Runaways #5

Archive

Title: True Believers
Published By: Marvel Comics

Writer: Brian K Vaughan
Penciler: Adrian Alphona
Inker: Craig Yeung
Colorist: Udon’s Christina Strain
Letterer: VC’s Randy Gentile
Editor: CB Cebulski
Publisher: Dan Buckley

On the street where you live girls talk about their social lives
They’re made of lipstick, plastic and paint, a touch of sable in their eyes
All your life all you’ve asked when’s your Daddy gonna talk to you
You were living in another world tryin’ to get your message through.

That’s right – starting a review with a Bon Jovi lyric means quality! It’s not too far off from the song though. Victor Mancha has been waiting for his Daddy to talk to him. He’s wondered who he was his entire life.. and last issue we find out.. IT’S DOOOOOM! This leads to some interesting questions though – how is it Doom if Doom is supposedly gone? Why is this the only time we’ve ever heard of this? Doesn’t Vaughn know that retconning 16 years of comics gets people in trouble?

No one heard a single word you said.
They should have seen it in your eyes
What was going around your heart.

STORY!

What’s left of the original Runaways are trying to stop Victor Mancha from becoming the most murderous bastard in all of the Marvel Universe. Right there is the start of a good story – not entirely new, but at least it’s being done well. It immediately starts the wheels rolling about such questions as ‘If you met a baby Hitler, would you kill him?’ and you just can’t answer these kinds of questions.

That’s why Marvel hired Brian K Vaughn to do all of our thinking for us.

First things first though – the Runaways and Victor have to get through DOOOOOM! A battle ensues and surprisingly everyone walks away alive. You would think that Doom would take out at least one or two of the little twerps, wouldn’t you? Well guess what, it’s not Doom.. it’s a Doombot. Thank God though they didn’t tease us with who was controlling the Doombot – we get full disclosure by the end of the issue. Not to mention the other team of former young superheroes are on the way.

Now as far as how good this issue was – it was a huge tease. You knew at the end we would have some closure on the Doom issue, just not sure how much. What Vaughn gave us made it so excellent (with another teaser for next issue) that what is coming next is a complete mystery. Add in some throwaway bits of information (Did you know that Gertrude and Old Lace were bonded together somehow?) Fun book through and through.

ART!

A different line every night guaranteed to blow your mind
See you out on the streets, call me for a wild time
So you sit home alone ’cause there’s nothing left that you can do
There’s only pictures hung in the shadows left there to look at you

Adrian Alphona and Craig Yeung have done an awesome job. This book has it’s own distinctive feel and flow because of their efforts, but that isn’t to say that I don’t have a little bit of a problem here and there. Nothing but minor squibbles really, but at times the fight seems disjointed and hard to follow. That is something that is hard to combat with any writer, as they are having a fight of 6 people on one guy.

The flow though is ideal for a book that is leading you down the primrose path to finding out the answer to a question you’ve been waiting 30 days for.

OVERALL!

Ooh, she’s a little runaway.
Daddy’s girl learned fast
All those things he couldn’t say.
Ooh, she’s a little runaway.

This was by far the book of the week in my opinion. It held you on from last month, and that startling visual of Doom tying up Victor’s mother stayed with you until you picked up this issue. The last page of this issue easily imblazes itself (maybe not as deeply), but strong nonetheless.

I know many people were sitting and wondering if Runaways was going to capture the same lightning that the first series had – and I will admit that it hasn’t entirely, but what it HAS done is create it’s own lightning. This book isn’t about kids running from their evil parents anymore – it’s about runaways dealing with a world that is so much bigger than them.

If you haven’t read any of this series, you are doing yourself a disservice.