a sibling relationship in the comics. I love the fact that family and friendship are the key building blocks of the story and that there is nothing cynical about the set-up. They did a really good job of making it feel like the original Simonson set-up whilst also playing them where the continuity has taken them. I also thought they were updated to modern-day relatively well. I like the fact that the text-speak is solely given to Jack who wants to be an internet celebrity. It feels in keeping with his tendency to chase coolness in the original stories. I can see how it might irritate you starting your run with issue 4 which is narrated by Jack but it is a small, characterful part of the series. Overall this gets a big thumbs up from me.

  Reply