Louise Simonson was encouraged to think of a series she could write, and eventually she pitched a team of pre-teen siblings with superpowers called Power Pack.
This decision led to several moral compromises and feelings of guilt for the Power Pack members whenever they had to lie to friends and family or allow harm to occur because helping could mean revealing their abilities.
[6] In an epilogue to the story, writer Julianna Jones depicted Jim and Maggie Power as so overwhelmed by the situation that they increasingly suffer psychological breakdowns and become convinced that they are not fit parents for superheroes.
[15] In a later story arc, Katie seriously injures a Snark prince named Jakal, which causes her immense guilt and leads her to call herself a "monster".
[citation needed] The same year Power Pack debuted, the team appeared alongside Spider-Man in a special comic designed to discuss children targeted by sexual abuse.
Further changes involved Alex Power mutating into a Kymellian without explanation, forcing him to hide from his girlfriend Allison (who soon dates someone else) as well as from public life.
One year after the original series' cancellation, creators Louise Simonson and June Brigman teamed up for the one-shot issue Power Pack Holiday Special (published in fourth quarter of 1991, with a cover date of February 1992).
Power Pack subsequently became the back-up strip for the UK ThunderCats comic, where it remained until its eventual replacement by the Galaxy Rangers series.
The Power children now wore masks when in costume and their superhero activities were largely restricted to "practice sessions" in the forest around their new home in Bainbridge Island, ten miles (16 km) from Seattle.
[26] In 2020, a five-issue limited series written by Ryan North and illustrated by Nico Leon began publication as part of Marvel's Outlawed event.
[27] "Power Pack: Into The Storm," a monthly five-issue series written by Louise Simonson and penciled by June Brigman, began publication in January 2024.
[28] Alex (age 12),[29] Julie (10),[30] Jack (8),[31][32] and Katie Power (5)[33] were bright, normal American children living with their parents in a beachfront house in Virginia.
[34] The children, with the help of Whitey's "Smartship", a sentient starship called Friday, managed to stop the antimatter test by stealing and destroying the converter and rescued their parents from the Snarks.
After rescuing their parents, the entire family moves to New York City, where the team attempted to deal with normal "kid problems" such as bullies and loose teeth while battling some of the deadliest villains in the Marvel Universe.
[citation needed] Another occasional member of the team was Franklin Richards, the son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who went by the name Tattletale while adventuring.
[53] The Power family sought help for Margaret and Alex in various places, beginning with Reed Richards' lab, but their efforts were disrupted by the Red Ghost and his super apes.
The children planned to enjoy the sun and sand while their father consulted with colleagues but found themselves confronted with what seemed to be an alien attack on the beach where they were relaxing.
[56] Both Alex and his parents had been replaced by "pseudoplasm" doubles by a renegade Kymellian Technocrat and his ally, the exiled Maraud (called Meraud in this storyline).
Why Power Pack's parents could now retain this information without suffering mental trauma and insanity – thanks to telepathic manipulation by Byrel Whitemane that had previously been established as impossible to circumvent – has not been explained.
agents unconscious, when Flatman and Doorman offered her membership in the Great Lakes Avengers but she declined,[63] and Power Pack fight Grizzly in New Jersey, a sighting which is used as his alibi against charges that he robbed Madison Square Garden.
[64] During Marvel's Civil War event, Alex's codename Powerhouse was briefly mentioned by Hindsight Lad, an ex-teammate who exposed the secret identities of many New Warriors.
[66] He later joined Reed Richards' Future Foundation project, which allowed gifted children living within the Baxter Building to map out the outlook for their generation.
[72] While she is less intelligent and articulate than previously established, Julie reveals in Loners #4 that this is merely an affectation she adopts for the benefit of others – she pretends to be a "dumb blonde" to fit in with Los Angelenos.
[73] It had previously been established that Julie is a redhead, her "blonde" hair the result of using light hues in the production of the comic's art to reflect the brighter climate of the west coast.
[76] Sometime after Julie ended the relationship with Karolina Dean,[77] she was dealing with her depression and dropping out of college; when Alex & Dragon Man appeared in her apartment and recruited her on a rescue mission to help save the Foundation.
[81][82] An alternate universe iteration of the Power Pack from Earth-5631 appear in a self-titled miniseries aimed at young children, written by Marc Sumerak and penciled by Gurihiru Studios.
[83] In later years, Sumerak and Gurihiru Studios, among other creators, would release further miniseries that would see the Power Pack work with the X-Men, the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four.
Adult variants of Julie, Jack, and Kate Power, later revealed to be Skrulls brainwashed into believing they were them, appear in stories set in the Marvel 2099 imprint.
As the Power siblings get ready for a new school year, they must deal with typical kid issues while also balancing their lives as superpowered children when they learn of Dr. Mobius, a phantom that haunts an abandoned house.
Following the cancellation of the original comic, Paragon Entertainment Corporation and New World Television developed Power Pack into a live-action show for NBC's Saturday Morning Kids block.