About Heroes

Author: Marc Sumerak
Artist: Gurihiru
Cover: Gurihiru

This isn't the picture of the week that Cover does indeed say Avengers and Power Pack ASS! It's supposed to be Assembled, but leave it to the real pervs on the internet to fantasize about that. I bet you never thought you would see me review a Power Pack book huh? Well in the mid 80's actually Uncanny X-men 195 to be exact, I was introduced to a group of young kids with powers a mini version of the Fantastic Four, because the Powers were all siblings. It was thanks to that issue and Louise Simonson that the Power Pack became one of my monthly titles until its too soon ending. Since then the characters have appeared in X-men, New Warriors, Fantastic Four, and lately in the Runaways.

Marc Sumerak follows his Power Pack miniseries with this issue. Again all the previous continuity is being ignored (yes I know how anal I am about these things but its the Power Pack!). The whole family is back: Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie Power. This time they team up with Captain America to stop the Taskmaster and to teach us good morals. That's right morals! It's mainly intended for younger kids, you have to keep that in mind, but sometimes the morals are really smacking us in the face. Even the younger audience can see it coming a mile away.

It was a fun issue and GuriHiru's art is perfect for this type of story. It's bright, colorful and anime style really helps shine on the action sequences. There are some really funny moments even for adults in the book, such as Taskmaster stealing Cap's shield and TM getting his ass stomped by War veterans. Again my issues come with the morals, nothing wrong with it, but it could have been done more subtle delivery. It seems that Jack is acting like a jerk in this issue too, I thought he learned his lesson when the team saved him in the last miniseries. I have learned a few things about the Power Pack from Mr. Sumerak:

1) There will always be a generation of kids that will discover the Power Pack and become attached to the characters.

2) These issues work better in the digest size collections, rather than single issues.

3) These kids will never grow up, because much like Franklin Richards, Marvel needs their kids for readers to relate to. Unless you are reading Runaways.

4) I never thought there would be a day where I enjoy a book like Power Pack more than Wolverine!!!!!!
Entertaining enough! B