Issue #1: Runaways (2015)

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Issue #1: Runaways (2015)

Title: Runaways #1 (2015)

Writer: Noelle Stevenson

Artist: Sanford Greene

The Buzz: Noelle Stevenson is a rising It-person in comics, from her own webcomic/graphic novel Nimona and her creation of the Tumblr-based Hawkeye Initiative, to her writing work on the celebrated girl’s own adventure story Lumberjanes.

All You Need To Know: The best and brightest kids from the various baronies on Battleworld have all been clipped out of their zones and sent to the same boarding school, run by a mysterious super villain (probably), so they can be trained up to be effective battle teams. The characters and their places of origin are all introduced here, and while you might recognise many of them, you won’t have necessarily seen these versions in other Battleworld comics so far. Because, you know, they were at school.

Story: This Breakfast Club style tale of detention and rebellion has all of the indie teen sensibility of the original Runaways run, but none of the continuity. Molly Hayes (the only original Runaway featured in this title) is desperate to join Jubi’s angsty girl gang, but they dismiss her as being too young. Still, thanks to a smashing corridor fight, Molly manages to wind up in detention with Cloak and Dagger, Jubilee (the sulky goth vampire version), Pixie, Amadeus Cho, Skraar and a bunch of other Marvel teens. Bucky Barnes is the senior who glares at them all on behalf of the school administration. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, PEOPLE: teenage Winter Soldier as a tool of the school. The writing is fun, fresh and very modern. This was my 10 year old’s first introduction to Runaways and I totally just ordered Vol. 1 for her because she loves Molly so much.

Art: It always seems a bit strange to me to see Noelle Stevenson not illustrating her own work, but Greene’s art is a fantastic match for this story, with great urban fashions, teenage sulky faces and slightly anime style action scenes. Love, love, love this comic, and I hope it gets to keep going despite the Battleworld origins.

But What Did I Miss?: Original blend Runaways is a sometimes great, sometimes infuriating (no I haven’t forgiven them for killing that one character) comic series about the children of super villains, on the run. It tapped into the popularity of YA fiction and anime-style art, to the point of not really feeling like a Marvel comic at all, though it was later integrated more substantially into the main universe. The only character from the original run appearing here is Molly Hayes and she’s self explanatory in this context. If you love her here, by all means go back and read Runaways, but you don’t need any prep for this story. For teen Cloak and Dagger, check out the recent pre-Battleworld run of All New Ultimates. If you didn’t realise that Jubilee is a vampire now, well, this comic will make you feel better about that than just about anything else featuring her over the last decade.

Would Read Issue 2?: I can’t wait to see what happens next. CAN CLINT AND NATASHA BE SENIORS WITH BUCKY PLEASE? CAN WE HAVE THE INEVITABLE YOUNG AVENGERS CROSSOVER?

Read it if you Like: Runaways, Young Avengers, Lumberjanes, witty YA novels, Ultimate Spider-Man.