Runaways

Runaways 25-30

Back to Runaways after a week, it’s nice to return to these characters.  They are clearly in Joss Whedon’s wheelhouse, who has much experience writing groups of teenagers.  Molly appears to be his favorite as well, and he give her plenty of moments to shine. (With equal credit to Michael Ryan for execution on the art side.)

A valid question.

I’m positive that Whedon introduced Punisher into this storyline for this sole purpose, as he adds absolutely nothing else to the plot.  Worth it.

It's up there with Batman taking out Booster Gold.

I would happily post all of Jo Chen’s covers from this run, but I’ll limit myself to four.

Whedon continues to push the “Nico is a horrible leader” narrative.  Both Victor and Xavin constantly get their digs in on her, and while they’re total dicks about it, I don’t disagree with their pov.  She really doesn’t have the best ideas (meeting w/ the Kingpin? Seriously?), and her aptitude as a battlefield strategist is inferior to others on the team.

Then a little torture at the hands of her great-grandmother somehow knocks a load of power, maturity, and competence into her, as well as a sadistic streak that she unleashes on Gert’s parents:

They’ll go back to when they came from.  And they’ll know. What happens to Gert, what happens to them, they’ll know every second it’s coming.  They won’t be able to change anything they do. Or say anything. Not even to each other. For all the world their short, useless lives will play out exactly like they did before.  But inside, they’ll never stop screaming.

Whedon also gets a chance to exercise a little of his own cruelty with Lillie and Victor’s doomed love story.  Lillie tries to change her past and give herself a second chance at happiness, but Time (and Whedon) doesn’t work that way.  Whedon really doesn’t like to see his characters happy. I get that it usually makes for a more dramatic story, but he really needs to give them a win every once in a while.  Don’t get me started about Dr. Horrible.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Pretty Good