Stephanie Kay
Oct 13, 2007, 11:04 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=10263" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/runawaysv2-22t.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Runaways (2nd series) #22"></a>Reviewer: Stephanie Kay, children_of_paradise@hotmail.co.uk
Story Title: Live Fast, Pt 1
I love you a bushel, and a peck, and however the rest of it goes!
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Penciler: Adrian Alphona
Inker: Craig Yeung
Colourist: Christina Strain
Cover Artist: Jo Chen
Production: Brad Johansen
Letters: Virtual Calligraphy’s Randy Gentile
Assistant Editor: Daniel Ketchum
Editor: Nick Lowe
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Published by: <a href="http://www.marvel.com" target="new">Marvel Comics</a>
Special Thanks: C.B. Cebulski & MacKenzie Cadenhead
Runaways Created by: Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona
Contains some light spoilers
With the impending departure of Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, reading recent Runaways, and most especially the beginning of this new arc, is like being stretched between nostalgia and engrossment. I say it’s a melancholic reminiscence because there is much within issue #22 that will result in ‘hindsight-examination’ of the team and their experiences. Fatboy Slim’s ‘You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby’ seems to be screaming in the background here – oh, so yeah, (only?) two thirds of the same team that began back at Vol. 1 #1 remain, team changes that Molly shrewdly notes as only appearing once someone chokes.
But it is more than that in its glaring alteration. Runaways is no longer lucidly a comic on teenagers avoiding the determinism set forth by their parents; they are now (with perhaps the exception of Molly) having to accept that their day of doom in Adulthood looms near. Or maybe adulthood has already been dissolved in its association with emotional maturity? Either way though, Runaways perhaps has recently, for me, become The Chase Saga; he was the embodiment of naivety and jokes-covering-inhibition, which turned on itself and self destructed. Are we seeing the altered Chase, or the one which was lurking there all along? The last few issues will probably be remembered equally for Alphona giving him an ‘evil squint’, than for plot progressions; watching him slowly disintegrate into a sinister version we never thought unimaginable when viewing in retrospection the adorable dope he use to be.
The latest arc will ultimately, it seems, decide where it all leads: Chase has been offered an apparently no-strings-attached deal by The Gibborim to return his (and our) beloved bi-spectacled Ms Yorkes, in the exchange for an innocent soul. Yes we all appreciate some good old fashioned premeditated murder in comic-yarn, and it is something Chase has been potentially volunteering to serve up for quite some time now. The perfect crime as he innocently puts it. Alas, he’s never quite settled on a desirable choice - Until now? Well if the last few pages turn out to be what it implies to be, then you’ve got to love irony. That said it had felt like it was brewing long enough, an underlying surge of (deserved) resentment, maybe without Chase’s complete realisation – whatever the outcome, I am very much excited for the reckoning that must be arriving next issue, between Chase of ‘his (apparent) choice’.
In addition to some timely explanatory on the non-too-healthy psyche of Chase, Vaughan also tackles “the conundrum of gender and sexuality” that is Xavin. It seems one of the last opportunities to address such issues before the swap with Joss Whedon. Along the lines of: ‘how come you’re not a girl all the time?’ Yes whenever in need for some astute questioning, Molly shall not fail us – you also know when it’s about arrive, when Alphona makes her suddenly turn ‘serious’. It is perhaps the highlight of the issue for me, and you have to marvel on how cute the interception of the scene is during what is, on the whole, quite a ‘serious’ issue: Molly and (to a lesser extent) Xavin enjoy a good hearty game of Risk. We’re treated to their atypical, enjoyable yet odd variation of banter – it seems to accentuate the perceptiveness of the youngest runaway, and reversely highlight the repressed insecurities of the Skrull recruit. Xavin has perhaps got a raw deal, simply because as Molly points out, he/she is the newest. There is a clear understanding and care on the part of Xavin for Karolina in the immediacy he/she defends K’s lesbianism, but Xavin misses the point on ‘finite’ gender and attraction. Perhaps, or maybe Vaughan is challenging the readers’ own preconceptions on the subject. It does remain to be seen if K is quite as ‘accepting’ on Xavin’s gender-bending as Xavin makes out. Neither Molly nor I are quite as convinced.
