Power Pack #1

Power Pack #1

Marvel Comics 2020

Written by Ryan North

Illustrated by Nico Leon

Coloured by Rachelle Rosenberg

Lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham

Power Pack is back! Katie, Julie, Jack and Alex Power have been super-heroing since they were learning to tie their own shoes. It?s been ages since they fought side by side as a family, but a special occasion ? and an old grudge ? is about to put the gang back together. There?s just one teeny tiny hiccup: a brand?new law restricting underage super heroes! But surely, if the fate of all New York City is at stake, the powers that be will make an exception? Keep your fingers crossed as the Power siblings fight for their right to save the world!

Alright I love Power Pack and I have science their debut in comics. So I was so happy to see this limited (grr) series and to see that the kids have aged kind of properly. I really thought that their parents knew they were Power Pack there was a whole thing about it, so I have to wonder when that was retconned out. Anyway I like that they are all together and I was disappointed when the Future Foundation story ended but hey they all with their folks in the NYC apartment. All the continuity aside, because let’s face it its ever changing, this is absolutely delightful.

I am thoroughly enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is beautifully executed. The opening was utterly cute and really showcases Katie’s personality, though I was afraid for a moment it was all going to look like that. The personalities of the kids represents them as they are now and how we’ve seen throughout the MCU and I really appreciate that. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story and how it fits into current continuity.

The way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue from previous incarnations it feels like they’ve never been gone. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is exceptionally well rendered and really it carries us through to the last page leaving me wanting more, that it was over way too soon. Very nice to see how well this is being written.

The interiors here are really nicely rendered. I would like to see more detail in their faces as the dinner scene really could have benefitted from that. The eyes and button noses without much structure makes them look younger. Once we get into the powers and the fight it looks so much better with the intense expressions. I would have liked to see backgrounds being utilised more effectively and more often, we see action scenes with wild colours being utilised to signify movement but a blurred building in the background does that and shows off skill. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a strong eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully done as well. I love seeing the different techniques utilised for laying the colour down as well as how we see the various hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. I may be critical over what we see but in the end what matter is this, it really is utterly delightful work that’s happening here and that last page alone is a wow moment.

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The nostalgia factor here is fantastic and that the kids are all together after an extended absence is really nice to see. I wouldn’t mind if the kids made a comeback and they really ahead of their time tackling such grown up issues and now with Julie’s life and girlfriend and Jack’s growing into this cocky young man there’s still plenty of topical stories that we could see. These kids have been around longer than any teenage group around these days, Champions i.e. so it would be on fitting to see them make a huge impact upon their return.