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majingojira · 7 years

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Hi there! I've been following your blog for a while now and i see that you are clearly an expert on the Runaways. As someone who know's the absolute basics of one of those characters, where (what) would you suggest i start reading to get a solid foundation of the group? Any recommendations would be great! Thank you!

I really need to codify my Runaways Recommendation list.

Thankfully, Runaways is mostly Self-Contained and therefore easy to get into.

Start with Runaways Vol.1 #1-18. This is collected in the first “Complete Collection” and also available from Comixology. This is the cast’s first appearance and first major story. It’s basically the likely blueprint of Runaways Season 1.

Runaways Vol. 2 #1-24 is the second “Season” under its original creative team: Brian K. Vaughn (Saga, Y: The Last Man), Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa (Ms. Marvel’s current artists). It wraps up many plots, but ends on a cliff hanger. This leads into:

Vol. 2 #25-30. This is the one story Joss Whedon wrote for the Runaways. He’s a big fan of them and he and Brian did a trade where Joss did a Runaways story and Brian did a Buffy story. The art is great, but delays caused a relaunch and some people don’t like it. Personally, I think it’s fine. Not as good as what came before, but not bad at all.

During this run, there are several tie-ins to other stories that were published. One is Free Comic Book Day 2006. This takes place between Vol.2 #9 and #14. It’s the Astonishing X-Men vs. the Runaways because Molly is a mutant and, because of mutant politics at the time, they want her in the school. violence happens, but the leave peaceably.

After that, there’s the Civil War crossover (titled: Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways) which occurs after Vol. 2 #19. The Young Avengers and the Runaways battle pro-registration forces that use an alien prison and a mind-controlled Noh-Varr to do so.

If you’ve ever wondered why some people were weirded out by how Kate and Noh just hooked up out of the blue, this will tell you why. Noh wasn’t always an Earth Hipster.

The art is pretty gritty, but the story is solid enough.

In a bit of a flashback, set when Nico was in foster care, there’s a one-shot from the Mystic Arcana miniseries simply focused on Nico. It’s not bad, and has her use the spell “Deflector Shields”. Which is just great to have.

Finally, after #30, there’s the second Young Avengers crossover, this one for Secret Invasion. Titled, Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers. it’s written by Chris Yost, and drawn by Takeshi Miyazawa. It’s short but sweet. The main interaction is between Billy, Teddy, Tommy and the Runaways. The others show up, but other titles had tighter mits on them at the time. Sadly.

This brings us to Runaways Vol. 3 which is . . . not very good. It was lead in with a catchup book called “Runaways: Saga” which was framed by the gang finding Molly’s diary and reading it. It’s cute, but superfluous. There is one bit of need to know info from it (the character of Xavin is forced to leave in . . .a not very good retelling of the third Young Avengers story arc. I’m not kidding), but it can otherwise be skipped almost completely.

Almost.

Vol. 3 #10 is absolutely worth reading. It’s two stories: one by Chris Yost, one by James Asmus. The former is the better of the two, as Molly battles the now San Francisco based X-Men again. Lots of cuteness and sadness and Molly finally bonds with Wolverine.

After decking him through multiple stories three times.

Following that was the cut off setup for more by Kathryne Immonen. It ended at #14 on a bizarre cliffhanger. The original plan basically boils down to “Alternate Universe Shenanigans” but it’s later handwaved away.

But this is the time that the Runaways entered Limbo. Comic book limbo, not the place. They have cameos/guest appearances in several books:

Breaking into Comics the Marvel Way 2010 - A cute story where Molly and Chase get magically sick. It’s called “It’s Not Lupus” and set during Volume 3.

Daken: Dark Wolverine #17-19 - Daken uses the Runaways as soldiers to fight his war. It’s not worth reading, to be honest other than have Chase answer Daken’s question “Weren’t you hit by a car?” with “I got better.”

Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age #1 - Molly vs. the X-Men round 2 in the wake of “No More Mutants”, and before she’s asked to join them in San Fransisco. This time, she punches Beast in the face. This was before he became a total tool, but it’s still nice to see.

Ultron AU #1 - In the Age of Ultron Alternate Reality, Victor Mancha tries to save people, and . . . everyone else is dead. It’s really, really sad and well done.

Avengers Academy #27-28 - The Runaways visit Avengers Academy in order to bring back one of their number. It’s fun, but a little overstuffed with characters. I liked it!

What If The Runaways Became the Young Avengers? A What-IF Story that’s pretty fun to read. It was a backup story in an otherwise lame What If series, but it’s included in the last volume of the Complete Collection (along with most of the other odd one-shots), and worth reading.

After that . . . we have to deal with the horror that is Avengers Arena and Avengers Undercover.

These books are flat out terrible. Racist, sexist, ableist, and misogynist. The first one is the worst sort of Hunger Games/Battle Royal cash in, mostly because the writer has no idea how the genre works, or the nature of the characters he’s chosen to work with--to the point where some aspects of Nico are diametrically opposed to her prior appearances. All you need to know about this is that several kids died, Nico died but got better and in the process gained a magical prosthetic.

I could go on, but that’s another thing.

In this time after Arena/Undercover, some writers like to imply that the Runaways broke up offscreen despite them being more a family than a standard superhero team. Especially stupid when you remember that they’re all HOMELESS.

Anyway, there are a few cameo's here and there. But nothing too substantial. The biggest is Avengers A.I. where a later addition to the team, Victor Mancha (a creation of Ultron) is recruited by Hank Pym into a team to battle A.I. Threats and help them out. It’s not a great book, and Victor’s not quite himself, but there are highlights. Like a Doombot working for the forces of good but still being a full Doombot. And Vision, Thor, Victor Mancha, and Captain America in an A.I. landscape forming Not-Voltron! That series lasted 10 issues.

After that, Victor was seen looking for an internship with Stark in the 2015 Ant-Man series in a few panel cameo.

After that, we have the Secret Wars event. Only two things are needed from here: Runaways Vol. 4, and A-Force

The Runaways series has a group of new kids (and Molly) on the run from Doom’s Elite School when they find out that it’s culling anyone who ‘fails’ its exams. It’s a little sketchy on the art side, but it’s a decent read IMO. The cast is drawn from all over the teen scene at Marvel.

A-Force is an Avengers Team set in the near perfect realm of Arcadia. It’s an all-female team where Nico is a proud member of it along with Medusa, She-Hulk, Dazzler, Captain Marvel and others. It’s a decent read, though some people were angry that a Loki in it was evil.

I wish I was kidding.

A-Force got an ongoing series that lasted another 10 issues before Civil War 2 basically wrecked the entire team. The last story focuses on Nico as she’s targeted by the pre-cog fascists.

The way it ends leaves me cold because I know that it’s not going to be followed up with despite Carol and Jennifer Walters having ongoings right now dealing with those consequences.

Finally, there’s Vision (2016). This is a divisive moment. For one, it really is a good read, but for another, Victor is killed after being revealed to have developed a ‘Vibranium addiction’ which basically acted like a painkiller addiction. Some feel that besmirched his character, but it is a very sympathetic death scene for him. I’m honestly on the fence about it myself. But it is a good series otherwise and probably worth a read. There are 12 issues overall.

And that’s is! That is literally the every Runaways speaking appearance.

The easiest way to read it would be to get the print “Complete Collections”. That covers everything from Vol. 1 to the crossovers, the what if, and one-shots, and ends before Vol. 4.

Then I’d add A-Force, Vol. 4, and the Avengers Academy crossover. Of the later suff, that’s the best. It’s in the shadow of the original, but I like ‘em.

#Runaways #Recomendations #Comics #Avengers Arena ruins Everything #thetotallyawesomelance

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