Joss' Runaways

So, I picked up the first two hardcovers...damnit. I'm going to start buying comics again, because this was some great material. (The guy at the counter also reccomended a book called Ex Machina, handled by the writer of Runaways. Got the first two softcovers but haven't read them yet.)

This book feels like it was tailormade to end up as a TV show (And a worthy successor to Buffy to boot.) Snappy dialouge, fun characters. I wasn't hugely happy with the art change about halfway through each book, but I could deal with it. So, what is the third hardcover supposed to cover? Does anyone know if it has this Civil War stuff?
 
Aww man, don't even get me started on the Marvel Civil War stuff, jeez. I can't keep up with all that. Vaughan didn't actually write the Runaways Civil War saga. They team up with the Young Avengers...for four issues I guess. It's out now as a softcover apparently. I think Vol 3 will cover the rest of Vaughan's stint on Runaways...up until Joss' takeover. Think that's right.

I read volume 1 of Ex Machina. It is really good. About an ex-superhero who becomes mayor of New York. Sounds idiotic, but everything Brian K. Vaughan comes up with sounds pretty iffy on paper...then you read it and discover the greatness. I still think his best comic is Y: The Last Man.

Just subscribed to Runaways...waiting on that first Joss issue.
 
Annnnd...I just finished the first volume of Ex Machina.
Wow. This book reads like a love letter to NYC. I think I'm going to pick up the rest of the series.

And did the first chapter cause any kind of hoopla when it was first released? I liked it, but I can see where some people would say it was in bad taste...
 
DantePD said:
And did the first chapter cause any kind of hoopla when it was first released? I liked it, but I can see where some people would say it was in bad taste...
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Oh, yeah, almost forgot about that. I thought it was a jaw-dropping, brilliant final touch. I think enough time had passed that most people weren't too bothered. But I don't really know...
 
Oh, and maybe you were also referring to that art chick making those controversial paintings, huh Dante? Seems like a pretty familiar New York kinda controversy, heh.
 
Nah. The painting thing is just another Tuesday. The tower thing dosen't bother me, but I can see where it would upset some people. Remember the people who wanted the title of "The Two Towers" changed for Lord of the Rings?
 
Oh yeah, for sure. I can remember when radio stations were afraid to play certain songs, were scanning all the titles, lyrics of songs so as not to upset anyone.
 
The Young Avengers/ Runaways crossover is ...just... okay, but it feels like a decent impression of the Runaways rather than THE RUNAWAYS themselves. Doesn't quite have the heart or the soul, and sod all happens in each issue. Worth a look for zealots, but not a particularly strong series. Don't worry about missing it, like.

Got my first Joss Runaways today. It's not an entirely seamless transition, I have to say. It's too easy to say "Hmm, I guess now Chase is the Xander, Nico's the Buffy and Karolina's the Willow.", but I suppose I was on the lookout for it, 'cause I was wary of that.

I am a little unhappy about the focus on Nico. I like Nico, and I do think she's the natural choice for the central pillar of the story, but the way her story seems to be going seems uncomfortably familiar. Superpowered teenage girl forced to be responsible for kids her own age, can't trust adults, etc...

But ah... a little two page conversation between Nico and Karolina on the rooftop. That's the very best of Joss Whedon right there. Sweet and sad, and just the right side of both. The dialogue is a little less Brian, a little more Joss, naturally and I got a good laugh out of Chase's demented Die Hard mutterings. The characters, aside from the above grumblings, are still distinct and humane and everybody gets a shout, which is nice. And there's plenty of plot per page, which is something lacking in a lot of series lately. It's still the very best comic on the go.

I love that Runaways has it's own internal morality. How good or how bad the kids are in the context of the Marvel universe is irrelevant, so long as they make it out okay. I wish somebody would hurry up and make a movie for these kids.
 
Aw man, I subscribed to Runaways. Still waiting on my 1st Joss issue. Now I keep reading that he's only set to do six issues at this point? That would totally blow, if so. Who else besides Joss could come close to doing justice to Vaughan's creation? Dunno. Hopefully, he'll get sucked into it, will want to do more.
 
Jill_Valentine said:
Got my first Joss Runaways today. It's not an entirely seamless transition, I have to say. It's too easy to say "Hmm, I guess now Chase is the Xander, Nico's the Buffy and Karolina's the Willow.", but I suppose I was on the lookout for it, 'cause I was wary of that.
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Just got it. Yeah, I hear ya on the critique. Not seamless, but interesting. Loved the Die Hard homage, that's fun. I don't know who
the old lady and the giant angel-winged thug with the scimitar
is. Are we supposed to be up to speed on them? I missed the previous 6-7 issues.

