I'm tempted to get into all the personal reasons why Power Pack means so much to me, but I recognize that may not hold any weight to those who aren't me. So let's run down a handful of reasons why this was a landmark book:

* It was, to the best of my knowledge, the first mainstream comic created by a writer and an artist who were both women (Louise Simonson and June Brigman, respectively).

* It won praise from a wide assortment of sectors and multiple awards for the quality of its writing. Simonson and second stage artist (and occasional writer himself) Jon Bogdanove went on to write and draw Superman: The Man of Steel during the "Death of Superman" period and thereafter, creating the character Steel. (Try not to hold the Shaq movie against them.)

* Despite largely lukewarm sales, it had a vocal following who recognized its quality enough that Marvel continued publishing it long after they might have shitcanned a lesser series.

The mistake that's commonly made about Power Pack is that it was a kids book. (And I should note that there is a dearth of material in the gateway comic market to attract young readers, so really, so what if it were?) Power Pack was a series about kids, and accessible to kids, but took on issues that 25 years ago few if any youth entertainment would have dared touch: corporate graft, school violence, the crack epidemic and missing children. Yes, there was also a healthy portion of mundane childhood issues, but if you're going to write naturalistically about children, it's going to sound pretty immature to the adult ear; if it didn't, it wouldn't be an accurate depiction thereof.

The marketing mistake that Marvel has been making since they've tried resurrecting Power Pack several years back is that they're putting the cart before the horse. The present miniseries have the stink about them of desperate hunger to have a Marvel equivalent of the Teen Titans or Legion of Superheroes cartoons while simultaneously alienating the faithful who've kept the torch lit since 1991. Marvel seems to think that the characters merely need to be in active publication to justify the expense and risk of a major media production. Unfortunately, the present series sell like shit, and have none of the buzz that the original did to offset that.

And, might I add, in response one bit of snark in this column, I would probably pay Marvel to let me write Power Pack. It would not be an albatross; it would be an honor, and I would do whatever was within my ability to make it the best book they publish. Believe it.

LicenseFarm