[23-25/75] Runaways Volumes One and Two by Brian K. Vaughan
All young people believe their parents are evil...but what if they really are? Meet Alex, Karolina, Gert, Chase, Molly and Nico - whose lives are about to take an unexpected turn. When these six young friends discover their parents are all secretly super-powered villains, the shocked teens find strength in one another. Together, they run away from home and straight into the adventure of their lives - vowing to turn the tables on their evil legacy.
Still on the run from their super-villain parents, this motley crew of super-powered kids finds a kindred spirit in a daring young stranger and welcomes him into their fold. But will this dashing young man help the teenagers defeat their villainous parents...or tear them apart? One troubled member finds out, as she leaves the group's hideout with their new recruit, who reveals his startling secret, putting the entire team in jeopardy! Plus: Who do you send to catch a group of missing, runaway teenage super heroes? Marvel's original teen runaway crimefighters, Cloak and Dagger, are making their first major appearance in years!
I'm not sure how I'm going to warn people for spoilers when it comes to talking about this! Apparantly the one bottle_of_shine and justira has the storylines from Volume 2 in the first volume, which severely confused me when reading Nay's reaction to it. GUYS: CLOAK & DAGGER, VOLUME ONE OR VOLUME TWO? Anyway, thoughts on Runaways: I love the art. No, seriously, it is gorgeous, and - and its the little details I remember of it, like Karolina biting her lip when she's thinking, and most comics I read just don't bother with little bits of body language, so excuse me while I flail.
Oh yeah, the story. Um. It's novel, I have to say! I don't think I've ever seen anything from the point of view of the supervillains kids - well, I've seen characters who've become superheroes in response to parents being supervillains, but not quite like this! Anyway, the pacing feels awkward, and the story itself has some issues (Some things are slightly predictable, and some things make me boggle a little like how none of the parents can look at the note and go "Well, my chld didn't write that." I know this is probably just a symptom of having reasonably attentive parents and pretty distinctive handwriting, but jesus - you'd think they'd at least be able to GUESS so it'd feel less like a cheap way to cause tension. (For the record: It works. It's cheap, but it works.),) but the story works. It really does.
And because I'm a character whore: I do like them. ALL of them. The kids all feel a little like your standard sterotypes, but they're handled pretty well and they're all distinct and I love them. Even when they're idiots, naive, or not really shown (Gert, for example, appears to be the babysitter of the group for NO EXPLICABLE REASON.). The parents - well, apart from Alex's, who're the only ones shown to have separate views on things - only really seem to have enough character between them for one person, which is disappointing. Why give all the characters the exact same family type if you're not going to characterise the parents as separate people?!
(And on the topic of characters: TRUE STORY that kinda spoils Volume Two a little!:
Karolina: *admits to being interested in someone (who is interested in someone else) who isn't Alex*
Susan: ... Wait, how does that work?
Susan: It's not Alex, and it's not Topher, but the only only other person we know is interested in someone else is Nico -
Susan:
Susan:
Susan:
Susan:
Susan:
Susan: Oh god how slow am I?!
Now I have to pick up the rest of the series, because if I'm not right, then I'll have just admitted to being completely stunned by thinking Marvel would allow teenage lesbians for no reason.
Verdict: It's really good! This sounds like I have nothing but issues with it, but that's not it at all! *looks sheepish*
I have to admit though, I am going with Young Avengers as my "Teenager costumed superheroes" of choice. Admittedly, this is biased because Young Avengers = possibility of boys kissing in that one of the first scenes I ever read from it was one of the boys trying to come out to his parents and them telling him they already knew and then forcing his boyfriend to have breakfast with them, but what can I say? I'm relatively easy. Besides, Runaways don't count - like Molly says "... I'm the only one who made a costume?" ;)