Runaways (comics)

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Runaways

Cover art for Runaways vol. 2 #25.
Art by Jo Chen.
Publisher Marvel Comics
Schedule Ongoing series
Format Tri-Monthly
Publication date Vol. 1: July 2003 - August 2004
Vol. 2: June 2005 - June 2008
Vol. 3: August 2008 -
Number of issues Vol.1: 18
Vol.2: 30
Vol.3: 1
Main character(s) Karolina Dean
Molly Hayes
Victor Mancha
Nico Minoru
Chase Stein
Xavin
Former Members
Alex Wilder
Gertrude Yorkes
Creative team as of April 2007
Writer(s) Joss Whedon
Penciller(s) Michael Ryan
Creator(s) Brian K. Vaughan
Adrian Alphona
Collected editions
Pride & Joy ISBN 0-7851-1379-7
Teenage Wasteland ISBN 0-7851-1415-7

Runaways is a Marvel Comics comic book series created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. The series features a group of teenagers who try to make up for the evil done by their super villain parents by becoming superheroes. They are known as "the Pride's kids" or "those kids in L.A." by other characters in the Marvel Universe, due to the team's lack of an official name and the majority of Marvel's characters being based in New York.

In 2006, the series won the Harvey Award for best continuing/limited series.[1]

Series creators Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona left the series at issue #24 of the title's second volume. After Joss Whedon began to write the series, it began to suffer delays and has recently fallen into a tri-monthly schedule. Marvel has announced Terry Moore, creator of Strangers in Paradise will take over the title after Whedon leaves, with Humberto Ramos on art.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Runaways launched in 2002 as part of Marvel Comics' "Tsunami" imprint. After Marvel canceled the Tsunami imprint in January 2003, the series moved to the "Marvel Age" imprint - as such, the individual story arcs for "Runaways" are collected in small, manga-sized trade paperbacks, but the hardcover compilations are compiled in normal sized books. In September 2004, the series ended at issue #18. Marvel revived the series in February 2005 and it has continued ever since.

The series is unusual in that it does away with the concepts of superhero aliases, uniforms, and team names. All the characters in vol. 1 (except Alex) adopt codenames, but they are used with diminishing frequency over the course of vol. 1; in vol. 2, the codenames are mentioned once in passing but never actually used. Molly is the only character who makes a costume but creates it from old bed sheets and clothes, not the traditional spandex of superhero costumes; she never wears the costume again after vol. 1 #8. During battle, the runaways mainly fight in their street clothes and call each other by their given names or nicknames. Furthermore, the children never refer to themselves as "The Runaways" as the series' title might suggest; their team simply goes unnamed. However, there was one instance where Nico called them "Runaways" in vol. 2 #26. Other Marvel characters usually refer to the nameless team as "the Pride's kids" or "those kids in L.A." Vaughan even mocks the notion of superhero catchphrases such as "Hulk smash!" or "Avengers assemble!" in Runaways vol. 2 #7 when Nico semi-sarcastically tells Victor that the team's rallying call is "Try not to die."[2] However, despite Vaughan's efforts to break down the superhero clichés within Runaways, Marvel's handbooks and website still refer to the characters by their codenames. The Marvel miniseries Mystic Arcana features Nico Minoru under her superhero alias "Sister Grimm," a name she has not answered to since Runaways vol. 2 began.

