Pack Attack!

Taking the gritty, grim, and peril-filled original Power Pack and reinventing it as a cartoon spin-off without an actual cartoon alienated quite a few fans of the source material, but it's a grumpy devil who'd begrudge another generation their own version of characters that he once loved as a child, and I am simply not that grumpy a devil. Although a little older than the original cast in order to shoehorn in some generic boy/girl angst to pad out the pages, Power Pack: Pack Attack is otherwise a charming and self-contained exercise in storytelling economy, and its biggest failing may be that it's simply too homogenised in comparison to the original to resonate with contemporary audiences in the way that comic did in the mid-1980s, and while the primary target of the original may have been a broad audience of 8-30 year-old male and female readers, this reinvention is squarely aimed at young girls, with comics readers of a more indulgent bent perhaps finding something here to enjoy through indulgence if not actual literary merit. You could argue Mark Sumerak shoots himself in the foot by making it look so darn easy, but don't be fooled - you'll be hard-pressed to find 'grown-up' comics as well-realised as this 'kiddie' confection, cutesy artwork or no. A suitable read for younger kids that won't threaten to cause nightmares, and highly recommended.

One of the pleasures of having young children is rediscovering things you yourself loved as a child. "Power Pack" didn't exist when I was a kid, but if it had, I would have loved it. My first-grader son is an avid Power Pack fan, and I've enjoyed sharing that with him. It's a simple, but not condescending, comic featuring four young siblings (ages 8 to 15) with unique superpowers. Everything is very familiar and formulaic, but for a six-year-old, it's all brand-new. Given the way popular comic book (excuse me, "graphic novel") heroes have aged with their audiences into brooding portraits of violence and existential angst, this good ol' super team is a welcome safe-zone for young comic readers. I particularly like these bound "digests" that gather four issues together for a full story arc in one book. No having to wait a month to find out what happens (which used to frustrate me no end as a tyke). If you're looking for some entertaining, age-appropriate tales for your little ones, Power Pack comics fit the bill nicely. [...]