Issue(s): Power Pack #40
Cover Date: Oct 88
Title: "Fire with fire"
Credits:
Louise Simonson - Writer
Sal Velluto - Penciler
Gerry Talaoc - Inker
Marc McLaurin - Assistant Editor
Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
Power Pack are out searching for the Bogeyman, aka Doug Carmody, who kidnapped their mutant friend Rebecca, but they find the New Mutants instead.

Alex, aka Destroyer, has an interesting way of dealing with being held by Cannonball.

When everything's sorted out, it gets him some accolades from Cannonball and a renewed invitation to join the New Mutants.

Notice Magik saying "so you guys 're Power Pack" and getting introduced to Julie by Mirage. That will be relevant to placement of Marvel Fanfare #55.

The two teams bond over their perceived mistreatment by adults (Power Pack is currently grounded, and Magneto has similarly forbidden the New Mutants from leaving school grounds or using their powers). The New Mutants have also sneaked out to search for Rebecca. They decide to flush out the Bogeyman by having Warlock transform himself into a likeness of the Bogeyman (i'm seeing better art from Sal Velluto on this issue)...

...and they dress Katie up to look like Rebecca and then take a picture as if they snapped the Bogeyman kidnapping Rebecca in realtime. Magik then teleports the photo to all the newsrooms in New York, including J. Jonah Jameson.

The idea is to get the Bogeyman to come after Power Pack, so the kids go home and the New Mutants stay hidden. Luckily Bogeyman attacks after the kids' parents leave the apartment. He actually manages to grab Katie and get away with her, but Warlock follows and leaves a trail - of himself - for the rest. It turns out that the Bogeyman has acquired the Millennium Falcon and parked it on top of a building.

We saw last issue that he intended to betray the Right and instead sell Rebecca to the highest bidder. That turns out to be the demon N'astirh.

N'astirh says he's actually interested in Carmody's soul, which Carmody said the Right had bought but then they subsequently defaulted on the payments. I kind of have the feeling Carmody is speaking metaphorically and doesn't realize that N'astirh is not.

In any event, what Carmody is actually selling is mutant children.

But Katie and Rebecca are actually too old for N'astirh's purposes.

At this point Power Pack and the New Mutants attack. Carmody's "super-villain" name was originally a kind of bitter joke, referencing the fact that he was stalking children. But by now he's taken the Bogeyman seriously enough to have created an army of warped children's toys.

They turn out to not be very dangerous, but they are still pretty crazy.

Rebecca demonstrates the full extent of her power, which sucks.

After Mirage displays his "greatest desire", which is a graveyard full of dead mutants, Magik sends the Bogeyman to Limbo.

But don't worry, she "didn't hurt him". Just condemned his soul to eternal damnation and torture.

No one objects. And the super-kids take Rebecca home.

And that's it for Rebecca Littlehale, who chooses the name Lighttrakker for herself but will never appear again. It's a weird name - looks Nordic! - and maybe she should have made it two words to avoid confusion. But it's not like she was going to be picked for any kind of super-team anyway with those powers. I can just imagine using her in a role-playing game:

Game Master: You are are being attacked by the Wrecking Crew.
Thor: I hit them with my hammer!
Cyclops: I blast them with my optic beams!
Lighttrakker: I, um, well, i guess i take off my sunglasses and teleport up to the lamp post again.

That's also it for Louise Simonson. This is her last issue on the title (until the 1992 Holiday Special) and after next issue's fill-in we'll be getting Jon Bogdanove's take on the characters. She ends with having the Power kids to resolve to not tell their parents about their powers, which is kind of a let-down after issues and issues of teasing the idea, and it's really just kicking the can down the road. But even though her run ends on kind of a whimper, it's been more positive than not and the early issues were a real joy. The characters she created have a legacy that continues well beyond her run and even after this series is cancelled.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This story seemingly begins the same night as Power Pack #39. See my notes on last issue and Marvel Fanfare #55. In any event, a note on the opening splash panel says this takes place after New Mutants #66 and before New Mutants annual #4, and that makes sense since Mirage's powers are not creating solid objects. As noted in the comments, the chronology for the demon N'astirh is murky, but since he's still in Limbo here i'm placing this prior to X-Terminators #1, and this becomes his first appearance in my project. This is due to the fact that N'astirh's appearances in X-Factor #30-34 and X-Terminators #1 are tightly intertwined, and X-Factor #34 has a number of dependencies with other comics, including Uncanny X-Men #238 and Avengers annual #17. So since the New Mutants have to appear here before New Mutants annual #4 (part 4 of the Evolutionary War) whereas X-Factor #34 has to appear circa Avengers annual #17 (part 11 of the Evolutionary War), this appearance by N'astirh must take place earlier.

