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[#87 Part 1]

#87 Part 1



Number 87 - Power Pack by Louise Simonson

Keywords: Superheroes, mainstream, kids comics, craft, needs a re-read

Creators:
Writer - Lousie Simonson
Art - Various mainly June Brigman and Jon Bogdanove with Bob Wiacek doing a lot of the inks
Colours - Glynis Oliver and others

Publisher: Marvel Comics

No. issues: 40
Date of Publication: 1984 - 1988

Last read: 2013

As I re-evaluate what comics I enjoy the most I've been stripping my collection of all sorts of stuff I don't think I'll get around to re-reading. Most of the stuff that's going onto the 'for sale' pile (well its many boxes by this point!) is my superhero stuff. Only the best are spared the chop and one that is staying in my collection, at least until I get to a rapidly approaching re-read is


Copyright - Marvel Comics

Specifically I'm talking about the start of Power Pack's time at Marvel, they are still around today as I'll get to later in this post. The first 40 issues of their ongoing title, in which they debuted, was written by Louise Simonson with art in the main by the brilliant June Brigman, up to issue 17 and followed by the almost as good Jon Bogdanove with issue 22.

In some ways it's very surprising that Power Pack stands out so much amongst so many decent superhero comics of the time as it tells the tale of four sibling children. Indeed it seems aimed at an audience who will relate to these leads and seems to be written for a younger audience than even Marvel's main fare in the mid 80s when it came out. In doing that it manages however to be a really all ages title. It might be written with a young audience in mind but reads really well to an adult. This is largely due to the way the series makes the kids of the title actually behave like real children of their defined ages. From Katie who is 4 years old to Alex who at 12 is the oldest sibling. For completion Jack whose 8 and Julie at 10 make up the team.

It's written from their perspective, reads like these are real kids having to deal with wonderful powers and the terrible dangers they bring. Terrible dangers both in terms of the aliens and villains they have to fight against and terrible in terms of the struggles of young children and the fears they have. Perversely in handling things from this perspective and with such quiet honesty it reads to me as far more mature than most mainstream comics of the time.


Copyright - Marvel Comics

The story tells of the four Power siblings as detailed above. Yes they really are called Power, but that's a minor irritation which exposes the nature of these comics.  Actually the whole of what I'm about to recount by way of recap makes clear these are mainstream kids superhero tales, you'll just have to trust me their naive charm makes all this really work.

The children live with their parents on a beachfront house outside New York. Their father just happens to be a brilliant scientist who develops some amazing science based antimatter type advance in technology. I don't know it was superhero science type stuff. His work draws the attention of two alien races. The first are the good horsey type aliens called Kymellians who send one of their leaders 'Whitey' to warn him of the dangers of developing his work further. The second are warrior lizard types called Snarks (a name ripe for at least one pun.) and not nice. They are intent on kidnapping Doc Powers to extract his discovery from him to use for their own nefarious means. In doing so they mortally wound Whitey and indeed capture the kids parents.

Whitey crash lands his sentient spaceship 'Friday' on the beach near the Power's home and in his last dying act bestows on each of the children a fraction of his 'powers' and his smart ship. So each of the children suitably superpowered and have the means have to journey into space to rescue their parents, hopefully without mum and dad realising it's them doing it and that they are now superheroes.

For the record, when I said "Wagner rules" I meant like "Wagner is awesome", I'm American so our slang is sometimes different in contexts etc. 

I mean he totally is!

I've loved Thought Bubble in both the Armouries and those couple of years across the City centre. Not been since its been in Harrogate so very interest to see how well that works.

As for Lawless well I have the pss offically stamped BUT that was done just as we were booking a couple of summer breaks so just need to see how I feel in the morning and how financially tender I am.

Meeting folks here, so Barrington Boots that is defo a factor, is the main draw for Lawless. Let's see how a nights sleep does for it all...

All thing said, though, for a strip without an official central authority, Dredd does hang together well. And it mostly lacks the revolving door element that can make eg Marvel quite tedious. Much of that is down to the continual influx of new ideas and the single parters/shorts – which KN excels at.