[edit] Character histories

[edit] The Runaways

[edit] Original members

  • Nico Minoru - Daughter of dark wizards Robert and Tina Minoru. Uses the mystical Staff of One to cast spells, though never the same one twice. To make the Staff of One come out she must shed blood. Formerly in a relationship with Alex, but is now seeing Victor. She is the group’s leader.
  • Karolina Dean - Daughter of alien invaders Frank and Leslie Dean. In her alien form she can fly, manipulate solar energy for a variety of purposes, and her skin glows with a fluid, rainbow-like light. She is engaged to Xavin.
  • Molly Hayes - Daughter of evil telepathic mutants Gene and Alice Hayes. Mutant powers include super-strength and invulnerability. Use of her powers originally caused her to tire very quickly, but has increased her endurance against fatigue with repeated usage of her powers.
  • Chase Stein - Son of mad scientists Victor and Janet Stein. Used flame generating/manipulating gauntlets and X-ray goggles stolen from his parents in vol. 1. Had a relationship with Gertrude. Pilots the Leapfrog, the groups transport. He shares a telepathic and empathic link with Old Lace.
  • Old Lace - Genetically engineered deinonychus from the 87th century. Formerly empathically linked to Gertrude, but now shares an empathic bond with Chase and obeys his mental commands.
  • Alex Wilder - Son of organized crime bosses Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder. He is a child prodigy at strategic thinking and planning. He was the original group leader; Nico later replaces him. However, it turns out that Alex was on the side of his parents rather than the Runaways by volume 1's conclusion. He dies along with all of the Runaways' parents.
  • Gertrude Yorkes - Daughter of time-traveling criminals Dale and Stacey Yorkes. Shared an empathic and telepathic link with Old Lace; however, she transfers the link to Chase when she dies in volume 2 #18.

[edit] Later members

[edit] Related groups

  • The Pride - In vol. 1, a group of archetypal super villains consisting of the runaways' parents; this Pride controls all organized crime in Los Angeles. In vol. 2, a new Pride forms consisting of Alex's MMORPG friends. Both work for biblical benefactors, the Gibborim.
  • Loners - Called Excelsior until their 2007 mini-series, a support group for former teenage superheroes adjusting to civilian lives and dissuading other super-powered teenagers from becoming vigilantes. Founded by former teenaged superheroes Mickey Musashi and Phil Urich. Financed by former Avengers sidekick Rick Jones.
  • Cloak and Dagger - Runaway teenagers-turned-vigilantes dedicated to aiding runaways and wayward children.
  • The Gibborim - Old Testament era giants who employ both incarnations of the Pride. Require the sacrifice of an innocent soul once a year in order to remain in the material world.
  • Young Avengers - Group of teenage vigilantes formed after the events of Avengers Disassembled. Each member is modeled after a member of the former Avengers.
  • Street Arabs - A young group of "wonders" (super-powered individuals) from the year 1907.
  • The Upward Path - A mis-lead cult-like group of "wonders" from 1907. They end up involving the Runaways in their gang war the the Sinners (see below).
  • The Sinners - An early 20th century gang led by the fearsome Mr. Maneater and Gertrude's time-traveling parents.

[edit] Plot summary

Main article: Runaways story arcs

[edit] Main Series

The Pride is the head of an organized crime syndicate that runs L.A. Their children (Alex Wilder, Chase Stein, Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes, and Nico Minoru) witness them making a sacrifice to the Gibborim, who are responsible for the Pride's creation.[3] As the story progresses, the children learn of their heritage and abilities, and they decide to remove their parents from control of L.A. At the end of the first arc, Alex is still loyal to the parents. He betrays the others so that the Gibborim will save only the Wilder and the Minoru families. After the remaining children defeat Alex and their parents, they vow to prevent other villains from filling the void left by their parents.

Eventually, they meet Victor Mancha, the son of Ultron, who joins them under the pretense that he has suffered a similar tragedy. Xavin, a Skrull who plans to marry Karolina, arrives to take her with him in order to help stop the ongoing war between their races. They later return to the Runaways after their wedding causes tension. When Alex's online friend realize that he has gone missing, and, after assuming that the Pride were heroes, attempt to resurrect him. This goes awry and results in Geoffrey Wilder being summoned from a point in his past. After two failed sacrifices, Geoffrey fatally wounds Gertrude, who transfers control of Old Lace to Chase. Chase leaves the group and takes Old Lace with him. Geoffrey has his memory of the time travel erased and is returned to his time.

