The Power Pack begins their crusade of peace through clean energy. Yet, they may not be ready when the cost is revealed. Your Major Spoilers review of Power Pack #3 from Marvel Comics, awaits!
POWER PACK #3 (OF 5)
Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Nico Leon
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 10th, 2021
Previously in Power Pack: Having found their mentor in Agent Aether and believing in his mission of providing clean energy to the world to create peace, the Power Pack have begun utilizing their abilities to accomplish this goal.
Power Pack #3 begins with the kids using their powers to power Agent Aether’s turbines and a lengthy monologue from Julie about the nature of being a hero from her perspective. The family then comes together for a lasagna dinner where their father reveals his perfect lasagna pan. That night Julie listens to a police scanner but finds that there isn’t any crime happening. The next day as the siblings are leaving school an explosion goes off and draws their attention. When they investigate they discover that it’s Taskmaster. As they begin to engage him they discover their powers are significantly diminished. After narrowly defeating the villain they go to talk to Agent Aether about their powers and they discover the truth behind the drain.
WHY TASKMASTER?
While there isn’t anything in this issue that is demonstrably bad, there also isn’t much going on at all here. A good portion of this Power Pack #3 is devoted to Julie talking about how smart she is. Another good portion is devoted to the family having dinner, which is a nice piece of depth building, but maybe an odd choice for a miniseries. When we finally get to the action towards the end of the issue it comes off as being wedged in and only exists at all to set up the ending. There is never any reason given to why Taskmaster is there or why he has set off an explosion. Beyond that, the fight scene itself is just a series of events showing how each one of the Power Pack has diminished powers. The final couple of pages though things do pick up and become interesting, leading up to a really nice looking final page.
THE BOTTOM LINE: NOT BAD, BUT STRANGE FOR A MINISERIES
While a lot of this issue is lackluster especially when it comes to the big action sequence, it does work at providing depth for the Powers family and the inner-workings of it’s smartest member Julie. The problem is that this is a 5 issue miniseries, which makes this all feel a bit like filler, with the only thing of real consequence happening in the last two pages. 3 out of 5 stars.
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Power Pack #3
Power Pack #3 has a few things working for it, like Julie’s narration and the family dynamic. Unfortunately these elements don’t feel fitting for this series and everything else in the issue is disappointing.
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Writing4
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Art7
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Coloring8
At a young age, Jonathan was dragged to a small town in Wisconsin. A small town in Wisconsin that just so happened to have a comic book shop. Faced with a decision to either spend the humid summers and bitter winters traipsing through the pine trees or in climate controlled comfort with tales of adventure, horror, and romance, he chose the latter. Jonathan can often be found playing video games, board games, reading comics and wincing as his “to watch” list grows wildly out of control.