The premise was that an alien Kymelian, Aelfyre Whitemane, otherwise known as Whitey, came to Earth to save it. The Power's father was part of an anti-matter creation project similar to one the Kymelians used that accidentally destroyed their planet. The Kymelians took this as a lesson in hubris and dedicated themselves anew as interstellar diplomats, mediators, peacekeepers and general preservers of the sanctity of life. Hence why he came, to prevent the destruction of Earth by the anti-matter converter and to keep the alien Snarks from seizing and weaponizing the technology. But he was shot down, wounded and got hurt more saving the four children when two were taken hostage. Dying, he transfers his superpowers to the kids.
What the powers? It seems all Kymelians are born with the potential to manipulate certain aspects of gravity, density, velocity, and energy. Developing actual powers takes years of training, but for this reason Kymelians are called Sorcerers the galaxy over. Whitey's powers mainly manifested as teleportation, a simulated telekinesis, energy blasts from his hands, and a 'molecular density field' where he condensed air hard enough to serve as a forcefield. In the kids they work out a bit differently: Katie gets the energy power and can disintegrate whatever she touches, using the energy to fire "powerballs," Jack gets density and can become a cloud or shrink to about eight inches tall while retaining his weight, Julie has velocity powers which means flight, Alex can control gravity in relation to himself and things he touches.
Over the years they manage to swap powers multiple times, and discover new applications. Like teleporting with the velocity power, MD fields and shooting off multiple non-lethal powerballs. They also meet Whitey's nephew, a teleporter named Kofi. Then Kofi's dad Yrik, ambassador to the Snarks with healing powers, and after their first adventure they had an extended conversation with Truthseeker Byrel, Whitey's father, via either astral projection or hologram.
Then after multiple years for the 50th issue the kids go to Kymelia. And it is crap, by this point the writer and artist had moved on, and the story was terrible. The Kymelians were living on a Mobius-strip space station that was pretty much a cyberpunk shopping mall inside. They were effectively enslaved by the 'technocrats' who maintained the station, and couldn't give two craps about alien life or diplomacy. Perhaps the worst betrayal of the original concept was the claim that Whitey was the last Sorcerer, that no one has powers except Force Four, their FF rip-off team.
For years this bothered me. Then in a fit of boredom I asked myself, "what about Sd.net? We collectively know our way around sci-fi." So I put it to you, forget the 50th and ask yourselves, how could you create an alien civilization that fulfilled the original promise. Destroyed homeworld as a society-defining tragedy, various powers relating to the four main qualities, committed to peace and life, and not have it suck?
Oh, I should probably mention that this was in the late 70s-early 80s, and that Kymelians are horse-people.
