The Power Company was a team of superheroes-for-hire in the DC Comics universe. The team first appeared in JLA #61, (February 2002) and subsequently starred in a series that ran for eighteen issues between April 2002 and September 2003. The characters were created by Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett.
Josiah Power was one of America’s best lawyers before the Invasion mini-series (DC Comics; 1989), following the untimely public activation of his metagene in the court room (due to the activation of the Gene Bomb). Power had little interest in becoming a traditional costumed superhero, but it became readily apparent that he could not continue to practice law without undue public attention. He capitalized on his business experience to organize a for-hire team of heroes along the lines of a law firm. Their very first mission as a team was against the East Asian criminal organization known as the Black Dragon Society. They successfully defused a hostage situation initiated by the Society and returned to their base of operations.
The members also included Manhunter (Kirk DePaul) a mercenary clone of original Manhunter Paul Kirk (deceased); Skyrocket (Celia Forrestal) a former Navy officer who inherited an energy-manipulating Argo Harness from her murdered parents and she was recruited to enhance the credibility of the Power Company; Witchfire (Rebecca Carstairs) a magic user and popular star of film and pop music videos (who discovered that she was actually a plant based homunculi); Bork (Carl Andrew Bork) a reformed villain, who was the team's gentle giant; Firestorm the Nuclear Man (Ronald Raymond) briefly joined the power company, but left before the end of the series; Sapphire (Candace Jean Gennaro) an underaged runaway powered by a psycho-reactive alien gem called the Serpent's Egg which appeared to tap her latent telekinetic abilities; Striker Z (Daniel Tsang) a former Hong Kong stuntman turned human battery and superstrong martial artist. A major supporting character was Silver Shannon - Josiah's personal assistant and former lead singer of "The Maniaks" (a fictional rock band that appeared in Showcase #68 (May 1967; they were created by E. Nelson Bridwell and Mike Sekowsky).
3 comments:
Man, I LOVED the Power Company book.
Busiek's characterization was at its strongest, he made such a great book out of a bunch of unknown characters! And Tom Grummett was ON FIRE - This is one of his works that I'm most fond of.
Way overdue for a nice collection, IMHO.
Best,
J.
I wonder where all these characters are now in the DCU....haven't seen much of Skyrocket or Silver Shannon...
Skyrocket was in "Action Comics" #832-833 as one of the dozens of superpowered beings who save the world from marauding aliens. Sapphire was later abducted and became a combatant in The Dark Side Club in issues of The Teen Titans series and recently, the entire team appeared in James Robinson's Justice League of America run. They were hired to defend a S.T.A.R. Labs facility, only to be brutally defeated by Doctor Impossible. In a conversation that occurred at the JLA Watchtower, it is mentioned that all of the Power Company members are currently hospitalized, and that Josiah would've died had Mon-El not forced open his rib cage in order to help treat his heart.
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