Yeah The set up is so robust and flexible that even with different folks creating it remains solid. Again I think this is an element that Niemand plays into so well. Pushing smaller quieter corner that innovate and create but at the same time do so as to never really interfere with what anyone else might plan to do.

Not sure if Wagner really wants to rule.

It will always be Wagner's prerpogative not to drive the main story and do what he likes. I do wonder how that might work if the so called 'showrunner' idea was put in place. Not that there's any real evidence that this is needed.

Good work (or maybe not!) folks. That's all good stuff. I've been to Thought Bubble, but not since it moved to Harrogate and have never been to Lawless. Which was part of the temptation BUT as goGilesGo says I do like me comics across the board so Thought Bubble is generally more up my street and closer. But you all make Lawless sound great fun, in a small 'n cozy sort of way.

I was ready to book this weekend but might give it a bit of settlin' time. Mind there are still rooms at the Double Tree so probably wise not to leave it too long.

Thanks for the food for thought folks.

So whose defo going to this? Just started to get off my ass to organised going and it all rather slammin' up in price! With train ticket, room and entry I need some encouragement to shell out. I can do Thought Bubble for 1/2 the price and was juggling which to go for.

The cool thing about Lawless I'm thinking is meeting folks from the board, so whose defo going (I'm defo not sure yet!)

Thanks for the 'Likes' super nice!

I do think the fact he's focus on world building, or at least Mega City One extension planning application is a big part of why he's so making such an impact. Instead of focusing down and digging deep into a niche he's doing what Mega City One and Dredd do so well and exploding the world into all sorts of brilliant places driven by compelling characters.

I defo get the Al Ewing love as I said in the write up though it never came together for me, it never felt like a single thing. It was a set of good Dredd not pulled together. I do hope he comes back as I think its there and he could get... well Niemand good!

[Dredd]

Well while the Megazine may not be on top form I actually think this is pretty decent.

The Dredd doesn't do a great deal for me but is fine with great art.

Armitage isn't normally my thing but this was pretty good with great art and I'm happy to see more.

DeMarco is good but needs a re-read - art - well see above.

I know the reprint hasn't landed for some but while I've not read it here as I have it all I like Hookjaw and Mark Russell might not be at his best on Dredd - which is weird given it would seem a perfect for him its not bad.

The text pieces are fine but not as good as normal for me.

Harrower Squad took a scene shift that just lost me - again re-read required I think. Art as above.

The highlight though is Devlin Waugh without a shadow of a doubt. It was just brilliant. Art is as good as all the rest of the stuff, possibly, probably the best. The story though was amazing. Something seemingly so benign and mini just had tension and a sense of impending doom just cutting all the way through it... somehow... I've no idea now but it was there and just set up... whatevers to come superbly. Loved it.

So while some needs a re-read nothing was bad and one story was absolute top draw.

Just need me Prog now. Everytime my sub is about to renew always seen to have a problem and that appears to be the case again - sigh - Still this is the Meg thread and that all good.

Oh no so the podcast was leaked before release as well as Taylor's album I'm betting. Only reason I can think of meaning it wouldn't get the same downloads on release.

Curse you hackers!

...what that you say... only so many overweight, balding middle-aged nerds out there... and we what... we're the core audience for the podcast... get outta here...

Out of interest is Strangers in Paradise any good. Its something I've always meant to check out and never got around to?

My guess is (just based on an image search of the spine) that's Raptaur first appearing in Volume One of the Meg.

I'm having problems posting longer ... well posts I guess. Used to be able to add things of up to 20000 characters and am regularly trying to add posts be around 15,000 - 18,000 character but lately I'm having to break posts of these lengths into 4 or 5 parts ... now many would say I should go on less but I'm on a role here and stubbornly determined.

Has the character limit been reduced - is this something that could be increased again or is it part of anti spam measures or similar?

