Issue(s): Power Pack #46
Cover Date: May 89
Title: "The great Goo-Gam rip-off!"
Credits:
Terry Austin - Writer
Whilce Portacio - Penciler
Mark Badger - Inker
Mark McLaurin - Assistant Editor
Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
Terry Austin returns with a sequel to his Goo-Gam story from Power Pack #21. In that story, a famous children's author named Jessie Wilcox Jones was kidnapped by thugs that had a remarkable resemblance to the Three Stooges. The Stooges wanted the prize money associated with a contest promoting Jones' latest book. The idea was that a treasure chest would be buried at a location that one could only find from clues in the book. Jack and Katie Power helped her out and rescued her from the Stooges.

In this story, someone locates the treasure chest and digs it up to find that it's full of old books by Jones instead of money. And Jones is implicated in the theft of the money. Julie is away and both Jack and Alex are sick (and it looks like Jack, not Ecstasy, really has Cloak's cloak)...

...but Katie is ok and Jack is actually feeling better, so Jack and Katie decide to go help Jones again.

But having an antagonistic relationship, Jack and Katie don't actually tell each other that they are going to help Jones. And this is where a story that already features something called Goo-Gams gets silly: Katie calls the Punisher for help while Jack hires Dakota North.

Jack is still a little sick, so he shows up at Dakota's office like this.

He also immediately falls in love with her.

Here's Punisher with Katie.

Whilce Portacio inked by Mark Badger is an odd combination.

It eventually comes out that Jones is being framed by another Stooge brother, so Punisher, Dakota, and the two Power siblings eventually converge on his house.

First Dakota tries to get him to confess with sexiness.

Then Punisher tries with scariness.

With both of the adults failing, Jack and Katie use the same approach they used last time, dressing up as Goo-Gams.

Katie still ensures that the guilty are punished.

Some cute moments here...

...and it's nice to see Dakota North again, but there's nothing here that would convince anyone taking a look at this issue because of the Punisher guest appearance that this wasn't strictly for kids.

Statement of Ownership Total Paid Circulation: Average of Past 12 months = 76,230. Single issue closest to filing date = 55,400.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: It's context free, but the MCP have the Punisher's appearance here between Punisher #19 and Punisher War Journal #6.

References:

• This is a sequel to Power Pack #21.
  
• Julie is away visiting "Aunt Opal" with her mom at the beginning of this issue, preventing the rest of Power Pack from using their group healing ability to fix their colds. A footnote points to Power Pack #42 referencing their healing power, although that wasn't the first usage.
  
• The Punisher gave Katie a way to contact her in Strange Tales #14.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A