Power Pack #18 Review - Secret Wars II

Issue Review
Power Pack #18

Direct Market Release Date: September 10, 1985

Credits

Title: Kurse!
Script: Louise Simonson
Pencils: Brett Anderson & Scott Williams
Inks: Bob Wiacek
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Louise Simonson
Editor: Carl Potts
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Summary

After having a prescient dream where it was revealed that the Beyonder created Kurse, Franklin Richards tries to warn his friends in Power Pack, but is prevented from leaving the Avengers Mansion by Jarvis, the butler.

When morning breaks, Margaret Power is shopping for poster board for her son Alex's school project, when she is seriously injured by a rampaging Kurse. The Beyonder, who recently resolved to use his limitless powers to aid others, comes to her rescue and takes her to the nearest hospital. The Beyonder tracks the Power children to their school and transports them to be by their mother's side.

Grateful for the Beyonder's aid, the children of Power Pack head out to prevent Kurse from injuring anyone else. However, Alex Power (Zero G) is more motivated by revenge and anger, and as his mother was out buying his art supplies when she was critically injured, blames himself for her current state.

Power Pack, along with their Kymellian friend Kofi Whitemane, catch up with Kurse at a construction site. Mad with desire to kill Thor, Kurse is also suffering from mass hallucinations and intermittent flashbacks. In his confusion, Kurse mentions that he is Algrim, champion of the Dark Elves. Lightspeed recalls reading in fantasy books that elves are vulnerable to iron, and wonder is the team couldn't use the iron girders on the construction site to defeat him. Blinded with anger, Alex rashly orders his siblings to collapse the iron skyscraper frame on top of Kurse, putting his family members and onlookers at risk. Energizer blows out the support beams, and Kurse is buried under tons of iron.

With the bottle finished, Alex Power takes a moment to realize the danger his rage put his siblings through and apologizes. The team wonders who created Kurse, and discuss how grateful they are that the Beyonder rescued their mother.

Meanwhile, Franklin Richards has another precognitive dream, where he sees Kurse escape his iron grave, and discovers that Kurse was created by the Beyonder.

Quotes

Zero-G: Now blow out the support girders!
Energizer: But... Gee! The whole building'll fall down!
Zero-G: That's the idea, stupid! They don't care! They have insurance!
Energizer: But... He's just standing there... He... He seems confused, like he doesn't know who I am... or what he's doing!
Zero-G: Darn it, Energizer, That thing tried to kill our MOM! Don't you CARE? GO ON! COLLAPSE THE BUILDING! BURY IT!

Energizer: I - I know we had to, Alex, but I wrecked a whole BUILDING! All I DO is wreck things! What if I killed him? He seemed so confused...
Zero-G: Look, Katie! If he really was an elf, he's magic. You COULDN'T have killed him! And he was dead-set on hurting people... just like me. It was so weird... I had this one thought in my head... one feeling... and suddenly there wasn't room for anything else! All I cared about was stopping him... any way I could... so I used YOU to do my dirty work for me! If anybody did die, Katie, it would've been MY fault, not yours! Like it's my fault Mom's in the hospital!

Commentary

The culmination of the Kurse sub-plot, started back in Secret Wars II #4, begins to come to a conclusion in a two part saga handled by fan favorite husband and wife team Louise and Walter Simonson. Mrs. Simonson handles the first part, in this Power Pack tie in, while Mr. Simonson incorporates it into his classic Thor run.

Simonson's handling of the Power Pack family dynamic was definitely the highlight of this series. Each of the children's characters are well established, and the elder Alex's descent in to anger and revenge is very believable. As well, Brett Anderson is a perfect artist for the book, and manages to use his pencil to add so much to the characters and their emotions, giving them facial expressions and body language to add another layer to the story telling.

One does have to wonder why the Beyonder didn't just heal Margaret Power on the spot, rather than transport her to the hospital. That's part of the fun of reading a character with a god complex, I suppose. If the Beyonder had taken the easy way out and healed her, this great two part crossover wouldn't exist!

Up next...

Secret Wars II continues in Micronauts #16!