The Runaways Train

Snagged the first two issues of the new “Runaways” series last week, so let’s give ’em a quick read-through.

Runaways #1

The first issue of this latest volume of Marvel’s teen hero series starts out with the team returning to Earth, pursued by a band of vengeful aliens. The kids hole up in one of their families’ old safehouses, where they get attacked by a bunch of genetically-engineered guard-monsters. After that, they all go to the mall (Klara, a time-displaced plant controller from 1907, has some funny reactions to mass consumerism culture), and Chase tries to get a job at a radio station employing an evil super-powered shock-jock.

Runaways #2

Those vengeful aliens come a-callin’. Nico teleports them around the planet, and they capture and interrogate one of them, who reveals that they blame Karolina for the destruction of their — and her own — homeworld. The relationship between Karolina and Xavin, her Skrull girlfriend, is left strained by their revelations.

Verdict: I think I’m gonna have to give these thumbs down. I don’t mind the characters at all, and the story seems okay, but with a first issue, they need to make this as accessible as they can to new readers, and they didn’t do that at all. I couldn’t figure out who most of the characters were, what their powers were, what their backstories were. I’ve tried to get on-board this comic before, but it seems like the kind of book that, if you aren’t reading from the very beginning, you’ll never understand what the heck is going on. Maybe a few hours of digging around on Wikipedia can help me figure out what’s supposed to be happening here.

Having said all that, Molly Hayes, the superstrong 12-year-old with the bizarre hats, is awesome and funny and cool. I’d gladly read an all-Molly series, or even one co-starring the team’s dinosaur pet, Old Lace.