You can listen to the episode by clicking: Episode 14.
Crossover Time! X-cellent!
Jeff and Rick sit down with an X-pensive beer and X-amine an X-cellent X-Men X-travaganza. That’s right, Power Pack is hiding behind a weird teal covered book. The Power Kids embark on their darkest adventure yet…yeah, this ain’t no kiddy book.
Make sure you check out Jay and Miles Xplain the X-Men, Episode 41 “Hated and Feared” (https://www.xplainthexmen.com/2015/01/41-hated-and-feared/) for their take on this issue of X-Men.
Featured in this episode are shout outs to: Jay & Miles XPlain the X-Men( @XPlaintheXmen ), Smash Fiction (@SmashFicPodcast ) and a BIG SHOUT OUT to Hub at Titan Up the Defense for his contribution ( @ttwasteland_ )
Eighties Action by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3703-eighties-action License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Jeff and Rick Present 
Warning: most of my comments are about the X-Men again! Whose podcast is this anyway?
I always did like this issue. Kitty leading the team to rescue PP. Exciting fighty-fight with the Morlocks. Romita Jr’s artwork. Logan and Katie. Lots to love. But there are some very wonky things. The Powers’ personalities and voices are just “off”. I completely agree that Katie is written less capable than in PP. It wasn’t “bad”, but no, I didn’t like that.
Then there’s silly stuff, like why is Rogue carrying Katie putting her at risk of making skin contact? Katie’s only 5. Any of the X-Men could carry her. You don’t super-strength. Just silly.
Wolverine letting Kitty lead the team was interesting. I always think of the hard time he gives Cyclops and Prof X. Logan certainly didn’t respect the chain of command with them in charge. Maybe it’s that Scott and the Prof didn’t always give him much respect in turn. But Storm, Kitty, and Nightcrawler all amply respect Logan, so he not just goes along but encourages them. That comes through extra strong in this issue with his mentoring of Kitty.
But letting Kitty lead. The world is not at stake, but this is a mission which likely will have violence. People can be hurt and even killed in that situation. It’s part of the superhero genre, but in the real life, this is dangerous stuff. That’s a heavy role for a teenager to be given. I was about Kitty’s age when this issue came out, so I loved it then. Now that I’m a … little … older, it gives me pause.
Oh yeah! Did you notice that Rachel seemed to disappear during the Morlock battle? Rogue fighting, Wolverine pops the claws, Kitty searches for the kids, and nothing about Rachel. Weird.
And finally. Big plot hole at the very beginning of the issue. Why didn’t Beautiful Dreamer wipe the kids’ memories from the start? She could do everyone in the building *except* for the kids? Really? Sure, if she had, there wouldn’t have been much story. It works for a first read, when we don’t know what’s happening any more than the kids do, but afterwards, it just takes me out of it. Sheesh.
All right, that’s enough. Let’s get back to Power Pack’s comic where things make … sense?
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Always a pleasure to hear from you TIm! About that big plot hole….the one you could fly an SR-71 through….yeah. The only no-prize I could come up with is that Dreamer was there earlier while the kids were fighting in PP 12. After doping the parents and everyone else in the building, she went back to rest. She may not have been ready to modify more memories while the furniture was removed.
Sure…that works.
As far as Kitty being in charge, she was always more adult than her age. And Marvel writers always made her older. That being said, Wolverine would not let her fail, no matter how dangerous it got. By this time, she had been on her Japan adventure with Logan, and had been across the universe.
I really like your breakdown of Logan and respect. I think you are spot on with that assessment.
-Rick
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Fine points all around. I have counterpoints on the “plot hole”, but not worth it. I think we agree that was hokey and not explained in the issue. But as I said, there wouldn’t have been a story at all without that setup, so I need to just let that go.
Thank you, Rick! Almost to PP 13! 🙂
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About the Wolverine in the shadows, I also like all the shadows of the people Wolverine is facing at the bottom of the frame.
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I agree. I am a huge fan of the use of silhouettes in comics. It always looks great and is a bit of a cheat for the artist. Throw in some glowing eyes and, bam, you got yourself a winner.
-Jeff
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