Speaking of smooch, there isn’t much to be added to the lovenest that is Victor and Nico. Which is a shame because I’m still yet to have an opinion over them as an item. The affection portrayed fluctuates between teenage amicability (‘yeah I could do a lot worse’ – how sweet), and some colossal discussions on ‘having kids’ which are delectably angsty. Ah yes I shall display no sour grapes over throwing in the towel of the Karolina/Nico thing, although shippers may be intrigued by Nico’s indignant ‘I’m confused by a lot things, but I’m going to figure who and what I like on my own.’ You’ve gotta love how Nico makes it sound like she’s trying out alternative cuisine. Guilt complexes. Yum.
In the tonal changes Runaways has been experiencing recently, the art-team has been wonderfully adaptive to it. Even Jo Chen's sublime cover has been given a darker edge. Alphona with the assistance of Craig Yeung, has sharpened and stylised his art gradually over the duration of his run, and he will of course be missed as much as Vaughan – it may take a lot of tolerance to become accustomed to alternative depictions of the runaways. Alphona has cemented his own stamp on these characters designs and appearances; I’m savouring these final issues because they do include the very best pencilling Alphona has done for the comic. He treats us to some excellent close-ups and facial expressions in this issue, which for unsaid inner ‘dialogue’ is extremely affecting. The Gibborim have always appeared like something out of Terry Pratchett, but the scenes have taken new functions: consequential panels with Chase are draped with a hellish red. Elsewhere, we can all take a lot of solace that Christina Strain is not, at this point of me writing, going anywhere, as she is undoubtedly one of the true essential elements for the Runaways distinctiveness. Yes for Karolina’s gorgeous LSD-mode, but also for the subtle underlying light vs dark imagery she lends to the comic -- and tiny touches such as Nico’s bloody nose.
The issue like those art-touches, is understated and both carefully and lovingly crafted by those who are giving their swan-song. As an individual issue it perhaps doesn’t have a ‘wow-factor’, but as an inclusion in (what I hope will be) a grande spectacle of shocks and spins, it really does have much to offer. There are elements that may disgruntle people – Runaways has a lost some of its innocent ‘fun’ – the jokes are no longer there. But change has a price, and we can at least give Runaways the credit of not ‘shrugging’ off death and the loss of the (vital) Gert: and instead openly pinions on the impact. Has the title and team managed to cover the gaping hole that Gert left? No. But then, perhaps that’s the whole point.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1680&cat=RUNAWAYS+VOL+2)
Story Title: Live Fast, Pt 1
I love you a bushel, and a peck, and however the rest of it goes!
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Penciler: Adrian Alphona
Inker: Craig Yeung
Colourist: Christina Strain
Cover Artist: Jo Chen
Production: Brad Johansen
Letters: Virtual Calligraphy’s Randy Gentile
Assistant Editor: Daniel Ketchum
Editor: Nick Lowe
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Published by: <a href="http://www.marvel.com" target="new">Marvel Comics</a>
Special Thanks: C.B. Cebulski & MacKenzie Cadenhead
Runaways Created by: Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona
Contains some light spoilers
With the impending departure of Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, reading recent Runaways, and most especially the beginning of this new arc, is like being stretched between nostalgia and engrossment. I say it’s a melancholic reminiscence because there is much within issue #22 that will result in ‘hindsight-examination’ of the team and their experiences. Fatboy Slim’s ‘You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby’ seems to be screaming in the background here – oh, so yeah, (only?) two thirds of the same team that began back at Vol. 1 #1 remain, team changes that Molly shrewdly notes as only appearing once someone chokes.
But it is more than that in its glaring alteration. Runaways is no longer lucidly a comic on teenagers avoiding the determinism set forth by their parents; they are now (with perhaps the exception of Molly) having to accept that their day of doom in Adulthood looms near. Or maybe adulthood has already been dissolved in its association with emotional maturity? Either way though, Runaways perhaps has recently, for me, become The Chase Saga; he was the embodiment of naivety and jokes-covering-inhibition, which turned on itself and self destructed. Are we seeing the altered Chase, or the one which was lurking there all along? The last few issues will probably be remembered equally for Alphona giving him an ‘evil squint’, than for plot progressions; watching him slowly disintegrate into a sinister version we never thought unimaginable when viewing in retrospection the adorable dope he use to be.
