Powerkid Police

Powerkid Police

Created by Robert E. Wronski, Jr. and Phil Sheridan

First Appearance:  Powerkid Police # 1, September 1982

Members:

Powerkid

Zap, Master of Power

Speedy/Speedster/Speed Demon

Vic-20

Unknown

Man-Killer

Space Hero

Waterman

Avenger

Toy/Shrinker

Birdboy/Birdman

Birdgirl/Birdwoman

Screamer

Tornado Man

Stretch

Witch Woman

Fire Man

Kitten Girl

Powergirl

Chris "the Whale" Whaler

Biography:

In 1982, there was an explosion in the number of people who developed super-powers on the planet, mostly in the United States, particularly in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.  The reason for this was related to the plans of three cosmic beings, and the location of the Universal Transponder, a device whose mystery is only exceeded by its power, which was in the Forbidden Forest just outside Orange City.  Many of these people who gained powers donned costumes, and became crime fighters.

In late 1982, a cosmic entity called Morgoth came to Earth to claim it as his and reshape it in his image, but was defeated by three of these new heroes:  Powerkid, Zap, and Speedy.  After the success of their collaboration, they decided that a team of heroes is needed to protect Earth from situations like this.

So they put an ad in the newspaper looking for new members of this team, that would be called the Powerkid Police, since Powerkid was the first of the many heroes to appear, and thus was an inspiration to the others.

And heroes did join.  the majority of the members of this team all joined in the initial recruitment, with only Kitten Girl, Powerkid, and Chris Whaler becoming members later in 1984.

The team's tenure is considered the golden age of heroes by most historians, and it was short lived.  In 1985, there was a cosmic crisis that threatened to destroy the multiverse.  During this crisis, Powergirl was killed (or so it seemed).  This seemed to end an age of innocence.  Shortly after, a wave of anti-super-hero hysteria swept the nation as the crisis was blamed on Earth's super-beings, who were largely unaware of the true cause nor cared.

The team decided to disband and retire.

Two new teams emerged not that long later.  One was the Heroes of Earth, whose members would include Powerkid, Zap, the Speed Demon, Space Hero, and Fire Man.  This team would operate until 1992, then return from 1995 to 1998, then re-emerge in 2008 where it continues today.

The other team to emerge after the PKP's disbanding was the Mystery Men.  This team including former PKP members Unknown, Shrinker, and Stretch.  Sadly this team was killed by robot Time Lords in 1988.

In 2019, a new team will be gathered calling itself the Power Police in tribute to the original "golden age" team.

Comments:

First, I'll discuss the team's name.  In 1982, when Phil Sheridan and I were in 4th grade and trying to create a club, I wanted it to be a super-hero club, as in Powerkid, Zap, ect.  He wanted it to be a military club (as in G.I. Joe, MASH, and military police.)  He suggested we combine them, particularly Powerkid + military police = Powerkid Police.  Thus Phil gets co-creator credits for coming up with this name of our club that I would then apply to my stories.

If you see the roster, you can see the membership of the Powerkid Police greatly resembles the line-up of the Justice League of America of that era.  That is definitely intentional, and meant to be an homage.  The actual stories didn't resemble the JLA's adventures as much.  The PKP operated in an underground headquarters that was created by a super-villain but seized by Powerkid.  Their access to the headquarters was through an entrance in a treehouse in Powerkid's backyard.

The team mostly fought the big threats that were too big for Powerkid alone.  They fought Doctor Deadly a lot, and the Powerkid Haters.  They also fought alien invaders like the Booers.

The team's demise was part of my growing up process I think, as the replacement team, the Heroes of Earth, had a much more original team make-up and storylines.

The original roster of the PKP were restored in 2008 to both life and power to fight the New Power.  They are now all back to active duty, but the team has not reformed (nor will it, based on my future projections for stories at this time.)  However, they will always be remembered in the Wronskiverse as the models of heroism in a simpler time.  Powerman himself often acts embarrassed by the name of the team, but still thinks fondly of those days before he lost his innocence.