Written by Christos Gage
Illustrated by Karl Moline– Guest-Starring The Runaways!
– Giant-Man And Victor…Reptil And Chase…Lightspeed And Karolina…What Are The Connections That Make These Combustible Crews Collide?
Everybody loves a good comeback story, right? Or a story about the underdogs, and how they defied the odds and won the big game in the end. Those are staple tropes, frequently used and oft ultimately creating tear-jerkers.
Well, the Runaways may be back and they sure are underdogs, but don’t call it a comeback just yet.
Hit the jump for some thoughts on this week’s Runaways spotlight in “Avengers Academy.”
Oh, the Runaways! One of the most unique properties in the Marvel staples with a team made up of multiple races, ethnicities and sexuality, the Runaways is the team everyone wants to see but no one at Marvel ever wants to commit to. And why would they? Even with names like Brian K Vaughan and Joss F’n Whedon, the book still ended up cut short repeatedly due to poor sales, and the Runaways spin-off “The Loners” certainly didn’t turn any heads. (Remember that? Of course you don’t.)
And yet, there still remains so much that could be done with the Runaways. As mentioned, the team is incredibly rich and full of opportunity. They’re like the Young Avengers, truthfully; a team of heroes for the next generation, waiting to grow up and take the place of all the staple Marvel characters if only we’d let them. Unfortunately, just like the Young Avengers, no one seems to know what to do with them, and those that might aren’t touching them for some reason. The Young Avengers were left alone “for a reason”, ultimately revealed in “Avengers: Children’s Crusade” (Heinberg and Cheung had a story to tell, and come hell or high water they’d eventually tell it!), but the Runaways never had that excuse to them. Brian K Vaughan had finished his story, and it was time for others to take the mantle. It just so happened that nobody did.
Of course, when we last left the Runaways, they were in a terrible place. Kathryn Immonen and Sara Pichelli basically destroyed the team at the end of the third volume in what may have been the most depressing end to a cancelled series ever produced at Marvel — no closure and no hope. The Runaways made casual appearances after that, most recently in Rob Williams’ “Daken: Dark Wolverine” where the team made a very nice but very supporting role. It wasn’t so much the triumphant and visceral return of the Runaways so much as it was the very appreciated and enjoyable set of appearances by the Runaways, and thus the team was somewhat doomed back to whatever hole Marvel was hiding them in.
Ah! But then, along came Christos Gage. Gage, writer of “Avengers Academy,” saw a perfect opportunity to have some cake and eat it as well. After all, “Avengers Academy” is a book that thrives on the younger generation, and given that the book is shared both by a core team of initial characters and a new set of famous other characters, why not both bring the Runaways into a potential new home and pick up some loose threads? The potential is there, and the match need but be struck for what you could probably assume is story gold.
It makes perfect sense to have the Runaways make an appearance in “Avengers Academy,” after all. Marvel, for what it’s worth, does repeatedly try to offer up books with a team dynamic under the impression that these kids will grow up to be staple superheroes like the heroes they idolize. Sure, it’ll probably never happen; as much as I like Reptil, something tells me he won’t stand in the future pantheon of Avengers as a staple hero alongside Captain America. Yet there is always something endearing about these characters and their books. We want younger heroes, we want new heroes, and we want to see them overtake everybody else. This is, really, why the Runaways were always going to come back in one way or another, fan service aside — they’re one of the teams of tomorrow, and that tomorrow has to happen someday.
Continued belowAnd so it is: the Runaways make a truly triumphant return, and for the first time since 2009, the little team that could gets a chance for true resurgence. Putting a somewhat happy stamp on what was a story marked for tragedy, Gage quickly establishes the dynamic of the group within the staple characters of the series. Each Runaway gets evenly matched up with their appropriate counter in a rather amusing scene; Victor expresses admiration for White Tiger, Julie Power and Karolina have a conversation that sets off Chase and Mettle, which in turn leads to an amusing tête-à -tête between Niko and Hazmat about racial roles as well as code names, and Molly and Klara have their own banter with Tigra. With the cultural and socio-political setting of “Avengers Academy” in full force, there is clearly no better place for the Runaways’ story to be closed off (if only so that the team can enter into the hallowed halls of characters who are allowed to weave in and out of stories).
The only major detriment to the book is Karl Moline, but not in an inherently bad way. The book has seen quite a few artists by now, starting with Mike McKone while also featuring artists like Sean Chen, Tom Grummett and Tom Raney, as well as some fantastic Rodin Esquejo covers. Moline ultimately doesn’t feel as smooth of a fit for the book when standing up against the crowd, at least not when paired with the heavy inks of Jim Fern who somewhat makes the book look like it was illustrated by a young and inexperienced Mark Bagley. Moline’s art certainly brings about the youthful aspects of the characters and doesn’t ostensibly harm the overall quality of the series, but with Grummett returning in an issue’s time and this brief but high profile arc being Moline’s only real time on the book, it leaves something to be desired.
It’s nice to see the Runaways again. Whenever they make a background appearance or work themselves back into the spotlight, it’s like seeing an old friend you don’t really talk to. Sure, you’re friends on Facebook, but it’s as if you have zero contact with the person until you accidentally bump into them in public while shopping at the same store randomly. You smile, you hug, you catch-up on everything you missed and you swear you’ll keep in touch this time — but you don’t, and the story remains the same here. The Runaways make an excellent addition to the cast, if only for this story, but the Runaways aren’t staying. They’ll be here for two issues and then they’ll leave us, promising to keep in touch but most likely disappearing for another extended period of time. However, it is ultimately important to see what these two issues represent: closure. Sometimes, that’s all you can ask for.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