[Part 4]

Part 4


Copyright - Rebellion

Kenneth Niemand produces Dredd stories that are as distinctive as they are diverse. He's humorous and whip smart when the story needs it, able to generate real tension and emotional punch when it's required. He plays in Dredd's 50 year old (almost) world in a way that is fresh and compelling, as if he created the series himself and is using it to tell all his own story ideas and to deal with the themes he wishes to bring on board. He's bold and innovates and yet immediately comfortable at the same time. He's been consistent in the quality of his output. Knows how to write a perfect Joe Dredd himself, yet will play cheeky with the character and the tropes of the long running series. He isn't afraid to push Dredd to the background as he builds Mega City One in new and fascinating ways. In short he is the perfect Dredd writer... well near perfect, maybe one more will get a call out, we'll see.

In short I have absolutely no doubt that Kenneth Niemand's Judge Dredd stories are completely worthy of their place on this list.

Where to find it

Well reprinting of his work is a little patchy to say the least at the moment. I'm aware of the following collections of his work.

Megatropolis

A Penitent Man - the Kyle Asher story arc.

And I think that's it. He has other bits and pieces in some other Graphic Novels but these are the two that feature his exclusively that I know of. No Chimpsky hardcover special edition yet I'm horrified to report.

Basically if you want to keep up with Kenneth Niemand's work for the time being you'll need the original Progs and Megs, which is no bad thing. I'm sure this will change over time but for the time being that's where we're at.

Learn more

No Obligatory Wikipedia page for Kenneth Niemand yet, you'll have to make do with and incredibly short biography on Simon & Schuster webpages.

2000ad Thrill-Cast has an interview with him from 2021. Though many will speculate this was produced to continue to mask our mystery writers true identity. I go with who'd have the time and energy to do that, but who knows for sure. It's well worth listening to regardless.

Normally reliable sources for all things 2000ad are of little use for Niemand. Both Barney and the 2000ad webpage have pages for him but they are both now very out of date and only deal with his earliest work for Tharg. I used the ever brilliant 2000ad in Stages - A to Z for a number of things for this one. It's not designed to list works by creators though so it took some poking around and scribbled calculations.

I can point you to Good Reads Kenneth Niemand page for the reviews there. At this point, as far as I'm aware however that's your lot, so odds and sods a Google search will unearth aside.

What is all this?

Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.

What this all came from

And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines

Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.

[Part 3]

Part 3

I'm not going to make this an exhaustive list of other Dredd writers, who has the time! But I will flag a couple of others I really like. Carroll and Edginton have both done a number of great stories. Neither has the consistency of Niemand. Al Ewing was a big favourite of many and I love a number of his stories, but it never coalesced for me in a way I had a real sense of what he was doing with Dredd. How his Dredd stood out beyond just well written Dredds. Niemand does that for me as I will get to. Our own lovely Gordon Rennie gets as close as anyone and he did some amazing Dredd's and developed a real niche in characters and corners of Dredd's world he 'specialised' in. Again though for me he played with the existing toys really well, he didn't add to that pool in quite the same way Niemand has.

Basically what I'm saying here is my admiration for Niemand's Dredd takes nothing away from how much I enjoy the good, often great work, of a number of other Dredd writers. It's just he brings something new to the party and for me is so much more consistent. I will discuss that in a wee bit, when I try to sum up what I admire about Niemand specifically, not in comparison to others. Suffice to say I have considered those others and I feel confident, for me, Niemand stands above them.


Copyright - Rebellion

Finally is the fact that he's the latest shiny toy, the fact that he is the latest great Dredd writer, does that artificially inflate my view of his work and that will wane over time? I genuinely don't think so, I genuinely think he's that good.

I mean firstly he's not that new anymore, he's been writing Dredd for 5 years now. I've thought about other contemporary writers, as listed above and think his work stands out. I think his output has been consistent over the years and as he increases that output the quality isn't dropping, his work is still exceptional. Lastly even if we do consider him new and relatively speaking that's understandable, should that mean I miss his comics off this list, which is after all my option at a specific point in time. I've already said and I'm certainly experiencing as I write these things, the list is flexible and my options will change. The very act of writing about these comics has changed my view on where I might put particular titles or runs if I did the same thing again, even now.

So should my view of Niemand's work diminish over time, and I've no reason to expect it will, that shouldn't take away from the fact they got their place at the point I made this list.