A promising start I'd say.
 
it might be became I haven't actually read the last maybe seven issues, but I completely loved Joss' first issue.

I agree with Jill about the focus on Nico.. But at the same time I feel like there aren't that many characters anymore. Gert is gone (*cries and wants to die for a bit*), and I can never tell the guys apart.. and I keep forgetting about Karolina's fiancee..

Jill_Valentine said:
But ah... a little two page conversation between Nico and Karolina on the rooftop.
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Hee hee. Love. Very awesome.

Think I have to reread the early Runaways issues, miss these awesome kids...
 
Yeah, it's hard to keep track of Xavin, that wily shapeshifter. He's got a different appearance every other panel. And Ultron's kid...forget his name. He's pretty indistinct to me.
 
Goldenboy - I have absolutely no idea who that is, or whether we're supposed to know, or why it's associating with the dude on the last panel, but I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by it.

Speaking of the dude in the last panel, Jo Chen's cover for the next issue blows my mind right out the back of my head. Fantastic.

I'm also glad I'm not the only one slow to warm to the new kids. I too, miss the Gert. 🙁 I want to like Xavin, but he/ she doesn't make it easy. And Female Xavin has a serious case of Wierdface. Doesn't matter who draws her, she gets Wierdface. It's like the artists still can't decide precisely what her ethnicity is supposed to be, so they start drawing like... a lion... and then veer back to human at the last minute. Bizarre.

Mind you, forgetting the ethnicity of a character is almost a tradition by now. CoughJubileeCough. And actually, Nico suffers from it too. It seems to me that sometimes, the artists just draw - showing my age - Fairuza Balk and give her a big stick. I wouldn't even have copped that she's Japanese American if somebody hadn't pointed it out to me.
 
Definitely agree about Nico. I didn't even figure she was Asian before they made some joke about it, and she definitely does not look Japanese to me. (Not that I am the most qualified person to distinguish such things, still though..)

I feel like we are supposed to "know" Xavin and that new guy by now, and I just, don't, at all. (Liking the queer ideas when it comes to Xavin's gender not mattering/being able to determine though.)
 
I wonder if artists are wary about making someone look authentically Asian cos they're paranoid about accusations of racial caricature? I dunno. The PC effect does really strange things to people. Alphona's early style was always a little odd. Some of the most bizarre facial expressions I've ever seen on comic book charaters, lol. Randomly puckered lips and gaping mouths. But he really improved as it went on.

Wonder if Joss will flesh out Ultron Jr. and Xavin a bit more. Well, maybe Xavin's just too odd and alien to make sense of.
 
I can't keep track of the guys either, everything with them are just very confusing to me, and I don't care about them.

Jill Valentine said:
I want to like Xavin, but he/ she doesn't make it easy.
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Me too, or at first I just thought, like epo, that he/she would disappear soon, but now that I realized that she's/he's staying I'm trying to care or at least understand him/her, but I just can't.

And the absence of Gert is painful..
 
Hmm... I dunno.

Xavin identifies himself as a he, and that's his default setting. He changes to suit Karolina. Karolina has identified herself as a lesbian, not a bisexual, to the exclusion of heterosexual relationships. For her, it's not a matter of the person counting more than gender - she withdraws from Male-form Xavin, and she doesn't see a "normal" heterosexual relationship as a possibility for her at all. I just picked up some back issues, and there's a rather eloquently worded letter addressing the subject in #20. BKV responds that he'll let the story speak for itself, but that the subject will be dealt with.

Joss is either canny enough to have noticed the tricksyness of their relationship, or BKV left a post-it on the desk, but I don't think it's a non-issue or an oversight on the writers' part. I think it's an intentional characterisation thing.
Karolina's conversation with Nico on the rooftop - "She gives me something you can't." - suggests to me that she's A) Not over Nico, and not likely to be soon and B) Settling for Xavin instead, and C) Aware of it.
 
Oh I definitely count Xavin as a rebound thing for Karolina, without a doubt.

Jill_Valentine said:
Xavin identifies himself as a he, and that's his default setting. He changes to suit Karolina.
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Fair enough I haven't read the last few issues, I assume Xavin was neither he nor she just a person. But yeah if it is like you say, it is a bit weird. (Then again, as I view male/female to be completely constructed, all "sexual preferences" when it comes to gender are constructed and a bit weird too so, heh..)
 
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