Runaways #7Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller: Takeshi Miyazawa
I'm a late-comer to Runaways. I started reading the series with it's second volume, and was hooked, forcing me to pick up the collected issues from the first volume to find out more about these teens that are the children of now deceased super-villians. While the end of the first volume saw the "death" of a team member who was a mole for their evil parents, the second volume started off with the teens still in L.A., trying to stop all the new villians coming to town to try and fill the evil void left by their parents' deaths.
The first story arc of this volume, "True Believers," introduced Excelsior, a group made up of former teen heroes who want to keep teens away from the lifestyle. We also got introduced to Victor Mancha, who ends up being the son of Ultron and allegedly kills Gert in the future when they are both members of the Avengers. After Ultron kills Victor's mom, and both teams beat Ultron, it's revealed (more or less) that one of the members of Excelsior was really the thought-dead Runaway, and Victor stays on with the team. Because, come on, kids of evil people should have a support group, too.
That brings us to Issue 7, the first of the two-part "Star-Crossed" story arc. After a somewhat humorous batle with The Swarm (a fight you really have to see to get the full comedy of it) and the reveal that the team's rallying cry is "Try not to die," we get a little down time as the team breaks up into groups of two to gather supplies. There's great interaction between Victor and Molly as she tries to get him to buy her Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs and convinces him that the whole team isn't scared of him. Then there's Gert and Chase "making time" in a dressing room.
But the real drama happens with Nico and Karolina, as we finally get confirmation on who on the team Karolina has feelings for. It's great to see this development in Karolina, because up until now she seemed like the most together person on the team, like she had everything all figured out. But, as most of us know, we may think that in out teen years, but we usually don't know what the fuck we're talking about. The issue ends with a Skrull coming to claim Karolina as his bethrothed.
There are no words to describe how much I love this title. Vaughan has a knack for tackling teens, and pop culture (Victor's mention of "Teen Girl Squad" back in Issue 5 still gets me). My only gripe with this issue (and the next, for that matter) is guest penciller Takeshi Miyazawa. His manga-ish style just doesn't really mesh with the writing and feel of the book. But besides, this issue was a great read, as always. It'll be hard to wait another month to see how this arc ends, and just which member will make a sacrifice. Damn, sometimes I think I shouldn't read spoilers.
No comments:
Post a Comment