That leaves me with the final thing to unpick, why do I like his Dredd work so much. Well there's a few reasons. I've discussed the fact I think his output has been more consistently great than others who work alongside him. Sure I prefer some stories more than others, a few I felt are average, never less, but that could be said of even Wagner's work. Overall though the exceptional highs are far, far, more common (of the other not Wagner writers I should make clear!).

Secondly I think he's brought something fresh and new to Dredd's stories. He has a keen focus on the one thing that really makes Dredd and Mega City One such an inexhaustible story engine: the citizen's of Mega City One. Now of course he's not the first to do that. Wagner has done it brilliantly so many times, and others have too, but none have done it with quite the same exceptional skill as Niemand. He introduces new characters at a great rate and almost all the times he does that I'm left wanting to know more about those characters. Chimpsky is the obvious example and really is one of the best supporting characters, not only of recent times, but in the history of Dredd. The fact that he's spun out into this own, superb series, with its own fantastic supporting cast, so quickly and each of those has been simply brilliant speaks volumes to this.

Chimpsky isn't the only one. Kyle Asher I've mentioned already and his trilogy was superb. Mona, the skysurfing delivery mum, Mor Hallam, the security officer who sees folks naked, the occult shop owners, the list goes on. The fact that I can't remember names there is a failing of my addled memory not Niemands. Even characters who won't return are all fully fleshed out, engaging and add something new to the billion stories in Mega City One. He does this in a way that makes his tales feel cohesive. There's a tone and feel to his output that is clear and distinct - the main reason I don't buy into the idea he's an established 2000ad writer using a new pseudonym.

He does that while never losing sight of Dredd as a character. He might drop Dredd into the background, make him a supporting character in his own strip but that's not a bad thing, it widens the scope of the series' potential wonderfully. When he does write Dredd its with a voice that is spot on, that gets Dredd perfectly. He just uses him as a character as much a particular story needs, but when he's there he's absolutely spot on. That feels like a really brave thing to do for a relatively new writer in the Dreddverse.

His wider use of the Dreddverse has also been delightful. Mega City 2099 is great fun and so well executed. The crossover with One Eyed Jack is very effective and seems to have already spurned a spin off that I look forward to reading. Megatropolis was an absolute triumph, so much so that I bought a hardcover which I rarely do if I have a series in a different format. One of the best new strips in the Meg for a long time. Niemand has had such a positive impact on Dredd and this wider Universe, indeed universes in such a relatively short time I really don't think another writer compares favourably to their output.

I should also note that while this post is clearly very focused on the writing side of things, as Kenneth Niemand has had his strips drawn by a number of artists, he has been very well served on the art side of things. Artists as great as PJ Holden, Dan Cornwell, Tom Foster, Dave Taylor, Colin MacNeill, Patrick Goodard to name just a few, the list goes on and on, have all provided superb art for his stories. It's testament to the depth of talent in the 2000ad stable that Niemand has done so many diverse stories in tone and feel and Tharg has always, always, been able to match him with an artist who has done brilliant work to elevate his work. But this one is really all about the writing so please excuse me for talking so little about the great talents that have worked with Niemand.

[Part 2]

Part 2


Copyright - Rebellion

While the focus of this entry is Niemand's work on Judge Dredd specifically, I have also included his wider Dreddverse stories as they have frankly been just as good. So I am including 'Chimpsky's Law' the spin off solo stories of Noam Chimpsky the uplift chimp whose brilliant mind is put to good use protecting the downtrodden citizen's of their Block. Chimpsky, introduced in 'The World According to Chimpsky' in Prog 2131 made a meteoric rise similar to Nemand's and had his own series just a couple of years after, having made a number of appearances in the main Dredd strip. The chimp is not only one of the best new characters in the Dreddverse, but one of my favourite ever member's of Dredd's supporting cast.

'Megatropolis' Niemand's reimaging of Mega City One in an art deco alternative take on the city and its key inhabitants is also brilliant and worth consideration. Finally I'm also really enjoying 'Mega City 2099' which takes the first year of Dredd tales in the Prog as a launch point for another series of alternatives takes on Dredd and Mega City One so I'm bundling that in as well. Basically all of Niemand's work in the Dreddverse in its widest context is fantastic and can be considered part of what I'm discussing here.