References:

• Power Pack met Sunspot and Warlock in Power Pack #33.
  
• Mr. Power makes a reference to being crazy with worry when the kids were kidnapped by Snarks in Power Pack #23-25, comparing it to how Rebecca's parents must feel.
  
• N'astirh refers to his demons having tried to use Katie before. That was in Power Pack #20. That's also when Power Pack met (some of) the New Mutants for the first time.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

There really is no way to make sense out of the lead-in stories to Inferno, most of which were scripted by Simonson.
N'astrih talks this issue like he already made the deal with the Right for the babies, which he did in X-Factor 32. But Bogeyman talks like Hodge is dead and the Right is in shambles. Hodge seemingly died in New Mutants 60. Hodge makes the deal with N'astirh personally in X-Factor 32, and this takes place after his supposed death in New Mutants 60. But if Hodge made the deal personally, then why are Boogeyman and N'astirh talking like he's dead? And Boogeyman can't be referring to an earlier deal, since N'astirh is surprised to be contacted by a mortal in X-Factor 32, which makes no sense if Hodge had contacted him before.
Another possibility is that this issue takes place after X-Factor 34, where Hodge seemingly dies again, but that's impossible since N'astirh hasn't travelled to Earth yet in this issue and N'astirh is on Earth in X-Factor 34.
Secondly, in X-Terminators 1, S'ym tells N'astirh the plan involves mutant babies and it's treated like this is the first time S'ym is telling N'astirh this. Then N'astirh goes straight to Earth. But in this issue and X-Factor 32, he's already plotting to steal the baby while in Limbo.
Further complicating matters is that X-Terminators implies that N'astirh could only leave Limbo while Illyana drew the Soulsword but I suppose he could have left during an untold story.
There's also the question of when this takes place in relation to X-Men 231. S'ym acts like he'll have to be patient at the end of that story, not like he's already sent demons after the babies he needs.
On a non-continuity note, you stated that Peter made a mistake in X-Men 231 letting Illyana think he was dead. But looking over these issues, it's easy to see why he made the mistake. Peter didn't know Illyana was tossing villains into Limbo- all he knew was that Illyana tried a necromantic spell to save her friends. The fact that none of the Mutants realized tossing villains into Limbo was corrupting Illyana is beyond belief.

N'astirh doesn't say that Hodge is dead, Bogeyman does. Bogeyman doesn't know that Hodge survived the plane crash in New Mutants 60. As far as he knows the Right is no more because Hodge is gone (underground as it turns out). Since N'astirh says he's already been contacted about babies (not mentioning Hodge specifically), this takes place after X-Factor #32 (but before Hodge dies in X-Factor #34 because of how that issue ties into X-terminators #1). Why would N'astirh bother correcting Bogeyman's assumption that Hodge is dead?

I assume that scene at the beginning of X-terminators #1 takes place earlier than the rest of the issue. I'm guessing N'astirh had his own plans for babies that just so happened to parallel S'ym's, so he went along with it. It's possible that opening scene, along with X-Factor #32 & Power Pack #40, takes place shortly before Uncanny X-Men #231 where a bunch of Limbo demons escape to impersonate "Baba Yaga" while the rest of X-terminators #1, when N'astirh arrives on Earth-onward, takes place after.

"But it's not like she was going to be picked for any kind of super-team anyway with those powers."

Right, because having the ability to automatically teleport to the brightest thing she can see is definitely not as useful as having the power to translate languages, spoken or written, human or alien in origin. I mean, that's a power worthy of being put on a team.;)

I just got the latest tpb of Inferno (volume 1 of 2) and it (mostly) agrees with this being N'astirh's first appearance (except for video screen appearances from X-Factor 32 and Uncanny, which are in the prologue).
Complete issue order is:

Power Pack 40
X-Factor 33
X-Terminators 1
X-Factor 34
X-Terminators 2
Uncanny X-Men 239
X-Factor 35, 36
Uncanny X-Men 240
(Interlude from New Mutants 70)
X-Terminators 3
New Mutants 71
X-Terminators 4
New Mutants 72
Power Pack 42, 43