Random Happenstance

Ah, I'm dumb: even though this says "Fall of the Mutants" right on the cover, I was thinking Mutant Massacre. Well, maybe I've finally read all of Fall of the Mutants, then. From 1988, Power Pack #35, "Life or Death!" Written by Louise Simonson, pencils by Jon Bogdanove, inks by Hilary Barta.

The older Power kids are grounded today, leaving the phone and the TV under the thumb of the youngest, Katie; who leaves them watching "Goo-Gams." No relation! Their dad calls from a business trip, with their mom on her way home on the subway, when a blackout hits. After some shenanigans and squabbling looking for the flashlight and radio, they learn this is no ordinary blackout, it's the work of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse. (As we previously saw in Daredevil #252, and Incredible Hulk #340 was a tie-in as well.) Since she wasn't grounded, and she knew what route their mom took, Katie uses her lightspeed powers (the rainbow-flying ones) and takes off to look for her. In the subways, the Horseman Pestilence is making people sick, and Katie tries to lure her away from the subway cars. Giving chase, Pestilence manages to touch Katie, but then flies into a wall. Sick, Katie takes the exit to the surface, and lands in a dumpster: Pestilence follows but doesn't see her.

Back home, the rest of the Powers wish they could have stopped Katie, then see the arrival of Apocalypse's massive Ship. That prompts them to break their grounding and head out, and they send a power-ball signal, which Katie sees. Reunited, the kids knew how to heal themselves from an earlier visit to Snarkworld (I thought this was Snarkworld...) but then have to save people from debris, caused by Ship colliding with buildings. They see Marvel Girl and Cyclops trying to stop the antenna from the Empire State Building from falling, and Pestilence going after them. Julie knocks her off her horse, and Katie tries to save Pestilence from falling, but gets sick again in the attempt. Pestilence both falls and a good chunk of the antenna lands on her; and Katie is still sad she wasn't able to save the mean old woman. Marvel Girl tries to comfort her; maybe she wanted to die. Doubtful, but it's a polite thing to say after a try like that.

As Cyclops and Marvel Girl take the fight to Apocalypse, Power Pack might get the tougher job of keeping the Ship from crashing into the Statue of Liberty. They succeed, and see X-Factor victorious: they also hear a news report about X-Factor's previous mutant-hunting secret identities, which confuses them, too. (Relax, that never made any sense to anyone.) Racing home, they arrive as their mom returns, from having gone looking for them: Katie admits she went out first, and the rest had to come looking for her, but mom is too glad they're all safe.

Man, Power Pack kind of had a rep of being a 'kiddie' book, but it was pretty solid sometimes. This one holds up!