The cover of the new monthly Marvel series Runaways got me excited. Under the slightly modish banner, with arrows darting out of consonants (suggesting a quick pace and a punky edge) sits a brooding, spiky-haired girl dressed in black. Seductive, isn’t she? At first glance her manner and makeup call to mind the character Death from Neal Gaiman’s epic Sandman series, the comic that first turned me on to comics back in junior high. After flipping through the first issue, then sitting down to read and then re-reading it to make sure I didn’t miss something, I can assure you: the cover is the best part.
Past that, there is some strange, strange stuff. The opening sequence, which features Daredevil, Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk and the Invisible Woman, tries to give the book some sort of faint credibility with comic fans, though I think it may also channel some obscure, lame inside joke among Marvel summertime interns. Either way, the Invisible Woman is referred to as a ‘Mrs. Skank-tastic’ within the first two pages. She has given up her invisibility for a plunging super-suit neckline and (I must say) she looks pretty damn hot.
The rest of the book will leave you cold. Some comics make you think, some comics look amazing and some comics are just plain fun. This comic seems to have been created as a companion to Fox television’s ‘The O.C.’ It even takes place in Malibu. But in the Runaways, all the kids are young, rich and whiny. Plus, there are bad guys who wear costumes and masks. And get this: the bad guys are the kids’ parents.
From what I gather, the group of six teenagers introduced in this first book of the Runaways will go on to save the planet (or at the least Beverly Hills) by exposing and eventually battling the parents who have deceived them since they were children.
The Runaways (their group name, but they don’t know it yet) are quite a bunch: the group consists of the kid with dreads, the hippie vegan, the shaggy-haired lacrosse player, the Japanese ultra-hip goth chick, the ultra-ironic emo girl and the 12-year-old.
They have all known each other for years because their parents are friends. Friends who get together every so often to ‘cut checks for charity, in private.’ As we find out by the end of the book, these meetings are actually for cocktails and going over plans to battle ‘off-world enemies.’ We know they are evil because someone gets knifed. Don’t get your hopes up it’s not the emo girl.
Did Stan Lee say it was okay to publish this? The characters are dull, there is no original humor and the premise is weak. The art is bold in a pouty-lipped, raised-eyebrow sort of way, but fails to distract from the idiocy of the story. There are some good comics out there these days penned by the likes of Adrian Tomine, Jessica Abel and Phoebe Gloekner. Check those out. Leave the mediocre Runaways alone.