The latest arc will ultimately, it seems, decide where it all leads: Chase has been offered an apparently no-strings-attached deal by The Gibborim to return his (and our) beloved bi-spectacled Ms Yorkes, in the exchange for an innocent soul. Yes we all appreciate some good old fashioned premeditated murder in comic-yarn, and it is something Chase has been potentially volunteering to serve up for quite some time now. The perfect crime as he innocently puts it. Alas, he’s never quite settled on a desirable choice - Until now? Well if the last few pages turn out to be what it implies to be, then you’ve got to love irony. That said it had felt like it was brewing long enough, an underlying surge of (deserved) resentment, maybe without Chase’s complete realisation – whatever the outcome, I am very much excited for the reckoning that must be arriving next issue, between Chase of ‘his (apparent) choice’.
In addition to some timely explanatory on the non-too-healthy psyche of Chase, Vaughan also tackles “the conundrum of gender and sexuality” that is Xavin. It seems one of the last opportunities to address such issues before the swap with Joss Whedon. Along the lines of: ‘how come you’re not a girl all the time?’ Yes whenever in need for some astute questioning, Molly shall not fail us – you also know when it’s about arrive, when Alphona makes her suddenly turn ‘serious’. It is perhaps the highlight of the issue for me, and you have to marvel on how cute the interception of the scene is during what is, on the whole, quite a ‘serious’ issue: Molly and (to a lesser extent) Xavin enjoy a good hearty game of Risk. We’re treated to their atypical, enjoyable yet odd variation of banter – it seems to accentuate the perceptiveness of the youngest runaway, and reversely highlight the repressed insecurities of the Skrull recruit. Xavin has perhaps got a raw deal, simply because as Molly points out, he/she is the newest. There is a clear understanding and care on the part of Xavin for Karolina in the immediacy he/she defends K’s lesbianism, but Xavin misses the point on ‘finite’ gender and attraction. Perhaps, or maybe Vaughan is challenging the readers’ own preconceptions on the subject. It does remain to be seen if K is quite as ‘accepting’ on Xavin’s gender-bending as Xavin makes out. Neither Molly nor I are quite as convinced.
Speaking of smooch, there isn’t much to be added to the lovenest that is Victor and Nico. Which is a shame because I’m still yet to have an opinion over them as an item. The affection portrayed fluctuates between teenage amicability (‘yeah I could do a lot worse’ – how sweet), and some colossal discussions on ‘having kids’ which are delectably angsty. Ah yes I shall display no sour grapes over throwing in the towel of the Karolina/Nico thing, although shippers may be intrigued by Nico’s indignant ‘I’m confused by a lot things, but I’m going to figure who and what I like on my own.’ You’ve gotta love how Nico makes it sound like she’s trying out alternative cuisine. Guilt complexes. Yum.
In the tonal changes Runaways has been experiencing recently, the art-team has been wonderfully adaptive to it. Even Jo Chen's sublime cover has been given a darker edge. Alphona with the assistance of Craig Yeung, has sharpened and stylised his art gradually over the duration of his run, and he will of course be missed as much as Vaughan – it may take a lot of tolerance to become accustomed to alternative depictions of the runaways. Alphona has cemented his own stamp on these characters designs and appearances; I’m savouring these final issues because they do include the very best pencilling Alphona has done for the comic. He treats us to some excellent close-ups and facial expressions in this issue, which for unsaid inner ‘dialogue’ is extremely affecting. The Gibborim have always appeared like something out of Terry Pratchett, but the scenes have taken new functions: consequential panels with Chase are draped with a hellish red. Elsewhere, we can all take a lot of solace that Christina Strain is not, at this point of me writing, going anywhere, as she is undoubtedly one of the true essential elements for the Runaways distinctiveness. Yes for Karolina’s gorgeous LSD-mode, but also for the subtle underlying light vs dark imagery she lends to the comic -- and tiny touches such as Nico’s bloody nose.
The issue like those art-touches, is understated and both carefully and lovingly crafted by those who are giving their swan-song. As an individual issue it perhaps doesn’t have a ‘wow-factor’, but as an inclusion in (what I hope will be) a grande spectacle of shocks and spins, it really does have much to offer. There are elements that may disgruntle people – Runaways has a lost some of its innocent ‘fun’ – the jokes are no longer there. But change has a price, and we can at least give Runaways the credit of not ‘shrugging’ off death and the loss of the (vital) Gert: and instead openly pinions on the impact. Has the title and team managed to cover the gaping hole that Gert left? No. But then, perhaps that’s the whole point.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1680&cat=RUNAWAYS+VOL+2)