From Niemand's first Dredd story 'Block Bud' which made an immediate impression on fans to the three part tragedy looking at the life of returnee from Titan Kyle Asher. To more comedic stories such as the hilarious 'Naked City' via powerful dramas such as 'A dream of a thousand flowers.' Niemand has already had a massive impact on Dredd stories. He's packed a punch, raised smiles and proved to be a master of what makes Dredd and Mega City One such a powerful engine for story in a very short period of time.


Copyright - Rebellion

Let's return to those doubts that I had about whether I was right to put Niemend's Dredd work on the list. I think they can be summed up in three questions:

Dredd has a creator who dominates this tales, how can these stories possibly compare that?
Are they really better than all those other great Dredd writers?
They are so new, have they really earned their strips? Or is the fact they are the latest bright new thing distorting my view?

So let's tackle those shall we.

John Wagner dominates folks' thoughts on Dredd for good reason. He's brilliant and defines how we think about a good Dredd strip, character growth and most relevantly here the ability to use Dredd and Mega City One as a vehicle for such a breadth of story types. Unlike any other character Dredd is able to support, be the launch point for, or even the focal point of, such a diversity of tales. Batman, Spiderman and the great superheroes can't do this. Characters such as Usagi Yojimbo, Concrete, Grendel, Corto Maltese (and this short list is plucked from my noggin as I type and there is no rhythm or reason I have chosen those; it could have been so many others.) are all amazing, and so completely associated with their creators understandably. While they can support many stories and a range of ideas they are much more focused on their core concepts and certain themes and tone. Dredd doesn't have those restrictions. I can think of maybe one character that gets close and that's The Spirit and even there we don't have the depth of possibility Wagner's Dredd opens up.

It's that diversity of story types that Niemand taps into so amazingly. So while Wagner has left his wonderful, mucky paw prints all over Dredd, he opened the door for so many others to play with the character in a way their writing best suits. So to that end I really shouldn't be surprised there's another writer for Dredd aside from Wagner, on this list. There will be multiple writers for a few characters on this list so the same should be true for Dredd.

Is Niemand as good as Wagner, well we'll have to wait for a while to see - I mean come on you know the answer to that - but part of Wagner's and Ezquerra creative genius on Dredd, however much they have defined the character in a way few others have 'owned' a house character, they do so in a way that opened seemingly infinite possibilities for others.

Also who needs to compare. Wagner Dredd is Wagner Dredd, Niemand stories have their own qualities and purpose and as such the fact that one is so good should have no bearing, on how much I enjoy the other.


Copyright - Rebellion

That leads nicely into the second doubt I had. Is Niemand really better than a host of other really good writers on Dredd. The short answer there is yes, according to me.

See that was an easy one wasn't it.

Okay, okay that deserves a little unpicking doesn't it and goes some way to examining why I think Niemand's Dredd is so good.

So many great writers have worked in Dredd, to differing degrees of success. There are a number of writers whose work on Dredd hasn't landed for one reason or another so we can chalk those off straight away. Morrison, Mills (though I love Cursed Earth and Blood Of Satanus (first one!) I'm not keen on the rest of his Dredd), Ennis all spring to mind whose Dredd just isn't great for one reason or another. John Smith to a lesser degree falls into this category as well.

Alan Grant's work with Wagner may well be getting some comment down the line but, his solo work is patchy. He did some absolute humdingers 'John Cassavetes is Dead' is one example and one of my favourite Dredds. His writing seemed to work so much better on Anderson and he took what he learnt from Dredd to Batman with much more impact than his solo Dredd work. So while it's hard, in fact impossible, to ignore his contribution to Dredd there just is an inconsistent quality there.

Similarly Rob Williams is a writer I might pull out as a contemporary of Niemand. His work gets so close to my list as he's done some of the very best recent Dredd. Indeed there have been two absolute classics in the last few months. It's just he's done some stinkers and can fall down a rabbit hole of his own personal Dredd peccadillos. 'Titan' did his Dredd as an indefatigable fighter, yet for a while he returned to that time and time again and it started to grate. He also seems to play a lot with one specific theme, the political landscape within the Justice Department and the effects of that and while he does that really, really well at times for me he lacks the range of Niemand.