After activating an unknown device in the Leapfrog, the group’s mode of transportation, they are teleported to 1907 where they encounter Gertrude's time-traveling parents and get involved in a gang war.

[edit] Civil War, Secret Invasion and Young Avengers

The Young Avengers go to L.A. help the group with pro-registration forces. The two teams encounter Noh-Varr who works for S.H.I.E.L.D. and attempts to capture the teenagers. His handlers manage to capture Wiccan, Hulkling, Karolina and Xavin to a high-security meta-human prison. After they escape, Noh-Varr, now free, takes control of the prison. After an undetermined increment of time, the Runaways will once again work with the Young Avengers in a Secret Invasion tie-in.[4]

[edit] Alternate versions

At one point, Gertrude's future self travels back in time. This future version is in her thirties and is without Old Lace. Nico Minoru reveals, with the aid of magic, that this version of Gertrude is the leader of the Avengers of her time line. The roster for this incarnation of the team includes characters yet to make an official appearance in the 616 universe, including "Scorpion" and "Captain Americas". She, the rest of her team, the X-Men (led by Armor) and the "Fantastic Fourteen" are killed by Victor Mancha's future self, a villain called Victorious. Gertrude Yorkes' codename is Heroine in this time line.

Zombified versions of Chase Stein, Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean and Nico Minoru are shown feasting upon the carcass of Old Lace in a four panel cameo within the pages of Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness #2.

[edit] Film

A film version of the comic is in the scripting state as of May 2008, with Brian K. Vaughan writing and Kevin Feige producing [5]

[edit] Bibliography

  • Runaways vol. 1 #1-18 (April 2003 - September 2004)
  • Runaways vol. 2 #1- (February 2005 -)
  • X-Men/Runaways (Free Comic Book Day 2006 offering)
  • Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways (July 2006 - October 2006)
  • Daily Bugle: Civil War Edition
  • Runaways Saga (March 2007)

[edit] Collected editions

Runaways has been collected in the following digest-sized comic book collections trade paperbacks:

Title Material collected ISBN
Runaways Vol. 1: Pride & Joy Runaways vol. 1 #1-6 ISBN 0-7851-1379-7
Runaways vol. 2: Teenage Wasteland Runaways vol. 1 #7-12 ISBN 0-7851-1415-7
Runaways vol. 3: The Good Die Young Runaways vol. 1 #13-18 ISBN 0-7851-1684-2
Runaways vol. 4: True Believers Runaways vol. 2 #1-6 ISBN 0-7851-1705-9
Runaways vol. 5: Escape to New York Runaways vol. 2 #7-12 ISBN 0-7851-1901-9
Runaways vol. 6: Parental Guidance Runaways vol. 2 #13-18 ISBN 0-7851-1952-3
Runaways vol. 7: Live Fast Runaways vol. 2 #19-24 ISBN 0-7851-2267-2

Runaways has also been collected in the following hardcovers:

Title Material collected ISBN
Runaways, Vol. 1 Runaways vol. 1 #1-18 ISBN 0-7851-1876-4
Runaways, Vol. 2 Runaways vol. 2 #1-12, X-Men/Runaways: FCBD ISBN 0-7851-2358-X
Runaways, Vol. 3 Runaways vol. 2 #13-24 ISBN 0-7851-2539-6
Runaways: Dead End Kids Runaways vol. 2 #25-30 ISBN 0-7851-2853-0

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "2006 Harvey Award Nominees", HarveyAwards. Retrieved on 2006-09-28. 
  2. ^ Runaways, vol. 2 #7
  3. ^  Brian K. Vaughan (w),  Adrian Alphona (p),  David Newbold and Craig Yeung (i). "Pride and Joy" Runaways vol. 1,  #1 (February 2003)  Marvel Comics
  4. ^ Richard George (March 13, 2008). Exclusive Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers Interview. IGN. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  5. ^ Project 'Runaways' in works at Marvel

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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